Renewal

Jeff and I just returned from a week of networking and learning with other church leaders.  We came home with renewed energy.  Sometimes, reading books and listening to speakers can create some discouragement - speaking to real-life planters puts real-life perspective back into play.

We also came back with some new vision for the future.  That was really cool - how God worked in our week away - but that will have to be another blog....

When we returned, I was reading some articles and came across the following one.  It was another encouragement - that God has been in the plan for RFamily from the beginning and He is going to shape it as it goes... We wouldn't want it any other way!!!

5 Ways the Church Will Change

by Thom Schultz - as published on ChildrensMinistry.com

Is the American church fading away? Will the losses in membership and attendance lead to a marginalized church presence such as that in present-day Europe? What will the American church look like in ten years?

Church leaders, denominational executives, and religion researchers gathered in Colorado recently to examine the church's health and prognosis. The Future of the Church Summit was sponsored by Group Publishing.

After evaluating current trends, Summit members predicted a number of likely scenarios for the American church in the next ten years:

1. Emphasis on relationships. Whereas the church and congregational worship today are largely spectator-oriented, the new coming trend will prioritize spiritual growth through personal relationships.
2. Return to Jesus. The current church is preoccupied with the "ABCs"-attendance, buildings and cash. A Summit pastor said, "We need to deal with the idols of the church." The coming church will highly focus its mission, goals, measurements and message on Jesus.
3. Community focus. The church of tomorrow will be much more engaged in addressing the needs in the community. The church will be known more for its members' relational acts of compassion outside of church walls, taking ministry out rather than waiting for outsiders to come in and sit.
4. Conversationally oriented. The current church relies primarily on one-way messaging-from the preacher/teacher at the microphone. The new church will rely more on person-to-person conversation, sharing messages of God's love with one another. Churches will begin to trade pews for conversation tables.
5. Rise of the laity. Shrinking resources will trigger fewer paid ministry positions-and more reliance on unpaid ministry work. The concept of "the priesthood of all believers" will re-emerge.

Scott Thumma from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research shared data showing waning church attendance, the aging of congregational membership and the exodus of young people. The churches that are bucking the downward trends tend to be either small (fewer than 200 members), or very large (more than 2,000 members).

Thumma also cited that congregations' financial health has declined significantly over the past decade. In 2000 31 percent of congregations exhibited excellent financial health. By 2010 only 14 percent showed excellent financial health.

Congregations with high spiritual vitality dropped from about 43 percent in 2005 to 28 percent in 2010, according to Thumma.

To transition to the future, Thumma suggested congregations take a number of actions: create a listening team; get rid of the concept of church committees; learn how to be the church outside of Sunday morning.

Neil Howe, author of "Millennials Rising" and "The Fourth Turning," told Summit attendees that aging Boomers are shaping churches in a direction that young adults in the Millennial generation reject. He said Millennials are looking for environments that emphasize a sense of authentic community, variety of experiences, doing good deeds together, and student-centered learning (not teacher-focused).

Summit participants heard author Reggie McNeal predict that no one model of ministry will characterize the church of tomorrow. Rather, several different models will emerge to connect with the diverse American culture.

And British church leader and consultant  Mike Breen doubted that the American church would go the way of Europe, where the church has withered. He indicated that America's entrepreneurial spirit will provide the drive and the flexibility for the church to survive and thrive in the future.

I want to look at those 5 points one-by-one...

1.  Emphasis on Relationships.  Spiritual growth through relationship. 

          Our ministry plan incorporates relationship into everything we do - just as Jesus built relationships and did life with his disciples, so do we.  We identify people with passion and apprentice them, disciple them, into leaders.  We develop spiritual growth by doing life together.  And what's really funny is that our model is basically a pyramid scheme!  LOL  As each person grows, then will, themselves, meet and grow others under them, who will meet and grow others.... etc...  :)  No formal small groups, just life and God's leading.  We aren't filling leadership positions, we are creating positions for the leaders God raises within our church family.

2.  Return to Jesus.  

          In our church, ABCs aren't Attendance, Building, and Cash, they truly are Admit, Believe, and Confess.  As much as we do struggle ourselves (Jeff and I) against our years in ministry counting numbers, we celebrate growth.  When we stand in front of our state ministry group to give our yearly report, we focus on salvations, rededications, baptism, and personal growth.  

3.  Community Focus.

          This is where I LOVE to see how we are different!  Our church is ALL about the community where we were planted!  We have adopted a school and we serve there regularly.  When the schools have teacher-training days, we provide childcare for the parents that is a community service day for the kids.  A lady has risen-up to begin a MUCH-needed groups for grandparents who are raising their grandkids.  The women's ministry group is service-oriented and has begun a program to provide formal attire for teens who cannot afford it for prom and other such dances.  It is amazing!  While we DO have bible study, it is not our FOCUS.  

4.  Conversationally oriented

          This one is pretty cool - our ministry plan has this built-in.  We have couches and tables, not rows of chairs.  When Jeff speaks, he invited comments and encourages other to talk back to his questions.  Nothing happens that isn't based in communication.

5.  Rise of the laity

          We have a few staff, but for the most part, that is all we will ever have.  Because of the pyramid scheme we have designed, there should not ever be a need for a large staff.  Each staff is simply a higher point in the pyramid - we have designated areas we oversee, but the ministries are run by the laity.  Jeff and I are the planters, the founders, but we do not pretend to possess powers or a connection to God that is any different or any better than those around us.  God put us in place to lead this group of people, not be in power over them!

We have seen and continue to see God's hand at work through the work we are doing.  It is awesome and amazing.  It is beyond anything we could do - only through God has this been accomplished.  I can't wait to see what He has in store for the future!

Jungle Jill Is A Big Ol' Meanie!

Last night, to illustrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season, I put my Jungle kids through an emotional wringer.  We started our evening normally, then I had them all sit down and got serious.  I read Romans 3:23, ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - then proceeded to tell them how they have been eternally separated from God with this sin and that I was going to brand them so that they never forgot.  I tied a piece of cloth around each wrist (note to self - make them longer next year) with the word SINNER written on them big and bold.  I tied them so they could not be slipped off and double knotted so they wouldn't untie.  I then went through each of the Ten Commandments and told them how they have broken almost every one of them, and really honed-in on some of the 'easier' ones that kids would recognize.  At the end I just dismissed them - I just stopped and waved them off and said, 'Go to snack - just go to snack - ' like I was writing them off, like I didn't care.  I didn't tell them how to fix it, how to make it better - I just sent them away.

They didn't know what to do.  They had endured the 'mean' part well and were, I think, looking forward to the part where I told them how to make it better, but I didn't.  I didn't fix it.  I didn't tell them how to fix it.  I just sent them away.  When they were all in the other room I shut the door and about died.  I broke character at last.  That was when my daughter, a seventh-grader who helps me with video and sound, turned on me incredulously - 'Wow, mom!  That was intense!' - so I know I did my job.  Even she got caught up in the moment and didn't recognize it as a teaching exercise.  So I encouraged her to go into the next room and watch what they had planned next.

In the next room, they were being guided through a lesson on baptism - both with water and with the Holy Spirit.  They learned that when we make Jesus the leader of their life (which we talk about every week) the Holy Spirit will cleanse us from our sins and then we show our church family what happened on the inside by being baptized with water in front of everyone so they can celebrate how God has made us a new, clean creation!  I had prepared a 'fat quarter' of beige cloth with 'SINNER' on it and written all sorts of sins children are familiar with all over it.  This cloth was dipped in water as the teacher talked and the words began to fade away. (she was interested in how the phrase 'IDOLOTRY - putting other things before God in our lives' was the last one to fade)  The cloth was clean.  Then each child was able to dip his/her bracelet into water and be cleansed of the sin I had marked them with.

 It was cleansing not only to their cloths, but also to their hearts.  As one child moved from my room to the snack lesson (his mother teaches it) he was crying, ran to her and clung to her and said, "I don't want to come back here any more!"  But after her lesson he felt much better and said he wasn't mad at me any more!  :)  It was intense.  We have spent the past two weeks touching on what Lent is and what it means and that it started with Ash Wednesday, but I believe I set the stage for a season of preparing for Easter in a way I have never attempted before.  God has lead me to do this with my group.  I believe there is some big growth He has in store for these kids during this season.

And I did wrap all this up at the end of the evening - we talked through the what and why of the lesson and then I showered them all with Valentine's Day gifts to let them know I love them very much.  It was a great night!  :)  And as hard as it was to be such a big meanie, if it means someone makes a step closer to understanding their need to make Jesus the leader of their life, then it was worth it...

Oh - and my teacher helper says she videotaped the whole thing, knowing what I was going to be doing.  Talk about a meanie!  That is one video I do NOT want to watch!

Venue Change?

We are two years into our church plant - two years since our family of 5 parachute-dropped into our little town.  I would love to share with you how we are averaging 200 people in church on Sunday mornings, we are totally self-supporting, that we have savings building for our next church plant in Missouri, and all sorts of other normal numbers 'wins', but that is not the case.  In the past two years, if nothing else, I have learned to count 'wins' by something other than the numbers! (but that's another blog)

So for the past two years I have been church planting.  When I go to the grocery store, I have been constantly aware of those around me - always eager for an opportunity to share God's love.  When I go to a ball game, when I attend a school meeting - always eager for the opportunities that God has been abundant in providing.  Along the way, I also developed a Children's Ministry.  Jeff was a wonderful help, but my work in Children's Ministry was always an 'also'.  I was a church planter and 'also' a children's pastor.

These past couple of weeks, with the second anniversary of our drop, I have noticed a specific shift in my life (yes, life - my ministry IS my life.  There is no 'at work' and 'off work')  I have finally become a Children's Pastor and 'also' a church planter!

Today, for the first time in many months, I woke up, ran an errand with Jeff, then went to the office and STAYED THERE ALL DAY working on nothing but things that were on my 'to do' list!  I actually got started on a project that I have had on my list for over a year!  Almost two, even!

Then, at the end of the day, I came home with NOTHING on my plate to get done ASAP - I was able to play on the internet for fun - to read a few articles on Children's Ministry - to research fun places to eat and play in Florida when we go later this month for a conference.  All unplanned.  All spontaneous.  All simply let by rest and relaxation.

My shoulders haven't been this loose in months!

I feel like I have a new job, when really, I am just more free to do the one I was created to do!  Instead of adults, I can now focus on the kids I see around me.  I can go for a walk in the park and stop to watch the kids play and share some of my 'sharing toys' I keep with me.  I can spend time meeting with school officials about how I can best serve them and the kids.

I am so excited!!!

Thank-you, God for the renewed energy and excitement even with no 'normal' changes.  Usually this kind of excitement and renewal comes with a move or a job change.  Not this time.  So wonderful!!!