Joe's Blog for Week 6

“Be Prepared” and “Always Ready” are not only good mottos for Scouts and Marines, but are also necessary for those congregations that are letting the Spirit have full reign in their churches. All of this prayer and all of this conversation are going to have results. The question is: will we be ready for them?

In this last chapter, Martha Reese guides us through and tries to prepare us for change—change that will be necessary for our survival; change that will be difficult; change that may bring conflict and distractions. She talks about changes from without and changes from within.

For example, our leadership team has set December 7 as a day when we are expected to ramp up our courage, practice our sharing skills, and invite someone to visit Heights Christian Church. It’s the second Sunday of Advent, Peace Sunday. There will be activities for children starting at 8:30 in the morning (“Breakfast with the Angels” and “Happy Birthday Jesus”). From without, this will take preparation, people, greeters, providers of food, set up and clean up and above all, FOLLOW UP. Change. Hopefully, these will be growing pains.

From within, there may be conflict as we move forward. Not everyone will agree on what is planned or even on the direction we are heading. Some people may feel burned out. Some may feel left out. In chapter six, therefore, there is some very practical advice. We will need to listen to trusted, sensitive people who see early what change is doing; we should heed the people who tell us we are going too fast and biting off more than we can chew. We will need to be tactful and sensitive with the people who are resisting necessary, Spirit-motivated changes. We will need to keep God and prayer at the center of what we do. Some churches may need an outside advisor to help them through this period.

The other issue is distractions: Which changes are absolutely necessary for our future and which are detours? Again, putting our feet firmly on the wisdom of the Spirit, prayer, Scripture and continuing to talk with each other are most important. Martha Reese keeps repeating: “Stay on target!”

She encourages us to “do what we love” when it comes to outreach and evangelism. She wants us to base our actions on a rich spiritual life, and to continue to learn to talk about our faith. Tell our stories. Have new people tell THEIR stories. Pray for people who have no one to pray for them. To every serious question people have about life, there is a way of looking at Scripture and learning through our prayer that Jesus is the answer.

It all adds up to a new beginning.

And we have begun! I’ve already mentioned the celebration on December 7th. Everyone come, whether someone comes with you or not! Put it on your calendar. Think now who you might invite, but don’t worry about it. Make it natural (“We are having this special Sunday at our church to which we’re supposed to invite someone. Would you mind being my guest and coming with me on December 7th?”). I tried it with our next door neighbor. She said “Sure. I was thinking about going to Church anyway!” You could have knocked me over with a feather. –A new beginning, indeed.

Joe's Blog for Week 5

Okay, so you’re a new visitor to Heights Christian Church. How did you find out about our church? [How DO people find out about us?]. Let’s say you’ve moved to Shaker. How do you find out what church to visit? Okay, so you’ve somehow found Heights Christian. What do you experience when you call the office? What do you experience when you walk in the door? What are your concerns? What are your fears?

In this chapter, Martha Reese assumes we are doing SOME evangelism. Hitting ourselves over the head about what we’re NOT doing won’t get us anywhere. We should acknowledge what we are doing, build on it, do it better, and pray about a new level we’d be willing to move into.

Chapter 5 lists nine groups of people that church people like us could evangelize:
(1) our own children—Yes! We’re doing this through our home and religious ed programs!
(2) Our children’s friends—not too big a stretch; we can invite them to vacation Bible School and Easter Egg hunts, for only two examples;
(3) People who attend but haven’t yet joined—well, I guess it wouldn’t be hard to invite them, if we know who they are!
(4) Christians from similar church backgrounds—may they find in us a compatible theology, music, biblical orientation, outreach focus and a lively worship structure!
(5) Christians from different Church backgrounds—uh-oh, this is more swampy ground, but I’m proof that it can happen—the theology fit, AND the people were welcoming, warm, the worship enriching, and ah, the music!
(6) People who drifted away—but maybe some life passage or crisis will lead them back and maybe we can have open arms;
(7) People who were hurt by the church—okay, this is a tough one, but people in our church HAVE reached out to people who were hurt and have kept reaching out until they returned;
(8) Unchurched people who are like us—a real challenge, even though they have jobs, careers, schooling and even ethnicity like us;
(9) Unchurched people who are unlike us—this is the hardest. How do we reach out to those who move in different circles and have had very different experiences?

Martha Reese asks us to take the focus off of ourselves for a moment and to look outward: at the needs of people in our neighborhood, for example, at the opportunities we all have to meet new people, and at our own gifts for evangelism!

There are barriers, both within us and in our church. Most people say they CAN’T do evangelism because they don’t have a cogent reason to, or they’re afraid a friend will be turned off, or because they’ve never talked about such an intimate thing as faith out loud before! [And there’s a fourth reason I’ve often heard: because they respect people’s privacy and their individual beliefs and wouldn’t think of intruding on them]. Can we talk about and ‘dismantle’ these barriers?

And in our church: do we have a good idea of what it’s like to be a visitor? Do people really feel comfortable? Ask a new visitor, a new member! Take one to lunch. Ask: Is it easy to make friends here? To join groups? To use your leadership skills? Do you feel welcome?

What can we as a church do to improve our chances for new members? Whether you are a participant in a small group or not, WRITE DOWN YOUR IDEAS for all of us to consider! We will! We need and value your ideas. Respond to this blog or email the church at heightschristian@sbcglobal.net.

Joe's Blog for Week 4

We’re half way there in this study. We’ve read half the chapters, done half of the daily prayer exercises. Do we feel any different? Have we learned anything?

This chapter begins part 2 of the book and it zeroes in on our church. Ouch! Some of this is difficult to face, such as the attitude we’ve sometimes had towards new members: Yay! New members, more hands to help us, more pledges to support us! It’s easy, as Reese points out, to miss the big picture: we exist to carry the Good News forward in the world. Our focus can’t be totally on our ecclesiastical navels (my words—sorry—not hers). She cites a pastor who looks forward to leading a church, and relishes what he will do for the parishioners, but never refers to what the church will do for the wider world.

And so Martha Reese confronts us with some data from her study and her interviews with successful churches and their new members.

Why do people first visit? Answer: the biggest reason is because they were ASKED to visit or because they know someone who is a member of the church.

Why do they come back a second time? Ah! --because of the warmth and ‘realness’ of the congregation and because of the teaching and preaching skills of the pastor!

But why do they JOIN? Because something was missing in their lives and they see a chance to be filled and transformed.

When is the ripe time for people to join? When they are going through some joyful or painful passages in their lives.

What are the most significant aspects of their new faith or membership? --Meaning, purpose for living, forgiveness, relationship with God, eternal life. Now there’s a list!

What does conversion look like? --Seems like it’s more about God or Jesus than about church. We can really learn a lot from new Christians. There’s a big difference between those who have been raised in the faith and those who are coming to believe for the first time.

So there’s homework, this fourth week. Find somebody to talk to who is NOT part of this E-vent. Ask him or her some questions, very specific questions, like: “What pops into your mind when you hear the word ‘church’? Has anyone every invited you to their church? What did you think? Did you go?

And then the more scary and personal: “Have you ever had a sense of God or Jesus communicating with you? What was it like?” And my favorite, because I can’t answer it yet: “If you had one question you could ask God and knew you’d get an answer, what would it be?” Yi! Finally: “Would you like prayer for something?”

Now, who has the courage to do such an interview? If you don’t, it makes you think ‘why,’ doesn’t it? In for a dime, in for a dollar, as they say. Shall we give it a shot? Might learn something important.

Joe's Blog for Week 3

Well, we knew that something that is called “Evangelism” was going to get difficult, and by this third week, it certainly has. I’m sure many of us in small groups are wondering why we ever signed up and find ourselves wishing this book were edited for Heights Christian Church.

But many of us are determined to see this study through to the end. The emphases on prayer and on sharing what our faith means to us can’t be all that bad! We’ve already seen some new people in church and so many are working so hard to make all of this come together… Just look at the prayer wall at the back of sanctuary, for one example.

This third week, Martha Reese talks about the essentials of a thriving church in her study: (1) people having a vibrant, real relationship with God, and (2) people having a real, caring, honest relationship with each other, and (3) people having a care for people outside the church. She invokes the image of the Trinity as understood in theological circles as one God who IS a relationship: a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! So there, she says, God wants us to relate not only to Him/Her, but to each other. And then she tells stories from her interviews of churches that have achieved a balance among the three essential relationships: (1) the relationship with God (too many churches have a “lite” relationship with God); (2) the relationship among church members (so that we know they have our back; we can trust them with any revelation; we are not about mean-spirited gossiping about our pastor nor about each other); (3) our relationship with those outside the Church.

Now that last relationship is the one with which we have great difficulty. We are working like crazy through daily prayer and group prayer to grow in our relationship with God. But relating to people who don’t go to our church is another matter. I get a glimmer of a possibility, however, if I follow Reese’s argument that if the other two relationships (with God and with our fellow church-goers) have changed my life for the better, have made ME better, have filled me with joy, have decreased my fears, have increased my love for my church so that I wish EVERYONE could come here, then I can see how I may want to express that to others in some way that is comfortable FOR ME.

This study is now starting to talk about interviewing people who don’t come to our church (or to any church) to ask them what they think about the word ‘church,’ and if anyone has ever invited them to their church, and (here’s one) “If you had one question you could ask God and knew you’d get an answer, what would it be?” Now, who among us has the courage to do such an interview? My wife said she’d interview ME (and I’m looking forward to it).

We could always tell people: “I’m doing this study for my church, and we have to find someone willing to answer a few questions. Could you help me out so I have something to report on? We have this REALLY mean facilitator who will get REALLY angry if I don’t do my homework!”

From discomfort to comfort: we’re going to see this thing through. Keep praying for us!

Joe's Blog for Week 2

In Chapter 2 of Unbinding Your Heart, Martha Reese points out that many of our congregations have been going south (i.e., losing numbers) for decades. “It will take a miracle,” she points out, “to turn things around.” So this chapter is on prayer. Why not? What do we have to lose by turning the whole thing over to God to see how God will guide us?

To bolster her position that this is a good idea, she tells three stories, about three different denominations. The first is about a Disciples of Christ Church, mid-western, healthy, moderate to “fairly progressive” in theology. They formed an evangelism team and asked Martha what to do. She told them to spend three months praying together before they did anything else.

They were skeptical, but they did it. They prayed individually every day and together at least once a week. By the end, their three-member committee had grown to 50, then 65. Visitors and baptisms were increasing. People were following up, baking bread, buying small gifts, starting a welcome center. A year later, they had 80 new members.

The second story reports on a Reformed Church in America in California. It, too, was growing and had a vibrant “life stage ministry” for 20 to 30-year olds. They have two contemporary worship services and one traditional each week. They use music and small groups as a way of reaching out to the young “postmoderns.” The pastor’s wife was trained in prayer in a week-long event in cooperation with a Moravian church, and prayer is central to what they do. One group prays for each worship service. They have “prayer walkers” whose role is to pray as they walk through events such as Halloween parties and Vacation Bible School. They pray for the people, the children, everyone.

And the third story is about a very small town and a very small church (125 in worship). The heart of the story centers on the four pastors in the town who used to be in competition for members until they started meeting for a two-hour prayer session each week. Not only is the competition gone, but one of them has partnered with a Catholic mission to El Salvador and a congregant had the courage to ask the whole congregation to support a simple but effective water purification initiative for that country. And there were other positive results of their prayerful meetings.

Reese says the point of these stories is that all of these successes start with a relationship with God, and the way to become conscious of and deepen that relationship, is through prayer. And so she ends the chapter with five statements about prayer, and with Jesus’s promise in Matthew 18:19: “If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my father in heaven.”

In connection with this study, nearly our whole congregation is praying the same prayers every day, and are meeting to pray once a week in their small groups. Shut-ins, college students, people who can’t come, are also praying. Prayer cards are now available in each pew so we can record what we want others to pray about. As you leave the sanctuary, you will see a beautiful prayer wall. It reminds me of that other wall in Jerusalem, where some years ago, I rolled up my prayer note and stuck it in a crack. I don’t remember what it said, but I’m sure God does.

Joe’s Blog on the E-vent

At Heights Christian Church, we're into the first week of a six-week experience in prayer and study. About 76 people have signed up to be part of one of seven small groups that will be meeting once a week.  One group meets on Tuesday afternoons and one on Thursday nights.  the rest meet on Sunday during the second hour time.  The first meeting for the Sunday groups will be on October 19.

Some people, of course, feel unable to be a part of one of these small groups, and it's for you that I am writing.  For many of you, lack of time may be the reason, so I promise to keep this short. But we don't want you to feel left out or not a part of this church-wide experience in some way.  Some of you have health reasons or distance reasons.  So here's an attempt to fill you in on what's happening so far:

Prayer is a huge part of this event.  There are nine people in a prayer team who are praying for all of us by name every day.  There are now prayer cards in the pews that you can write a request on.  There are three "prayer walls" on which these requests will be attached.  Or you can attach your own.  We will all be praying for each other and for our church. [You don't need to be in a group to fill out a prayer card].  In addition, about half of each small group meeting will be devoted to discussing prayer or actually praying.  A major focus of our prayer is praying for each other.

Everybody has gotten a book called Unbinding Your Heart.  Even if you haven't signed up for a small group, it would be great to read along in this book.  Ask Rev. Roger for one.  We read one chapter a week.  Everyone is committed to working through the prayer part of the book on pp. 119ff.  There's one reflection a day for six weeks.  Would you have time to join us in that?

The second huge part of this E-vent is sharing our faith.  In order to share it, we have to think about what it is, get comfortable about it, and 'practice' talking about it.  The meetings, prayers, and chapters help us to do that.  The introduction and first chapter point out the great reluctance most of us have about sharing our faith, or even talking about "Evangelism."  The author, Martha Grace Reese, emphasizes that this is NOT about changing other people's beliefs or accosting strangers.  It's more about being more comfortable sharing what is really important to us.

In her study of 150 successful mainline churches, she found what works in them for growth and vitality, and that seems to be the result of prayer (and being open to the Spirit's leading) and their own style of faith sharing.  Much of this is still awkward and uncomfortable, but we've just begun and are determined to see it through!  Our shut-ins and some of our college students and relatives who have moved away, are contributing their prayers to our efforts.  We hope and know that you will too.

- Joe LaGuardia