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!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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
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