Pastor John's Thoughts

Can a church add value to it’s community beyond care of poor and Biblical/moral teaching?

2012-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

This continuing conversation will make more sense if you read my previous blog at: http://www.pastorjohnsthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/01/plan-to-meet-some-of-our-neighborhoods.html

Can a church add value to it’s community beyond care of poor and Biblical/moral teaching?

If you read the neighborhood plan put forward in the last blog, you’ll see that we want to do at Zion is more than feed the hungry and house the homeless, we want to be a positive and innovative witness within our community that helps the neighborhood become the best place to live this side of heaven. We want to see the kingdom of God manifest in our neighborhood. We not only want to address the issues of people not having enough, we want to better the lives of those who have plenty. What we desire is nothing less then the redemption of our community as a whole. We want to help people not only get established, but enhance the quality of life for those already here. We don’t want just the refugee or underprivileged children to get career counseling, we want every child to have assistance discovering what they are good at and getting help developing a plan to “become” what they are good at in life.

The idea that the local congregation exists as an outpost of heaven for the benefit of all within the community is an old one. I think it’s most common manifestation was in what was called “the Parish Model.” My favorite example of this model comes from 17th and 18th century England where geographic areas were divided into “parishes.” Each parish had a church which was responsible to call people to the worship of God and prayer on Sundays and other holy days and when necessary for special prayers on behalf of the king and nation. It was responsible for baptisms, weddings, funerals, and all the rest, and also for the care of the poor. The parish church might be a large edifice which was used for many kinds of community activities, including concerts and meetings. It was a very public sort of “community room.” Frequently, the “parish council,” the local government met at the church. The council frequently included the “parish pastor” who was responsible for the spiritual needs of the community. In such a way, the government, the church and others worked hand in hand for the benefit of the entire community.

What w’ere talking about at Zion is to effectively put this model of ministry into use in our relationship with our community. We imagine being able to convene various groups and organizations together to solve various problems in the neighborhood but to also work together to form a plan for the future. Every group we’ve spoken to thus far has been very open to such meetings. We believe that our local community has the opportunity to be one of the most vibrant, diverse and exciting neighborhoods in the city and that the church should be a part of that vitality, diversity and excitement. We believe that by modeling the kingdom of God and showing how things could be, that we can help the entire community bring “could be” into reality.

Another hallmark of the old parish model is that every resident of the geographic area of the parish was a de facto member of the church. Now of course in England, where there is a state church and so you are a member of this state church simply by being born, this makes sense. But what would it be like for our church to simply acknowledge that every person within our geographic area was also a de facto member of church, able to use the building and receive various services from the church? In other words, what if we erased the lines between church and neighborhood and earnestly sought to integrate the church and the neighborhood, the neighborhood and the church? No doubt such a church would be a place that would provide more to the community than help with the poor and Biblical/moral teaching. No doubt such a church would be the center of activity within the community, the place to go to for everything, not just help.

Here’s an example of how this thinking might play out: A certain world famous artist lives in our area, he is a refugee from a certain country. What if Zion provided our space for a showing of his art? His entire ethnic community would attend the opening and it would give us a chance to show hospitality to this group. The whole community would be invited and for many, it would be the first time that they had ever been to our church, or even in a church. Later, with the art still in view, we could invite the entire community to a round table discussion about the refugee experience in our own city. In such a way we provide public space for art, for the education of the community, and for fellowship between the various ethnic groups, generations and economic groups within our neighborhood. And it all happens in God’s house, under the cross. Redemption, reconciliation and peace result within our community and our Lord Jesus is glorified. And people who were far from the church come near to experience our common life together.

Barna Group has done some research on this approach. You can read about it at

http://www.barna.org/congregations-articles/502-do-churches-contribute-to-their-communities

I think there is no doubt that the church can add value to the community beyond it's traditional role. I think that some might ask, "But should it?" I would answer with another question: "Will so doing make our Master smile?" I think it would. I think he intended for his church to be the way forward for the world.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

A Plan to Meet Some of Our Neighborhood's Needs

2012-01-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

This blog might not make sense until you read my previous blog which tells the story of Zion Church.
http://pastorjohnsthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/01/our-story.html

Our desire all along has been to do something beautiful for Jesus. To serve him. When we serve others we are motivated by our great love for Jesus. Mother Theresa but it this way, “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of God.”  We do what we do because we love Jesus.

Here is a draft of things we've been doing/thinking about that involves a great deal of collaboration with various groups, institutions and individuals in our community.

Let’s Do Something Beautiful for Jesus

What follows is a very rough draft of where I think Zion could lead our neighborhood. It is simply the result of prayer and watching where God has led us this far.

Vision: That Zion lead the way in our community to God’s brighter future. This is accomplished by getting to know our neighborhood, analyzing it’s needs, and finding innovative and faithful ways of meeting them.

Who is our community?: Our community is roughly defined as the Lower Beaver, Beaver and Meredith Drive neighborhoods. Our immediate activities focus primarily on the Lower Beaver neighborhood with the intention of expanding our ministry work from neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the city as God leads.

Goal: That Zion Lutheran Church will fully engage with it’s community as a force for God’s redemption through Jesus Christ.

Imagine living in a community where the church led the way in truly knowing and loving our neighbor. Imagine living in a neighborhood, for instance, where every child was intentionally offered pre-college career counseling; college admissions counseling and help finding a job while a student. Imagine a neighborhood where there were people who wanted to coach you on how to handle your money, buy a house or a car, or even learn how to cook economically and nutritionally. Imagine a community where the major businesses and institutions regularly sat down to consider neighborhood issues and how to help solve local problems. Imagine a community where every child was offered a chance to attend camp and where each child was individually known and valued and their future was the top priority of the whole neighborhood. Imagine a community where there was help for those who couldn’t afford their medications and there was emergency help available to solve the kinds of problems that systematic programs cannot address. Imagine a community that united around the concept of education and found ways to provide quality education for all it’s children and supported it’s teachers and made itself available to ensure the best present and future possible for it’s children. Such a community would be a community that had been redeemed, a community where all things were possible, a community that could help other communities unite to bring redemption and hope in other parts of town. This doesn’t have to be a dream. We believe that such things are possible if the church leads the way.

Why is the church uniquely suited to accomplish this task? Because of Jesus. Jesus, the founder and Lord of the church showed us that all people are our neighbors. He encouraged us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him into a life of sacrifice and service. Jesus desires the daily death of the church to itself as it pours his life into the world around it. The church, when it is truly the church, is the last altruistic establishment in our society. The church is capable, when it is truly the church, of uniting disparate groups within our neighborhood to work for good. Finally, the church is the only institution in the world that was founded to sacrifice itself for the good of others. It’s founder set the mark very high. To bring redemption, the church is willing to lay down it’s life and die.

One big value we have is to open as many opportunities as possible for other churches and organizations to partner with us. We realize that we can’t do this alone. We realize that this is a miraculous opportunity for the church in Des Moines to truly be One.

Those who have agreed to be in partnership with us in our community so far: Freedom for Youth, Merle Hay Mall, VA hospital, Broadlawns, various local ethnic restaurants, Wunder Years Academy, Meredith Drive Reformed Church, Lutheran Services of Iowa, International House of Prayer - Iowa, Samuelson Elementary,

Change is coming to the Lower Beaver Neighborhood. The neighborhood is composed of single family and multi-family dwellings built after the second world war. The neighborhood is a great place for a starter or first time home. Prices are reasonable and quality is good. Local apartment complexes have also found recent immigrants to America who are being resettled here through federal partnerships, to be excellent renters. As the immigrants establish themselves, they are purchasing homes in the neighborhood. With the addition of the Thai Village Complex on MLK, which anchors the eastern part of the neighborhood, immigrants are likely to continue to move into the neighborhood. Immigrants have different needs than other minority groups. These needs are tantamount in our consideration as our plans continue.

Below are a series of projects that we believe would help in the redemption of our neighborhood. Some are in progress and could expand, Some are yet to be started. A list of needed resources is also provided for each project. The projects are divided by category: Children, Family and Community. Projects which have already been started are listed first under each category. The rest of the projects are listed in priority order. Sponsorship or availability of resources can and will affect the priority of projects.

Children:

School transportation for ELL students living 1.7 miles from the school. Because of a very busy street and the distance from school (especially in the winter), Zion is currently providing transportation for 14 students each school day. The current students have been selected by the school. Different groups, living in the same apartment complexes as the students, are now petitioning the church through Lutheran Services of Iowa to increase our activity to include their children as well. There is definitely an identified need here for expansion. Needed resources: Another van or larger bus. Drivers. Gas. Maintenance of vehicle. Vehicle insurance.

Whiz Kidz Tutoring Program (in affiliation with Freedom for Youth). Currently, as many as 55 kids participate on Wednesday nights (Sept - May). With 15 tutors, we are hard pressed to provide one-one tutoring but consider the fact that the kids keep coming (and bringing friends) to be justification to continue. The environment is safe and the atmosphere fun. Dinner is also provided. Needed resources: educational supplies, furniture, tutors, transportation, drivers.

Art Camp: Creativity is an important aspect of human life and as we seek to provide opportunities for kids in our neighborhood we don’t want to forget to foster their creative and innovative spirit. Beginning in July, 2011, Zion will host a week long summer art camp for kids 3rd - 6th grade. The week long camp, which begins with a meal, will expose the kids to various artistic media and allow them to express themselves in a productive way. Needs: about $25 per child; supplies.

Vacation Bible School: Looks like we’ll be having a lot more kids this year from the neighborhood. Having successfully brought them to church for Wednesday nights, we’re confident they’ll come in the summer for things like VBS.

Partnership with Samuelson Elementary: Samuelson probably already has a corporate partner and we don’t know who that is yet or what they do. But our brothers and sisters at Meredith Drive have been doing such a good job at Moulton Elementary, having monthly birthday events for the kids, writing encouraging words to the teachers, and trying to supply needs in the classroom, that we thought we ought to at least try something like this for Samuelson.

After School program: In the next 18 months, we hope to develop an after school program for the neighborhood that would provide education, food, Jesus, and a safe environment for all.

Comprehensive Neighborhood Education Strategy: Everyone agrees that our local teachers are doing a wonderful job working with the ELL students. There is a volume problem, however. The school’s resources are overwhelmed and in a season of cutbacks, it’s probably naive to look for help from the district. But perhaps we could work with other districts and even parochial schools to spread the joy and intentionally open enroll some of the children into other schools with more current capacity.

Soccer team: The local apartment complexes are full of young kids with nothing to do. In order to provide structure and discipline, we propose starting a soccer team. The kids would help to raise some of their own support and the church would help with the rest. Soccer is universally played by the kids and this would serve as a way of bringing them together in a positive activity. We would either join a league or find a way to enter into competition with other clubs. Needs: Uniforms, equipment, any fees associated with being part of a league; travel expenses?

Music Camp. We propose sponsoring a music camp in the summer. There are many musicians in the church happy to teach and these musicians have friends in the community who could help. The camp could run for a week or be a weekly activity, depending upon the response from musicians. We would seek to find instruments for the kids to play. A small guitar, for instance, runs about $100. We could borrow rhythm instruments from local schools. A few more electronic keyboards and maybe another drum set would help as well. The next challenge would be how to find instruments the kids could afford if they proved to have a desire to continue with their musical studies. The music camp experience would conclude with community concert.

Camperships: This year, our dream is to send about 28 kids to Riverside Camp. We think the camping experience will be formative in the lives of our neighborhood kids. We’d like to be able to offer scholarships to every child in the neighborhood and church. We’ve found an amazing partner in Riverside Camp who will work with us to accommodate our children. We believe it would be best for the children to earn some of the money themselves through fund raisers or through doing various jobs at church or in the neighborhood. Needs: money for scholarships. A selection process. Someone to oversee the project, especially helping the kids to raise their part of the expense.

Career and education counseling: There are so many opportunities open to kids you wonder how come any of them would fail to take advantage. But while there are many opportunities, there are very few people in the lives of the kids telling them what they’re good at. Kids are attracted to the things that high salaries can buy, but may not have the right set of aptitudes to succeed in a particular field. However, they may have amazing aptitudes in another field. The idea for this project is to offer counseling by professionals to help the kids determine where they are gifted and in what kinds of things they are interested in or even good at. When a field of interest is selected, it should be possible for the kids to shadow or observe that profession. Finally, a course of study and direction can be lined out for the kids to follow as they seek to achieve their goals. The desire of the program is to give intentionality to the process of deciding “what do I want to be when I grow up?” Without a future to dream about, the present often seems bleak. Perhaps the best way to describe this process is to say that the goal is to help the child choose a target, take aim, and hit the target. Needs: counselors and their fees; a way to market the program.

College/Vo-Tech Scholarship program: We hope to find individuals and corporations that would consider contributing to a neighborhood scholarship fund. This is one way we could celebrate as a neighborhood the graduation of our local children. It would unite the community in showing our kids that they do matter and that they are known.

Toys/hobbies: We hope to put in some little money into some “hobby” projects for the kids that they could build or work on at church. For instance, building a model race track, a train layout, etc. This helps in teaching the kids to work together, to be part of something larger than themselves, and helps to work on English. Not to mention the fact it is an excellent way to bring hobby enthusiasts and the kids together.

Families:

Neighborhood Emergency Fund: The idea is to establish a fund, replenished on a regular basis; that would be available to aid families in our neighborhood in an intentional but non-recurring way. Examples would be, helping with a special, one time project or emergency need (car repair). Special counselors would administer the fund and would meet with each applicant to determine how needs could best be addressed. Needs: money for fund

Prescription Assistance Fund: A special fund would be established and made available to help people in the neighborhood who are having trouble filling their medications. The fund could be accessed only at the request of a local pharmacist. Needs: money for fund

ESL classes for parents: Much of the work so far has focused on children. But it is very important that learning English doesn’t isolate parents from their children. Parents need to learn English as well. We proposed hosting ESL classes at the church taught by volunteers from inside and outside the church. Classes would be held at times convenient for the parents work schedules, perhaps on weekends or Wednesday evenings.

Furniture and clothing for immigrant families. New immigrants being resettled in Des Moines will number about 100 persons per year in 2011. That’s down from over 300 per year three years previously. The decrease in new immigrants comes about because sponsoring organizations no longer felt they could do a good job in light of budget cuts and many of the supporting systems, like education, were already overwhelmed. Des Moines is now becoming a secondary settlement site, however, as families move here now after having been settled in other areas of the country, to be close to family and friends and also because Iowa has a good job market. The Chin people and Iraqis are now coming to Des Moines in “second migrations.” Zion is well connected in the local refugee community and we are consistently asked to help new families establish themselves in apartments with donations of furniture or clothing.

Establish a neighborhood employment network: On the westside, Lutheran Church of Hope has Hope@work, a successful ministry dedicated to helping people find employment and pursue their goals. While Hope@work is much more than an employment agency, we have no equivalent in our neighborhood for far less skilled positions. What if we could partner with Hope@work to start a northside version of the ministry that would focus on jobs that were open to new immigrants or less educated people. The goal would be to help new immigrants and others to find local employment with good wages so that they wouldn’t have to travel so far for work and be away from their families for so long (see previous). Hope@work also helps people prepare resumes and determine the steps necessary to advance their careers. Need: cooperation from Hope@work and some people with a passion for this.

Parenting Seminars: with translation... In many refugee families both mother and father are working very long hours. Since many are working in meat packing plants an hour or more away, they are gone from home much of the time. This has led to some discipline problems as parents are too tired to raise their children. Compounded by the fact that the children are learning English at school faster than their parents are at work, inequities and imbalances are developing in the traditional roles of parents and children. Parenting skills are now in serious need of being taught given the new reality of families. We understand that not many will want to attend these sessions but we also know that these sessions are critically important. Needs: presenters. presenter fees?

Life skills training: We live in a world of fractured families, and often times that means that information doesn’t get passed down from one generation to another. Holes develop, and critical information doesn’t get passed along. This project would seek to plug some of those holes, as well as train people who are new to our culture who may never have developed the skills necessary to manipulate the systems we take for granted. Topics include bill paying, budgeting, house and car purchasing, cooking/menu planning. Needs: There are plenty of realtors, car salesmen and financial planners in the church we can rely on. Home economics people, maybe money for demonstrations.

Community:

Local Outreaches: Our involvement in the community started with these outreaches and they seem the best way to get to know the kids and invite them to church. We have four planned at Redeemer Lutheran Church and plans are underway for a joint event in our neighborhood with Wunder Years Academy. We plan to return to Douglas Terrace as well.

Community Garden: Using available land at Zion that is currently not in use, the idea is to create garden plots that would be available to immigrant families. Some small percentage of plots would be made available to families in the church. The plots would follow basic guidelines established by the City of Des Moines in their community gardening program. Applications would be taken from immigrant families and then a lottery would be used to choose which would receive the plots. Lutheran Services of Iowa would be our partner in this. Needs: fence, ultimately, a water line, monthly water charge.

Establish a neighborhood round table: Basically to continue what we’re doing in terms of networking local businesses, institutions, schools, churches, apartment complexes, home owner associations, etc, together for future planning, co-operation and collective response to neighborhood needs.

Establish a Des Moines area refugee resettlement and assimilation round table: Referencing the beginning paragraphs of this document, Des Moines was once proud to welcome over 300 new refugees a year. Currently, many regard our resettlement efforts as being broken. The schools and social services seem overwhelmed, as do the resettlement agencies themselves. Perhaps during this “lull in the action,” we should strive to bring together city, county, school, resettlement agencies, employers, churches and others and establish a round table group to plan the way forward. Perhaps by creating space for people and institutions to work together, we might establish a united approach to welcoming new refugees to our city.

Partnerships with Local Apartment management: Keeping good relationships with the apartment managers and owners allows us to advocate on behalf of the tenants. For instance, when bed bugs are a problem, some managers are reluctant to spray. If the managers trusted the church as a positive force in their properties, perhaps the church could accomplish things on behalf of the tenants to keep the apartments healthy and habitable. Helping the managers make small improvements to their properties while raising the quality of life for the tenants might be one way to build relationships and trust. Such things as building and installing picnic tables, charcoal grills, outdoor seating areas, even helping with routine cleaning or maintenance are ideas. Needs: money for supplies.

Community education experiences about the refugee community: Offer short seminars on what it’s like to be a refugee, the history and individual stories of the people in our neighborhood, maybe some role playing and some ideas on how individuals and organizations can help.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Suggested Resources:
At our denomination's National Gathering, speakers urged participants to get their churches involved in their communities. Here is a sampling of those presentations:

Rev. Greg Ogden's two presentations at LCMC's National Gathering, October 2011

http://www.lcmc.net/annual-gathering-presentations/rev-greg-ogden/a191.html

http://www.lcmc.net/annual-gathering-presentations/rev-greg-ogdens-follow-up-presentation/a201.html

Rev. T.J. Anderson's presentation at LCMC's National Gathering, October 2011
http://www.lcmc.net/annual-gathering-presentations/rev-tj-anderson/a199.html

Rev. Elisa Ashley's presentation at LCMC's National Gathering, October 2011
http://www.lcmc.net/annual-gathering-presentations/rev-elisa-ashley/a189.html

Rev. Gemchis Buba
http://www.lcmc.net/annual-gathering-presentations/rev-dr-gemechis-d-buba/a190.html

Read the book Ethnic Blends by Mark DeYmaz:
http://markdeymaz.com/books/

I want to restate last week's suggested resources as well:

Suggested Reading: The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.
http://nextchristians.com/book.aspx

We're offering this amazing class to go along with this sermon series: Mission Shift. Read about it at: http://www.stpaulsevlutheran.org/sum/missionshift/index.html

Our Story

2012-01-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

This story began with a question: “If our church closed, would anyone miss us?” We asked our board to consider the question. The answer they all reached was, “no.” After all, our members would simply go to other churches. It seemed a shame that we were so unconnected with our neighborhood that no one would miss us if we weren’t here. It seemed that maybe Jesus Himself would want his church to have a better relationship with those around us.

So we embarked on a project. Our lead pastor would visit every neighbor who lived around the church. He would try to meet them, ask them how we could bless them, find out if we were being a good neighbor, and give them information about the church and a gift card to a new local restaurant. He visited 30 some houses. People were polite, impressed with the gift, but really didn’t have much to say about how the church could bless them.

We broadened the project to include local businesses and institutions. The pastor went to the local mall. “How can the church bless you?”, he asked the general manager. Short of being willing to work together, there wasn’t anything we could do. Then he went to the VA Hospital down the street. “How can the church bless you?,” he asked. They wanted volunteers. Of course, since they are a federal institution, the application process is a bit hard. We advertised the need but we are still waiting for our first volunteer from the church.

A prayer changed everything. One evening, sitting in the backyard and reading the Bible, our pastor cried out to the Lord in frustration. “What kind of a church do you want us to be?” “Banquet.” Came the reply, clear as a bell. “What kind of banquet?” “Like Luke 14,” he heard. And then his mind was filled with images of a local apartment complex.

Turning to Luke 14 we find the parable of the great banquet. There are three things that leap out at you immediately when you read this chapter.
1.) Jesus says, “When you give a banquet, don’t invite those who can invite you back. Invite those who can never repay you.” So we determined that Jesus wanted us to focus first on the very least, those who couldn’t repay us in any way for serving them. 2.) The guests who were invited, the intended recipients of God’s favor, didn’t come and sent their excuses. We believe that many in the church today don’t realize that they are saved for a purpose. That purpose is to serve the Lord who saved us by serving others. 3.) God instructs his servants to go to the alleyways and the country roads and compel the poor and the lame and the lost to come to the banquet. We understand this to mean that the church is to go out and seek, not stay home and wait for people to come to us.

So we packed up a luncheon feast for 150 people, some games and crafts for the kids and went to the Douglas Terrace Apartments. We met a lot of kids and found out that most of the people living in this complex were recent refugees. Mostly from Burma. We came back monthly for four months, bringing food, games, bounce houses, whatever we could think of, and we began learning names and building relationships.

By the fall it began to occur to us that perhaps we could invite these kids to our Wednesday night tutoring program. That program had 4 kids in it. Overnight it multiplied to 40. Then we needed to find more innovative ways to transport kids, feed kids, and provide the tutoring they needed in a fun atmosphere.

Next stop for us was the local elementary school. “How can the church bless you?” Naturally, we expected a polite “no thank you.” But we were surprised. The school was having trouble getting new immigrants to come to school in the cold weather. The kids lived at the very edge of the busing zone and didn’t qualify to ride the bus. Could the church help? We asked the congregation and ten people volunteered to drive vans borrowed from local churches and ministries. Each school day we began transporting 14 children to school and back. The congregation stepped forward and we bought our first van. The local school asked the local church for help and, praise God, we worked together to meet the need and the get the kids to school. Turns out that the kids who needed rides lived in the apartment complexes we were doing outreaches.

Next, we went to some local restaurants. “How can the church bless you?” The Muslim owner of restaurant was well connected with his Iraqi refugee community. “We need furniture,” he replied. The call went out to the church and furniture started to fill the lobby. Just as quickly it went out to families from Iraq, Burma, and other places. Friendships were made. Jesus was honored. The church became the go to place for help with everything from job applications to utilities to translation and even resolving disputes. Furniture now comes from all over the city as word about the need gets out.

The interest in Jesus by some of our neighborhood friends has caused us to start an Arabic language Alpha Course on Sundays.

Our visits took us to the local mosque. Now our pastor and the imam regularly meet for coffee and conversation and we are committed to working together. The imam and some of his congregation joined us this year at church for Christmas Eve dinner.

As Christmas approached, people in the church wanted to bless our new friends in the community with Christmas presents and food and scarves and gloves. So current ministries like Angel Tree and Christmas food baskets were expanded to meet the growing needs.

There was a growing need for clothes among the children and parents and that were coming to the church for help. So a clothes closet was started.

In the midst of all this activity, the church was approached by the Mizo, an ethnic group from Burma who wanted a church and a pastor to help them. Zion obliged and today the 1:00 Mizo service is vibrant and growing and our Mizo brothers and sisters work side by side with us cleaning the church, exchanging preachers and choirs, sharing meals and going through life together as one church.

Sunday School is now an integrated experience, with Mizo kids and kids from the neighborhood joining us weekly to learn about Jesus. A whole team of people joined together to provide transportation and to receive the kids when they arrive and depart.

Our congregation caught the spirit of what God was doing and things like our Street Outreach, which delivers meals to the city’s homeless, began to grown. Invited Inn, a ministry that turns the church building into a shelter for homeless families four times a year came into existence.

We had a long tradition of Wednesday night meals at our church. Now those meals feed four times the people and have provided an avenue for people from our community to come and eat for free and stay for worship afterwards.

We’ve learned so much over the last 18 months. We’ve learned that the church can become essential to the neighborhood simply by going out into the community and finding a way to serve people who can’t ever pay you back. Simply put, Jesus told us to “go.” When we are obedient and go, the way the world looks at the church changes.

We’ve also learned that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. Some of the things we’ve been led to do would never have happened without the help of other churches and ministries and even secular organizations. What we learned was that when we work with others, Jesus gets the glory and miraculous things are done in his name.

We’ve learned that we don’t have to be afraid to simply ask, “How can the church bless you?” Sure, some will send us away, but others are dying for our help. They are looking for Christ but how will he come to them if, his body, don’t bring him? We never thought the local school would consider partnering with us. After all, there is a lot of talk these days about separation between church and government. But there are wonderful partnerships to be made out there if we are willing to humble ourselves and serve on terms other than our own.

We also want everyone to understand a few things.
We believe that Jesus has called us to minister everywhere, wherever we are, not just in this neighborhood. But you have to start somewhere. And we encourage all our members to be open to the ministry that Jesus is calling you to right where you are.
We believe that our ministry is to everyone, not just immigrants, but that’s how it started for us and that’s what Jesus has put in front of us today. A few years from now, as our immigrant friends become part of our neighborhood, our ministry focus will undoubtedly change as Jesus calls us forward into new adventures.
We believe that our ministry is not just local. In other words, we still care about the rest of the world. We still seek to support the people and things that God is doing globally.

Eighteen months after beginning our project, the results, to us, are nothing short of miraculous. We believe that we have found the ministry Jesus wants for us in this place at this time. And, amazingly, new opportunities keep on presenting themselves.

The local middle school and high school are now asking for help in transporting students. The local elementary has asked us to double our student transportation. We were able to provide over 500 books to the elementary school, one for every student, just before Christmas. The parents of the children, regardless of their ability to pay for books themselves, have expressed gratitude that the local church cares about their children. The school has also asked us to provide weekend meals for students that the school is concerned have no food when they are not at school. We are currently providing 22 students with food each weekend.

This spring, we’re turning extra land on our campus into community gardens, especially for immigrants who miss being on the land and working the soil. The idea came about at a neighborhood meeting and will involve a partnership between the city, the church and Lutheran Services, a social service organization.

Life skills classes will begin shortly for the 1:00 service. This is a pilot program for us and if it is successful, we hope to open it to the community at large. The classes include things like “how to manage money,” “how to go to the pharmacy and what medicines to buy when your children are sick.” These classes will again be an opportunity for partnership between the church and other members of our community.

We are beginning training now on an Iowa Career Access Point computer. This means that the church will host a computer with available jobs. We’ll provide volunteers from the congregation to help people use it.

What’s next? Only God knows. We continue to pray we will be faithful in responding to his call. What’s next for you? Will you find your story in our story? We invite you to come along and be part of the adventure.

Suggested Reading: The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.
http://nextchristians.com/book.aspx

We're offering this amazing class to go along with this sermon series: Mission Shift. Read about it at: http://www.stpaulsevlutheran.org/sum/missionshift/index.html

Faith

2011-10-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

The following is a letter from an Iranian Christian pastor who has been sentenced to death. Why? Because he refused to deny Christ on three separate occasions before the Iranian supreme court. I suppose it's trite, but I think times like this necessitate the asking of the question, "And what about you?" If they were going to hang you or cut off your head or kill your family or burn down your house, would you keep the faith? Jesus is all the more real when we live precariously in this world. By that I mean, when we realize that for the sake of Him we could lose everything, I think we are more likely to trust him and therefore gain everything.

This sad news from Iran corresponds with our Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) National Gathering (our denomination) in Des Moines this week. We prayed as an assembly for this pastor. I hope we all pray individually for him and for his poor family, too. But later, in the church planting workshops which were held after the Gathering at our church, I heard first hand that suffering is very real in America, too. Not to death, perhaps, (although broken health is a death sentence merely postponed for a later date), but for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of Christ's church, the loss of pensions, savings, houses, cars, churches, friends and even family is quite common among those doing mission in our society today. It reminds all of us that Jesus' call was to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him.

Here are his words. May the Lord grant him grace to stand. Amen. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

(This message has been translated from Farsi to English.)

Dear brothers and sisters, Salam

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am continuously seeking grace and mercy to you, that you remember me and those who are bearing efforts for his name in your prayers. Your loyalty to God is the cause of my strength and encouragement.

For I know well that you will be rewarded; as it’s stated: blessed is the one who has faith, for what has been said to him by God, will be carried out. As we believe, heaven and earth will fade but his word will still remain.

Dear beloved ones, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few verses, although you might know them, So that in everything, you give more effort than the past, both to prove your election, and for the sake of Gospel that is to be preached to the entire world as well.

I know that not all of us are granted to keep this word, but to those who are granted this power and this revelation, I announce the same as Jude, earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

We are passing by special and sensitive days.They are days that for an alert and awake believer can be days of spiritual growth and progress. Because for him, more than any other time there is the possibility to compare his faith with the word of God, have God’s promises in mind, and survey his faith.

Therefore he (the true believer) does not need to wonder for the fiery trial that has been set on for him as though it were something unusual, but it pleases him to participate in Christ’s suffering. Because the believer knows he will rejoice in his glory.

Dears, the “ judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Therefore those who are enduring burdens by the will of God, commit their souls to the faithful Creator. Promises that he has given us, are unique and precious. As we’ve heard he has said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you”

How can it be possible for a believer to understand these words?

Not only when he is focusing on Jesus Christ with adapting his life according to the life Jesus lived when he was on earth? As it is said ” O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”

Have we not read and heard: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Many attempt to flee from their spiritual tests, and they have to face those same tests in a more difficult manner, because no one will be victorious by escaping from them, but with patience and humility he will be able to overcome all the tests, and gain victory.

Therefore in the place of Christ’s followers, we must not feel desperate, but we have to pray to God in supplication with more passion to help us with any assistance we may need.

According to what Paul has said: In every temptation, God himself will make a way for us to tolerate it.

O beloved ones, difficulties do not weaken mankind, but they reveal the true human nature.

It will be good for us to occasionally face persecutions and abnormalities, since these abnormalities will persuade us to search our hearts, and to survey ourselves. So as a result, we conclude that troubles are difficult, but usually good and useful to build us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must be more careful than any other time. Because in these days, the hearts and thoughts of many are revealed, so that the faith is tested. May your treasure be where there is no moth and rust.

I would like to remind you of some verses that we nearly discuss everyday, (Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.) but as long as our human will has priority over God’s will, his will will not be done.

As we have learned from him in Gethsemane, he surrendered his will to the father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

What we are bearing today, is a difficult but not unbearable situation, because neither he has tested us more than our faith and our endurance, nor does he do as such. And as we have known from before, we must beware not to fail, but to advance in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, And consider these bumps and prisons as opportunities to testify to his name. He said: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

As a small servant, necessarily in prison to carry out what I must do, I say with faith in the word of God that he will come soon.”However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Discipline yourself with faith in the word of God. Retain your souls with patience. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.

May you are granted grace and blessings increasingly in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.

Yusef Nadarkhani
Lakan Prison in Rasht
2/June/2010

What We Expect from People Who Go to Church at Zion

2011-10-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

What are we asking of you, when you join Zion?

We know that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ and not by anything we do. But we don’t believe that Jesus intended his people to sit around and navel gaze. He told his followers: “Go! Make followers of me!” In order to make followers, you also have to be a follower, and that means devoting time every day to get to know our Master, Jesus, better.

The biggest commitment we ask you to make when you join Zion is the commitment to grow in your faith. We believe that your intention to join a church, specifically this church, means that you believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that you want to experience here and now the abundant life he offers in this life and the life to come in heaven. We aren’t a church of pew warmers - we are a church of Jesus followers. So we’re asking you to commit to “go” with us on the adventure of a lifetime. Having taken the new member class, and understanding that we are serious about what we believe, we ask you to give yourself to Jesus and his body, the church, in the following ways:

1. Commit to worship together weekly: We understand that “life happens,” and you’ll miss church sometimes. But we ask that you make it a priority, and part of your normal life routine. We don’t track your attendance, and you won’t get an angry note if you’re not in worship, but we believe that worshipping with other Christians is essential to the Christian life. We have 3 Sunday morning services and a Wednesday evening service, so there are plenty of chances to be involved. Our belief is that part of being church together is worshipping together. We believe that in worship, God is glorified and we are each edified, built up, refreshed, and equipped to be sent out into the world to serve Christ together and as individuals. Weekly worship is the fuel that keeps us going day after day. We also encourage our members to consider setting aside time every day for family and personal worship. See Exodus 20:8-9, Psalm 29:1-2, Psalm 95:1-7, Hebrews 10:24-25, Revelation 11:15-17. See Jesus do it: Luke 4:16-21.

2. Commit to reading the Bible every day: Sure there will be days when you don’t get to it, but we ask you to make it your daily habit. A great way to get started is to read 3 chapters of the book of John every day for a month. Every week you’ll finish the entire book (seven days x three chapters = 21 chapters in the book). You can also easily find daily reading Bibles or Bible apps that will guide you through the Bible in a year. Or maybe you’d rather set your own course and read as you feel led. We’re happy as long as you’re engaged with the Scriptures. We’re ready to answer your questions in person or by e-mail and we’re happy to take the time to help you get started. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17. See Jesus do it: Luke 24:25-27.

3. Commit to pray every day: Simply find a few quiet moments and open up your heart and mind to the Lord. Prayer is first and foremost a conversation between you and God. It involves both talking and listening. Through daily prayer, we learn to turn over control of our lives to God and we believe that you will begin to experience his presence more and more as a result. We recommend that if you're new to this discipline, you start with about 15 minutes a day and then try to add more time as you become comfortable with the practice. There are as many different styles and ways of praying as there are people. We offer classes on praying and also have a helpful guide on our website called, “Easy Steps to Homemade Prayer,” if you’re looking for help getting started. See 2 Chronicles 7:14, Matthew 6:5-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, James 5:13-16. See Jesus do it: Mark 1:35.

4. Commit to giving: This includes time, talents and treasure. We ask that you make a commitment to give of yourself to the church, to other people, and to God. This isn’t always easy, and you need to make tough decisions some times. We believe it’s ok to say “no,” so that when you say “yes,” you mean it. In other words, not every mission or program is the right one for you. But seek God’s call and live it out. We want you to give from a cheerful heart as God leads you to Zion and other holy causes- with your time, talents and treasure. We believe that we are called to be generous, as God himself is magnanimous with his grace, so we should be generous and magnanimous with our giving. So we ask our members to give and give generously. We encourage our members to give electronically, so that their offerings come in on a regular basis, even when they are away. This also helps us with our budgeting and stewardship of offerings. See Mark 12:41-44, Luke 6:30, Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8. See Jesus do it: Mt 14:13-21.

5. Commit to serving: Simply put, it is not enough that we should learn about Jesus. If we are to follow him we must also do the things that he does. One cannot be a disciple only in the classroom. To be a follower of Jesus Christ we must follow him from the classroom to the boardroom and the market place, into the life of our neighbor and to the ends of the earth. In a very real way the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world has been given the task of carrying on the ministry of Jesus. Guided and united by the Holy Spirit we are the body of Christ and each individually members of it. (1 Cor 12). All of us have a role to play in ministering in Jesus’ name to the world. We believe that acts of selfless service are done for Jesus himself, even if they benefit others. So we ask our members to be part of our mission together. We ask that you join a ministry and volunteer. Perhaps serving in the church when we get together on a Wednesday or Sunday or maybe serving in an outreach ministry to the neighborhood or the world. Check out the Zion Missions Magazine at the info desk or look online for opportunities at Zion to get involved. If you don't feel that you can make that kind of on-going commitment, we invite you to drop by the "Just Do One Thing" board in the Fellowship Hall where special needs or projects are posted. Just grab one of the items off the board for a quick and easy way to serve. We’re also very open to new opportunities into which the Lord might be leading you. See Ephesians 4:11-13. See Jesus do it: John 13:1-16

6. Commit to take a class: Following Jesus is a growing experience. We can't outgrow Christian faith. As modern day disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to move from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity (Philippians 3:13-14, Ephesians 4:12-14). For this reason we strive to bring people into an ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). This growth best happens in small groups (Acts 2:42-47) and so we offer a number of classes to help you know Jesus and his teachings. As we grow in faith, we turn our hearts to God, giving of ourselves and our resources -- freely and cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). We invite you to commit to being a life long student of Jesus. See 1 Timothy 4:13. See Jesus do it: Luke 2:41-50.

7. Commit to struggle against sin in your life: Jesus forgave our sin on the cross and because of his blood, we are reconciled with the Father. But we still sin. A part of following Jesus is to seek to eradicate sin from our lives so that Jesus might be wholly and completely Lord of our life. As John the Baptist once said, “He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease.” You are not a vacuum, you will be filled with something. As sin decreases, Jesus increases (and vice versa). We strive to die everyday to our old, sinful selves, and to rather live to the new, reborn self through Jesus Christ. See 1 Cor. 10:13, Ephesians 4:22-5:12, 1 John 1:8-9. See Jesus do it: Mt 4:1-11; Mark 14:35-36.

We are Battlestar Galactica

2011-09-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

One of my colleagues got the combination “eye roll” and “tsk, tsk” today from someone who attends our church and was visiting our offices. Why, you might very well ask, would anyone give a colleague of mine, who has offered his/her life as a living sacrifice to God, and who, by the way, along with most of our staff, is at least $10,000 underpaid annually according to a survey of other churches in our region and of our size and budget, get the combination “eye roll” and “tsk, tsk”?

Because our offices were messy and full of donations. Donations of school supplies requested by our local public elementary. Donations of food requested by the same school for students who have no food on the weekend. And donations of clothing for the clothes closet we have that I didn’t have time to take to the room where it is housed.

Why do I bring this up? Because such incidents serve as a reminder that we can’t forget who we are or, more likely, subscribe to the great lie about who we are. What is the great lie? That we, the church, are like a cruise ship. The great lie says that our job is to serve our passengers: to give them the music they like, the food they like, the entertainment they like, the activities they like. If they, the passenger/members aren’t happy, we need to fix what is broken immediately.

But we aren’t a cruise ship.

Incidentally, isn’t it interesting that most church people will pay more for a cruise than they give the church in offerings during the same year?

But that isn’t the reason we’re not a cruise ship. The reason that we are not a cruise ship is because we are, in fact, a warship. We are under the flag of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a mission and he is at war with the powers and principalities and spiritual powers of this world. And because our Lord is at war, we are also at war. The church does not exist to make our attenders comfortable or to serve them: we exist to serve our Lord Christ himself, to be his ambassadors, his representatives, his soldiers, and his servants. Scripture is clear on this point, there can simply be no argument.

The church is not the Love Boat. We are, instead, more like the Battlestar Galactica. We have the holy remnant of a fallen humanity on board and we must all make sacrifices for the common good. We are a “rag tag fleet” of survivors who have been saved for a purpose. We need to have quantities of clothes to clothe the naked, quantities of food to feed the hungry, quantities of whatever is needed to meet whatever need we encounter. Because that is the mission.

Mission is messy. Our Lord has sent us on a mission. We are his partners in redeeming a fallen race. If our mission is messy there are times when we, or our offices, will be messy too.

Let’s remember who we are called to be. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

I’m Going Back to the Phone

2011-09-09T16:08:00.001-07:00

OK, it’s hard for a guy who likes technology like I do to admit it, but I’ve noticed a trend lately. For things that need a response about a week away, e-mail or FB works great. But when I need things NOW!, it has to be the phone.

I’d abandoned the phone in favor of e-mail, FaceBook and Twitter. And for a couple of years, that seemed to work. But now I’ve noticed a trend: people are way to busy to answer e-mail or check e-mail, but they’ll answer their phone.

I know, I know, people respond to text messages. Texting is cool. Hey, I did it all the time in Europe before it was cool here. I get it. But the fact is that a text still isn’t as urgent for the people I need to talk to as a phone. And, remarkably, I find the people I need to talk to actually answer their phone....

Now I realize that at 44 years old I’m a fuddy duddy. And my primary contacts are with people 28 years old and above. But who knew? They answer the phone and they actually return voicemail when they don’t. Go figure. As more and more things come into my life and I become more and more last minute because of the volume, the phone really works.

So thank you, everyone, who answers your phone. Thank you for bailing me out, time and time again. Oh, I’ll still use FaceBook and Twitter and texting and e-mail, but, by golly, I just upped my minutes for real voice to voice communication, too.

God bless. Thanks for reading. PJ

Start with empathy

2011-09-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

If you spoke no English, had less than $100 in your pocket and no credit cards or credit history, had left anything you couldn’t carry behind, and were transported to our country, how long do you think it would take you to get established?

Imagine trying to figure out how to enroll your children in school, where the buses went, how to find a job, where to get furniture and basic needs. Imagine if your child became ill in the night, what would you do? Where would you go? Who would help you?

It’s almost unimaginable, isn’t it?

And yet, over 100 people arrive in our community every year and experience this very thing. Yes, it’s true, there are non-governmental agencies tasked with assisting them, but the agencies themselves are stretched to the breaking point and can’t even begin to answer all the questions people have or serve the full needs of each family.

That’s where the church has to step up. The Bible repeatedly tells us that we are to welcome the stranger in our midst. We must, by Divine decree, help our new neighbors in need. Shouldn’t our hearts desire be to help these new Americans because the love of Christ compels us to show mercy as we have been shown mercy?

Many of the refugees are moving into our neighborhood, just east of Zion. Why? Because of many of the apartment complexes in this neighborhood are owned by privately and the owners and managers are willing to work with the refugees and with their assisting agencies. Our neighborhood also has a vacancy rate high enough to allow people to move here.

You can imagine the effect on the local school? According to the principal, whom I met with last week, our local elementary has 100 new families this school year. 37% of the student body is now “English Language Learner” - meaning that English is not their native language and they need special help in learning English. Unfortunately, funds for assisting the school are not available from the district. We could just shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh, well. Another cut back.” Or, we could see this as an opportunity for the church to be the church and represent Jesus and come and redeem the whole situation by helping in any way we can.

How would we help? In whatever way we could. We’ll be publishing a list shortly of needed supplies. The school is also in desperate need of volunteers. Stay tuned.

We need you to continue doing what you’re doing. We need you to continue volunteering to drive the van and keep moving “at risk” children to school and back. We need you to keep donating your furniture and clothing to the clothes closet and furniture ministry.

We need beds. It’s a strange ask, I know, but we are currently in need of about 40 single beds. Entire families are sleeping on the floor and while it isn’t a life or death issue, it is an issue of dignity. I’m working with Slumberland to try and see if we could purchase new beds at a discount as our supply of “recycled beds” just can’t keep pace with our needs.

We are happy to announce that the garden plots we intend to be used by refugee families are moving closer to completion and should be ready next spring for cultivation.

We need families in the church to volunteer to be “mentor families” for new arriving refugee families. We know this is a big ask, but it needs to happen. Imagine getting together with another family who has learned English enough to communicate and sharing meals and faith and life together, and helping each other through all the ups and downs of life. We have member refugee families at Zion right now waiting for this opportunity. Please, prayerfully consider this opportunity and talk to Pastor John.

So which will it be? Will we step up and model for the world the love of Christ? Or will we be the priest or the Levite in the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan, and just say we are too busy and walk on? I am confident in this church’s ability to respond to needs in our community.

Did you notice? I haven't even mentioned the incredible opportunity to share Christ with people? If you're into evangelism, you need to be getting behind this.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

I wish I had the guts to sing

2011-08-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm standing in the hospital last week and suddenly, the absurdity of the disconnect between our faith and life as Christians comes into sharp focus for me.

A few weeks ago, a friend at church gave me a link to an incredible story from Haiti. After the earthquake, a group of American doctors are working there trying to save as many as they can. Into their ward, in the midst of unimaginable suffering, comes a man with a guitar. Unannounced and without asking for permission, he begins to play. And the people begin to sing. What are they singing? Jesus songs. The doctors are impressed by the spirit of people who have lost everything, singing praises to God in the face of indescribable loss.

You can hear the story by going to: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_1078_Haiti_Update_WLRN_Report.mp3/view

So here I am in this hospital going to visit a man of deep faith who is very sick. And it occurs to me that the most natural thing in the world would be for us to sing praises to God in the midst of his illness and suffering. But I also realize that we won't. Not only is it just, well, "unnatural" in our society, but hey, they'd probably yell at us for bothering the other patients.

The verses from James come immediately to mind: "You don't have because you don't ask God." I'm overwhelmed by the fact that as a Christian in North America in the 21st century, I lack the guts to be a little "weird" and to take a chance on God and do the thing that should be the most natural thing in the world: to sing praise to God in the midst of suffering. My singing isn't very good, admittedly. But I see this same fear at being "weird" in the eyes of the world at work elsewhere. It's no wonder then to me that we are a church where signs and wonders, healings and life transformation don't take place on a regular basis. I think of all the sick people I know right now who believe but who have asked us not to bring the elders and pray for them. And I think, wow, we could all be healed if we'd just step out in faith and trust God to do what he says he'll do in his Word. Then I see I need to pray for more courage and to be more faithful in what seems to be small things but which are actually large things. He who is faithful with small things will be faithful with large things.

Different parts of the same body

2011-08-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

It’s been quite the summer.

I can’t recall another summer when I’ve worked so hard. We finished Art Camp a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing. Ninety kids, most from our neighborhood and not church members. VBS was amazing before that. So were the outreaches we’ve done this summer to our neighborhood and the Drake neighborhood. Everything has been great ; just busy. Finally, about 10 days ago, everything slowed down and I went on vacation.

I wasn’t at Zion this Sunday because I was “on vacation.” One of the cool things about being a preacher on vacation is that you can visit other churches and see what God is up to in other places. So, we visited another church instead. A church not too far from my house on the north side of our city. It isn’t quite yet a mega-church but it’s going to be soon.

It was a very pleasing experience. We were welcomed. They were having a community fair; a huge affair with every imaginable kid friendly appliance and food. The worship production was amazing. Spiritually, yes, I believe we worshipped the King of Kings. It was crowded. The preacher was very good. His words spoke the Word to my heart. In fact, the whole thing was so smooth, so organized, so well done, my wife turned to me as we were leaving and asked, “Do you ever think we should just quit and let other churches that are doing things well just take over?”

OK, I admit it. I’ve thought of that before myself. We always say, “There is only ONE church in this city, the church of Jesus Christ.” So why keep on doing what we’re doing. There are better preachers. There are slicker worship teams. There are churches with more resources doing more things in this city and around the world. There are churches with less baggage. Is it vanity that keeps us going? Do preachers just need jobs and so we need to have lots of churches? Is it that we just couldn’t fathom closing and merging with another congregation or two?

As I looked around the church where we were visiting, I saw signs of the grace of God. There were several mixed race couples (that’s one of my leading indicators about church health. Bi-racial couples sometimes have trouble finding a place to welcome them, but when they find a place, you know it’s a good place that welcomes everyone). There was representation from different races. There were young and old. There were people with different disabilities. While it was overwhelmingly caucasian, it did resemble the changing face of our community well.

They preached the Word and lifted up the name of Jesus. They were passionate that others should come and know the Lord.

They had just had a major event where they provided clothing for 300 needy people.

And so on. They were representing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords well.
So why not just merge with them? Doesn’t it make sense? What makes us unique?

I suppose the answer to that last question, “what makes us unique?” is the reason that in two weeks, I’ll be back to preaching and we’ll keep making mortgage payments on our building and we’ll keep meeting together to pray and worship and teach and serve.

Because the answer is, we are unique. We may not be slick or be the best. We may not have it all figured out. Our sermons may not be for everyone. But somehow, God is using us. And the uniqueness of our church is found in the stories of our people.

Stories like the man who was far from God but because he was loved by his small group who calls our church home, he came to faith in Jesus Christ.

Stories about a number of preachers who lost their churches and found a home and restoration through the ministry of our congregation.

Stories like the guy in our neighborhood converting to faith in Jesus from another religion because together, as Christians locally, we showed him the love of Christ.

Not every church can do everything well. And we shouldn’t expect them to. But each church has a unique role to play in the redemption of the world. Together, acting as a body, we accomplish far more than we think or imagine. Because each of our churches is part of the body of Christ. Some will be parts that have greater honor and more exposure and some will be less honored but no less important in the working of the body.

Mission is Messy (Reprise)

2011-06-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

A reminder to me of how messy mission is: When following Jesus, things can get complicated. The world resists the kingdom of God breaking in. Our Master never promised us it would be easy. We do things intending to bless people and our efforts are rebuffed. Sometimes we totally fail. But we have to keep trying.

Wednesday night I had a strange phone call. It was the mother of some of the kids in our mid-week tutoring program. The family is Muslim. We had invited all the kids to go to Bible Camp this summer. This week I started handing out the permission slips to go. The mother called and was frantic. She told me that if I took her kids anywhere, she’d burn down the church. Wow. That’s messy. I assured her that we would never take her kids anywhere without her permission. I apologized for any harm we had done in extending the invitation and said I hoped that she would consider allowing us to bring the kids to our Art Camp next month. The kids called me later and were upset and disappointed. I told them that God wants us to respect and honor our parents. If their mother didn’t want them to go, they need to respect and honor her. I suggested they try to serve her and love her and maybe, just maybe, she would change her mind.

Friday night, the same mother called back. She was apologetic and said that she gave her permission for her children to go anywhere with me. Wow. Complete change. Praise God. An answered prayer. God changed hearts and minds and his will-will be done. But you have to be willing to wade through the mess first, give up control, and don’t give up.

Last weekend, a friend of mine and our ministry, another Muslim, gave his life to Christ. I’m weeping as I write this. I wasn’t at the service he attended and then he was out of town this week. We finally connected yesterday. His family is in an uproar. I don’t know how this will affect his business. There are so many things to be overcome. It’s messy. But praise God. I am confident that if we wade through the mess, He will be faithful.

Sometimes I think that the church is kept from doing mission because we’re afraid to make mistakes, make a mess, we’re afraid of making people angry or upset. We’re afraid of not meeting the expectations of our long time members to deliver what they expect week after week. We’re afraid of the mess we’ll make if we invite those who don’t know Christ to follow him. They could say no. They could get upset or offended.

Following Jesus is messy. Mission is messy. Being faithful is messy. But do we have the faith to risk failing? The faith to make a mess?

At church we’re experiencing a new phenomenon. Our members are bringing homeless men to church. Wow. The kingdom of God is happening. But it’s messy. The men want to shower before the service. The showers are in a Sunday School area. We have to set up an elaborate system of supervision to be sure that everyone is safe. These men need accountability, they need to be discipled, they need community, they need a job and place to live. It’s ironic to me that as a pastor I’ve never realized that we weren’t set up to incorporate those not in families and without a place to live into our church family. I’d like to think that as a church, we could be a place that could incorporate anyone into the Body of Christ. And now we have to. And it will be messy. And we will make mistakes. And we might even fail. But in the end, it’s worth it. Because following Jesus is messy.

New Directions, New Challenges

2011-06-18T10:53:00.001-07:00

My current working theory: As we seek to minister in Jesus’ name to the people in our neighborhood, it requires us to become more open to them and to their needs. As we become more open to new people in our church, it means we become more open to change in order to accommodate our new friends and to make them feel welcome. As we accommodate more, our structures and styles have to change more.

Case in point: we are seeing a wonderful thing happening with people on the fringes of our society coming to church at Zion. Zion has always been very open to people with various physical handicaps. Now, we’re seeing the Lord bring us people with various other conditions, including mental disabilities and other conditions which make it difficult for them to “fit in with the rest of society.”

Praise the Lord!

We recognize right away that this is a big part of the audience that Jesus would seek to reach. The fact that the crowd on Sundays and/or Wednesdays includes such folks, I think, means that we are continuing along the path of obedience the Lord has called us to follow.

The participation of such folks in the life of the body means that we need to find ways to help them, where appropriate, and, in Jesus’ name, welcome them.

The issue on my mind these days is just how “un-set up to do ministry” we are as a church. This is what I mean: Want to be baptized? We can do that. Want to worship? We do that. Sunday School? Got it. Spiritual questions? Equipped to handle that. Outreaches, missions? Got ‘em.

But come to us with the basics: “I have no where to live.” “I’m hungry.” “I need work.” And we hem and haw and don’t know what to do. Now add to that: “Oh, by the way, I’m schizophrenic.” “I’m homeless.” And we don’t know what to do.

In the past, we’ve been able to accommodate maybe one person at a time. “I’m an offender and I need a job.” We’ve done that. Praise God. But this recent development requires us to stretch. A guy off the street with no housing and no job who wants to follow Jesus requires a whole new approach. An approach we’re not exactly set up for. It would be easier if he wanted Sunday School or Bible Study.

All this came to a head for me this weekend. Apparently, a local business where one of our members works, has been letting a homeless man, a Christian, live in his broken car in their parking lot for the last few weeks. Individual members of our church have been taking him grocery shopping and giving him gift cards. It’s a beautiful thing. But here’s the deal: what’s the long term situation? A single man can live in his car in Iowa in the spring and summer, but not in the winter. We eventually have to find a solution.

Isn’t that why we are church together? To help this brother, a member of the same body we are, find his legs and stand? But how? He needs a place to stay, a place to work, and someone to hold him accountable. It would be great if individual members could do this, but once you consider people’s schedules, our fear of liability issues, the very real fact that this is new to us as a way of doing church (the homeless didn’t used to be our target audience - but Jesus seems to be changing that!), it gets complicated. We really need someone on this more or less full time.

And that’s my big thought for the day. Isn’t it interesting how most churches, including ours, are set up to do ministry? We are set up to meet, first and foremost, the needs of our members. We have a staff member who runs the office for us, one who runs adult discipleship, another who runs children’s discipleship and one who runs youth discipleship and one who runs worship. And me, who preaches and teaches and gets us into stuff. But, in our structure, we’ve no one tasked with ministering to the very least of these. And isn’t that significant? Didn’t Jesus tell us, “whatsoever you do for the least of these, my brethren, you do to me?” Shouldn’t we be set up to minister more to Jesus (as his body) than to minister to ourselves?

So I have a lot of “stuff” churning around in my mind. Obviously it isn’t as simple as I’ve laid it out. Obviously, our various staff do minister to our regular attenders and to the neighborhood and so on. But isn’t it odd how the answer to the man living in the car is really just Christian community and we’re not set up to be that? I find it strange, scandalous and wonderful to be in this position all at the same time. All the more so because I believe the Lord is calling us to again stretch and trust him in obedience.

Thanks for reading. I’m open to your thoughts and comments. God bless you. PJ

This Summer At Zion Church

2011-05-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

It’s a busy summer at Zion.
Don’t think that just because the suns out and the weather has warmed up that we’ll be closing the church. We’ll be here to do ministry each week and here’s a look all the things going on this summer. We hope you’ll be participating in many of the exciting events. Some of the things you may recognize from previous years:

Wednesday’s offer the opportunity for your kids to come and have fun at Zion from 1-3 p.m. each week beginning June 8.

Vacation Bible School is looking for volunteers. Don’t forget to register all the kids in your life either in the lobby or online at www.ziondsm.org

And some of the things are brand new.
CANVAS Art Camp.
Something new for us this year at Zion. CANVAS: Crafted by God, Creative for Jesus is an art camp designed to reflect on Ephesians 2:10, “We are His workmanship created for good works in Christ.” CANVAS is an opportunity for children third through seventh grade to learn painting, collage and 3D art from Christian artists and find ways to express their God given creativity. Artist Ann Williams will also be joining us from Lincoln, NE. You may remember her as one of the artists who exhibited at Zion’s art show last spring. The camp is a Zion project led by Grace Kline with help from Cyndee Buck who runs the Express Your Faith art ministry at Lutheran Church of Hope. CANVAS will also be an outreach event with kids from the neighborhood attending. We’re also pleased to announce that a youth group from Hayward, WI, on a mission trip will be helping us. CANVAS will be held July 11-15 between 12 and 4:30 p.m. Lunch is included. Registration is $25 per child and will begin in June. Watch the weekly bulletin and the website for details.

Summer Book Club for Adults
Want some good spiritual books to read this summer? Come join us on Sunday mornings June 21, July 19 and August 23 at 9:15 at Zion. The three books we’ll be reading are, Practicing the Presence of God: Letters from a Skeptic; and The Ragamuffin Gospel. Check the Adult Discipleship page on the Zion website for more details. Conversations about the books will be led by Bob Norris.

Invited Inn
It’s time for more homeless families to call Zion their home for a week. Our guests will be here the week of May 22nd. Make them welcome and if you can help, sign up in the lobby.

Summer Adult Discipleship
All offerings are held in the Fellowship Hall at 9;15 a.m. Sundays
June 12, Rev. Harold Hosch, “The Shema in Our Lives” (Deuteronomy) The Shema is Israel’s confession of faith, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” Find out from our scholar in residence the significance of this statement to our life and faith today.
July 10, Shannon Bauer, “Identity in Christ” Shannon Bauer is a therapist currently practicing at a clinic in Ankeny, at Zion, and at Hope Lutheran on the Eastside of Des Moines. Shannon will led us through a discussion of who we truly are and expose who we are truly not.
August 14, Rev. Shola Falodun. Shola’s life experience could be a topic all of it’s own. From life in Nigeria to hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, Shola has experienced much and found God at work in all of it. Come and get to know our very own community missionary.

Outreach Events
We have seen so much fruit from the simple outreach events we did last summer that we’d like to do it again. We plan on revisiting the Douglas Terrace apartment complex on Sunday and brining our bounce houses, some food and music as well as games and things for the kids to do. We’ll be asking for volunteers and hope to know the exact dates of these outreaches soon.

We also plan on doing a new outreach, similar to those at Douglas Terrace, to the four apartment complexes clustered around the Wunder Years Academy (Head Start) at Clarkson and MLK. Wunder Years has expressed a desire to do something for their neighbors and we plan to help. So a party is in it’s planning stages and we’ll keep you abreast of this new outreach opportunity.

Redeemer (Lutheran Church) Neighborhood Outreaches
Zion and Redeemer are sister churches in the same denomination (LCMC) and we dream of one day being able to tithe Redeemer some of our members and a pastor so that they can “re-plant” their church. Redeemer is strategically located in the Drake neighborhood, just blocks from the University campus. There are many apartment complexes very close to the church and we feel that this summer is the perfect time to start a Douglas Terrace type outreach at Redeemer. Four Sunday dates have been chosen. They are: June 5, July 10, August 7 and September 11. We hope that you’ll consider coming to Redeemer on these Sundays and helping us reach out to their neighborhood and introduce them to Christ and his church.

Street Outreaches Continue
We’ll keep on during the summer reaching out to the homeless with lunches and prayers. Every third Saturday you can come at 9:00 a.m. and make lunches and then go and distribute them.

Out of town on weekends this summer?
Try our midweek worship service.
The more service will continue this summer. Wednesdays are the new Sundays. more offers a different look at the Sunday sermon in a casual, come as you are, relaxed environment in the Fellowship Hall. Service begins at 6:35 p.m. A light supper is available beforehand beginning at 5:45.

New Clothes Closet (and furniture and housewares, too)
To better serve our community and our Zion family, Zion will be having a clothes closet. Donations of clothes and household goods can be made in the Fellowship Hall. They will be sorted and available for distribution downstairs in room 110. Jodi Whitsitt will be heading up this ministry. We are currently seeking donations of plastic tubs, hangers, and garment racks in order to get started. These items can also be dropped off at the church. This ministry will function in conjunction with clothing donations made to our Street Outreach ministry and Hope Ministries.

Community Gardens
Where are we with our plans to make garden plots available to the community and church members on the land just to the south of our building? Well, we have some great volunteers waiting for land to till and mark off in plots. We also have great volunteers looking for truckloads of compost to improve the poor soil quality that currently exists on the site. Once we have the dirt and a way to mix it into our current soil, we’ll be ready to start. Even if we can’t get a crop in this summer, we’re still excited to be ready for next year with plots assigned to members and friends in the community. Many of the plots will be given to immigrant families who miss their connection to the land. If you have any compost to donate or would like to help with the project in any way, please contact Pastor John. Brian Thielges is our new project manager on this exciting new project.

Well Done
A huge thank you to all who volunteered this past academic year at Zion. Thank you to everyone who helped clean the church, teach Sunday School or other classes, who gave time or money to help us in our mission efforts. Sunday School and Wednesday Wow volunteers will be honored at 9:15 on Sunday, May 22. It was a fantastic year and we wish you all a magnificent summer and hope to see you back in the fall.

A big thank you as well to those of you who drove kids to school this year. From December 1 through the end of the school year, we have transported 14 kids to and from school each school day. This effort has resulted in 13 van driving volunteers. Thanks.

Thanks to all who folded bulletins, stuffed letters, helped with IT or the website or answered phones or ran vacuums or went on a Street Outreach or a Monday Night Supper or who made our guests welcome during an Invited Inn week.

And for those of who have been helping tutor kids on Wednesday night or helping us with crowd control - praise God! What more can we say. We had 15 steady volunteers and saw and increase from 4 kids in September to nearly 70 in May. Thank you.

And to the Wednesday night kitchen crew and those who did the grocery shopping and Tuesday night food prep - thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your efforts are greatly appreciated and this year we had a new record for meals served on a Wednesday night - 289. Thank you.

This Summer Pastor John Shall Read

2011-05-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Turns out the books on ministry were right: it does take between 3 and 5 years to establish your ministry as a pastor in an established church. In my case, I think it took the entire five years. Now, contemplating the end of my sixth year at Zion, and the beginning of my sixth summer here, I look back and wonder where all the time went. I simply don’t recall having time to read during the summer before. It seems the first summer we were having a baby and after that we were always completely redoing all the programming or running at a frantic pace to try and get the right people to the right places or raise the necessary revenue to continue the ministry. But this year is different. This summer, Pastor John shall read.

I’m looking forward to reading again. It seems like it’s been ages since I had time to read. It doesn’t help that I’m a slow reader, a fact complicated by my need to stop and take notes and think things through.

So I have a big pile of books on my desk in my study at home. They’ve been accumulating throughout the year. I’d like to share my reading list with you in part to invite you to read along with me, but also so that you will know what I’m thinking about and mulling over this summer.

1, The Bible. Yes, it’s true. I’ll be reading the Bible. I’ve decided to try a radically different translation, however. I’ll be reading Eugene Peterson’s The Message. It claims to be the Bible in today’s English so I’ll be interested to see how reading the old, old story with updated words will affect me. I look forward to new insights.

2. Building A Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church by Mark DeYmaz. I’ve quoted DeYmaz in my blog from a recent podcast he did. He referenced his own book and I bought it right away. I’ve started it already and I think the insights are extremely helpful for where we are as a church that is being integrated by God and for what I think He has in store for us in the not so distant future. Last Wednesday night I referenced DeYmaz’s list of seven things we must do to integrate the church during my sermon. This is very thought provoking stuff and I’m particularly grateful for his astonishing exegesis of John 17. I’m grateful to have recently joined DeYmaz’s Mosaix network of churches who are intentionally integrating different races.

3. Christless Christianity by Michael Horton. The subtitle is: “The Alternative Gospel of the American Church.” Been on my desk for a year, I think. Recently re-recommended by a reader of this blog. I’ve seen it referenced elsewhere and I look forward to delving in. I assume, (which is always dangerous!) that it will tell me the church has left behind the teachings of Jesus for either customer service, entertainment, or cultural accommodation. I think that might be true in many cases. My fear is always that we tend to paint with too broad a brush and wind up cursing what God is blessing. I’ve seen so many people come to faith in Christ because they were attracted by the “parlor tricks” we sometimes play at church in order to make it interesting. At the end of the day, however, what got them in the door wasn’t what saved them. They met Jesus. So I’m interested to see this book’s take on the relationship between throwing a good party (Jesus was always going to parties) and straight forward, no nonsense biblical preaching.

4. Eric Jensen’s Teaching with Poverty in Mind, given to me by one of the great teachers in our school district. The subtitle is: “What Being Poor Does to Kid’s Brains and What Schools Can Do About It.” I’m intrigued. I wouldn’t have chosen this book off the shelf, but since it comes from a respected colleague in the fight to teach kids about Jesus, I will devour it this summer. I want to make sure that our attitude to teaching the kids in poverty who come to our church is godly. I suppose I fear that maybe my presuppositions about education are incorrect. So I look forward to the challenge this book might present.

5. The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero. One of the associations we belong too sent it to me for free and I was intrigued. I’d heard about it from a good friend before. The subtitle declares: “A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives.” I hope it does. I’m tired of wasting time watching the same folks live out the same scenarios over and over again. Sometimes I think our congregations are only interested in what the church will give them, i.e., a good youth program. They don’t seem to be affected by what we preach at all. If they comment at all it’s because we taught them some new fact about 1st century Judaism they didn’t know before. They don’t say, “Wow. That teaching from the Bible changed my life.” I simply don’t know how to preach to people who think they know it all but whose lives appear to be joyless and devoid of sacrifice, cross carrying, struggle, or peace. So, needless to say, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s inside this one.

6. George Barna’s Revolutionary Parenting. Turns out, the problem with kids these days might well be their parents. We believe putting our kids in the right situations will make them the right kinds of people. But there is so much more to raising a “spiritual champion.” Lately, I’ve been shocked by the parents who seem so out of touch with what their kids are actually doing. “My child would never do that!” But it seems as if the kids are teaching each other and the parents are completely out of the mix. Kids in our church are having oral sex and saying it isn’t real sex; they are soliciting sex on FaceBook; they are “sexting;” they are bullying each other and figuring out how to guilt their peers into doing what they want. We need some heart to heart talks with parents and I have to have some information to share. So this is a start. Wish me luck. :) I want my own kids to be spiritual champions. Don’t you?

7. Swedish novels by such authors as Kjell Erickson and Henning Mankell. You could say that it’s good to read something besides church stuff. But what fascinates me about these novels (and I have three on the docket), is how they are filled with anxiety and hopelessness, especially when it comes to death. Here are a couple of quotes to show what I mean:

“He said silent, agitated prayers - not really to any god, but more to himself, urging himself to resist, to not allow himself to be dragged down into eternal silence.”

“I can feel death tugging me at me. The earth is pulling me down. Sometimes, when I wake up during the night, just before the agony gets so bad that I need to scream, I have time to ask myself if I’m scared of what lies in store. I am.”

In these novels there is no relationship with God. No Jesus. No hope. No salvation. After living in Europe, I can tell you they are accurate indicators where many, many people are in terms of their understanding about what death is. It is silence. It is non-being. It is over. Wow. How tragic.

I feel I must be continually reminded about how Europeans just 10-20 years old than I feel about death. Hopeless. I feel this is important because I believe as a culture we shall soon be there. In my brief life of ministry, spanning some 20 plus years now, I have met so many people older than I who attend church regularly but who seem to have no peace when it comes to their mortality. I cannot comment harshly, as I am younger and, people argue, less likely to die soon. But I also remember the day I made peace with death through Jesus Christ. I remember Jesus assuring me it wasn’t something to worry about. And that, in fact, is what Scripture tells us. So I read these kind of novels so as not to loose touch with the audience we need to reach with the hope and peace and love and joy of Jesus Christ.

8. The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America, by Gabe Lyons. I bought this book in the winter and took it on our vacation to Florida but never got to read much of it. The idea behind the book is that the emphasis of churches is changing. Many churches will die out because they are self centered. But there are many churches who are finding Jesus is leading them into a glorious future full of hope. These are churches that are both deep in their teaching and effective in their local outreaches. They make a spiritual difference in the lives of their members and make a real impact in their city. I plan to finish the book this summer.

9. Here’s a real classic. My wife recently read it in one of her group studies. The Christian’s Secret of A Happy Life.” Written by Hannah Whitall Smith in 1952, it’s a classic. But good books are timeless. So I look forward to her advice. If Christian’s need anything in 2011, it’s joy.

10. The last book is all about me and for me. So I may very well read it first. But I doubt it. For years I’ve been trying to find a way to have a healthy lifestyle as a preacher. Food, it appears, is my downfall. Growing up, food was a reward. It was the thing you got when the work was done, when you’d done a good job. I put on a 100 pounds at my last church because I didn’t eat dinner until late at night - when the work was done. For almost a decade I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to take it off. It’s hard to believe that I was once tall, tan, thin and blond. But I have pictures! So I’m reading Eat Your Way to a Healthy Life, by Ed and Elisa McClure. The McClure’s are from Texas and I wish I was there now. He ate bbq (without sauce) for the first 100 pounds. Being a preacher presents a time challenge as far as food prep is concerned (we have early morning, lunch, and evening meetings). Also, as far as money is concerned, fresh food costs more and let’s face it, it’s far, far more convenient to the schedule to eat out. So I have a lot to learn and am looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to suggest books I should read or share what you will be reading this summer. God bless. PJ

Notes and Reflections After Listening to Mark DeYmaz, Pastor of Mosaic Church in Little Rock, AR, about being an intentionally multi-ethnic church

2011-04-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

You can listen to the same podcast I did. Just look for Mark DeYmaz’s podcast at
http://www.onthecity.org/resources/city_conversations/

The vision for a church that is multi-ethnic originates with Jesus and then becomes a Biblical mandate. Jesus earnestly desires that all his followers be one - one with him, one with the Father, and one with each other. Jesus envisions a church that is composed of different people from different backgrounds and classes and races coming together to be his body (John 17).

The Holy Spirit creates such a church in Antioch in Acts 11. The Bible describes this church as Jews and Gentiles (two different races) coming together and forming a church centered around Jesus the Messiah. The leadership team of this first multi-ethnic church were Jews and people from Africa and Asia. (Acts 11:19-26). This is the church where Paul first has a leadership role.

Paul goes on to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and he intentionally builds churches which mix both Jews and Gentiles. The entire book of Ephesians is devoted to the unity of the church for the sake of the Gospel, by which Paul meant the unity of Jews and Gentiles, living and worshipping together - being one in Christ. In Chapter 2, Paul talks about how the blood of Christ has broken down the walls that separated Jews and Gentiles. In Christ, they are one people. In Chapter 3, Paul talks about the great mystery of how God intends that Gentiles are to be included in his salvation.

Why is the church in North America so segregated? There are many, many reasons, but chief among them is that the devil loves to divide people and seeks to keep Christians from becoming one. In John 17 Jesus says that if his followers are one, all the world will know he is the Savior. The devil surely doesn’t want that to happen.

Zion has a long history of being a welcoming place to mixed race couples. Recently, however, we’ve seen God doing some amazing things that lead us to believe that he intends to make us into a multi-ethnic congregation.

About two years ago, we had several Liberian families join the church. “Why this church?,” I asked. “Because when we drove by, God said, ‘This is a good church.’” Amazing. Overnight, 1% of our membership was Liberian.

Then last fall Shola arrived. Shola is from Nigeria and he and his family have been a blessing to me and to our church. Shola ought to be on staff. I hope someday we can afford to hire him.

Then, in December of last year, the Mizo approached us about joining together. By March of 2010, we had a fifth weekly service, this one in the Mizo dialect. Again, overnight, we’ve suddenly become a multi-ethnic church with members from all over the world. God is certainly up to something and my earnest prayer is that we allow him to continue his work and that we participate in it and become the church he desires us to be.

DeYmaz outlines Seven Core Commitments that a church as to make in order to become multi-ethnic.

You must embrace dependance. God is the one who is doing the work. He is bringing the people of different backgrounds and ethnicities. it is his work. We cannot “make it happen” by ourselves. We cannot program it, we cannot control it. In order to allow God to work, we, the congregation and leaders, must be comfortable being uncomfortable as God works.

You must take intentional steps. As God does the work, we must be obedient. We must be ready to move out and do what God is asking. We need to be willing to go out into the community and help people. We must be willing to invite them to meet Christ. Sometimes our worship styles can be obstacles to what God wants to do and we have to be ready to sacrifice our preferences and traditions. We are not talking about compromising theological principals here. God would never ask us to compromise the truth. But he may ask us to compromise all manner of human preferences and traditions. It is the age old question: will we ask the new people to assimilate or will be accommodate them? To assimilate means that we ask them to change. To accommodate means that we ourselves are willing to change for the sake of the other.

You must be willing to empower diverse leadership. As a church, are we willing to raise up leaders who are of different races than we are and empower them to lead?

You must develop cross cultural relationships. This means that we have to willing not just to say “Welcome to church!” to people of different races, but we must be willing to share their experience as well and really get to know them. We need to go to dinner at each other’s houses. We must be willing to build relationships and to really get to know each other on a personal level.

You must be willing to pursue cross cultural competence. This means that you are willing to grow in your understanding of different people and their experiences. You are willing to learn what offends and what honors them. It means that you are willing to learn a few words of their language, taste their food, share their stories.

You must be willing to promote a spirit of inclusion. What does this mean? It means that we must be willing to make people feel welcome. Display the flags from the places they come from. Translate our bulletins. Be sure that in everything we do we put them on the same level as we are. That we don’t treat anyone like a second class citizen.

You must be willing to mobilize for impact. What does this mean? It means taking the power of God that is present in diversity (when his followers are one) and using that power to impact your city for the Gospel. Can you imagine what would happen to Des Moines if the churches were truly united? Men and women of every ability, class and race, working together? That witness would transform our city.

DeYmaz identifies many challenges that will face us. Remember, the devil doesn’t want this to happen.

Challenges include (but are not limited to):
Personal challenges. Our friends or family members may not approve of what we’re doing. After all, this is a difficult task. We could be more comfortable and safer doing something else.
Theological challenges. It is harder and slower to build a church that is multi-ethnic.
Relational challenges. In working with people of different races, there is a 100% chance of being offended.
Philosophical challenges.
Practical challenges. How will we do worship now?
Spiritual challenges. DeYmaz says that it’s no accident that Paul put his treatise on spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. The book of Ephesians is all about unity between Jews and Gentiles. The devil will be sure to attack us. Unity provokes him.

The podcast is wonderful and I hope you’ll take some time to listen to it. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

Report on London MoodleMoot 2011: A Conference on Open Source Learning Environments

2011-04-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Why on earth is it important for a pastor go to conferences?

Trevin Wax recently blogged about this (http://trevinwax.com/2011/04/19/gospel-retreat-for-gospel-advance/utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2Ftrevinwax+%28Kingdom+People%29). He says:

"There are many reasons why conferences are important to pastors:
-We need the mutual strengthening that comes from face-to-face conversation.
-We need the opportunity to sit and listen to the Word preached.
-We need to be reminded that the kingdom of God is vast and that God is working in all sorts of ways through all kinds of people.

"Conferences help us envision ourselves as individuals taking part in a bigger movement, a procession of the gospel that moves from God to us and then through us to the people around us. It's no wonder we enjoy the occasional retreat. We need to be refreshed and have our spiritual batteries recharged. God works in us so that He can continue to work through us."

I'd add to this that pastors are supposed to teach, and the best teachers are life-long learners themselves. In order to challenge people from the pulpit we have to be challenged ourselves. This isn't an idea unique to me. Continuing education and spiritual growth is a part of many clergy salaries. Part of my compensation package is supposed to include money for the furtherance of my learning and spiritual growth yearly. Sadly, for the last few years, that money just hasn't been available, nor was it available this year.

So why a technology conference in London? Because a long time friend and supporter of my ministry who lives in another state bought my ticket and paid many of my expenses. He felt that this was important enough for me to see and as he was going to the same conference, he could help me navigate the waters and answer my not so techie and very basic questions. To him for his generosity and to the church for the time away, I am grateful.

But why on earth a technology conference?

Because the internet isn't going away and we, as the church, need to be up to date on the very latest teaching applications. It's almost a Reformation prerogative that the church needs to appropriate new ways of communicating the old, old story. As I look at our efforts to educate our congregation and the larger world about Christ and his teachings, I believe we are being called to make more and more of our classes and supplementary materials available online, to be accessed by our members and others. Imagine how many things someone like Harold Hosch, our Scholar in Residence, has to teach. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could capture his lectures for a broader audience and a future audience? Wouldn't it be wonderful if that class you wish you could take on Wednesday night but that interferes with your commitment to volunteer in Childrens Discipleship was available on-line as an open course you could take at your own pace? Technologies available now, and beginning to come into use by schools, could help us multiply our teaching ministry and provide more opportunities for people to learn. Imagine being able to go to our website during and after a sermon to download "more information" on a particular aspect of the teaching that was interesting to you. The applications are literally endless. And, just so we're all clear, such teaching has as it's object the glorification of God and not ourselves.

I suppose that's one of the things that struck me the most about this conference. Our interest in using technology doesn't come from a desire to be cool or have the latest stuff, it comes, rather, from a desire that the whole world knows Christ Jesus. Both inside and outside the church. The content we have, the Gospel, drives us to find new ways to reach the lost and engage the seeking and edify the already convinced. It isn't about the technology, it's only a delivery system. It's about the love of Jesus Christ which compels us to share his teachings with everyone.

Here are some of the things I learned in a nutshell:

1. Current use of the Internet in education is as a static depository. That is, you Google what you want to find out. It's like a giant library. But use is now changing. Through open platforms such as Moodle, it is now possible to actually teach online, make your course freely available to all, interact with students in real time and solicit feedback all in the same place. So the really great communion class you teach can now be accessed worldwide by churches who may not wish to reinvent the wheel and are looking for good material. I see this as very exciting. Imagine churches where their are great teachers being about to teach in many churches at once. This seems to really honor the spiritual gifts of people and I believe, rightly applied, it could move us closer to a truly biblical model of doing church.

2. Educational applications of technology do not exist to replace people but rather to further communication and make our face time together more profitable.

3. It isn't about having the latest and greatest technology. Technology is wasted without solid content. In other words, what we teach is still far more important than whether or not you use Moodle or some other technology.

4. Lectures work for some people. Other learners with different learning styles engage the material in different ways. Using a tool like Moodle helps people find their own ways to learn. We learn through creation, observation, sharing, peer feedback and discussion, among other ways. Moodle allows us more flexibility in addressing these different ways of learning.

5. As a church, we're always looking for new ways to connect and communicate with people. Imagine being able to access your child's Sunday School or WOW class online and see what he or she is learning? Imagine being able to download resources to help you reinforce the lessons at home. Wow. The applications are limited only by our imaginations.

6. I was the only church guy at the conference. All others from education or business, with one rep from the police and one from the army. So this hasn't really caught on in the church yet. But it needs too. The nature of the classroom is about to change forever and we need to be ready for it!

7. We are now defined not just by what we know as individuals, but also now, thanks to technology, by what our "networks" know. You can see this in the way that FaceBook and Twitter can solicit immediate feedback. "I have a problem, anyone got an answer?" And immediately, you get feedback. So, the idea is, if you're networked to me, I know what I know and what you know because we can share all that knowledge almost effortlessly via the internet. Wow. Community = network. Amazing. I'm still chewing on this.

The most amazing lecture was delivered by Grainne Conole, from the Open University. Her key note really opened my mind and gave me so much to think about it and I am really, really grateful.

One of the highlights of the whole trip was worshipping at Holy Trinity Brompton, the church from where the Alpha Course originates. HTB is one of the churches on my short list that I wanted to experience for myself before I die. The worship, the teaching, the people, all really ministered to me. It was wonderfully refreshing and I'm still processing the experience.

Another big benefit of going to London was the chance to spend an evening with Richard Goodwin, one of the foremost authorities on Christian Counseling in the UK. He has graciously agreed to come to Zion and teach for us and our city at some point in the future. Just the chance to catch up with Richard, have dinner, and spend some time in conversation about broader issues within the church around the world was really special and encouraging for me.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Let's Do Something Beautiful for Jesus - No, Really, Let's Do it.

2011-04-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

What follows is a very rough draft of where I think Zion could lead our neighborhood. It hasn’t been approved by anyone in authority. It is simply the result of prayer and watching where God has led us this far.

Vision: That Zion lead the way in our community to God’s brighter future. This is accomplished by getting to know our neighborhood, analyzing it’s needs, and finding innovative and faithful ways of meeting them.

Who is our community?: Our community is roughly defined as the Lower Beaver, Beaver and Meredith Drive neighborhoods. Our immediate activities focus primarily on the Lower Beaver neighborhood with the intention of expanding our ministry work from neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the city as God leads.

Goal: That Zion Lutheran Church will fully engage with it’s community as a force for God’s redemption through Jesus Christ.

Imagine living in a community where the church led the way in truly knowing and loving our neighbor. Imagine living in a neighborhood, for instance, where every child was intentionally offered pre-college career counseling; college admissions counseling and help finding a job while a student. Imagine a neighborhood where there were people who wanted to coach you on how to handle your money, buy a house or a car, or even learn how to cook economically and nutritionally. Imagine a community where the major businesses and institutions regularly sat down to consider neighborhood issues and how to help solve local problems. Imagine a community where every child was offered a chance to attend camp and where each child was individually known and valued and their future was the top priority of the whole neighborhood. Imagine a community where there was help for those who couldn’t afford their medications and there was emergency help available to solve the kinds of problems that systematic programs cannot address. Imagine a community that united around the concept of education and found ways to provide quality education for all it’s children and supported it’s teachers and made itself available to ensure the best present and future possible for it’s children. Such a community would be a community that had been redeemed, a community where all things were possible, a community that could help other communities unite to bring redemption and hope in other parts of town. This doesn’t have to be a dream. We believe that such things are possible if the church leads the way.

Why is the church uniquely suited to accomplish this task? Because of Jesus. Jesus, the founder and Lord of the church showed us that all people are our neighbors. He encouraged us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him into a life of sacrifice and service. Jesus desires the daily death of the church to itself as it pours his life into the world around it. The church, when it is truly the church, is the last altruistic establishment in our society. The church is capable, when it is truly the church, of uniting disparate groups within our neighborhood to work for good. Finally, the church is the only institution in the world that was founded to sacrifice itself for the good of others. It’s founder set the mark very high. To bring redemption, the church is willing to lay down it’s life and die.

One big value we have is to open as many opportunities as possible for other churches and organizations to partner with us. We realize that we can’t do this alone. We realize that this is a miraculous opportunity for the church in Des Moines to truly be One.

Those who have agreed to be in partnership with us in our community so far: Freedom for Youth, Merle Hay Mall, VA hospital, Broadlawns, various local ethnic restaurants, Wunder Years Academy, Meredith Drive Reformed Church, Lutheran Services of Iowa, International House of Prayer - Iowa, Samuelson Elementary,

Change is coming to the Lower Beaver Neighborhood. The neighborhood is composed of single family and multi-family dwellings built after the second world war. The neighborhood is a great place for a starter or first time home. Prices are reasonable and quality is good. Local apartment complexes have also found recent immigrants to America who are being resettled here through federal partnerships, to be excellent renters. As the immigrants establish themselves, they are purchasing homes in the neighborhood. With the addition of the Thai Village Complex on MLK, which anchors the eastern part of the neighborhood, immigrants are likely to continue to move into the neighborhood. Immigrants have different needs than other minority groups. These needs are tantamount in our consideration as our plans continue.

Below are a series of projects that we believe would help in the redemption of our neighborhood. Some are in progress and could expand, some are yet to be started. A list of needed resources is also provided for each project. The projects are not listed in order of priority.

School transportation for ELL students living 1.7 miles from the school. Because of a very busy street and the distance from school (especially in the winter), Zion is currently providing transportation for 14 students each school day. The current students have been selected by the school. Different groups, living in the same apartment complexes as the students, are now petitioning the church through Lutheran Services of Iowa to increase our activity to include their children as well. There is definitely an identified need here for expansion. Needed resources: Another van or larger bus. Drivers. Gas. Maintenance of vehicle. Vehicle insurance.

Whiz Kidz Tutoring Program (in affiliation with Freedom for Youth). Currently, as many as 55 kids participate on Wednesday nights (Sept - May). With 15 tutors, we are hard pressed to provide one-one tutoring but consider the fact that the kids keep coming (and bringing friends) to be justification to continue. The environment is safe and the atmosphere fun. Dinner is also provided. Needed resources: educational supplies, furniture, tutors, transportation, drivers.

Neighborhood Emergency Fund: The idea is to establish a fund, replenished on a regular basis; that would be available to aid families in our neighborhood in an intentional but non-recurring way. Examples would be, helping with a special, one time project or emergency need (car repair). Special counselors would administer the fund and would meet with each applicant to determine how needs could best be addressed. Needs: money for fund

Prescription Assistance Fund: A special fund would be established and made available to help people in the neighborhood who are having trouble filling their medications. The fund could be accessed only at the request of a local pharmacist. Needs: money for fund

Community Garden: Using available land at Zion that is currently not in use, the idea is to create garden plots that would be available to immigrant families. Some small percentage of plots would be made available to families in the church. The plots would follow basic guidelines established by the City of Des Moines in their community gardening program. Applications would be taken from immigrant families and then a lottery would be used to choose which would receive the plots. Lutheran Services of Iowa would be our partner in this. Needs: fence, ultimately, a water line, monthly water charge

Soccer team: The local apartment complexes are full of young kids with nothing to do. In order to provide structure and discipline, we propose starting a soccer team. The kids would help to raise some of their own support and the church would help with the rest. Soccer is universally played by the kids and this would serve as a way of bringing them together in a positive activity. We would either join a league or find a way to enter into competition with other clubs. Needs: Uniforms, equipment, any fees associated with being part of a league; travel expenses?

Art Camp: Creativity is an important aspect of human life and as we seek to provide opportunities for kids in our neighborhood we don’t want to forget to foster their creative and innovative spirit. Beginning in July, 2011, Zion will host a week long summer art camp for kids 3rd - 6th grade. The week long camp, which begins with a meal, will expose the kids to various artistic media and allow them to express themselves in a productive way. Needs: about $25 per child; supplies

ESL classes for parents: Much of the work so far has focused on children. But it is very important that learning English doesn’t isolate parents from their children. Parents need to learn English as well. We proposed hosting ESL classes at the church taught by volunteers from inside and outside the church. Classes would be held at times convenient for the parents work schedules, perhaps on weekends or Wednesday evenings.

Music Camp. We propose sponsoring a music camp in the summer. There are many musicians in the church happy to teach and these musicians have friends in the community who could help. The camp could run for a week or be a weekly activity, depending upon the response from musicians. We would seek to find instruments for the kids to play. A small guitar, for instance, runs about $100. We could borrow rhythm instruments from local schools. A few more electronic keyboards and maybe another drum set would help as well. The next challenge would be how to find instruments the kids could afford if they proved to have a desire to continue with their musical studies. The music camp experience would conclude with community concert.

Furniture and clothing for immigrant families. New immigrants being resettled in Des Moines will number about 100 persons per year in 2011. That’s down from over 300 per year three years previously. The decrease in new immigrants comes about because sponsoring organizations no longer felt they could do a good job in light of budget cuts and many of the supporting systems, like education, were already overwhelmed. Des Moines is now becoming a secondary settlement site, however, as families move here now after having been settled in other areas of the country, to be close to family and friends and also because Iowa has a good job market. The Chin people and Iraqis are now coming to Des Moines in “second migrations.” Zion is well connected in the local refugee community and we are consistently asked to help new families establish themselves in apartments with donations of furniture or clothing.

Camperships: This year, our dream is to send about 28 kids to Riverside Camp. We think the camping experience will be formative in the lives of our neighborhood kids. We’d like to be able to offer scholarships to every child in the neighborhood and church. We’ve found an amazing partner in Riverside Camp who will work with us to accommodate our children. We believe it would be best for the children to earn some of the money themselves through fund raisers or through doing various jobs at church or in the neighborhood. Needs: money for scholarships. A selection process. Someone to oversee the project, especially helping the kids to raise their part of the expense.

Career and education counseling: There are so many opportunities open to kids you wonder how come any of them would fail to take advantage. But while there are many opportunities, there are very few people in the lives of the kids telling them what they’re good at. Kids are attracted to the things that high salaries can buy, but may not have the right set of aptitudes to succeed in a particular field. However, they may have amazing aptitudes in another field. The idea for this project is to offer counseling by professionals to help the kids determine where they are gifted and in what kinds of things they are interested in or even good at. When a field of interest is selected, it should be possible for the kids to shadow or observe that profession. Finally, a course of study and direction can be lined out for the kids to follow as they seek to achieve their goals. The desire of the program is to give intentionality to the process of deciding “what do I want to be when I grow up?” Without a future to dream about, the present often seems bleak. Perhaps the best way to describe this process is to say that the goal is to help the child choose a target, take aim, and hit the target. Needs: counselors and their fees; a way to market the program.

Life skills training: We live in a world of fractured families, and often times that means that information doesn’t get passed down from one generation to another. Holes develop, and critical information doesn’t get passed along. This project would seek to plug some of those holes, as well as train people who are new to our culture who may never have developed the skills necessary to manipulate the systems we take for granted. Topics include bill paying, budgeting, house and car purchasing, cooking/menu planning. Needs: There are plenty of realtors, car salesmen and financial planners in the church we can rely on. Home economics people, maybe money for demonstrations.

Parenting Seminars: with translation... In many refugee families both mother and father are working very long hours. Since many are working in meat packing plants an hour or more away, they are gone from home much of the time. This has led to some discipline problems as parents are too tired to raise their children. Compounded by the fact that the children are learning English at school faster than their parents are at work, inequities and imbalances are developing in the traditional roles of parents and children. Parenting skills are now in serious need of being taught given the new reality of families. We understand that not many will want to attend these sessions but we also know that these sessions are critically important. Needs: presenters. presenter fees?

Establish a neighborhood employment network: On the westside, Lutheran Church of Hope has Hope@work, a successful ministry dedicated to helping people find employment and pursue their goals. While Hope@work is much more than an employment agency, we have no equivalent in our neighborhood for far less skilled positions. What if we could partner with Hope@work to start a northside version of the ministry that would focus on jobs that were open to new immigrants or less educated people. The goal would be to help new immigrants and others to find local employment with good wages so that they wouldn’t have to travel so far for work and be away from their families for so long (see previous). Hope@work also helps people prepare resumes and determine the steps necessary to advance their careers. Need: cooperation from Hope@work and some people with a passion for this.

Establish a neighborhood round table: Basically to continue what we’re doing in terms of networking local businesses, institutions, schools, churches, apartment complexes, home owner associations, etc, together for future planning, co-operation and collective response to neighborhood needs.

Establish a Des Moines area refugee resettlement and assimilation round table: Referencing the beginning paragraphs of this document, Des Moines was once proud to welcome over 300 new refugees a year. Currently, many regard our resettlement efforts as being broken. The schools and social services seem overwhelmed, as do the resettlement agencies themselves. Perhaps during this “lull in the action,” we should strive to bring together city, county, school, resettlement agencies, employers, churches and others and establish a round table group to plan the way forward. Perhaps by creating space for people and institutions to work together, we might establish a united approach to welcoming new refugees to our city.

Partnerships with Local Apartment management: Keeping good relationships with the apartment managers and owners allows us to advocate on behalf of the tenants. For instance, when bed bugs are a problem, some managers are reluctant to spray. If the managers trusted the church as a positive force in their properties, perhaps the church could accomplish things on behalf of the tenants to keep the apartments healthy and habitable. Helping the managers make small improvements to their properties while raising the quality of life for the tenants might be one way to build relationships and trust. Such things as building and installing picnic tables, charcoal grills, outdoor seating areas, even helping with routine cleaning or maintenance are ideas. Needs: money for supplies.

Community education experiences about the refugee community: Offer short seminars on what it’s like to be a refugee, the history and individual stories of the people in our neighborhood, maybe some role playing and some ideas on how individuals and organizations can help.

Partnership with Samuelson Elementary: Samuelson probably already has a corporate partner and we don’t know who that is yet or what they do. But our brothers and sisters at Meredith Drive have been doing such a good job at Moulton Elementary, having monthly birthday events for the kids, writing encouraging words to the teachers, and trying to supply needs in the classroom, that we thought we ought to at least try something like this for Samuelson.

Comprehensive Neighborhood Education Strategy: Everyone agrees that our local teachers are doing a wonderful job working with the ELL students. There is a volume problem, however. The school’s resources are overwhelmed and in a season of cutbacks, it’s probably naive to look for help from the district. But perhaps we could work with other districts and even parochial schools to spread the joy and intentionally open enroll some of the children into other schools with more current capacity.

Vacation Bible School: Looks like we’ll be having a lot more kids this year from the neighborhood. Having successfully brought them to church for Wednesday nights, we’re confident they’ll come in the summer for things like VBS.

Local Outreaches: Our involvement in the community started with these outreaches and they seem the best way to get to know the kids and invite them to church. We have four planned at Redeemer Lutheran Church and plans are underway for a joint event in our neighborhood with Wunder Years Academy. We plan to return to Douglas Terrace as well.

After School program: In the next 18 months, we hope to develop an after school program for the neighborhood that would provide education, food, Jesus, and a safe environment for all.

College/Vo-Tech Scholarship program: We hope to find individuals and corporations that would consider contributing to a neighborhood scholarship fund. This is one way we could celebrate as a neighborhood the graduation of our local children. It would unite the community in showing our kids that they do matter and that they are known.

Toys/hobbies: We hope to put in some little money into some “hobby” projects for the kids that they could build or work on at church. For instance, building a model race track, a train layout, etc. This helps in teaching the kids to work together, to be part of something larger than themselves, and helps to work on English. Not to mention the fact it is an excellent way to bring hobby enthusiasts and the kids together.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Fishing with Jesus and the Big Catch (There’s a difference between the “one that got away” and what we let sink in a tangled net because the net is too heavy).

2011-04-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Luke 5, Jesus calls his first disciples. Luke says that Jesus got into the boat owned by Simon (Peter) and asked Peter to put out into the lake so that he (Jesus) could teach the crowd gathering on the shore. Afterwards, Jesus directed Simon to put out into deep water and let down his nets.

Simon did so, and, what do you expect? An amazing catch! A catch so large that Simon and his crew had to signal to their partners on the shore to come and help bring in the nets which were so full of fish they would swamp the boat if they tried to bring them in alone.

After that, Simon followed Jesus and was eventually renamed Peter, and became a great leader in the church.

This story is on my mind a lot these days. It haunts my thoughts. Today I’m going to get really vulnerable and I’m going to share my anxiety with you, gentle reader, and with Zion Church, the intended audience of this blog.

Our nets are full right now. I think we’re Simon in the story. We simply let Jesus in our boat and the next thing you know, we’re fishing. And now, a miraculous catch. A catch so big there is a real danger of swamping the boat and losing it all. And remember, per instructions of Jesus, we’re in deep water.

What on earth am I talking about? We have been so blessed to enjoy miraculous ministry in seeing the Mizo fellowship join us at Zion and also in seeing neighborhood kids, primarily from new immigrant households, join us on Wednesday nights. The growth of Wednesday nights in particular is astounding. Consider that in September of last year we had 4 kids in tutoring. Last week we had 55 kids. And I know the tutors feel swamped. Driving the van on Wednesday nights to pick up and take home the kids, who live within a 2 mile radius of our building, now takes an hour each way because we have to make so many trips.

Praise God! What great problems to have! Here’s my anxiety: I am all too aware of the human tendency to want to control. When things seem to be getting out of control, our natural tendency is to want to take over, clamp down, put in rules, regulations, safe guards, mechanisms, etc., so that we aren’t overwhelmed. And, I very much fear from personal experience in churches, that when we do so, no matter how well intentioned and well meaning we are, we begin to limit what God is doing and we turn our blessings into curses.

To be clear, my anxiety comes from the collision between wanting to honor God on the one hand, and being “reasonable” and using “common sense” and honoring our volunteers and members. I’m afraid if we don’t manage this new level of ministry properly, we will, in the words of the old hymn, “bring to naught all He hath done.”

So, here are things that I’m trying to remember as we seek the Lord’s solutions for our current “embarrassment of riches.”

Remember that the recent uptick in ministry has all been directed by God himself. He brought it, he built it, and I have to believe he will maintain and sustain it. It was in June that we first went to the apartment complex simply to bless the people who lived there and give them a banquet. We did it three or so more times in the following months and God himself opened doors and provided opportunities for us to serve. We were not very organized, we were not in control, the volunteers simply showed up and so did the food and the necessary resources. God led, we followed.

Remember that we don’t get to sort through the fish while they are in the net looking for “bad ones” to throw back. Apparently, our job is simply to bring it in. So we don’t want to start thinning the ranks of the kids who are coming by trying to decide “who really needs this most?” We have about 4 kids (out of 55) that can be a challenge. They are also the kids who need Jesus the most. Two of them are not very good Muslims and are looking for the Truth. I have to believe that God will raise up special people with a great heart for these kids in particular who can patiently disciple them and help them with their school work at the same time.

Remember that we’ve spent almost nothing from our bank account to do these things. People, I believe prompted by God himself, have given and given gladly to provide for these needs. It’s as if God Himself wanted to shame those who believe that you have to have money to do ministry. And remember that we now own a church van outright because people saw what God was doing and wanted to help. I have to believe that God will continue to be faithful and provide what’s needed to sustain us through this time. In fact, I’ve already been contacted by someone who wants to help financially and will also help me put a vision together of where all this may be going. I have to believe that God has “many other people in this city” (Acts 18:10) who are about to appear and help us.

Remember that when Simon thought his boat was going to sink and the catch lost, he signaled his partners to come and help. And they did. And the miraculous catch made it safely to shore and was enjoyed by all. It’s probably past time for me to be hitting the streets and looking for more ministry partners with a heart for our neighborhood and these kids. We are so grateful for the participation of Meredith Drive Reformed and Freedom for Youth, Lutheran Services of Iowa, the International House of Prayer - Iowa, and a half dozen volunteers from other churches or no churches who are helping us already. It appears obvious that this catch is way bigger than we are.

Remember that with God, all things are possible. It’s his work, his way. So we have to continue to be diligent in prayer. We need to wear out our knees, seeking his face, and I’d appreciate your help with this. And, hey, if you’re not busy on Wednesday nights, we’re looking for some folks to help...

Thanks for reading. God bless you. Thanks for listening and letting me clear my head. I feel better already. PJ

We Just Crossed A Line

2011-04-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

What I want the congregation to understand is that we just crossed a line. The line in question was crossed on March 20, 2011, at about 1:00 p.m. It was a Sunday afternoon and while the world went about it’s business, Zion Lutheran Church quietly became decidedly multi-ethnic. The Mizo language service had begun.

Now some people will immediately say, “What difference does it make that a quiet, medium sized church that few people in the world have ever heard have has become multi-ethnic?”

In fact, what I think is an enormous move of God, is down played by the young men I meet with from our church every Friday for breakfast. They say, “Why wouldn’t our church be diverse, Pastor John? Our workplace is diverse. Our kid’s school is diverse. Our neighborhoods are diverse. Why do you think anyone cares that the church is diverse?”

I suppose I’m excited because the church of Jesus Christ in North America tends to be one of the most segregated institutions on the planet. And we can’t really explain why. Churches often don’t even reflect the racial diversity of their own neighborhoods. Frequently, churches are enclaves. The last bastions of those who used to live in the neighborhood and now drive in from other parts of town to continue a habit of worship begun decades before.

But Zion is trending in the opposite direction. As more Asian and African immigrants move into our neighborhood, we’re becoming more African and Asian. And, it seems to me, the more we do this, the more our traditional caucasian membership seems to grow as well. Could it be that people want to their church to be more a reflection of the kingdom of heaven after all?

Recently, I was told that a certain pastor had asked some of our African families to leave Zion and join a church especially forming for African immigrants. I was told that one of our Liberian ladies told this pastor, “But we like it here. Why would we leave? This is our church.” Whenever I think of this exchange, I cry. I can’t help it. It means so much that Zion could become a home for people from across the globe. It means the world to me that we could reflect the diversity of our own neighborhood. It means that our apparent divisions aren’t dividing us, but rather they are uniting us in Christ Jesus. And I can’t wait each week until we’re together again on Wednesdays and Sundays.

My prayer is that we will continue follow God down this path he has set for us. That we will be faithful to his Word, and, more and more, reflect the amazing diversity of the kingdom of God. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

The Kingdom of Heaven Breaking In

2011-03-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

The hope of every Christian is that in eternity we will wake up in the arms of Jesus, and see the Lord face to face. There he will gather all the faithful from every tribe and nation to himself. (In other words, heaven will be very diverse ethnically and denominationally). He will dry every tear from our eye. (Heaven is a place of great comfort). And he will be our God and we will be his people. (We will live in his presence for all time).

I am incredibly joyful today because I believe that the kingdom of heaven is breaking in to our own congregation. This morning I met with the Mizo-Chin people from Burma (Myanmar). Sixty two adults and children are coming to join us as members of Zion. While their language proficiency requires a separate service (to be held at 1:00 p.m. Sundays), their desire is to be part of the One Body of Christ with us.

In other words, they are not renters, they are members, with us, in the body of Christ which is Zion.

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church began as an immigrant church over 150 years ago in Des Moines. The first sixty years we worshipped in German. An English service was added monthly to accommodate the needs of non-German speakers. When the Lusitania, a ship loaded with passengers was sunk by a German U-boat and the US began to contemplate entering the First World War, German language worship stopped.

We know something about being an immigrant church and worshipping in a foreign language. So we are wonderfully and beautifully suited to help our brothers and sisters acclimate to their new home in America.

Here are my notes from the meeting today (Saturday, March 12, 2011): Zion’s Board of Spiritual Oversight will meet with the Mizo leaders next Saturday.

Zion will begin a Mizo language service at 1:00 p.m. on March 20. This service is a permanent service and requires the sanctuary, some classrooms and the Fellowship Hall be reserved for the purposes of Christian worship and education until Jesus comes back. There is only one calendar conflict and the Mizo have graciously agreed to worship downstairs that day.

While the service will be in a particular language, visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend. The service is “open” to the rest of Zion and the public.

The Mizo understand that we are one body, united in Christ. They have no desire to be an island, but rather desire to be part of the greater Zion congregation.

The Mizo will be considered full members of Zion. Zion pastors will perform sacramental and pastoral acts. The Lead Pastor at Zion will be responsible for overall teaching, guidance, and direction in full consultation with the Mizo council. The Lead Pastor is the primary communication link with the new Mizo members for the immediate future.

The Mizo will be represented at the Board of Spiritual Oversight meetings by person/s of their choosing.

The Mizo are encouraged to pray and ask that God raise up a pastor from within their ranks. Zion pastors will oversee the training of this person. Outside programs may be used.
In the long term, and as financial resources allow, it is the desire of the Lead Pastor that the Mizo pastor be added to Zion’s staff with the intention that this pastor will serve the entire Zion congregation.

As financial resources allow, Zion will also contribute to the support of the missionary in Burma that the Mizo are currently supporting.

For the immediate future, tithes and offerings collected by the Mizo will be held in a separate account and not merged with Zion’s general fund. The Lead Pastor believes this will help to build trust as we seek to integrate into one body.

The Mizo will join with Zion in outreach to our neighborhood in the name of Jesus. This includes various Vacation Bible School and apartment complex outreaches.

Zion will help to build the spiritual leadership of the Mizo group. This will help create spiritual stability, worship leaders, and future BSO representatives for the Mizo.

Zion will help to establish ESL and citizenship classes at a time convenient for the Mizo.

Zion will assist in the establishment of bilingual Sunday School program for the Mizo on Sunday afternoons.

In addition to our current and on going work in the refugee/immigrant community in our neighborhood, Zion will especially help new Mizo families in our area to establish themselves.

The Lead Pastor, in cooperation with the Mizo, will advocate for the reunification of Mizo families who are already established in our area and now members of Zion.

The Mizo will help Zion clean the building. A certain area will be assigned to them.

The Mizo understand that they are invited to all Zion activities. Because of their current employment obligations, participation in Wednesday night activities will be somewhat limited, but their children will attend as able.

The Mizo have complete access to Zion’s building and van and will use the van on Sunday afternoons to transport people to church who live in Des Moines.

Building and van keys will be given to representatives of the Mizo’s choosing.

Zion will assist the Mizo in working with Merle Hay Funeral Home to establish a burial society.

As part of our busing ministry, Zion will make an extra effort to try and provide transportation to Samuelson Elementary for children in the Mizo group.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

For more information about the Mizo, please see the following links:
Mizo news service:
http://mizoramexpress.com/

The Chin people:
http://www.hrw.org/en/features/chin-people-burma

A Very Special Day

2011-03-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a special day. I just want to thank God for his graciousness and share it with you. Today, my friend, Dick Paulsen, was ordained as pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Des Moines.

It was special for all the human reasons, like: It was a great honor for me to be asked to preach and ordain Dick. It was great fun seeing Mark Vander Tuig, the Service Coordinator for the LCMC, and having him participate. It was great fun seeing Dick’s family and congregation celebrate this great day.

But it was also special spiritually. Redeemer hasn’t had an “official” pastor for years. Dick has served as preaching elder since their last “highly paid, professional, religious person” moved to another church. Redeemer is a smaller church and couldn’t afford to replace their pastor when he left. But Dick is a retired executive and he doesn’t need the paycheck in order to minister full time. Dick is over 70, a former Marine, and father of four, married 54 years. And now this little church has a young minded pastor, newly called to lead, and he’s ready to go. God will do great things at Redeemer.

What happened at Redeemer today couldn’t have happened in the highly bureaucratic structures of most denominations. What happened today was very New Testament. A man, a leader, an elder, became the pastor. Years of studying the Bible (but not in a formal school), years of working with people, years of listening to the Holy Spirit, were recognized today as being just as important as a degree.

Now this isn’t meant to diminish education and it’s importance. Rather, what happened today was a recognition that God can use both a formal education process and an informal life process to raise up leaders. Being free of a structure which must be formally satisfied allows us to raise up leaders where they are and give them recognized “authority” in the form of the office of pastor so that they can do what God has called them to do.

Today’s event shows that Redeemer is serious about being on mission for Jesus Christ.

Zion and Redeemer have collaborated in the past. Veritas, a Sunday evening service for the neighborhood, brought the two churches together and taught us how to work together and share our gifts and resources.

Currently, Dick Paulsen and I pray every Sunday morning starting at 6:00. Dick is familiar with our ministry and with our staff and congregation. We share a love for the Lord and a desire to reach this city in His name.

Redeemer and Zion have great plans together to do just that. Being in the same denomination now allows us to more fully work together without any apologies. This summer, Zion staff and volunteers will join Redeemer in presenting four, one-day Vacation Bible School outreaches to the Redeemer neighborhood. I hope you’ll sign up to volunteer. Having learned some powerful lessons at Douglas Terrace Apartments last year, this year we’re coming with crafts, games, bounce houses, music, food and a solid gospel message.

We also plan on helping Redeemer “re-plant” itself. We believe that in the next five years, it is God’s desire that we send a pastor from Zion and a tithe of the Zion membership to Redeemer to re-invigorate those already at Redeemer and to help further diversify their congregational demographics. This is not a Zion take over. It is not a satellite church. It is simply a breathing of new life into a faithful, existing congregation.

Pastor Mark Vander Tuig from the LCMC is excited about Zion and Redeemer’s past and future together. He said, “I share the story of your two churches partnership all the time. To me, this is what LCMC is all about.” Praise God. It’s time to step out in faith and engage the world with the gospel together. Thanks for reading. PJ

Sticks and stones and sermons

2011-03-04T12:31:00.001-08:00

Words. Words have meanings. Words have power. Words get inside our heads and make pictures because words mean things. There are no such things as powerless words. All words convey meaning. But all words don’t convey the same meaning to everyone. Because our own interpretation of words are colored by our own experience.

For instance, when you speak of love with some people, they understand it to mean sacrifice, risk taking, being willing to lie down your life for another who is “loved.” It conjures up images of hugs, of laughter, of warmth and genuineness.

For another, they came to understand it’s meaning differently. Perhaps in a manipulative phrase that meant, “I want to use you for my own purposes. I want you to trust me right now so I can do to you what I want to you.” It conjures up images of guilt, shame, humiliation.

How hard it is to communicate! When you go to another country and intend to stay, you have to learn to speak their language. You have to learn what their words mean. But you also have to learn the non-verbal clues, too, that go along with the words and may change their meaning. For instance, in some cultures, it is impolite to refuse someone by telling them “no.” So when you want to say no, you respond in a vague way that to our ears might come out something like “maybe.” So the hearer has to be savvy enough to understand beyond the mere meaning of the words to the true meaning that the words, word-less-ly, if you will, convey.

So we try to transcend words. We tell people, when other people say words intended to hurt them, that they “didn’t mean that.” That they simply misunderstood. Or, worse, we tell people that they have to toughen up, that the world is full of rough talking, mean people, and you have to grow a protective covering so that words will bounce off you without impact. “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

But it’s fascinating to me how all this advice to others usually goes out the window when someone says unkind words to us, either intentionally or unintentionally. Then, well, it’s a federal case. Then forget about that tougher skin. Then it’s time to either collapse in a heap and weep over the words that were said to us or get mad and get even. There is a third way, I suppose. We simply passive aggressively tell others what was said to us and try to confront the one saying the words to us by saying unkind things about that person to others. Regardless, all three are time wasters and relationship breakers. And we’re called to bring all things “together” under Christ. We can’t just allow things to go on being broken.

As a pastor, nearly every week I speak from the stage to a crowd of people. You realize that much of what you have to say as a preacher is offensive. There is an awful lot that is offensive in the Bible, after all. It tells us that we are all sinners. That none of us is good enough on our own. It tells us to change our behaviors and attitudes. It challenges our complacency. It’s offensive. Top that with the undeniable fact that I am a human being and sometimes don’t say things “right.” They come out jumbled.

Couple the “in your face” nature of the word of God and the humanness of the preacher with the increasing tendency of people in our society to look for reasons to be offended and you have a really horrible situation.

I can well imagine why so many pastors spend so much time writing a sermon that is over in minutes. If the delivery isn’t right, someone will be offended. If the delivery is faithful and right on, it will probably still be offensive. I think this is why so many preachers have stopped really preaching. They are tired of being offensive all the time. It’s in the nature of many preachers to want to be ‘liked.’

Couple this with the uptick in public talk about “civility” in our society. Yes, there are obviously way, way, too many ad hominem attacks these days. If people don’t like your ideas, they seem to take it out on your reputation. That’s wrong. But it’s also increasingly true that any idea that someone doesn’t like is labeled as “offensive.” In short, we are losing our ability as a society to speak truth to one another and even to simply exchange ideas.

Is there any way to overcome the hurt that words cause? Is there any way to ensure that our use of words won’t even accidentally hurt others?

Doubtful. But it seems that Jesus would use words to overcome the hurt of words. He directs us, when we’re hurt by the words of others, but go to them and explain and seek to be reconciled, to seek an explanation, a way of changing the words. You can’t ever take them back, but you can use other words to help mend the damage of words. Words like “I’m sorry.” “I apologize.” “I know I hurt you and I feel terrible about it.” And you can explain what made you use those words by saying things like, “What I meant to say was....” Read all about it in the words of Jesus in Matthew 18.

Jesus urges us to use our words well. Read Matthew 5. “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no,’ mean ‘no.’ Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t be mean. Don’t use your words to hurt people. But at the same time, use your words to speak truth to them because you love them. I guess that means that in order for us to be able to speak, our hearts first ought to be in the right place.

Don’t say bad things about your neighbor, especially things that aren’t true. James 3. The tongue is a fire, a world of evil in the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, the whole person, sets the whole course of our lives on fire. It is a fire set from the fire of hell.

So, if we are truly to be agents of God’s redemption in this world. We will need to tame our tongues. And we will need to be much, much better at asking others either for their forgiveness or for clarification about why they used the words they did. So we can avoiding hurting others, intentionally or unintentionally. And so we can also avoid the senseless hours wasted over the hurt caused by the careless words of others in our lives. Live more and more each day as if the kingdom is coming. Thanks for reading. PJ

Eureka!

2011-02-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since my last posting. While I can't say I haven't been deep in thought, it's true that I've been very much occupied in the details of working with people. Working with people is amazingly complex. Because people are complex. And because of the level of connection in our society, our relationships and situations seem to be that much more complex. Everything seems to be inter-related. So, in order to truly solve some problems, you have to work with people on different levels at the same time. It's fascinating to me. It's also fascinating to me how few people there are in our society who are really willing to get down to the very difficult task of digging through layers of complexity to find the real problem. That isn't meant to slam anyone. It's just meant as an observation that as things get busier and faster and more complex, there seem to be fewer people willing to take the time to really work for a complete solution. We seem, as a society, to be settling for quick solutions that really don't solve anything. So here is a blog post that I felt really fit with the theme we've been on lately, by God's grace, at Zion. The author proposes that cities may be too large for one church to impact all at once. That things may seem so overwhelming. But, when you break it down into it's component parts, cities, like problems, get more manageable. I hope you'll enjoy this post as much as I did. God bless you and thanks for reading. PJ

http://www.qideas.org/blog/its-all-about-the-neighborhood.aspx

We Are Missionaries

2011-01-10T11:17:00.001-08:00

What if faith was that easy? What if we are missionaries?
Imagine what you’d do in Des Moines if you were a missionary.
If you were a missionary, you would begin your task of bringing God’s word to people by defining who it was that you were there to serve. You would identify a people group, a city, a region, a neighborhood. In other words, you’d have some target in mind. Our mission field is our city, beginning specifically, with our neighborhood, which we define as a 42 square block radius from Zion’s building.
Next, as a missionary, you’d get to know your target audience. You’d find out what they liked, what they didn’t like, what language they spoke, where they shopped, what they ate, how they saw the world.
Third, you’d find some way of serving those whom you’d come to minister to. What are the needs of your target audience? Do they need food? Clothing? Shelter? Education? As a missionary you would find some way of making yourself useful to the people you sought to serve.
Then, you’d invite them into a relationship with Jesus and you’d build a church with them.
Our current evangelism work in our neighborhood began in June, 2010, at the Douglas Terrace Apartments (DTA) as a response to God’s prompting in prayer that “when you give a banquet, invite those who cannot return your invitation.” (Luke 14).
We simply showed up with a large lunch, a bunch of our members, and games for the kids. We started meeting parents and kids and forming relationships. Since June, 2010, we have done five additional outreaches to DTA.

About 50 Zion members have participated in one or more of the outreaches. The average outreach feeds lunch for around 125 people. We discovered that many of the families at Douglas Terrace were refugees from different places around the world. The parents of the kids we met spoke little English.

Whiz Kidz Tutoring, Freedom for Youth Ministries
Zion became the first church based Whiz Kidz tutoring site for Freedom for Youth in the spring of 2010. We started with four kids and two or three volunteers. By September, 2010, it became apparent that one way we could serve the kids we were meeting in our outreaches to Douglas Terrace, was to offer them the opportunity to join us on Wednesday nights at church for a meal, a Bible lesson and English reading tutoring. We began inviting the children and are amazed at the results. The program began to grow rapidly, and now there are 10-17 tutors on an average night and between 30 and 40 kids participating on average. There seems to be unlimited demand to come to Zion on Wednesday nights from the kids. Our current challenge is how to transport the growing number. We are borrowing a van from Freedom for Youth and also use 2-3 other vehicles. We are now at the point of needing to make two trips just to get everyone to church.
Samuelson Elementary
Our involvement with the kids from Douglas Terrace led us to the elementary school which many of them attend, Samuelson Elementary. In meeting with the principal, it was discovered that the student body is made up of 30% ELL (English Language Learner) students. Most of those students come from Douglas Terrace and other complexes in close proximity to DTA. We also learned that the school’s number one concern was transportation for these kids, mostly from refugee families, to and from school. The kids live in an area that is only 3/10 of a mile short of the busing boundary. Most live 1.7 miles from school and their parents leave early in the morning and they are frequently at school very early and have to wait outside, some, for up to an hour.
So, after much prayer, it was determined that Zion would attempt to get as many kids as possible to and from school each day. Since December 1, using vans borrowed from Meredith Drive Reformed and Freedom for Youth, we have been transporting 14 kids to and from school each school day. We have been asked by community leaders in the DTA and other complexes to try and get more kids into the program. Samuelson provides the students, the permission slips, and contacts the families. It’s a beautiful relationship. Our prayer is to be able to buy a van for Zion for this purpose and also to continue to find other churches willing to contribute drivers or vans.

Helping Refugee Families
During this time, Zion was approached by a local restaurant owner who is himself a recent immigrant from Iraq. He sought Zion’s help in providing furniture and clothing for recently arrived Iraqi families. Since November, 2010, we have helped six Iraqi families, a family from Bangladesh and the number of families is continuing to grow weekly. The congregation has provided furniture and clothing and we have also sought help from other churches in order to meet the need.

One Church, Many Tribes
Just before Christmas, 2010, we were approached by a new group of refugees from Myanmar (Bangladesh). They are part of an ethnic group called the Chin. They formed a Christian fellowship and are seeking our help in becoming a church as either a part of Zion or independently with Zion’s help. They hope to begin holding services at Zion on Sunday afternoons in the very near future. We plan to worship together frequently.
It is our belief that worship at Zion will begin to resemble, more and more, the kingdom of God as we worship together red and yellow, black and white.

What Does The Future Look Like?
Let’s be clear: God is in control and we are definitely not. Amazing things have been happening and we will continue to try and respond faithfully to what we believe is a move of God. We also understand that having a holy ambition is a good thing. So, here are some of the things we think might happen (but only if God wants them):
Buy a used van and start inviting the kids from local apartments to Sunday School as well as Wednesday nights. The van would also be used in the busing program Mon-Fri and on Weds nights. Also for special events, like VBS.
Working in conjunction with the International House of Prayer - Iowa, at 2719 Douglas, we’re praying about opening a small clothes closet/furniture distribution location beneath the house of prayer. The cost for an offsite location close to the apartments is about $200/month.
In the spring and summer continue our outreaches to DTA and also at least one new outreach at a another apartment complex nearby. We need volunteers and minimal funding for the food we’d bring. We are planning at least one outreach in conjunction with Wonder Years Academy, a local head start child care center.
At least one new commercial grade bounce house.
We’d like to do at least one Vacation Bible School outreach at our sister congregation, Redeemer Lutheran on University.
A new opportunity: Help transport the parents of the kids we have been ministering to ESL classes.
Working with International House of Prayer-Iowa (IHOP-Iowa), could we cook breakfast for the kids who live in the DTA area before school, then we give the kids a short Bible lesson and prayer before they got on a van to school?
Volunteering at the VA. Our Christmas Caroling at the VA was more successful than we imagined. We’d like to continue to develop our relationship with the VA and are currently seeking volunteers to minister to our veterans.
Thanks!
Thank you for your financial and prayer support and your generosity with time.
Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Let’s Get the Story Straight

2010-12-22T07:02:00.001-08:00

We live in Des Moines, Iowa. Right smack dab in the heart of America’s Heartland. We live in the city, which may not be as “urban” as other urban centers in other places, yet our two local elementary schools, both within 2 miles of the church building, have students who come from over 30 different linguistic backgrounds. In other words, we have a lot of immigrants, mostly from Africa and Southeast Asia. Many have never heard the Gospel.

While we are not as “unchurched” as other big cities, research by other groups tells us that 70% of our county is unchurched. We also know, from our own local experience, that we are living in a time when a second generation is growing up of those who have not gone to church and don’t know what it means to be part of a church.

All of this means that there are a lot of people in our immediate vicinity that do not know the story of Jesus. They don’t know who he is, or what he can do.

There was a time in this city, indeed, in our entire country, when almost everyone knew the story of Jesus. In fact, a very good case can be made, that the generations who went before us knew the stories of the Bible and those stories provided a common narrative for how we related to life and to each other. The Bible’s big story was our society’s story.

But in 2010, soon 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa, America’s heartland, we are living in a time when increasing numbers of people don’t know who Cain and Able are. They don’t know John the Baptist and they’ve never heard of Isaiah or Ezekiel or Jeremiah.

One of the things that unites a people is a common understanding of their story. In an time when there are so many different stories out there, I am struck by the need to rally our people back to basics. Back to the story of the God who created them, redeemed them by his blood, and is with them as Emmanuel, God with us.

How can we tell people who Jesus is when they don’t know the story of how humanity fell into sin? How can we teach them who Jesus is if they don’t know why they need a Savior? How can we teach them that Jesus is the Father’s rescue plan since before time was born when they don’t know the Bible’s big story? It’s time to recover God’s story. It’s time to try to get the church and our community on the same page.

As a pastor, I’m well acquainted with my own congregation’s Biblical illiteracy. Like many churches across this great land, many in our pews don’t get the Bible’s story. I’m not proud of it and work hard to correct it, but the fact remains, my congregation, on the whole, doesn’t see the Bible as one big story, but as little stories that are somewhat disconnected. And I’m not going to exclude myself from this. I fully acknowledge that I probably don’t know the Bible as well as I should, or at least as well as previous generations of pastors.

It’s time to take the congregation, our neighborhood, and our city, back to the basics. To teach them all the message, the story, if you will, of the Bible.

And so we shall. In January, we begin preaching through the Bible. We’ll use some materials by Zondervan called The Story. Basically, The Story is the Bible read like a novel in 31 chapters. It is my hope that understanding the story will ignite a fire in our bellies to really dig into God’s word and to understand that the Bible isn’t a bunch of separate books, but one big book that shows us that God is with us and always has been.

I hope everyone at Zion will purchase The Story book. It is available for kids, for teens and for adults. If you can’t afford it, we will provide it to you free of charge.

If you are in the Des Moines area, we invite you to come and join us. We’ll start on January 16. If you’re not a local, please consider this your invitation to join us by pod-cast. See our website for details. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

For more information about The Story, please see: http://www.thestory.com/ or the abbreviated version at http://www.ziondsm.org or http://viewthestory.com/1715

Reaching our Neighborhood for Christ: “Going to the nations.”

2010-11-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt that we are on a mission. In the recent weeks, God has really opened a lot of doors for us and we have gone through them. The verses that come to mind are those from 2 Corinthians, “For we are Christ’s ambassadors, as if God was making his appeal through us...” I think there is little doubt that we are called to be a witness in this neighborhood. This neighborhood speaks at least 20 languages, and has people from at least 25 different nations living in it. We don't have to go very far to "go to the nations."

We defined our neighborhood as 43 square blocks. This isn’t meant to be exclusive in any way, it’s simply that you have to begin somewhere. We anticipate that our perception of neighborhood will continue to grow and push out until it includes first the entire city and then the entire world.

Things really seemed to get started when we began doing an outreach to a local apartment complex with mostly immigrant tenants. Over the summer we went four times, bringing bounce houses, playing soccer (and giving away balls), meeting and greeting and serving lunch. Two of our four visits featured food from restaurants in our neighborhood that came to us as a reduced cost but helped to boost the profile of the restaurants in the community.

We also went door to door. We aren’t finished yet, by any means. But we started with the houses that were in immediate proximity to the church building. The ones that shared a property line or were across a street from us. We asked, “How could our church be a better neighbor?” Some people had ideas and shared neighborhood news and concerns. (Who know drainage and weeds could be holy conversations?) Other times they didn’t have much to say but seemed glad for the contact. We gave people information about the church and invited them to services, including the new Wednesday night service with the “free” dinner beforehand. If they were home and talked to us, we also gave them a $10 gift certificate to a popular, new, neighborhood restaurant. Since beginning this, a Christian bookstore in town has given us coupons to hand out as well.

Next, I started introducing myself at local businesses. Always inviting people to church and always offering to be helpful. One local restauranteur, an Iraqi gentleman who has been in business for 3 months, took us up on the offer to help and our church was able to provide a houseful of furniture for a recently arrived Iraqi family. Today, two more families have come forward from the Iraqi community seeking help getting settled in this new land.

Then there are the local churches. These visits are still in progress, but great friendships are being made and partnerships being formed. Neighborhood pastors seem hungry for fellowship and eager to be part of something that more resembles the body of Christ than flying a solo mission. It leaves me excited for the future: what would it look like if we, as churches, called to be one body, could work together?

Our neighborhood has a mall so we went there next. The new general manager has only been there for 3 months so we were his first official neighborhood visitor. We asked, “How can our church bless the mall?” No one laughed or ushered us out of the office. The manager, a Mormon, thinks churches are great partners. We agreed to pray for the mall. Further, the mall agreed to do a coat drive for the kids in our neighborhood who can’t afford coats this year. Plus, he agreed to be part of a neighborhood e-mail chain that will include pastors, business leaders, school principals and other neighborhood leaders so that we could all work together to help to meet the area’s needs and solve problems together.

Next, we started to meet with the local elementary schools and head start program. Turns out, rather than being afraid of us and our religion, they are eager for any help we can provide as we all seek to meet the needs of the neighborhood’s children together. I think that for us, part of our ease of access has to do with the fact that the Area Education Association, which helps to train and equip teachers and administrators, uses our building weekly for meetings and conferences and many of our local school officials have been in our church. We have more schools that need visits but things are really moving along well so far.

There is no doubt in my mind that the congregation has caught the vision. We unveiled much of what we saw God doing and where we felt he was leading us last weekend at Sunday services. The response has been incredible. Lots of comments, lots of helpers, and lots of follow up e-mails. Today, a member of the church told me how she and her husband had lunch at one of the restaurants we’ve been working with and about she introduced herself and how this led to a really inspiring conversation.

Where are we going from here? We believe that God is calling us to continue our relationship with the first apartment complex and reach out to others in the spring. We’re praying through which ones and how right now. We also hope to have a traveling Vacation Bible School that can bring a kid friendly Gospel to various places in our neighborhood, especially our sister church’s campus in the Drake University area.. That means we need three strong teams to organize this winter to deploy for monthly events this spring and summer. We’ll continue to emphasize the tutoring program and seek to add more tutors and students. We’ve seen incredible growth in that program and so thankful to God for his graciousness in allowing us to be a part of his great plan.

I think we really some sort of bus. So we’re praying about that too. Last night we filled a 15 passenger van and a Ford Excursion with kids. We had nearly 25 between the two vehicles and more that arrived in a third vehicle. Over twenty kids are coming just from one apartment complex. I think about what it would be like if a bus could go over to that complex on Sunday mornings as well. How many of these kids, who just love to hang out at church, would want to come back on Sundays? It’s amazing. It’s miraculous. It’s God. So if any of you reading can provide a bus, you know where to find me. God bless and thanks for reading. PJ

The Generations are a Never Ending Frontier

2010-11-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

There are a few things I’ve had to come to accept:

The music will always be the wrong style for someone.
The music will always be too loud or too soft for someone.
The sermon will either be too long or too short for someone.
The congregation will either be too casually or too formally dressed for someone.
The weekly worship service time will either be too early or too late for someone.

In short, nothing will ever be just right for everyone.

The built in frustration with ministry is trying to become all things to all men so that we might by all means save some. But just as Paul discovered, it doesn’t always work. The Galatians were foolish, the Corinthians were factional, the Thessalonians were prone to listen to other teachers. Paul laid down his life for these folks, gave them the best he had, and still there were complications. Human preferences and prejudices have always been a hurdle for the Gospel.

But some get it. They move beyond the style and volume of the music; they look beyond the length of the teaching;

Jesus never said it would be easy - some of the seed would fall on good soil, some on the rocks, some in the weeds and some along the path. We just sow the seed we have.

There is little doubt in my mind that a cataclysmic change is coming to the church in North America.
Please read: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html

But there is also little doubt in my mind that the Lord has already raised up the next generation of church leaders and Christ followers to be his holy remnant and carry on his work and promises on this continent.
Please read: http://www.qideas.org/blog/gabe-lyons-and-the-next-christians.aspx

My heart’s desire is to be an influencer for Christ on the church that is coming. To be this I understand that I must lay aside my preferences as well and perhaps even labor to understand a different way of looking at the world. It’s difficult for one generation to understand another. I think it has always been this way. We don’t understand their music, their humor, their outlook. But we have to try. For the sake of the Gospel. There’s a whole mission field out there. Will you join me on this most fantastic of journeys? God bless. Thanks for reading. PJ

Managing Perceptions in Ministry is Impossible

2010-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

What do you do when what you see isn’t seen by everyone?

Example: From where I sit on the bridge of the ship, things are going incredibly well at Zion Lutheran Church and the Lord is doing great things in our midst.

A quick rundown of the stuff that to me, is obvious:
a). We’re seeing a lot of visitors to our events and services and those visitors are coming back again and again.
b).Wednesday nights have just surpassed Sunday mornings for kids, youth, and adult class attendance. We are really blessed and thankful.
c). There is so much enthusiasm and excitement as you walk the halls at Zion.
d). We’re serving more people than ever before at Wednesday night dinners. Like nearly 33% more than last year.
e). Adult classes are well attended
f). There is a real heart for doing mission developing in our members.
g). 20 kids are now coming from the DTA for Bible lessons and tutoring. And they are so full of joy to be here.
h). More classes and kids mean more volunteers and those needs are being met.

I think these are things we ought to celebrate and praise God for in a big way. It’s the Lord that is at work and we need to acknowledge what he’s doing.

But the recent days have revealed a battle of perceptions of sorts. I’m told there are “some people” who see things differently. Namely, a.) The staff is somehow underemployed, and, b.) Our church is obviously dying, having no money and no volunteers. Wow. Now that’s a pretty big gap in perceptions. But it’s easy to see how a person can see that.

For instance, if you attend church sporadically, never go downstairs to where the classes are, never go to Wednesday night church, never converse with anyone who has seen the good things, and haven’t attended any of the outreach or celebration events we’ve done this year, then yes, I can see how you’d come to the conclusions you’ve come to. So I invite you, personally, “come and see.” Jesus is on the move and we’re doing our best to keep up with him. We have had a rough 18 months-2 years financially. But things are stabilizing, praise God. Over these difficult months something wondrous has happened: we’ve changed from a church where five families gave 20% of the budget to a church of many smaller givers who are all invested in our mission. It’s glorious to see how God has even transformed us through these months of “suffering” to be ready for what he wants to do next.

I have to admit that it’s hard for me, personally, to hear misperceptions about our staff, whom I work with every day and love as colleagues and fellow sojourners for the Gospel. My tendency is take it personally. After all, the staff report to me, if they aren’t doing their jobs, I must be a terrible boss and must have made bad choices in hiring them. But I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with here. I think rather that we are dealing with the simple fact that as we grow, as we reach out to our neighborhood and world, our staff does more and more and their roles change. They may not be in the office when you drop by. They might be out picking up supplies, meeting with volunteers, or even working from the quiet of home. Or maybe they’re resting because they were ministering until late in the night. I know they’re doing great work or we wouldn’t be seeing the kinds of things happening that I mentioned at the beginning of this piece.

Someone suggested I publish a list of all the things the staff and I do, and maybe when we do them. Get the information to the folks and stop the misperceptions. In this case, though, this most obvious of solutions is fraught with spiritual peril. I know too many pastors and church workers who feel the need to justify their jobs every day by telling people how busy they are. Instead of telling people “how’” they are, they “report out” about what they’re doing. This usually causes the other person to go away impressed. I think it leads to spiritual pride, however, on the part of the one reporting out. I also believe it’s wrong to make people justify their jobs when we are experiencing such blessings from God right now.

Nearly 50% of pastors in our country are in one of the stages of burnout. These are national, pan-denominational statistics. Stress is a major cause of this burnout. The chief stressor in a pastor or church worker’s life, according to studies, is a failure to manage the perceived expectations of others in the church. In other words, it is the opinion of many church workers that people in the church expect 24 hour service, 110% commitment, 110% quality, and they don’t want to pay much for it (after all, you’re called by God, you’ll get your reward). Frequently, I’m convinced that just about everybody thinks they could do our job better than we can. And we welcome them to try.

Church work is hard work. You compromise your family and personal boundaries frequently for the sake of the mission. And mission is risky. It requires sacrifice. At the end of the day, it’s a real blessing to know there are people who didn’t pursue a big job with a great salary in order to serve the Lord by tending and growing his flock.

I give thanks to God for all the great things he’s doing at Zion, for all the great people he’s gathered here, for the many volunteers that make ministry possible, and for the great staff he’s called to equip us for mission. It’s time to praise him for all our blessings and re-commit ourselves to following him. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Mission is Risky

2010-10-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Previously I’ve taken the church to task for a lack of faith that has led to a lack of mission. In other words, if we don’t believe what our sacred Scriptures say about God and what he can do, why would we be bold in proclaiming him? Our issue, I speculated, is a failure to “believe.”

But our reasons for not being the kind of people Jesus called us to be in the world are bigger than that. This week I realized something else. Our failure to “believe” has also resulted in a really terrible thing: a failure to love. Before we do mission to the world we really have to learn to love the world the way that Jesus, our Master, loves the world. Not loving the world for what it can give us or do for us and not loving it in a licentious way, but rather, loving it from the perspective of God. Seeing the world as God’s fallen creation in need of the redemption that our Master has accomplished for it by his death on the cross and resurrection. Seeing it as a wayward child, a prodigal, that needs to be reconciled with it’s Creator Father.

Our lack of love is accentuated by a great fear. We, in the church, I posit, are afraid of just about everything and our fear keeps us from doing the mission we were called to. And so we sit on our hands and wait for people to come to us instead of going out onto the highways and byways and compelling them to come in. John tells us in his first letter (4:18), “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Our failure to love God and our neighbor and the world that our God created have resulted in fear which keeps us from engaging the very people Jesus calls us to engage.

To sum up, mission is risky and we don’t love enough to take the risks we have to in order to reach out to a world that desperately needs to hear the Good News. Think about it. Jesus says, “Go.” That’s risky. Safer to stay at home. He says, “Into all the world and make disciples of every nation.” That’s risky, too. They might say, “no.” They might laugh at us, hurt us, even kill us. Jesus told us to baptize them into the name of God and to teach them to obey everything he’s commanded us. Talk about risky. Have you heard about all the liability issues schools have? Educating people isn’t safe. It’s risky.

So here’s my week which serves as an excellent illustration of what I’m trying to explain:

We want local community groups to use our building. One such group had a huge event at our facility recently and hundreds if not a thousand people came through our doors and saw our Jesus stuff. But at least one of them had a bad experience at the event and, because it was in our building, held me and the church responsible. She was really upset and my attempts to calm her down and point her in the direction of the responsible community group leaders completely failed. Zion and Jesus got a black eye because we were trying to be generous with what God has provided us. Some would look at this and say, “See, better that our building be our building for our use only.” But I don’t think so. Without risk there can be no mission.

After said large event, which lasted for days, the parking lot was a mess. I walked out one evening, when it was all over, and was just, well, er, shocked. There were empty water bottles, half eaten fast food meals in and out of bags, and other assorted rubbish strewn all over. Got most of it picked up, but hey, just a reminder, mission is messy. And let’s face it, a lot of our traditional “church people” don’t want to pick up the mess or even take the risk of the mess because it just means more work. So why take the chance? Because mission is risky.
Got a call a while ago from a woman who wanted someone to go driving with her and help her get her license. Since we had no previous association with her, I felt it was important that we meet her and make sure she was, well, “safe,” as a person before we asked for help from the congregation to drive with her. And wouldn’t you know it, the insurance company told our volunteer driver it was too risky to go driving with this woman and the driver told the woman it was too risky. Then we got the hate letter of all hate letters from the woman who called us “cowards.” And she is right. Without risk there can be no mission. Without risk there can be no love.
Recently I went door to door in the neighborhood around our church. One of the things I wanted to do was to give our neighbors an invitation to make our building and grounds their own. Use our playground. Use our parking lot. Use this or that. I figured our Board would want me to talk to the insurance company before I was so magnanimous. So I did. What a mistake. Turns out merely having neighbors is a risk, let alone inviting them to use your stuff. Turns out there isn’t enough money in the world, let alone the undercapitalized church, to buy enough coverage to be generous with what God has given us to use and give away in his name. So I bought the neighbors gift cards to a local restaurant instead. I suppose if they choke or get food poisoning it will be my fault. Mission is risky. And lawyers and insurance companies can provide a lot of excuses to stay home with the door locked and not do it.

The end result? The conclusion? Mission is risky. Love is risky. Following Jesus is risky. I think there are times when you just have to stare down your fear and choose to live by faith. Choose to believe. So far, our Master hasn’t ever let us down. It’s time to get up off our pews and get out there. Risk or not, our future is in the command of our Master, “Go!”

The original 12 apprentices of Jesus did worry about the risks involved in following him. They tried to anticipate what the costs would be. He told them to “Go. Preach. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” (Mt 10:7-10 paraphrase). Mission is risky. But our Master can manage the risk. We just need to be obedient. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Church on the Go

2010-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, “Go!” While we pay lip service to this, I’m not sure we actually do it. I think most of us are OK with the idea of sitting around on Sunday morning waiting to see who is going to show up. I think about Luke 14, about the idea of going out and compelling people to come to the banquet which Jesus hosts whenever his people get together.

I am overwhelmed lately with lots of images about what it means to be a church on the go. I realize that everywhere we go we should invite people to come and meet Jesus. “Come to our church.” But I also realize that this is a variation on the theme of the previous paragraph. We invite, then we wait. But Jesus said, “Go!”

I wonder if this is part of the church’s decreasing relevance in our society. If you don’t come to the church, chances are, you don’t see it’s relevance. Maybe it’s time for the church to be the church on the go and show people who we are and why we do what we do. What would it be like to take the banquet to the people? To be a church that goes to where the people are instead of waiting for them to come to us?

Every Sunday morning I drive by people who aren’t going to church (and not because they went earlier in the week). What does it mean to take the church to them? I think about the outreaches we have done to a nearby apartment complex. We bring lunch, games, lots of soccer balls, music, bounce houses, and our desire to be the face of Christ. This weekend we added a service project. But we’re still asking them to “come” and waiting for them. What if we just did church there? Or in the park up the hill? Or in a supermarket parking lot? Or at a soccer field before the game? Or at the camp ground? Or downtown on the plaza one lunch time?

What would you need? Well, people with a vision who weren’t afraid to go, for starters. Then I suppose you’d need permits or something, depending on where you’d go. Then maybe a tent or covering for some locations. Maybe some sort of sound system and a some way to power it. How about those bounce houses as an added bonus and a way to connect with kids and draw a crowd? Maybe the whole thing looks and feels more like Bible School than a solemn service. But I’m sure the Lord would honor it because we were obedient to his command, “Go!”

Oh, sure, this approach is fine in the summer, we could have a tent or something and do a service and then later have lunch and Sunday School and then play. But in Iowa you can’t really do that for more than 8 months and maybe only for six. Then where do we go? Well, God gave us an imagination and in the winter the crowds move inside. The mall? Who knows? One thing for sure, being a church on the go may be more like a rave than a set activity.

Lots to work out. But maybe we can try something in the spring. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

International Mentorship and Partnership Dreams

2010-09-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

It was a pleasure in late August this year to host Pastor Kaspars Simanovics, current lead pastor at Luther’s Church, in Riga, Lativa, my old hometown (http://rigasluteradraudze.lv) . He and his wife, Ilze, were guests of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Marion, Iowa, and Zion.

The opportunity to serve as hosts for Kaspars and Ilze brought opportunities for two pastors from different countries to talk about ministry and exchange notes. I really benefited from the exchange on a personal and spiritual level. Kaspars reminded me of the many things we share in common as pastors. Things like visiting the sick, teaching classes to new, young, and maturing believers, doing weddings, funerals and baptisms. Sure there are differences, like volume (his church is bigger than mine), technology (he needs to get on Facebook, blog), etc. His own experience and his way of pastoring served to stimulate and challenge me. It was a great exchange. We were able to share ideas, joys, and frustrations.

His visit also reminded me of a dream I once had many, many years ago. My wife and I were leading mission trips yearly to Jamaica to a partner church where we had been for several years. The pastor, Glenn Stoddart, and I had developed a good friendship over the years. We had long talks in his cool, dark, breeze block office while our congregations worked on various construction projects and did a children’s ministry together. Together we discussed the art of pastoring, and talked about spiritual things that transcended our different contexts and situations. Our conversations were so encouraging and up-lifting that we dreamed together about how wonderful it would be to be able to work together for half a year in each other’s congregations, just for the shear pleasure of combing our two different sets of experiences and backgrounds for the furtherance of God’s kingdom. We realized that living in the US had shaped me to be of use in some things and that living and serving the Lord in Jamaica had prepared him for other things, but that together, we had a wealth of experience. We each had different resources, different solutions, different approaches. We realized we had much to offer each other and therefore much to offer our congregations.

Glenn and I posited that understanding a different culture may lead us as pastors to have more patience and a better understanding of our own culture and congregation. It would help us both to think “outside the box” about doing mission and facing challenges in our congregations. Not to mention one of the best gifts of such an exchange: a better sense of what it means to be part of a global church.

I hope one day that our dreams come true. I hope one day it will be possible for pastors, who love and respect each other, to work together in each other’s countries and contexts, in order to further develop our Christian leadership skills and build up and mentor and encourage one other.

Why did I go to the NALC convention?

2010-08-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Why is Kline here?
Some of my friends in LCMC may wonder, as did a couple of my LCMC friends here at the NALC convention (who were here as official "visitors"), why I came to this event.

I suppose the answer has different parts.

1. I came to the NALC Constituting Convention because I wanted to see history in the making. It isn't every day that a new denomination is born. Let alone, one that will be as significant in North American Lutheranism as I believe this one will be. It's one of those quirky things about me, I like history. And I'm interested in the history of the church in America. This is it. I think it's an amazingly significant event because I believe this could well become the second or third largest Lutheran body in the U.S. It was fun to be able to "report out" about it's birth.

2. We're all in this together. LCMC and NALC our basically sisters and we're going to go through life together. I hope we'll be friends always as well as sister churches. I imagine that we'll need each other, that we'll support each other, that we'll do mission work together, that, as pastors, we'll be able to go back and forth across denominational (or associational) lines. It's nice to know that there are others out there who think like we do about Scripture and mission, even if we may worship differently or have different desires for how structured our hierarchies are.

3. I'm genuinely curious. All through seminary there was a debate raging about whether or not congregations who used liturgy would be able to do outreach. Well, now we'll see. One of the key tenants of NALC is that it is "traditionally grounded." That means a lot, but one of the things it means is that they will follow the traditional Lutheran liturgy. Will contemporary people who didn't grow up Lutheran respond? We'll see. Let's be clear: I don't have a dog in this hunt. I'm making no value judgements here at all. I'm simply curious. I've got opinions, but they are simply that: opinions. Now we'll see if traditional Lutheran churches can be about mission. We'll see because if they aren't, they'll die and the NALC will be one short lived denomination. So here we go. I'm excited. And so is the NALC.

Here's what I really think:

-NALC is a great church for those who love Jesus, want to make disciples, love vestments, liturgy and tradition.
-LCMC is a great church for those who love Jesus, want to make disciples, like to wear shorts and sandals to church and sing Jesus songs that sound like they could be on Acoustic Pie.
-NALC is a great church for those who want a higher authority to tell them what resources are good, what pastors are approved, and how education should be done.
-LCMC is a great church for those who prefer to find their own resources, their own pastors, and make their own decisions about what Christian education looks like.
-If you like westerns: if you relate best to the scouts, who are out there in Indian territory, speaking the language and knowing the terrain, LCMC is you. If you relate best to the calvary, traveling in formation with nice uniforms and having a good sense of order, NALC is you. If you relate best to the politician back in Washington that wants the land acquired no matter what the cost, the ELCA is just right for you. If you're the heroine in love with all three, well, you might need therapy. :) Sooner or later you'll have to make a choice.
-If you went to Luther Seminary or are familiar with their faculty, you'll like NALC if you think Jim Nestingen is the bee's knees and if you think Skip Sundberg walks no water, you'll be very comfortable in LCMC.

Things that struck me were:
-We sang a lot of hymns that I simply didn't know. If you like the LBW, NALC is for you.
-There were a lot, a lot, of pastors in clergy shirts. Like maybe at least 50% of the pastors. LCMC, maybe 5%.
-NALC knows they have a hard row to hoe. They know it will be hard to create mission mindedness in congregations. And by this I mean, the genuine desire for mission that transcends the desire to simply survive as a congregation.
-Their structure is not crushing, like the ELCA's, but it will be heavy. And it will be a challenge and take many, many years to sort out how everything works. My fear is that congregations will continue to wait upon the structure before going out and doing mission. "Just do it." But this will be very hard for congregations who may not be used to acting independently.
-LCMC has 400-500 churches (look it up!) and has, I believe, 2 full time and maybe 2 part time employees, and no property. It is nimble and lean. NALC wants a rented office, and about 5 or 6 (if I'm counting right) full time staff besides the bishop. They have 18 churches today, hope to have 200 by the end of 2011. Neither nimble nor quick. All the benevolence they want churches to give will have to support their budget first.
-A bit concerned about talk within the NALC about the need for "teaching statements" about such things as marriage and women's ordination. Isn't what got us into this mess?
-NALC will apply for membership in the Lutheran World Federation and Lutheran World Relief. Why? I know it's to make inter-Lutheran connections, but why can't we just do that anyway?
-NALC will pursue relations with North American Anglicans as well as deeper relations with LCMC.
-Finally, they will clarify what it means to have altar and pulpit fellowship with other denominations.

So there you have my report. LCMC is seeking something new, NALC, while moving in a new direction (intentional mission) is using many old and familiar means.

God bless you. Thanks for reading. PJ

Live from the NALC Convening Convention

2010-08-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

The church's server won't let me go to my blog to post so I've relocated over lunch to send this out...

Remarks of Pastor Larry Lindstrom, LCMC Board Chairman

We know what it's like to be accused of tearing the church apart.
We need people who are willing to stand up and be counted for Scripture and the gospel. We've been where you are - we were here first. :) We hope to share some things, experiences with you, lessons learned, etc. Let's share our experiences together.

Leadership of LCMC and NALC have already met together. First meeting was in January in TC.

Let's pray together and for each other as siblings who love each other.

For congregations that want to make a stand, there are now 2 very good options.

Sees congregations joining both LCMC and NALC.

Cooperative ventures are ahead.

Both bodies have creative DNA to make the road ahead very exciting.

Elections Report
772 cast for CORE steering committee
Top 4, 2 year term; next 4 to 1 year term. Minutes will be published.
Also CORE newsletter.

Unanimous ballot for officers: passed. declared elected.
Bishop Paull Spring elected bishop
Exec Counsel (see below)
Court of Ajudication (see below)

Brief remarks by Pastor Paul Ulring (who now replaces Mark Chavez as Moderator of CORE.)

Roy Harrisville, Jr., acknowledged for early leadership in Solid Rock.

Most of the people we're familiar with are stepping back. New leadership.

Remarks by Bishop Paull Spring - "Why would I do this? Because I'm committed to what we're after."
The office of the NALC is the spare bedroom at the home of Bishop Paul Spring.

There is a certain sense of remorse that we all share, but a sense of hope and optimism and excitement.

Elected as Lutheran CORE Moderator: Pastor Paul T. Ulring
Secretary: Pastor W. Stevens Shipman
Treasurer: Ralph Wittenburg
Steering Committee: Challa G. Baro, Pastor Eddy Perez, Pastor Karl Andrew Johnsen, Captain Raymond J. Brown, for 2 year terms; John Pleuss, Lynn Kickingbird, Pastor Tom Brandt, Mathison for 1 year term.

NALC Leadership
Bishop, Bishop Paull Spring
Executive Counsel: (Lay) James Hansen, Carol Lattier, Ryan M. Schwartz, Kay Johnson Weaver; (clergy) Pastor Donald Allman, Pastor N. Amanda Grimmer, Pastor Victor Langford III, Pastor Jim Lehmann.

NALC Court of Adjudication
Richard F. Currey
Jon E. Evans
James Gale
Rev. Dr. Jeffray Greene
Pastor Ralph Kempski
Carolyn Nestingen
Rev. Dr. Ronald Warren

http://www.NALC.org went live yesterday

Ministry Policies Working Group Report by Bishop Paull Spring

There are policies established for approving seminarians, rostering clergy, call process and mobility.
There are policies yet to be developed that included the ministry of lay people, deacons/deaconesses, etc.

Constitution of the NALC.
Includes a couple interesting items:
a.) apportionment. All churches should, in theory, shoulder an equal share of the national church budget. Does this mean there will be a required percentage paid to the national body? This is unclear at this time.

b. membership in secret societies prohibited. This was surprisingly a lively debate. The constitution prohibits membership. A movement to amend this part was suggested.

In support of amending above - the LCA was anti- masonic, LCMS anti-masonic; could be used against STS or other church societies in the future.
Could be used as a witch hunt in the future. The Holy Spirit will protect us.

In support of keeping the wording: Spiritual warfare - spirits let into a church body - protective to church body
In essence it's to prevent people from keeping secrets that would destroy the church.

Amendment was defeated soundly.

One speaker, in an emotional speech, said she could not support the new constitution . The ELCA had committed a schismatic act in Minneapolis last August. And you can't fight a schismatic act with a schismatic act. She asked that we pray for us who are called to stay and be a faithful remnant.

Another speaker pointed out that the constitution says the bishop is in charge of ecumenical conversations. With the future surely involving working together with other Lutheran groups, this will occupy an ever increasing amount of time. In an amendment referred to the executive council, it was suggested that former bishops in the NALC should become a counsel of bishops (for life) and handle such things for the "presiding" bishop. Referred to executive council.

Point of interest: all future changes to constitution must be approved not only by a vote of a convention, but also by a majority vote of individual congregations. This is similar to LCMC's procedure and guarantees that there will be no repeat of the ELCA's actions in August 2009. What generated a great deal of conversation, however, was a clause that states that after 12 months of inactivity, a congregation's vote is considered to be in favor. In other words, if the congregation doesn't vote, in a year, they are listed as having automatically voted in favor of the resolution. There was much talk about how, after so many congregations had "no idea" about what the ELCA was doing, this could be good practice. So, there are things still to be ironed out.

Several other items that popped up and were referred to the Executive Council for consideration:
can a pastor join NALC without a congregation? In other words, if the pastor wants to leave the ELCA but the congregation is too deeply divided, can the pastor join NALC and stay at the ELCA congregation? (It was brought to everyone's attention that the ELCA probably wouldn't stand for this anyway).
can an individual person join NALC? For instance, if you belong to an ELCA congregation that stays, can you yourself join NALC?
Should the "other" Lutheran Confessional writings be given the same weight in the constitution as Augsburg?

The session ended with the passing of the provisional constitution. We sang the doxology and prayed for guidance. A new denomination is born.

Live from the North American Lutheran Church Constituting Convention Part III

2010-08-26T18:38:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, President Emeritus, Pastor Francis Stephanos

Pastor Stephans reaffirmed his church's stand on Biblical marriage; and went on to reject the stand of ELCA, ELCIC (Canada) and Church of Sweden on gay marriage and non celibate gay clergy.

He pulled no punches and he urged us not to ever yield to the court of public opinion. "It's a sin. Do not be in fear; do not be intimated by name callers, majority voters. Let us only fear the Lord."

My favorite quote: "We understand that no one can inherit the kingdom of God by majority vote."

"All church leaders must come clean on these issues so that people may learn and be taught the truth."

The light shines boldly and exposes the darkness for what it is.

Christians denounce sin, follow Jesus, and make disciples.

The true church is called to teach the true scriptures. As a guide for all people to see and follow.

The church is a beacon of truth in a dark world. If the church isn't a beacon, it has no good news for those who are suffering from the consequences of sin.

The job of leaders of the church is to love, fear, and obey the Lord.

He lovingly but firmly put us in our place. Responding to an article he read by a professor of theology who commented that the church in the south (the third world, basically) had to retrain it's leaders to be truly inclusive. He responded - "the church in the South is growing - yours is dying. You are losing 2.7 million members a year, 3-4,000 churches a year are closing... the South, he said, has the word of God and the Holy Spirit...

As he finished, the congregation rose and gave him a standing ovation.
Standing Ovation!!!!!

Pastor Ken Kimball, Mission and Benevolence Working Group

It is the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion. You either obey Jesus or you don't.

When the church sits back and doesn't take the mission to the world, God will do something, including afflicting the church so that the seeds will be planted. See Acts 8.

Making disciples is:
a.) internal, discipling, spiritual growth
b.) External outreach
If the external isn't happening, we believe, neither is the internal.
In addition to fidelity to orthodox Christian/Lutheran teaching, a competence in fulfilling the Great Commission must be demonstrated by those desiring to become pastors.

NALC hopes to start a network to support both Global and Continental missions.

Part of this network is a virtual community for the exchange of ideas; a forum to share ideas, frustrations, raise the learning curve (we are all going to go through an enormous learning curve in the next few years). Included in this virtual idea is a website, managed, with a list of mission opportunities for congregations looking for mission partners (vetted through CORE and NALC).

There will be a new emphasis on challenging congregations to give... The Great Commission Give Away it's called. It's time to turn away from anger at ELCA, and get generous. This is a spiritual necessity. Do not forget that what God has given us is His not our own. It is believed that this will strengthen the mission of the whole church. Also help congregations to set an example for their own members and to be connected to the Great Commission. This is admittedly going back to the way we did things 50 years ago. Go back to the older model. Let the congregation decide, not the national headquarters. Its about learning that we are the church together.

Standing Ovation!!!!!!

Pastor Mark Braaten
Congregational Life Working Group

Why do mountain climbers tie themselves together? So that the same ones will go home. Just so, we bind ourselves together to do the work of the church.

There is a list of resources, approved by CORE and NALC. How do we root this adventure of forming the NALC in discipleship? You give congregations a good resource list. Also comes out of loss of confidence in ELCA resources.

Seven regional events around the country are being planned to focus on mission and ministry. They will be using Power Surge acronym from Michael Foss. We want to focus on discipleship, because that will always lead to mission and ministry.
Events focus on networking (local). We hope to clearly and intentional say that we are about Mt 28 and Acts 2. We are going to lift up the name of Jesus Christ in every way we possibly can.

Des Moines is one of the seven sites identified. (Foss's church?)

Some of the old ways we've done things won't be the same any more.
But we will find joy and wonder in the mission of making disciples.

Standing ovation!!!!

Live From the NALC Constituting Convention Part II

2010-08-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Reconfiguration
Presentation by Ryan Schwartz

The future is partnerships of churches that have a:

Shared confession of faith
Shared understanding of Scripture
Shared ministry priorities
But not necessarily a shared denomination.

Further, current reconfiguration currently sees large numbers of traditional, isolated Lutherans now without congregations or feeling isolated within their congregations(Situation created by 2/3rds vote requirements, pastors who are overwhelmingly in favor of ELCA policies, etc.)
The future will see Lutheran congregational planting to meet these needs at a rate unseen for decades.

Reconfiguration is not limited to ELCA break-up and what NALC is doing, rather, there are 3 million other confessional Lutherans in America. So there are new discussions developing across Lutheran denominational lines, headed up frequently by LCMS.

The Future of Lutheran CORE
CORE will be a "Community" (members drawn from multiple church bodies, associations, organizations) Will provide fellowship for those who remain in ELCA and a way for them to network with others now outside the ELCA.

The NALC will be:
christ centered
mission driven
traditionally grounded
congregationally focused

Me: does this represent an attempt to fix an institution or a future oriented new way of doing things?

Mark Chavez comments:
NALC and CORE will work together, forming a new denomination but at the same time keeping ties with those who are not or cannot leave to form the new NALC. Lutheran CORE is working intentionally working to keep communication with other faithful, confessing Lutherans.

Congregations in NALC are asked to have a minimum of:
one direct relationship with one missionary or agency
one direct relationship with at least one mission congregation in NA

For work on theological education a joint commission is forming. We all need to learn from the best theologians in NA, both clergy and lay.

NALC/CORE will be servants to congregations. Make sure that congregations are connected to all the best publishing houses, resources, missionaries, mission agencies, etc.

NALC National Youth Gathering: Impact. next summer.

How is Lutheran CORE going to work inside and outside the ELCA?
Why would you have anything to do with the ELCA?

We are called to care for every member of the body Christ. This is our way of doing that. We are not abandoning the members who are left behind.

We cannot carve out a place where we are immune from all the destructive influences that are at work in the ELCA or other Protestant bodies. We are sinners and we are going to make our share of mistakes. We have to be realistic about the forces at work within North American culture. We believe in absolute truth, and we have a real challenge presenting that to our congregations.

There are those who believe that they are called by the Holy Spirit to continue to be faithful witnesses within the ELCA. We want to support them.

Some congregations are divided. It will be painful and will take years in some congregations to work through these issues. We want to support them.

The majority of ELCA congregations are not talking about the things we are talking about at this conference. Surely there are many individual members or even pastors of these congregations who know the truth but think that they are alone. We want to support them.

What doesn't it mean to work w/in the ELCA;
We aren't a coalition for reform any more. Since fall of 2005, CORE worked within the framework of the ELCA. That is over now. We have concluded that the ELCA has become so political and one sided in moving away from the rest of the ChrIstian Church. By working within them we are not partnering with them or supporting what they are doing. Working in for the sake of the genuine unity given us by God. We allowed our unity as Lutherans to be defined by a denomination. That is not what the Confessions say. Our unity is not in organizations or structures. Our unity is in our confession of faith in Jesus.

So CORE is changing its name: From Coalition for Reform to Coalition for Renewal: God will bring about, in the long run, reform. When God brings us back around to making disciples, there will be revival, renewal, and reform. So we are looking forward to God's renewal.

I have never been more hopeful for the future of a bold, faithful, Lutheran witness in North America. - Mark Chavez

Now we can focus on the future and the wonderful opportunities God has given us. It is going to be an exciting, joyful ride. - Mark Chavez

Live from the NALC Constituting Convention

2010-08-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Birth of a New American Lutheran Church

I'm in Grove City, Ohio, at the Second Lutheran CORE convocation and the founding conference for the North American Lutheran Church, the newest group to be formed from the continued disintegration of the ELCA.

General Impressions:
Amazed at how many people are here. Somewhere between 1500-2000.
Disappointed, but not surprised that there is no Wi-Fi, so I cannot Tweet, and wishing I had 3G.
Lots of clerical collars.
Lots of older folks, by which I mean, older than me.
I know almost no one. What does that mean? Simply that this is a much, much broader group of people than the midwestern types I generally associate with. There are people here from all over. The churches are mostly traditional Lutheran, they know the hymns in the green book that we at Zion never sing,

Opening Remarks from Pastor Paul Uhlring
"We have developed a provider of services view of denominations." That will change with NALC.
NALC will link us together as faithful, confessional lutherans... It will be less and quite different than what the ELCA was.
We will learn just how well we can be church with less.
"Ecclesiology is no bureaucracy."
We will look at each other and say, "We can do that."
We must do mission.
"A year from now or whenever we meet next, may there be people who came to faith in Jesus." Nothing is more important or matters more than that.
Let us live in forgiveness and grace. I don't want to be merely against things, lets not peddle dirt and pain around. Resentment is the only poison we take ourselves. Let us be salt and light for JC. Lets be for his heart and desire that all come to know him and be saved. Lets be for serving in his name. Lets connect with those who don't know him.
American Lutheran history isn't good - a history of what people are against. Let's change it. They never figured out what they were for (previous divisions). Let's learn from what has failed. Let's be for, not against.
Throughout let's be known for mission. Let's feast on God's word, the kingdom that is coming and stop eating poison.
These are wonderful times ahead.
Never heard so much good Lutheran theology than in the last year. Lots of discussion.
CORE will continue to gather and connect faithful Lutherans. Many will head off to join NALC.
Many of the best things, thoughts, theology, are happening lately... God is at work.

Visitors were introduced. The list is impressive. The remarks were made that their presence reminds us that we are not alone and that the larger church is interested in what is happening here.

Guests:
Ev Lutheran Church in America. (ELCA)
Board of Pensions, (ELCA)
West Virginia - Maryland SYNOD, ELCA
LCMC
LCMS
Roman Catholic Church - sec for ecumenical affairs, USC
Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mekani Yesus
Anglican Church in NA - 4 bishops
EV Lutheran Chu in Tanzania - a bishop
Letter of welcome and support from the bishop of the Lutheran Orthodox Church

More than one lost sheep...

2010-06-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” ... (LK 15: 3-5)

Some churches pray intentionally, and with fervor, for the lost. We’re learning at Zion but we aren’t there yet. We need to learn. But in addition to that, we need to pray together for the lost ones of our own families.

Sure, we need to pray for the lost of the world. We need to pray for the 10-40 Window. We need to pray that Jesus will convert the nations. But what about our own friends and folks, kin and kids, and cousins?

I thank God that my wife is a believer. It’s a wonderful thing and adds so much to our marriage. But what if she weren’t? And I’m conscious of so many people in church with us who worship without husbands or wives because their spouses don’t believe.

And what about our kids? More than anything else, I want my kids to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and be saved. I want to spend eternity with them and their kids, and their kids - you get the picture. But I know of many whose kids are far from Christ at this moment and are worried sick about what will happen to their precious children.

I have cousins and uncles and aunts who don’t believe that Jesus alone saves. I want them to know the truth. But conversation can only go so far.

What if we prayed for each other’s families? What if we joined in asking God to bring to faith in Jesus Christ our kids, our spouses, our cousins, our friends, our aunts and our uncles?

What if we were able to offer to each other our intentions, our joys and sorrows, our fears, our sorrows, our joys, our victories and our fears? What if we prayed together for the salvation of those who are close to us who have wandered far afield from Christ our Shepherd?

Would you like to join a Lost Sheep Group? Lost Sheep Groups will pray together for family and friends who do not know the Lord. They will either gather together in flesh and blood or over the internet and they will get to know each other and their loved ones who need to know the Lord and they will pray heaven down upon the lost ones in each other’s lives.

I think Jesus wants us to know that the object of the parables is himself. But I also think Jesus wants us to live out the parables. And what better way to seek the lost, than to pray for them by name. He is, after all, the one who said, “Ask, seek, knock and it will given to you.” And again, “Whatsoever you ask for in my name will be given to you.” Let’s take the Lord at his word. Sign up in church or for those of you on the internet, go to the Zion website at http://www.ziondsm.org and give us your contact info via the “feedback” button on the home page. God bless you. Thanks for reading. PJ.

After the Banquet

2010-06-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

So this Sunday Zion went to the Douglas Terrace Apartments (DTA) and put on a picnic banquet of fried chicken, fruit, assorted sides and good things to eat.

For us, this was an exercise in trust and obedience: would we trust the Holy Spirit and go; and in obedience to the Word, Lk 14, “when you give a banquet, invite those who can’t pay you back.”

Thanks to all who showed up to help and especially to those who worked behind the scenes to see to it that we had soccer balls to give away, gift bags with Jesus stuff for the kids, provided live music, and all the stuff we needed to put on the banquet.

Here are my thoughts on the experience and how it impacts the way we do church:

a.) We went in obedience, trusting God and without any expectations about what success looked it, except that He would meet us there.

That makes the evaluation stage on Monday morning difficult. Going without expectations means we had no clearly defined goals except to put on a banquet. Which we did. We have no facts or figures about how many people we served. We don’t know how many people came from our own church, either. I’d estimate we served between 50-60 people who lived in the area. No one was baptized, no one was saved, but we did try hard to embody the grace of God while we played games with the kids and dished out chicken. Perhaps we should be less concerned with statistical evaluation and more concerned with obedience and learn to adjust our expectations appropriately.

b.) “Preach the Gospel always, sometimes use words.”

At DTA, almost everyone is a recent immigrant. Many of the adults don’t speak or understand English. This makes the kids key in communication. It makes it hard to do a mailing, put up understandable fliers or even have a conversation. In this case, the only things we could communicate were via our expressions and body language and actions. Seems to me that in the modern church we’ve put more and more emphasis upon the spoken word. Certainly can’t argue with the centrality of the word. But you’ve got to be it, act it, and live it, too. The words that give eternal life may be less effective from snarly lips.

c.) Sometimes you can’t even give it away.

We estimated that there were perhaps 200-220 residents at DTA. We had a team knock on every single door in the complex. Partly because of language difficulties, partly because we were outsiders, some people would just not come down and eat or play. We played some games of “peek-a-boo” with kids who were fascinated by what was going on below their windows, but we couldn’t go them to come down. Free lunch! “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” It reminds me on a macro-scale of how hard it is to get people to accept salvation in Christ. It’s free. It’s here. It’s the best thing ever. But sometimes, it feels like we can’t even give it away.

d.) Pray over everything, then believe God.

One thing for sure, this event was covered in prayer. It was inspired during prayer, was developed in prayer, was put on in prayer. We prayed and trusted God that people would accept our invitation and come and eat. We prayed and trusted that somehow people would be blessed by God through what we were doing. We prayed and trusted God that on a weekend when we were to get 5 inches of rain, he would somehow provide for the banquet to happen. We prayed and trusted that all the logistics would come together. And everything did come together and people did come and eat on more or less dry ground (because there wasn’t any where else to sit or play). We wound up placing ourselves in a situation this time where there could be no plan B, God had to come through and do it all. And He did.

I do wonder whether or not the church of Jesus Christ has stopped taking risks. Perhaps we’re afraid of looking like amateurs, perhaps we’re afraid of looking like fools, perhaps we realize that people can get hurt easily in situations we haven’t completely planned through. Do high degrees of planning lead to lack of trust?

e.) Don’t be afraid not to be in control of everything.

I tried something new with this event. I tried not to control things or even know about the details. Everyone had their tasks and there was a general vision that was cast and at the right time, the body came together, the supplies appeared and people ate and children played. Sure we had a couple of coordinators. But the overall effect of letting it just “be” was magnificent. When we started to serve food, Zion people just found their places and served. Ditto games. Ditto just being present. It was beautiful.

f.) Let God lead.

God will lead. I think we get program happy and have to “do something.” Why do we do this? Is it to attract people to come to church? Sometimes. Is it to prove our own value? Sometimes. Is it to keep people busy and engaged? Sometimes. What if we just sat around and prayed until God spoke and then we did what he said? It might be maddening from time to time, but it would stop the current trend of loading up people with more and more to do. It would also insure that we were doing what God wanted to bless instead of asking God to bless what we’re doing. Obedience to God requires that we listen to God first so that we know what he wants. I think the church in the west has become too program centric and less effective.

Of course, this leads to another discussion. One about discerning the voice of God. It also leads to another discussion, do you trust the people to whom God is speaking? I think these are the reasons we like to go programmatic. We can do things in general without ever having to deal with the specifics of our own obedience and submission. You can have input into a program. You don’t have so much input when God speaks to someone and you’re asked to come along.
Maybe not everything we do as a church really needs to be done. Maybe there are things the Lord wants to do that we aren’t doing. Maybe we need to let him lead more.

g.) When the body of Christ submits to God’s greater vision, we work together in harmony and there are fewer of the “usual” issues.

The beauty of this event was that nobody wanted to “own” it. It was God’s. We simply followed him. No one argued about where to put up the tables. No one thought the gift bags could’ve been better, no one argued about how much chicken we bought, no one wanted to change venues. No one said we could have had more people if we’d done it differently. It was what it was and it was beautiful. We simply did it. No authority issues because we were all submitting to God and letting the body do its work.

Those who participated and saw it will have their own opinions. I do believe it was a success simply because we were led to do it and we did. People came and were fed. People who live in comparative isolation to the greater culture were visited. People were prayed for whom we hadn’t ever met before. And perhaps a relationship was begun.

Is there a plan to do something else? We’ll see what God says. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

Follow Me as I Follow Christ

2010-06-13T15:38:00.001-07:00

This is completely raw thought, keep that in mind as you read it, don’t judge me too harshly and if you’ve got thoughts, share them. Thanks.

What is the relationship between an individual church and the pastor’s personality?

I remember one day, many years ago, sitting in a restaurant with a visiting seminary professor who had just completed some lectures at our church. He said that the congregation is shaped by the personality of the senior pastor. If the pastor was frantic, the church would vibe frantic. If he was laid back and easy going, so would the church be laid back. If he was loud and gregarious, so would the church be. If he was a people pleaser and passive aggressive, well, er, you get the picture.

At a conference a few months ago, I heard a pastor with a national following talk about the relationship between his own actions and his church. He was frustrated with what he felt was a lack of generosity in his church and then realized that he wasn’t very generous either. So he changed his own life first. The more generous he became, the more the church started to open up and show generosity. He then began to wonder why his people weren’t motivated to share the gospel. So he looked at his own life. He realized that he had no significant relationships in his life with anyone who wasn’t a church going Christian. So he went out and began to develop relationships with unchurched people and he began to lead them to Christ. His church then began to develop a real heart for the lost.

Now, did these two things happen “all by themselves?” No. I’m certain of two things: 1.) The pastor talked about what he was doing and the impact it was having on his own life. The pastor’s life, after all, is a constant testimonial. So, through preaching, the church itself was challenged to change. 2.) The Holy Spirit had a lot to do with it. He is he great shaper and preparer both of churches and pastors.

This leads me to wonder: Does God use pastors to shape churches or churches to shape pastors? I assume the answer is both somehow. But isn’t that amazing? I’m not just talking about two things being impacted because they are in relationship together, I’m talking about a divine intentionality at work for the benefit of both.

Could it mean that God would allow the pastor to go broke so that he might be prepared to preach to the church about priorities and God’s provision during a recession?

I think it was the anchorite, Julian of Norwich, who asked the Lord to give her a terrible disease so she could be a witness in her suffering.

1 Cor 11:1 “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”

Does this mean that in order to preach, the preacher must have to have experienced what he’s preaching about first? I don’t think it’s a rule, after all, God gave us an imagination. But there is no doubt that the best sermons are preached out of one’s own experiences and that one’s own experiences help enormously in developing empathy.

And there is no doubt that the trials and joys of the congregation shape the expectations and experiences of the pastor as well.

So God’s school of discipleship continues.

What I wonder about is whether there is a way we can participate better with the Holy Ghost in finding the right churches for the right pastors and vice versa.

Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

We have to go so we can went

2010-06-06T03:57:00.001-07:00

From Luke 14: Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed...” And later, Jesus said, “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.’”

Picking up from my blog of May 22:
The Mission: to invite the residents of the Douglas Terrace Apartments to have a picnic banquet at Beaverdale Park with our church and to bless them with food, fun and music.

Update: This week I finally got my courage up, said my prayers, and went to go and try and find the manager of the apartment complex we intend to bless on June 20th. I suppose I could’ve called, but I’m not very good on the phone and half the time people can’t hear me and things just seem to get confused. Besides, I figured it would be harder for them to tell me I’m crazy if I were standing right in front of them.

Now some of you will pick up right away on the fact that I was nervous about going to see the manager. Why wasn’t I confident and faithful that God would work out all the details? I was. It’s just that for the last seven years of my life, first as a missionary teacher in Latvia and then coming back to pastor a church, two rules have seemed to dominate my life: 1.) Everything is harder than it is. 2.) Everything takes longer than it does. So I anticipated difficulty.

Please don’t think I’m pessimistic. I know God wins in the end and it all works out. And please understand I’m not asking for pity. It’s just that I’ve gotten used to resistance even in simple things. It seems like if there is a way for something to go wrong, it will. My friends tell me that’s how you know you’re doing the things God wants you to do: the resistance is considerable.

So you can understand that I was praying for fortitude in spiritual combat for myself and that the Holy Spirit would move mountains.

Now you can imagine my surprise when I pulled into the tiny, crowded, lot, got out of the car and crazy good things started to happen. Every tenant I met greeted me with a smile and a hello. I saw one of the security doors propped open, so I just went in and wandered the halls. Wow. My knees buckled, I got goose-bumps. You could feel the Holy Ghost. It was amazing.

So I wandered over to the office. Closed. “Figures,” I said, still expecting resistance. I pulled out my phone and dialed the 24 hour number with a Minnesota prefix. A male voice answered. I meekly explained who I was, managed to stumble through a rambling explanation of what we wanted to do, and then, there was silence. “Oh boy, I thought, here it comes.” Ain’t it sad when the preacher has so little confidence in the power of God to bring about good things?

“I’ve always wanted to do something like that for the tenants,” the voice said. “Please, do whatever you want. In fact, why don’t you have the picnic on the property instead of making people walk to the park?” My eyes misted over. The answer to every question was “yes.” Yes, we can hang fliers. Yes, we can hand out fliers. Yes, we can bring games. Yes. The manager then told me where to find the duty manager who at that very moment appeared by my side. I explained it all again. “Yes,” he said. Yes to everything. Wow. Praise the Lord!

So the parable Jesus told is pretty clear. The Master says to his servants, “Go.” Makes me wonder if the church hasn’t been to passive. We’ve been sitting around waiting for people to come. Maybe we’re supposed to go out and compel them to come to the banquet.

Don’t get me wrong: working on the banquet hall and training the servers is important. If you’re going to have guests, you need to make them feel welcome so that heart of the Master is reflected in all you do. But at the end of the day we are still left with his instructions: “Go.”

I’m just finishing up the Sunday sermon as I write this. One thing that I discovered this week was that the word “love” in the present tense is used 61 times in the Gospels and not at all in the book of Acts. But the word “went” is used over 150 times in the Gospels and almost always in reference to Jesus. In the Book of Acts, 80 times they “went.” I think the meaning is clear. It’s about Jesus on the move. It’s about the church on the move. Jesus went. The early church went. We have to go so we can went, too.

God bless you. Thanks for reading. PJ

Part of what I’m thinking about for fall...

2010-06-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

What I’m thinking about for Fall is parents and their kids. Especially, how can Christian parents help to build faith into their children? So I asked my Wednesday night class to come up with a list of things that, they believed, helped to “build faith.” (Let the reader be aware, I know the Holy Spirit creates/gives faith. My question was really about what kinds of things might encourage the transaction between the Holy Ghost and our children and other, non-believing people who need to trust Jesus). Here is what they come up with:

Study
Pray
Trails and tribulations
Modeling
Listen
Observe – others – responses- behaviors
Bible – stories of faith
Step off the cliff
Small groups (see observe)
Memorizing Scripture
Meditating
Persevering
Claim the promises of God
Persecutions
Praise
Teach
“Being” still
Experience
Surrender – Turn It Over to Jesus
Train like a green beret

To this great list, I added the spiritual disciplines as described by Dallas Willard:

Traditional Spiritual Disciplines:
Abstinence

Solitude
Silence
Fasting
Frugality
Chastity
Secrecy
Sacrifice

Engagement
Study
Worship
Celebration
Service
Prayer
Fellowship
Confession
Submission

This Fall, I’m hoping we can open new fronts in the fight for faith. I’d like to see us offer a class for the parents of elementary children that is based on the question, “How can I bring my child to faith?” I imagine it to be a class filled with testimonies by others who have grown children who believe.

Then I’d like to see a class for junior high parents about the unique challenges they face and how they might implement new strategies in order to create an environment where faith can flourish. This includes, in my thinking, special emphasis on the on-line lives of their children and how to establish fact from fiction in the lives of their kids.

I know for sure that Brent and I will be working very hard to continue to improve our junior high confirmation ministry.

We’ll also begin new ventures into the faith lives of the post-high school/college students.

Please pray for us. We all pray for these kids and we want them to know Jesus. But we have miles to go before we can sleep... Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Be graceful: Invite those who can’t pay you back.

2010-05-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

It’s my quiet time on Monday, May 3, 2010. Even though it’s my day off, it’s been a hard day, with lots of church matters ruining the day. I’m crying out to the Lord for deliverance. “Please, we just could use some encouragement,” I pray. And there is an answer: “Banquet.” Banquet? Like don’t take the best seat at the banquet? No. “Banquet. Go out to the highways and byways and compel them to come.” In a flash, I’m in Luke 14. And there it is. The Jesus evangelism by grace plan.

Oh, I know, as a church, we’re crippled financially just now. So what. Jesus says, “Go! Go out to the highways and byways and compel them to come in.” And, I might add, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, don’t invite your friends and those who can pay you back.” Oh my. It’s all there. Luke 14:12-24. Let’s make Jesus’ parable real. Let’s be graceful enough to have such a banquet.

Now some will jump on the bandwagon that says this is about First Century Jews and how Jesus was offering the kingdom now to Gentiles and those who had previously been excluded. Uh-huh. But it’s God’s Word. It’s timeless. It’s for us. And it’s clear: Go. Invite. Have a banquet for Jesus and invite those who can’t pay you back.

We talk about how important it is to “go.” Mt 28:19 and following: “Go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of every ethnicity...”

Yet, as a churches, we mostly “wait.” Wait for what? For people like us to find us and decide our worship is cool and our sermons are deep and clever and they want to join the fun? I don’t think that is what Jesus is asking us to do.

I think Jesus is asking us to go find the ones who won’t find there way to Zion Church on their own and give them a compelling reason why they should become our brothers and sisters in submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We should show them his grace in whatever way we can.

Then another flash: A park. A Sunday (?) afternoon, or was it morning? A group of Zion folks. Some singing, a brief Jesus message. Some home-made sides, some fried chicken, and a whole bunch of immigrant kids playing soccer with us. Just so you know, Travis will be there to lead the kids in the songs.

Right down the street, less than 5 minutes away from church, there are apartment complexes filled with immigrants and their children. They love soccer. They love good food. Jesus loves them and wants them to love him. What are we waiting for? Consider this your invitation to support something that just might be crazy or just might be Jesus. We need you to pray. We need some dollars for fried chicken (I think it’s easier of the church springs for that and organizes it). We need some people to bring a lot of sides. We need kids to show up from churches, sing Jesus songs, say “amen!” during the Jesus message and then play their hearts out with other kids from Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and all over Asia and kick the soccer ball around. Are you with me?

The date is June 27th at Beaverdale Park - 3301 or 3333 Adams (depending upon which city site you trust). The time is 12:00 noon.

Thanks for reading. See you at the banquet. Which happens to be at a park. God bless. PJ

I am working hard not to be grumpy and to let Jesus be in control (really!)

2010-05-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here is an insight into my self talk: I think, “Gee, the Son of God became flesh and blood for me so that he could show me the face of God, die on a cross on the third day, rise again so that I might live and reign with him in eternity. Isn’t that the best news ever? Doesn’t that just make you want to dance and sing and smile and tell everyone how happy you are and how much you love them and, more importantly, how much Jesus loves them?”

And sometimes I say to myself: “I’d be a whole lot happier if I felt like the people at church ‘got it.’ I’d be a whole lot happier if they showed up more frequently, gave more generously, volunteered more freely. I’m not even sure what value many of them put on their faith.”

Welcome to the twisted mind of a pastor. As a pastor, you know you’ve got what everybody needs: Jesus. But it’s often frustrating how hard it is to give Jesus away for free. It’s hard to even get people to show up sometimes.

There are 10,000 reasons not to go to church: “I have to work; we’ve been running and running, and we just need to rest, we need family time; we have a soccer game, a swim meet, a track meet, a golf tournament, a baseball game, an out of town game, a show-choir competition, a spelling bee; we have to go home and be with our parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins (whatever) for their (insert) birthday, anniversary, graduation, wedding shower, baby shower, etc.” My favorite excuse for not coming to church is when people have out of town company. After all, we wouldn’t want to make our guests uncomfortable by inviting them to come to church with us. Neither would we want to excuse ourselves for an hour to go on our own.

In the Midwest, winter is a problem. Faced with a driveway full of snow, people often times are too tired these days to snow blow themselves out on a Sunday morning. I’d be OK with this spontaneous family time around the fire and an extended family breakfast if it wasn’t for the fact that when the spring and summer comes, the weather is apparently too nice for people to come to church.

Would it help if we built an outdoor amphitheater for good weather services? I’m game, but ya’ll have to start writing some pretty impressive checks.

Most churches try to make church-going as easy as possible. We currently have three services, for instance, starting at 8:00 in the morning. But 8:00 is too early or it’s too traditional or too inconvenient. We try to make church relevant: we try to make it the best hour of people’s week. But that doesn’t cut it either. We're asking for feedback on other service times now on the website. Feel free to click your thoughts. I know that our flock can be witnesses to Jesus on the soccer field. I know discipleship can happen outside the church building. But if you don't get fueled up, how can you minister?

We even try to make church fun. Fun? Isn’t that a strange value for a church to have? Maybe, but Paul said it best: “I have become all things to all men in order that I might by all means save some.” But apparently we aren’t always fun enough.

Sometimes, in my Andy Rooney moments, I wonder if we should make church more competitive. Competitive? Well, isn’t that what’s going on at the tournaments and meets and games that everyone is going to on Sunday mornings? Maybe we could find a way to make church into a team sport, charge fees, and then have a trophy or other award at the end of the season. Oh, but that’s right, the God season never ends, He's a year round sport.

Someone out there is saying, “Tough talk, Pastor John. Way to encourage the flock. NOT.” Why should I even be bothered by this stuff? I ask myself that a lot. The trouble is that I’m haunted, as a shepherd responsible for presenting my flock before the Lord, by this very troubling thought: If they can’t figure out how to work their schedules so that they can go to the tournament and still go to church, how am I to believe that they will be able to work their lives so that when a moment of decision arrives, they will follow Jesus and not just go along with the crowd? The simple fact is, I’ve got a point. Talk is cheap. People say they believe a lot of things. But if you want to know what someone really believes, look at what they do. Our actions always betray what we really believe.

I’d feel better about people not being in church every week if I knew that they were praying together as families, reading their Bibles, sharing their faith with the other parents or kids on the soccer field. But honestly, I have yet to be told anything like this by anyone ever. The scary truth is that in the North American church we are light on prayer and Bible reading and light on private and public worship. And that’s why I get grumpy. Because I want more for my flock. I want them to know Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. I want them to be equipped for the living of these days. I want them to be able to stand on the day of temptation. I want them to give themselves fully and with reckless abandonment to God.

So now we come to my control issues. Turns out, only Jesus can save people. Turns out, unless the Holy Spirit enables people to believe, they can’t. Wow. So I have all this passion and frustration because I so desperately want my flock to know and believe Jesus and the whole time, Jesus has the power to do just that. So then guilt overtakes me: I’ve wasted all this time on people. Instead, I ought to flee for refuge and help to the only One who can make what I want a reality: Jesus himself. Jesus, I beg you, help me, my family, my church family, my neighborhood, my doctor, my dentist, my barista, my city, my county, my country, my world; Lord! Help them to get you! Help them to find you irresistible.

May all the time I spend trying to make church acceptable to my congregation, may it all be better spent with You, Jesus, pleading, interceding, begging you on their behalf. Because You can change people, I can’t.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

If You Believe in Your Product, Sell It!

2010-05-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

So I had this a interesting experience. We’ve been looking at different school possibilities for our kids. So we’ve been booking tours of facilities and meeting with teachers and administrators. Recently, we toured a very impressive edifice. It had everything going for it except one thing: excitement. The kids we saw seemed happy enough, but they weren't really part of the tour and they didn't express to us a desire that our kids should join them in the classroom. What I’m talking about is the staff. We sensed no excitement from them. And what was really interesting: no one tried to convince us that this was the best place in the world for our priceless children.

I can’t say whether they just expected that we’d be awed by the edifice and the place would sell itself. Maybe they felt their excellent reputation in education spoke for itself. Maybe they thought their curriculum and teaching methods would grab hold of us and so captivate our imaginations that we'd have no choice but to sign up. Or, maybe they thought we weren’t a good match for their school. All I know is that all the people I talked to at this place made me feel as if they didn’t care whether or not my kids attended there. Frankly speaking, it wasn't that I expected to be fawned over, I just expected some passion for their school and the impact it was making in the lives of their kids.

As we were leaving, my wife said, “My, they were very laid back about things.” Then she said, “I hope we don’t come across that laid back to our guests at church.” And that got me thinking not just about church but about Christian life in general.

Christians, isn't Jesus Christ the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us? Isn't new life in him the best product, vacation, experience, or thrill you've ever had? Doesn't it just make you want to go out into the highways and byways and invite people to come to church with you and experience Jesus? Ummm.... Well.... Errrrr..... Ahhhhmmm....

I think what I'm saying is that we don't act like it. We act as if there are other options. We act surprised, even, when people WANT to worship Jesus with us. What happened to us?

I think the answer is we have forgotten our first love. We've learned to put other things in front of Jesus. I'm sure those things are good, but nothing gets to go in the Jesus place except Jesus.

Revelation 2:4 Jesus says to the church (at Ephesus but maybe to us, too?): "Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand." For 200 plus years, the North American church has dominated the Christian landscape. Now, it seems, instead of being the largest sending country for missionaries, we are the largest receiving country for missionaries. And we don't seem to be alarmed by this at all. Our so called main-line churches seem to have abandoned the teaching of the apostles. And I'm not sure that most congregations, regardless of affiliation, aren't rather luke-warm to experience on a Sunday morning. Have we lost our passion to the point where we no longer believe that Jesus is the absolute best thing for people?

You are entitled to your own opinion. I happen to think it's true. I think we've left our first love. And I thank God that he revealed the way back: repentance. Apparently that's where it all begins. Repentance.

The big question in my mind: how does the church repent? I'm open to your feedback. Stay tuned. This will be an on-going conversation. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

What I Learned in Omaha

2010-05-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Why Omaha? Because that was where the LCMC ( http://www.lcmc.net ) leadership conference was held on April 25-27, 2010.

I love Omaha. They have truly awesome food in Omaha. Svickova and dumplings at the Bohemian Cafe ( http://www.bohemiancafe.net ), melt in your mouth prime rib at Johnny’s Cafe ( http://www.johnnyscafe.com ), and while the food is definitely food service, you can’t beat the relaxing atmosphere while having lunch in the Durham Cafe at the amazing Joslyn Art Museum ( http://www.joslyn.org ).

The conference was amazing, too. Over 300 in attendance, which is a lot for an association with 400 churches. Listening to friends who have been in the LCMC since it’s birth, it’s amazing to think that a few years ago, 50 people was a lot for one these leadership deals. I asked one guy what it was like, watching this gathering of church leaders blossom and grow. He said it was weird considering that now few people new who he was. I couldn’t help but think that’s how people feel when congregations grow also.

There were many wonderful presentations. But one that really struck me was by my long time colleague, David Housholder ( http://robinwoodchurch.com ). There were a number of points he brought forward which I think are pertinent to our life and ministry at Zion and I want to share them with you now:

Lutheranism in America is about to have a demographic catastrophe. This isn’t new information, but for a denominational group that stopped growing and begin the slide toward extinction in the mid 60s, we are now much closer to the end game. Housholder was bold enough to equate the precipitous fall in Lutheran numbers with the advent of the birth control pill in 1965 and the facts bare him out. He correctly identified three major waves in American Lutheranism: the growth that came through immigration in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th; growth from the early 1900s until 1965 from having lots of kids; and now, the third wave, the real possibility of extinction. See my earlier blogs for the stats and the links to websites that prove this statistical analysis. This means that in order to survive, we must grow through conversion. In fact, according to Housholder, we must grow our congregations by 10% each year purely through adult conversions and baptisms in order to stay alive. Wow. That’s exciting. It means we have to get back to our first love, proclaiming the real Gospel of Jesus. Finally, all the excuses are gone. We HAVE to do mission! Praise the Lord!
For my part, I wonder how well prepared we are to undertake such an enterprise. But I’m so excited to be part of the generation of pastors who must completely change the way we have been doing things for the sake of reaching a world around us that does not know Jesus or understand its need for him. Bring it on, God!
Dave talked about how he was present in Ethiopia at a meeting of evangelists from the Makene Yesus Church (Lutheran/ http://www.eecmy.org ). They had charts and graphs and were emphatic that they must baptize 163,000 people this year. Why? Because they baptized 163,000 people last year. And they believe they must baptize 163,000 more every year in order that the line on the graph showing the growth of Christians will meet the line symbolizing the growth of their population on their charts. They want nothing less than an Ethiopia where everyone is a believer in Jesus Christ. What boldness. What an amazing, refreshingly honest, kingdom attitude they have. Wouldn’t be great to desire the same thing? The only time I’ve seen charts and graphs in the American church is when we’re talking about money. Now is the time that we must learn from our Ethiopian brothers and be bold and dream big dreams. Because Jesus wants to reach everyone through us. Can you imagine if every one of our churches had the lofty goal of the total conversion of our states, cities, towns, and neighborhoods? Let the charting and graphing begin! Wow, these are exciting times.

So, while the challenges we face are daunting, they are real kingdom work to which our Lord and Master has called us to. Time to get out there really work the vineyard. Maybe it took the real possibility of the loss of everything to make us do it, but at least we’re beginning. May we be as bold as the Ethiopians in following Jesus into the lives of others. Thanks for reading. God bless you. PJ

In Praise of Pastor’s Spouses Everywhere

2010-04-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Since my blog is about all things church, I feel justified in posting this. Naturally, none of the difficulties I reference occur at my present church, but are simply a collection of events from other times and other places and the experiences of other people. I use the pronoun “she” to describe the pastor’s spouse because it is convenient. I acknowledge and thank all those men who are married to women in the ministry.

Sometimes the tending of souls that a pastor does is so exhausting, often times there simply isn’t anything left to give to the tending of other, more material things that simply have to be done in this life. Like flowers, bushes, trees, leaky sinks and window sills. Too often, the tending of one’s own children, marriage and other significant relationships also get passed over because of psycho-spiritual exhaustion. Clergy have an incredibly high divorce rate and one of the highest rates of chemical dependancy in any career. The burn out rate among pastors is extraordinarily high. Frequently, pastors go on to become human resource specialists or insurance salesmen. Can you imagine what it must be like to be married to a pastor? Most mere mortals would never survive being married to a pastor so God, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, made a special class of humans, the pastor’s spouse.

The pastor’s spouse understands that ministry runs in seasons and like the seasons, it is impossible to ever be fully prepared for their length. So she has enormous patience with her husband who vanishes for days or sometimes weeks, and sometimes, months, showing up at odd and inconvenient times to eat or sleep.

The pastor’s spouse doesn’t file for divorce when, in his delirium, he looks at her during a conversation and says, “I’m very sorry, dearest, I simply have no ability to converse with you tonight.”

The pastor’s spouse isn’t phased by phone calls or text messages or e-mails at all hours because she understands that the moment of decision in a person’s life cannot be scheduled neatly into office hours.

The pastor’s spouse bears up under disappointment well, always expecting the best but understanding that when dealing with people and their spiritual lives nothing is ever convenient.

The pastor’s spouse realizes that her ambition must be laid aside for the sake of her family and her marriage because if she works during the week and her husband on the weekends and holidays, they will never see each other nor be able to spend meaningful time together. She understands that you can seldom or never go home for Christmas or Easter if your family home is more than a day’s drive away.

The pastor’s spouse knows that you must squeeze every drop of joy when joy is to be found because tomorrow may bring heartache and pain in the lives of others and therefore in the life of her husband and his ministry.

The pastor’s spouse understands when there simply isn’t money in the bank or a raise in salary every year because her family’s welfare is dependent upon the welfare and generosity of other families.

The pastor’s spouse is patient when her “honey-do” list is overlooked for months and sometimes years in order that others might be served first.

The pastor’s spouse has extraordinary self control in order to share the pew with many who are convinced they could preach a better sermon, lead more effectively and do a better job of running the church then her husband.

And when the pastor’s spouse is at the breaking point and needs somewhere to turn, she is content that only Jesus and a precious few friends can ever truly understand her life or be trusted to keep her secrets safe or truly share her burden without being scandalized and calling her “unspiritual.”

And when the pastor is finally put out to pasture, his health broken, his mind exhausted, the pastor’s spouse knows she must nurse him and be content with whatever they have managed to set aside for these years knowing that true retirement and true rewards are not found in this world but only in the kingdom yet to come.

And I have no doubt that when the pastor’s spouse awakens in the arms of Jesus, the Savior will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Though you sacrificed for every one, you did it really for me. Of all my servants, you are one who exhibits so faithfully my decree, ‘I have set for you an example that you should do as I have done.’ Come, enter the rest prepared for you since before the world was created.”

Martin Luther, the great reformer, was late to marry. But he found bliss in his married life to Katherine von Bora, a former nun. He praised her as the book of Proverbs praised the “good wife.”

From Proverbs 31:
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not hard, all the days of her life...

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness....

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Thank you, pastor’s spouses, everywhere. You are the person behind the preacher who keeps us accountable, honest, humble, and gives us joy when we come home. Thank you for your sacrifice to Christ and his kingdom. Yours is a unique and often misunderstand and overlooked ministry. Great will be your reward. God bless, thanks for reading. PJ

What We Learn At Pastor Conferences

2010-04-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

On March 25 I was blessed to be able to attend the Catalyst One Day conference (http://www.catalystspace.org) at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. The featured speakers were Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel. It was an amazing event with about 2100 pastors and church staff in attendance.

The day long format was intense but extremely gratifying.

Here are notes from what I felt was the best of the presentations by Craig Groeschel, pastor of Church.tv (http://www.lifechurch.tv) Some of the notes are his and some of the comments are mine.

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes by Craig Groeschel

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Romans 12:2

Think Differently about your church culture. (or whatever)

(don’t think) Our people won’t ____________. (do, think, any behavior, i.e. invite, bring unchurched to worship; won’t get into worship, etc.)
(do think) We haven’t led them to _____________. (do, think, any behavior).

They “won’t” because we “don’t.” We have to model the behavior we want them to do. Whether this is how to worship, how to invite unchurched people, how to give. What people will do depends largely on what we lead them to do and to do that we must do what it is we are asking of them.

Think differently about programming.

(don’t think) We have to do more to reach more.
(do think) We can reach more by doing less. (Less is more). Why do we keep doing things that don’t give life? Life transformation decreases as activity increases.

Think differently about the mission.
(don’t think) We can’t hurt someone’s feelings.
(do think) We can’t allow someone to hold back the mission of the church.

Think differently about people leaving the church.
(don’t think) We can’t let anyone leave.
(do think) We can grow when people leave.

Wrong mindset on this is a momentum killer. Don’t be needy. Needy people are there for the wrong reasons. Typical complaints of needy people: I didn’t like that song. The preacher isn’t deep enough. The music is too loud (seriously, he said all this).
Don’t bless the wrong people to leave, but the right ones. You choose.

Think differently about limitations.
(don’t think) We can’t because we don’t ______
(do think) We can be we don’t __________

Sometimes God guides by what he provides, sometimes by what he withholds. Limitation leads to innovation. Perhaps the biggest innovations came about because of limitations (lack of space led to second site instead of new building).

Three Assingments:
Find someone one or two steps ahead of you and learn how they think (not what they do - don’t copy what without the why).
Identify one wrong mindset and ask God to renew your mind with truth.
Identify one painful decision you’ve been avoiding and commit to make the decision no matter what the short term pain.

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Grace, Cheap or Costly?

2010-04-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Grace and the loving forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ are one and the same thing. By God’s grace, Jesus Christ was given to die for us and for his sake, we are forgiven. But if we don’t feel guilty for our sin, if we don’t feel shame for our actions and inactions and words and thoughts which grieve the heart of God, do we really receive God’s forgiveness? Martin Luther would argue, “no.” If you don’t believe your sins are forgiven, he says, they aren’t. That’s the part that faith plays in grace. We are saved by grace “through” faith. So, if you aren’t sorry, you don’t feel guilty, you don’t feel responsible and you don’t really feel you need to be forgiven. People and churches fall into this trap all the time. They talk about how all is forgiven and yet they feel no shame and therefore they do not amend their life and they therefore make the grace of God, in the words of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “cheap.”

Bonhoeffer wrote a book called, The Cost of Discipleship, in which he lays out the difference between “cheap” grace and “costly” grace. I’m grateful to the website, www.crossroad.to/Persecution/Bonhoffer.html , for the following explanation of Bonhoeffer’s work:

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God. 45-46
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 47

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
 This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs. 49
As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost....49

Change Lies Ahead for the Church

2010-04-05T00:50:00.000-07:00

Radical change lies ahead on the church landscape in America. We must prepare now for future ministry.

Presumptions:
a. We are living in the last generation to see full time, paid, professional clergy (with benefits). While there will continue to be full time, paid clergy, they will be working for mega-churches and will be the elite and the lucky.
b. We are living in the last generation to be able to afford the traditional church building. As congregations shrink in size they will have to sell their buildings. New church plants will not be able to afford to purchase land and pay for new buildings. New churches will rent space or will buy multi-use space which can serve as either a way to draw in the world (retail, restaurant, clinics, play, etc) or provide income (church as land lord). In some cases, it may be possible to rehab empty churches but the difficulty remains in how to pay for maintenance and utilities.
c. Seminary education is about to radically change. Thanks to the internet, traditional campuses and class room experiences will increasingly become a thing of the past. Since clergy won’t be full time, prospective candidates will not be able to afford the costs of traditional seminary education. Undergrad + seminary program can = $100k.
d. Traditional benefits enjoyed by churches may end in the near future. Since we have allowed a generation to grow up which doesn’t see the church as beneficial to society, we may lose our property tax exemption and other exemptions (such as exemption from traditional employment laws, sales tax, income tax, etc.).
e. When looking for a church, people’s first experience, first impression, and a major determining factor in their decision about whether or not to visit that church, will be their experience of that church on line. Personal invitation to church will remain a chief factor in choosing a church, but the internet experience will become more and more critical.
While not replacing face to face relationships, people will continue to form online communities and seek ways of networking those communities and integrating them into their daily life.
f. In 20 years, there will be more unchurched people than there are now. 78% of Polk County (Iowa) residences say they have no church home. That trend will continue. There will also be fewer churches.
g. Every Christian must now understand themselves as a missionary. Every church must be a missionary sending and equipping center. Every pastor is already a missionary, regardless of whether or they realize that yet or not.
h. The model of church as a dues paying club must end. The attitude that has to go is this: “We pay our dues, we expect service for our dues, if you don’t do what we want with our dues, we will leave.” The model of a church as a corporation must also end. Members are not share holders. This adjustment will affect the way we teach about financial stewardship. The corporate model of leadership is no longer feasible either, because we are now entering a time in history when faith, not votes, needs to be our guide. (eldership) (spiritual gifts)
i. This is an era where vision will determine the future of the church. Those who have God given visions will survive. Those without will close.
j. The population is graying, the church in America will be hit by a catastrophic demographic change in the next 20 years as many of our current members will be dead. The boomer generation will transfer much of the remaining wealth away from the church, using it for their retirements, health care, and end of life issues. Their estates will be smaller and will less frequently include churches in their final bequests. The boomer generation is also slow to empower the next generation to lead. k. In the city of Des Moines there is currently a surplus of underutilized young leadership both inside and outside the church. l. Further, for reasons stated previously, many church buildings will become vacant in the next 2 decades. It may be possible to acquire them at no cost and plant new congregations with new leaders with the express purpose of reaching the neighborhoods surrounding the churches.
m. We live in times of unprecedented change: health care, the stock market, new enemies, uncertainty, talk of climate change and catastrophe, etc. The Good News has the best market it’s had in years. Our Savior can deliver real hope and real change. The only thing keeping us from revival now is that churches tend to be inward focused with their resources while talking about being outward focused.

End Result:
The church of the future will by necessity be leaner, more efficient, have a different profile (look much different) and will be more focused on mission.

ELCA Reprise

2010-03-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today I want to take a few moments and remember those of you who are suffering in an on going spiritual struggle with the ELCA. Yes, Zion and I have left the ELCA and we're well and happy and fulfilling the Great Commission. We pray the same for you. In the past, this blog served as solace for some of you and I will never forget your kind comments. Lately, more and more disturbing news is reaching me from within the ELCA and so I want to have a "moment" to pass on what I'm hearing and reading. It isn’t really possible to have a moment of silence on a blog, so I’ll make this a “moment of comment.”

I started to notice an up-tick in the number of people from various congregations across the midwest contacting me off line asking for prayers and help in their struggle with the ELCA. The stories they share are incredible. One pastor actually went to the nursing home and brought a van load of folks to the vote in order to insure that the vote to leave the ELCA wouldn't pass. In another, the behavior of the local bishop at a congregational meeting pretty much galvanized the church against him. In another, the bishop brought in all the inactive members who hadn’t even been to church in a year to vote. In many cases, people didn't want to see strife in their congregations and simply wanted to dual affiliate with the ELCA and LCMC. Such a strategy would solve many, many issues within the ELCA and would stop the slow bleed that many congregations who can't make the 2/3rds vote are experiencing. (I’ve heard from a lot of you who have 60% support to leave but lack the last 6.7% - doesn’t the ELCA doesn’t realize how many congregations are deeply divided?) However, the ELCA has decided that any such joint affiliations will not be tolerated. The stories go on and on. All I can say is, "So much for respecting bound consciences." What I see is that the ELCA sees any organized opposition to its policies as infidelity. So much for respecting each other’s bound consciences.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to be part of a panel that was interviewing a pastor wanting to join LCMC from the ELCA. His story was disturbing. His congregation had voted to leave the ELCA. He was a mere 9 months from retirement and had stated his intention to simply serve out his remaining 9 months in that congregation he had served for a decade. His bishop "fired" him. Dropped him from the clergy roster. Kicked him out. So much for respecting each other's bound consciences.

Then there is the case of NE Iowa. Can you imagine that they would like to bar clergy who side with CORE or WordAlone from holding office in their Synod? Check out the article (whose authenticity has been verified) on page 7: http://www.lutherancore.org/pdf/CORE%20March%202010.pdf So much for respecting each other’s bound consciences.

In the same issue, read about the Florida congregation (pg 2) who isn’t being allowed to leave the ELCA after 2 votes by the congregation confirm their decision to leave: http://www.lutherancore.org/pdf/CORE%20March%202010.pdf
So much for respecting each other’s bound consciences.

I just want you to know that those of you still grappling with the ELCA are on our hearts. We love you. We support you. Stand firm in your faith. Stand on the Word of God. The Lord is your deliverance.

To pastors who face divided congregations: stand with the truth. You are living in times which demand of you a great witness on behalf of the Gospel, perhaps even suffering or persecution. The Lord will be your provision.

To pastors who are on the fence and think that things will change: Consider this hypothetical situation. Let's say that I hang out with a bunch of guys who are bullies. Of course, I'm not a bully, they are. I hang out with them because I think that I can convert them from bullying and make them nice people. I don't participate in their bullying, in fact, I chastise them when they come back from their bullying and tell me about it. Every once in a while, one of the them honors me with a nearly spiritual conversation about how he's feeling about eternity. After an episode of sharing "deep thoughts," he goes right back out to bully. Here's my question: How long do you continue to try and bring them around? How long before you become an enabling presence? How long before your attempt at being a good witness actually has the opposite affect?

For all of us: let us continue to remember that our behavior, our words, are a witness. Let us be salt and light and stand for the truth in perfect peace. God bless you all. Thanks for reading. PJ

We Just Don't Get Grace

2010-03-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that one of the biggest problems in Christianity today is that there are so many Christians who just don’t “get” grace. They don’t understand this very basic concept upon which so many other doctrines rely. For instance, if you don’t understand the grace of God, how can you really understand justification, sanctification or salvation?

One of the biggest obstacles to true faith is the failure by many Christ followers to understand the grace of God and apply it to their own lives and the lives of others. Simply put: if we don’t “get” grace, we don’t “get” Jesus. This failure can lead entire churches to misrepresent the gospel and fail in their witness. Normally, a grace failure might manifest itself in one of several ways:

1. Failure to be graceful to other people. This leads to perceptions of Christians as either angry people with an axe to grind or “holier than thou” folks who are too good for the unconverted. We who have been forgiven much sometimes like to throw our brothers and sisters into debtor’s prison for failure to pay us what they owe us, figuratively speaking. (See Mt 18) We come across as judgmental, full of condemnation. “You sinners!,” we say. By doing so we show the world that we simply judge people by their acts and fail to see in them the potential for repentance and transformation. Now this will be seen in some circles as a generalization. What Christ followers need to have is the discernment to understand when strong words to address sin are called for and when behavior is overlooked for the sake of a future relationship. Early Christ followers lived in a society that was full of biblically prohibited practices. They didn’t spend their days walking the streets and markets shaking their fingers at people. Instead, they changed their lives to conform with their new faith and their counter cultural lives was a witness that drew many away from the world and into Christ following. There are occasions when we are called to make a stand and address governments and societies and individuals about their actions, but those times seem to be fewer and farther between than our opportunities to simply show the light of Christ in our life.

2. Failure to apply grace to our own lives. This leads to Christians who are truly neither meek nor humble but who seem always to be down on themselves and unable to accept that they are good enough in Christ for God to use for his purposes in this life. They are slow to believe in the miraculous power of God at work in the world around them and their life doesn’t bear testimony to the joy of a changed life, but of the misery of being stuck in an endless struggle with sin. They are also quick to judge those who live in the joy of Jesus as being, ironically, too full of themselves. Having themselves never experienced the joy of grace, they are quick to condemn those who live in this grace.

3. Failure to apply grace within the church. The church as an institution also needs to be forgiven, also requires patience, and needs to be treated gracefully and to treat others gracefully as well. The church is expected to be the place where judgment doesn’t greet the sinner who wants to be changed, but where repentance and amendment of life can truly happen. Naturally, the church must also speak against sin and urge its membership on to transformation and encourage them in their Christ following. Naturally, the church must hold it’s members to account that they live out the gospel together and individually. And naturally there is a time and a place for the church to discipline members whose lives harm the body or the witness. But both Jesus and Paul remind us that over everything, put on love. Discipline is to be the exception, grace the rule.

Grace is Mission

2010-03-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

The gospel in a nutshell: Jesus Christ was given to die for us and for his sake, our sins are forgiven when we believe in his name. What does that mean, to believe in his name? It means to be changed, converted, to repent of the former life and to live a new life in Christ. Simply put, it means to stop following the ways of all others (which lead to death) and to follow only Jesus who leads us to life. Christ followers were once dead in their sin but now, having been washed in the blood of Jesus, they are alive in him. They strive to live out their new life everyday in their thoughts, words and deeds. They strive to live such good lives in the world that people will give glory to the Father and will want themselves to follow Jesus the Son. How do you live such a life? You live gracefully, freely giving away from the grace upon grace which has been bestowed upon you by your Savior.

The Christian’s experience of grace is to be so transformative that we are “expected” (that is, the expected result is to be) to forgive quickly as we have been forgiven, to be merciful as we have been shown mercy, to believe and hope the best for people and to never give up on them. It is expected of us that because we love the One who showed us grace, we will feed his lambs, tend his sheep, shepherd his people. It is expected of us, by our master, that we who have been forgiven greatly will also greatly forgive. Why? Because we have received his grace, been changed by his grace, and therefore love him so much that we are willing to lay down our lives, our rights, and all that we have in order to serve him in this way.

God gave us his grace by giving us the Son. We now live in this grace of Jesus every day and from within that life with him we seek to be graceful ourselves and to flood the lives of those we encounter with grace.

Grace is contagious. We live in an often times grace starved world. People are hungry for grace.

What is grace? Grace is incarnate in Jesus Christ. It is the type of undeserved, unmerited, unearned, sacrificial love that God gave us in Christ. It is multiplied, honored, manifested, when we who have received this grace spread it around by treating others better than they deserve, surpass their expectations, and sacrifice ourselves or something of ourselves in acts of love (grace) to them.

Living gracefully makes Christ followers different. And that difference is noticed by a graceless world and when the people of that world ask us why we are so generous with grace we can tell them, “Because my master has treated me better than I deserve and I seek to do the same for others for the sake of his reputation.”

Modeling

2010-02-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

Theory: If people are to have a deep relationship with Christ it must be modeled for them. If they are to be able to give a testimony about what Christ has done in their lives, testimonies must also be modeled for them.

I remember learning a very important lesson as a young pastor: When preaching, you sound like the sermons you’ve heard, until you develop your own style. I believe that the biggest single human influence on my preaching is that I grew up and then worked in churches with great preaching. You preach like what you've heard.

The first coverts were (Acts 2) “devoted to the teaching of the Apostles.” What did the Apostles preach? They preached essentially two things: 1.) how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and, 2.) their own personal experiences of Jesus - what they “witnessed.” This is where the gospels come from. They are the testimonies of the men who followed Jesus. If people are to be able to give a testimony, it helps immeasurably if they hear the testimony of others.

We see it with people learning to pray. Few can start out and “know what to do” and pray well out loud right out of the gate. It helps if someone models it for you. You grow in hearing the syntax of prayer, the language of prayer, the imagery of prayer. That doesn’t in any way mean that God isn’t pleased with our early prayers, it’s just that the most comfortable in prayer are frequently the ones who pray the most and so have achieved an intimacy with God, a way of speaking with God that eventually influences others.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he modeled for them a prayer - what we call the Lord’s prayer.

Ultimately, everything we do ought to be modeled on Jesus and a reflection of him. It’s best that Jesus is the model we always defer to. Sometimes that just isn’t possible (i.e., Jesus wasn’t married, didn’t own a house, and didn’t pastor a church that a met in the same place every week with the same people). For those cases where we can’t directly model Jesus, we rely on the imitation of other followers of Jesus who have done what we consider to be an admirable job. “I want my marriage to be like so and so’s.” “Such and such a church gives visitors these....” And so on.

Modeling was the method that Jesus used to teach the disciples as well. He asked the disciples to follow him. To listen. To watch. And then he sent them out to do.

Discipleship is a type of modeling. The disciple models the behavior, attitude, speech, attitude of the heart, actions, that he learns from Jesus. At the same time, if he/she is a disciple, they are also in relationships with others and are themselves serving as examples for others. Be disciples. Make disciples. Jesus is the model. Paul said it this way, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

The Church of Sanctified Imagination

2010-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Pondering some random thoughts about the nature of church....

I see in many church goers a tendency to lead grace-less lives. It isn’t that they can’t tell you what the Gospel is. It isn’t that they don’t value church. It isn’t that they don’t know their Bibles. It’s just that they aren’t happy about it. They seem, except for a greater knowledge of Bible trivia, just like worldly people. Their faith doesn’t seem to impact their heart. It impacts their calendar and commitments; it impacts their bank account; it impacts their voting; it impacts their parenting; they are “doing” everything they are “supposed to do.” But there is no joy, seemingly little peace, and love seems more an obligation, another chore, than a way of being.

Is there something in the way that we do church that teaches people this? Is it hard for me to see this situation objectively because I think that the church is so very important and that when done right, it is alive, fun, vibrant, life-giving and sustaining and transformative?

I see also in many churches an amazing lack of imagination. There seems to be little creativity or ingenuity. I mean, come on, we’ve got the all time best story in human history to work with and we can’t be more imaginative than 3 songs, some readings, and a teaching? This, in my opinion, then leads to an amazing lack of fun. Oh, I know some people don’t think that fun is a proper value for church to have but I think if you asked Jesus’ disciples they would tell you that following Jesus was all these spiritually deep things and the most fun they’ve ever had too. All you have to do is read Justin Martyr’s history of the early church and you’ll see what I mean. The church was alive, faith was real, and miracles happened. They were forced to constantly innovate because their meetings had to be in secret and they always had to be imaginative in seeking ways to tell the story of Jesus. You were guaranteed that something would happen every week in church.

Didn't Jesus' death redeem human imagination as well?

What I wonder is whether the church intentionally or unintentionally stopped having fun and celebrating the imagination when Constantine made us legal. Since then, if appears, as if a sort of war has been waging between the cerebral and the playful. Luther’s reforms were, on the one hand, biblically grounded, and, on the other, rather innovative because his concern was in getting the message to the people. They weren’t “getting it” from the same old same old. He designed different kinds of services and used illustrations and humor in his amazingly long sermons. In fact, it could be argued that his sermons were his foremost innovation. Heretofore, the majority of priests taught very little from the pulpit. The focus of the mass was the sacrament. Luther’s huge innovation was to make both the didactic and the mystical of equal importance. Luther introduced “new music” into the church and also new ways of communicating - utilizing the printing press to put teaching aids like the Small and Large Catechism in the hands of parents as well as the Bible.

On the other side of the war is the type of “strict” adherence to doctrine which is suspicious of anything new, fun, innovative or imaginative because it isn’t strictly “just the word.” Of course doctrine is important and we should strive to teach and preach it in it’s purity. But I don’t for a moment believe that we can’t make the Good News interesting and relevant.

Those who master doctrine tend not to be the life of the party nor the most imaginative and are suspicious of those who seek to make doctrine understandable using any means other than preaching, which, as we saw, was an innovation itself. Something might be compromised in the process. Oh, and they may have to give up some control. Interesting how often disagreements can be traced back to human control.

I think there is a real lack of lack of trust between the theologically minded and those who seek to take the concepts and make them available to the masses through a process of imagination or innovation.

Case in point: the Puritan movement in England. When Oliver Cromwell was in charge, they shut the theaters, cracked down on minstrels, and outlawed much of what passed for contemporary entertainment. They regulated church services as well. Innovation, imagination, fun, was looked down on. You might say that Calvin accomplished the same in Geneva. Yet neither of these approaches worked. Because when all is said and done, if we in the church cannot captivate the imaginations of our audiences, we cannot expect to capture their devotion to our cause, either.

How do we create churches that are doctrinally sound and also creative, innovative, imaginative, and in a word, fun?

I suppose that one thing to consider is that one man’s fun is another man’s torment. There’s no accounting for taste. Some people will love your new song and some will hate it. So then we have to allow for the fact that not every church will be the same and people will congregate in congregations that best match their learning and personality styles. Which is essentially what we have today. And if we could learn not to judge one another on our styles but rather by the fruit on the trees, we might be even more effective at reaching our generation and perhaps the world with the message we’ve been entrusted with: salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Jesus, by the way, a very innovative teacher. Used all kinds of object lessons. And the most visual speaker in history. He knew exactly how to stimulate not just the intellectual, but the imagination as well. Not suprisingly, he managed to appeal to every style of learning known to man. What else would you expect from God?

And this is where we leave it. Jesus captured people’s hearts but he also captured their imaginations as well. I would posit that is the sign of true devotion, when someone captivates your imagination as well as your intellect. We know that in all things it is the Holy Spirit who creates faith. But we also know something about ourselves. We tend to be more inspired and quicker to commit when the message is delivered to us in a way that so stimulates our heart and soul we cannot help but follow along. Let’s give them Jesus, every possible way we can imagine. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

A Life Well Lived

2010-02-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have thought a lot this week about Captain Daniel Whitten, a 28 year old soldier killed in Afghanistan, who grew up in our church and left to fulfill his calling some ten years ago. I'm certain that I met him once, in the hall, between services, he and his sister, also a soldier, and their mother. Shortly after that, his Iowa family went to another church. If that was something I was responsible for, I grieve that.

But I'm thinking about Daniel Whitten, the son, the brother, the nephew, the grandson. I'm thinking of his parents and I'm thinking about losing my children. Because no matter how old they are, they are still your babies. Always. I'm thinking that during that same week, virtually the same day we came to know about Daniel's passing, we were also mourning the passing of an 89 year old, dearly loved father and grandfather and great-grandfather and also the death of a baby who was just 2 months in the womb. Jesus says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! For I have overcome the world." Usually, whenever death comes it is painful. It is separation. It is the crushing of dreams and the ending of possibilities. But it is not the last word. There is more to come. There is another, better, final chapter setting us for the sequel of what will be a glorious eternity with God in heaven where he will dry every tear from our eye and we will behold him and he will be with us and we with him and there will be no more death, no more pain, no more illness, no more bombs, no more saying goodbye, but an endless stream of "Hello! It's good to see you again(s)."

I'm thinking of Daniel Whitten, a soldier, who gave his life in the fulfillment of a duty to something that was greater than he was as an individual. And I want to say to all the Christians I know, "See! Behold! Are we willing to lay down our lives, too?" Because Daniel lived and carried out his duty with passion and I wish we had more of that passion in the church. He gave his life for a cause and I wonder how many of us are willing to do that anymore? And because death is not the end but a mere doorway from the life that is to the life that is to come, why do we not live more boldly by faith?

I'm thinking of Daniel Whitten, the officier, who knew that his duty to his soldiers was to serve them - serve them by training them constantly to learn how to fight so that they could survive battle and live. And I think about our churches which should be training centers so that people could know Jesus deeper and build their lives on the solid rock and live and I'm wondering if we aren't failing miserably because we lack the stamina to truly make them training centers and because at the end of the day we'd rather just play church and maintain the status quo.

I'm thinking about Daniel Whitten, a young life, a short life, but a life well lived. Thank you, sir, for your service and for your example.

The Marks, oops, Mark of a Great Preacher

2010-02-02T18:57:00.001-08:00

Last spring I was blessed with some time away in another city for some rest. It was a wonderful opportunity to go and visit another church, one I’m very interested in, with one of the greatest preachers of our day. It was a real treat to see what God was doing in another place and how they were stewarding their blessings. It gave me so much to think about.

One of the things I pondered was the topic: What Makes a great preacher? I came up with two marks or qualities I thought were key in defining a great preacher.

A great preacher listens to God. I suppose that is somewhat obvious but I’m not convinced that all preachers do this. By listen I mean really, really listen. They take their Bible text deep inside them and listen to what God is saying. They have a healthy, deep, prayer life of devotion to the Lord. Then, somehow, God speaks to them and tells them what they are to say, and how they are to say it. And they have the courage to say what they hear God saying. A great preacher lets God speak about what He wants to speak about.
People listen to a great preacher. I don’t mean that he simply draws a crowd or has a fan club. This isn’t about being popular. What I mean is that people put into practice what they hear from God through him. In other words, people believe the preacher. They believe he’s telling the truth. For instance, when the elders of the great preacher hear a sermon on the importance of evangelism, they don’t come to the next meeting and say, “Great sermon as always, but we really aren’t interested in reaching our neighborhood with the gospel.” Rather, they seek to put into practice what it is that they have heard. The great preacher’s audience hears the word of God and believes that the preacher is a man of God with a vision from God. The preacher says, “Thus says the Lord,” and the people confirm this by the the way they live their lives.

Today, in reading over these old notes, I realized that I’m not sure there really are two marks. I think that perhaps there is only one mark of a great preacher: he listens to God. Whether or not people turn from evil or are inspired to follow Jesus is really the job of the Holy Spirit. The preacher simply tells what he has been told. People will do what they will. The prophets, all of them except Jonah, never saw the people put into practice what they were told to say. In the New Testament, audiences were much more likely to “turn and be saved,” but not in every case. Paul certainly was nearly killed on more than one occasion. All that being said, it could very well be the reality that the greatest preachers will never be famous. They will be marginalized or crucified and may never have a large congregation but they will always be faithful to speak the truth they have been given. Even if no one ever listens.

I recently found there is an excellent blog post about the signs of a "reliable" preacher by Billy Graham's grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, pastor @ Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. You can see it at: http://www.crpc.org/blog/?p=748

Disconnected Ramblings on Doing Discipleship Churchwide

2010-02-01T14:04:00.001-08:00

Enjoying the transition from Christmas and New Years back to the "grind" of bleak, midwinter life. I have a lot of thoughts on my mind but not a lot of time to refine them at this point. But here they are, for what they are worth.

The Situation:

• The reason the church exists is to glorify God by "being" disciples of Jesus Christ and by making disciples of Jesus Christ. The reason the church in North America is in bad shape is because we don't understand our purpose: our churches are full of Christians who are not disciples of Jesus and therefore we've apparently few ideas about how to make disciples. Now disciple making might involve things and programs like Rick Warren's 5 Purposes, but I'd say that those are more to help us understand "how" to make disciples rather than why we exist.

• It seems like so much of what people are concerned about these days has to do with "playing church." Now I'm all for creative play, but we also need to incorporate a certain amount of results orientation into our methodology. Are we "making" disciples. How do we cure the feeling that we are just “playing church?”

• We need to move from "confirmation" to" Christ-formation" across the board. The old ways aren't working any more and the model of church we are pursuing (programming/modern) will be radically different in 20 years. This radical change is necessary. The status quo is no longer acceptable. It is a matter of spiritual life and death.

An observation for those who seek to address the situation:
When you bring the Word the kingdom of God will become more real to more people. You can count on two things:
a. The hungry sheep will line up to be fed and they will come from everywhere.
b. The devil and his allies in the world don’t like this and they will throw everything they have at you.

• True discipleship reflects the cruciform pattern (as does all Truth). All true discipleship reflects the experience of Jesus. If you haven’t been persecuted you must ask yourself the question, “Is what I’m doing really discipleship or am I just making peace with the world?” "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice..." Jesus’ invitation to us to “Follow me: live like me, die like me, lay down your lives like me.” Bonhoeffer once said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."

• As you try to do kingdom work, those who run “the system” will try to crucify you.

Another Observation: Discipleship demands submission. The most pressing question for us in the church today is the one Jesus’ asks: “You call me teacher and Lord, yet why do you not do what I say?”
We’ve made church about us to the point that we don’t submit to the Holy Spirit. It's also difficult to submit to each other. Many in our midst are not spiritually mature in their faith. “No student is above his master.” Mt 10:24 ff. The reality is that in every existing congregation the need exists not just to evangelize the lost (Mt 28:19ff) but also to re-evangelize the already converted who have become "comfortable" or sleepy in their faith (Jesus' words to Peter, " ..;then turn and convert your brethren. "

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” When you preach the kingdom you will always gather a crowd, but that crowd is both good fish and bad fish.”

The nature of the church is that we are both wheat and weeds, good and bad fish, good seed and bad seed. As has oft been said, “Wherever the Lord builds a Cathedral, the devils builds a chapel.”

Winton Marsalis, Jazz University Program on XM/Sirius Radio - “A way to break someone’s spirit is to tell them that what they are doing is not worth it -- it’s worthless - and is of no value. So we seek to do the opposite. We seek to build up people.”

Vision for for the church (to amend what we have been and to enhance what we are)
The church needs to be...
1. A culture of praise to God. God is real. God acts in real ways in people's lives. Let's celebrate that more intentionally.
2. A culture of thanks to God and people. A culture of appreciation.
3. A culture of joy.
4. a culture of fun.
5. A culture of optimism (can do!)
6. A culture of welcome! Let’s get to know you!
7. A culture of generosity.
8. A culture of believing. Expectation of miracles. A culture where faith can flourish.
9. A culture of learning (perpetual).
10. A culture that values creativity and innovation without MacGyverising.
11. A culture of safety where discussion, repentance, forgiveness and change can occur. A culture that allows for mistakes and learns from them.
12. A culture of desperate love for the lost. A desperation for people to know and love Jesus. A culture that so loves others that it is willing to change and get out of our preferential comfort zone in order to create an environment where people can meet Jesus and be changed.
13. A culture of direct communication. No junior high games.
14. An environment where kids want to be here and it’s the best hour of the week for their parents.
15. A culture of grace. Quick to forgive, quick to put the best intentions on the acts and motives of others.
16. A culture without guilt or shame.
17. A culture where we focus on leadership development/discipleship.
18. A culture of truth where the gospel is preached in all it's purity, leading to repentance and transforming faith in those who hear it. A place where the Word, as Dallas Willard puts it, is proclaimed, taught, and made manifest.

Discerning the Times for the Church

2010-01-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

I think too much. I spend a lot of time thinking about the church. I think and pray about what is going on in my congregation but I also think and pray about what is going on in the church locally and around the world. One of the things that has become clear to me over the years is that we are living in times when much of what we know about church must change. The signs announcing this change are all around us. Oh, we're not going to stop trying to be what the Bible tells us to be. The church will still be a human organization trying to do Divine things, but many of the ways we seek to do those things will simply have to change.

In Mark 13, Jesus and his disciples were walking around the Temple in Jerusalem and the disciples were amazed by all the buildings. Jesus tells them that it is all about to end, that it will all be destroyed. The disciples want to know about the end times, especially when it will be. Jesus tells them not to worry about it. Instead of worrying, he tells them to look for the signs, to be discerners of the times. Jesus' followers are called to be watchers of the times and discerners of what God is doing.

I'm grateful for what I call the American Reformation that was brought about by the charismatic wave of the 70s and the shift in focus to evangelism and reaching the lost that was pioneered by such churches as the Crystal Cathedral and Willow Creek and Saddleback. I'm grateful for the lessons they've taught us and how the Holy Spirit has used them to speak to the church in North America (and indeed, around the world). But I sense an even greater change coming. It is more than simply considering the questions and preferences of the unchurched and how to address those. I sense changes coming that will fundamentally alter the way we "do" church.

Here are some of the things I'm wondering about:

How do we welcome people with no concept of "church" or Christ and also reverse years of laxity in solid, Biblical teaching? We have to renew our focus on teaching.
Even here in Iowa, far away from the cultural and ethnic melting pots of the major urban centers, we are facing our first unchurched generation. There are entire families that have no memory of church at all and may not see churches as something benign. How will we address this growing group in our society and invite them to meet Jesus? I feel that most churches are absolutely unprepared to do the very basic work of leading people to Christ and welcoming them into a life of discipleship. Most probably we are unprepared because we have turned church into something that we do for ourselves and quite frankly, we don't expect people we don't know to ever come into our church. Further, many in our congregations haven't learned anything new since confirmation and don't look to the church to teach them anything else about who God in Christ is. We must find ways of re-igniting historic, orthodox, biblical teaching.

Is the way we "do" church sustainable?
By this I mean the following:
A generation is passing who knew how to give to the church. The next generation is in debt up to its eye balls with school loans, car loans, credit card debt, mortgages, etc. The big budgets we've seen for the last two decades may no longer be sustainable. Can we learn how to do more with less? How can we to teach people who are leveraged beyond belief how to give?
Buildings. Many of them aren't paid for yet. Older ones need a lot of work. Will we be able to afford this expense going forward? And what if a generation who doesn't see the church as important suddenly doesn't think the church should be exempt from paying property taxes? We must learn to think of our ministries beyond buildings; that means beyond programming. Not that this will happen tomorrow, but what about in the next 20 years? This kind of thinking needs to impact our thoughts about building drives. Perhaps we should pay off debt instead of acquiring new debt? Perhaps increasing the size of our physical plant won't really help us as much as we think when it comes to future ministry. These are hard questions to ask in a church culture that measures success by buildings.
Gunmen. Nobody likes to talk about it, but churches have recently become targets of gunmen. How do we prepare for such challenges? God has to be our safety and protection. We also need to be conscious of this new reality and seek ways minimize risks without causing problems within congregations or making them look like airport screening lines.
What if a generation who doesn't value the church doesn't see why there should be a charitable giving deduction on our taxes? Is giving by our membership seen as a faithful response to God's love and grace or as a write off?
What if preaching about sin from the Bible becomes "hate speech?" We've seen this already happening in Canada.
What if future laws require us to provide a translator? Because we are a public event, it is possible that such future laws might apply much as the American's with Disabilities Act required us to modify our buildings.

We must raise up and equip new, young leaders for the future. Currently, few churches have plans for future leadership. The whole approach to leadership by most churches is rather haphazard. It needs to get much more intentional and fast. Everything from helping in discernment processes to helping to pay the costs must be examined. We need the right leaders, the ones that God has chosen. And we don't need them to be acquiring $100k in debt for a job that pays $30k. We doom them to failure by making them bear these costs alone. We need to learn how to embrace new generations and stop acting as if younger people aren't credible. "Let no one despise you because of your youth," Paul says to Timothy. We have to change the way we look at leadership and realize that spiritual maturity is not always age related.

We must become creative with staffing and in ways of making key volunteer positions sustainable. We need to actively fight against burn out in church workers and also prepare for a time when we might not be able to afford the salaries we pay now. Are we prepared to shoulder the real burdens of ministry and not just the financial costs? A sustainable future might very well involve large commitments of time to the church. And the church needs to explore new methods of "compensation," like affirmation, appreciation and encouragement.

We must consider carefully the effectiveness of our programming. In the past, much programming has sought to carve out a Christian subculture for our membership in the world. For instance, if the school has a Halloween Party, we have a Harvest Party. We frequently duplicate what the world is doing in order to put the stamp of Christ on the activity. But what if modern people are so busy that they need the church to offer less, instead of more, activities and opportunities. What if our time with people turns out best spent in teaching them and equipping them how to minister to "the church in their home" rather than being another source of entertainment or activity?

I realize that we must trust God in all things. My purpose here is not to be alarmist. I see it as simply necessary to realize that we live in a sinful world that hates the church and the Gospel. We simply need to be prayerful and aware. We need to be discerners of the times.

I'm reading quite a lot of stuff lately about the necessity of change in churches. Here are some interesting links. Enjoy. Please join me in prayer for the future of the church. God bless you. Thanks for reading. PJ.

http://www.russellmoore.com/2009/11/09/what-the-church-can-learn-from-sesame-street/ What the church can learn from Sesame Street.

George Barna: The State of Main Line Protestant Churches
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/17-leadership/323-report-examines-the-state-of-mainline-protestant-churches

Gracefully Passing the Baton by George Barna
http://www.barna.org/component/wordpress/archives/77

Welcome, 2010

2009-12-31T15:37:00.001-08:00

The end of the year is a natural time to reflect upon one’s life and, in the case of a pastor, one’s ministry. One thing I can say about 2009, it was never dull. There were times when I longed to be bored. Times when I prayed for quiet. But God had a plan and although that plan was not easy and required the loss of many things in order to remain faithful, we stand now poised to enter into the new year with optimism and hope because God is on the move and we are following him.

The words of Paul (Romans 8:31 and following) come to mind:
“If God is for us, who can be against us? ... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will separate us from the love of God that in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Goodbye, 2009. Your job is done and you have brought us to where we need to be in time. I hated much of the bumpy ride but we are here, where God wills us to be. With each bump in the road, I was brought closer to the Lord. Nothing is wasted in his economy. No experience is without some value. He uses everything to build us and shape us for the future which is of his design and always to equip us for ministry to others. Transitioning to the new year, I pray that Almighty God will grant each of you grace and patience and wisdom and courage and strength for the living of these days. We live in a unique and challenging time full of colliding ideological forces and an on-going technological revolution which is reshaping our society in yet to be comprehended ways. But for such a time as this were all of us placed upon the earth. We may not always be comfortable, but let us strive to be faithful to our high calling as followers of Christ to be his witnesses even and especially when we feel that we are living in the end of time.

Welcome, 2010. You bring us a fresh start, a turn of the calendar page and new seasons of opportunities to sow the gospel seeds as we advance into the future our God has prepared for us. Thanks for reading. God bless. PJ

Merry Christmas and Here’s the Real Meaning of the Great Commission

2009-12-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

It’s Christmas time. Time to consider once again the second most amazing event in human history: that God became flesh and pitched his tent among us. It’s a sign of God’s amazing and unfathomable love and grace that the Son, Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be selfishly held on to, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

The second most amazing event in human history is that Jesus died, a sacrificial death, in our place and was raised again at Easter. Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Some will feel differently, of course, but for me, this is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the time when we can’t help but focus on the fact that the light has come into the darkness. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Then he said, “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.”

We are invited by the light of the world to become light so that the darkness can be overcome. We are also commanded to take this light and let it shine into all the world that others, too, may be in the light. We are followers of Jesus and also his fellow follower (disciple) makers. Jesus asks us to be his followers and also to make more Christ followers. Truly, this is a great commission!

The Son’s commission to us, ”Go and make disciples of all nations…” reminds me of the Father’s commission to mankind: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”

Have you noticed how we are recently reticent to fulfill either of these commissions? A diminishing number of people have large families any more. We seem to prefer 2 or 3 children to 12. I grew up in a selfish generation. My friends and I grew up believing that we should first “do something important” and then save up money, in order to have children (and only a few) later in life. In other words, the meaning of life was to be found in doing something for yourself, and only secondarily in having a family. My grandparents came from a mindset that family was the most important thing and that children were a blessing from the Lord.

People far smarter than I have been watching this trend for a long time. It has something to do with prosperity: for some reason, the richer we get the fewer kids we have. Maybe there is something to be said about large families having to struggle together, but being stronger for it. I suppose the more prosperous we become, the more we think we have to provide for our children (ipods, cell phones, flat screens, etc) so children become less and less cost effective. Frankly, I like the space we have at our house, more kids would mean there would be less space for me and what I want. But you see, I’m selfish.

God isn’t selfish. He’s magnanimous. He is bounteous. He specializes in abundance. That’s one of the reasons or signs that point to Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of God. Wherever Jesus went there was suddenly abundance: water became wine, five loaves and 2 fish suddenly multiplied to fill a multitude and there was still enough left for 12 baskets; fish filled the nets, the dead came back to life. “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.”

I remember story time in elementary school. We read a lot of science fiction about the end of the world. On Saturday mornings there were cartoons and dramas (like Ark 2) about how overpopulation and the consequent pollution was destroying the earth. We’d all freeze to death in the dark. Alas, the science has changed and now we’re getting too hot and we now have over 50,000,000 million abortions in this country alone. Apparently we don’t think much as a world about God’s command: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it.” When it comes to not doing what God commands, just about any excuse will do.

So to the church Jesus gives the great commission, “Go and make disciples.” The great commission is simply God reminding us that as far as he is concerned, more is better. “Fill the earth with my disciples because I want abundant children.” “Let there be more light.”

The church is therefore commanded to grow the family. But we’re big enough, surely? Aren't we cozy as we are? More will get messy! Not for the magnanimous, over abundant, bounteous, grace beyond all measure attitude of God. We need to make room. Oh sure, there will be issues like “what about me and mine?” but hopefully, the joy of seeing new life will overcome those if our hearts are in the right place.

But the house is too small! But the budget is too small! But we haven’t prepared! Doesn’t matter. The fields are white with the harvest. God commands: “Go, make disciples, fill the earth and subdue it. Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify me, your Father in heaven.” The most joyous times in ministry and in my personal life were'nt when there was plenty and everyone had their own space. They were when we were together, bunched up, falling over eachother and there wasn't enough to go around. That made community, it made memories, it made love. In a room crowded with disciples, the light is very, very bright.

It’s not a Christmas hymn but it bespeaks the meaning of season: that God became man so that men might become sons of God, and now asks us to increase the family.
"Going forth with laughter, sowing for the Master, Though the loss sustained, The child often grieves;  When our weeping’s over, He will tell us gently,  We shall come rejoicing to heaven, bringing in the sheaves.
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,  We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,  Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,  We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Merry Christmas and thanks for reading. PJ

Everything Must Change

2009-12-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

One of the most exciting things I believe was summed up best by Bill Hybels: “The local church is the hope of the world.” I know some people will jump on that and say, “Gee, PJ, I thought Jesus was the hope of the world.” The answer is, of course, that Jesus is the hope of the world and that people best get connected to him in their local church. Jesus is the local church after all, it is his body.

I don’t really care what that church body looks like: high church or low church, cathedral or store front or living room. What’s important is that the local church understands it stands as Christ’s representative. All those wonderful words in 2 Corinthians 5 about being the ambassadors of Christ are written to the local church, to “ya’ll” in the church. If people are going to come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord they will somehow need to be connected to his body. That’s why the local church is the hope of the world. Because the local church can bring the hope and transformation that only Jesus has.

This is an awesome mission. What would it be like if we really lived this out together? What if we actually believed and acted like we believed that our local congregation was the hope of the entire world? I think a lot of the petty arguments would stop. I think our priorities would be re-arranged. It would have to stop being about us. I think everything would change for the sake of the mission. And I think that’s what needs to happen. Now.

Why are we slow to adopt this vision that we, the church, are the hope of the world? Because I think we worry too much about our institutional survival. We can’t afford to lose any members, especially in these tough economic times, so we accommodate people who aren’t mission minded and try to keep everyone happy. This mindset can be held by pastors, boards, and members in general. If the worst thing that can happen is that you’ll lose a member, you probably will never gain any. And you certainly won’t add people who didn’t know Christ before because you won’t be being the hope of the world. You’ll be being the customer service department.

Sometimes, as preachers, we’re tempted to preach nice sermons full of empty platitudes that don’t rock the boat. But if we don’t preach for life change and transformation, if people don’t go away challenged to know Christ or know him better and equipped to do so, what’s the point?

I think we’ve been focused on meeting the felt needs of our members for too long. We’ve become insular, unable to identify and therefore to relate to the outside world. We’ve lost our edge, too. We are no longer expected to be imaginative or creative or innovative in the ways we make our witness or engage the world. I suppose it’s too risky to be too innovative, it might make someone uncomfortable or leave them longing for the way things used to be.

I’m speculating here but what if we in the local church have come to believe that if people want to meet Jesus they must first conform to the culture of the church? I think the early church dealt with that problem in Acts 15. Nothing is required before you meet Jesus. If we were missionaries we wouldn’t expect the people of the land we were evangelizing to learn our language or adapt our culture first. We’d learn theirs with joy so we could share Jesus. That’s the right attitude. We’re supposed to be the missionaries, not the consumers.

Blood, Money and Mission

2009-11-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

I went to the Blood Center the other day to give blood. I went because they called, as they do frequently, and expressed a need for blood.

I’ve done this for a while, but there were things about this particular visit that I really hadn’t noticed or thought of before.

They have the latest and greatest technology. Well, I mean, it’s a medical enterprise, what would you expect? It’s important work, you’ve got to keep up with technology.

On the walls around the interior are hung giant posters of people’s faces. These are the faces of those whose lives have been saved or changed by the blood we donate. I know this about the posters because also around the room are smaller pictures of the same people, the smaller versions containing the testimonies of how donated blood changed these people’s lives.

That got me thinking about fundraising. The Blood Center is a nonprofit corporation. But I don’t suppose they have trouble raising enough money to keep the doors open. Why? Because everybody knows how important the work they do there is. It’s work that saves lives. Why, they just call up people like me and say, “We need your blood,” and I show up. Because the work they do is important and I know it. I bet that when there isn’t enough blood to go around, people don’t blame the Blood Center. Nope. They are there to take the blood that people donate. If there isn’t enough blood it’s because people are too selfish or too busy to give it, not because the Blood Center failed in any way.

Anyway, I did my check in and then got sent to do some paper work necessary before they take my blood. It was routine. Same paper work every time. I have the answers memorized. I finished in record time but I had to wait for 40 more minutes. So when they took my blood pressure it was a little high, only because I noticed that people who came in after me were being leaped-frogged in front of me and time was getting on and I had another appointment. Plus, they were about to stick a huge needle in me and I wanted to get that part over with. But hey, it’s the Blood Center, they know what they are doing, it’s important work, and so I just sat there and re-read the impressive fliers telling me about how important it was I was doing what I was doing.

When you finish giving blood, they treat you to your choice of juice or water or coffee and whatever kind of cookies or muffins you want. No charge. It’s free. In fact, the bakery across the street donates their day old stuff and so as a donor I can take home a whole sack of bagels or bread or muffins. Free. Because I gave. And because other businesses recognize that what they do is important.

I didn’t realize it, but the Blood Center also has a point system. Apparently, whenever I give blood I get points. And these points are redeemable on line for Blood Center merchandise: water bottles and sweatshirts and the like.

Some of you are saying, “What’s your point?”

Here is my point:

When the church calls for volunteers, do you think we get a better response than the Blood Center?
There is never enough money in the church budget to keep us current with the latest technology, even though communication is critical to what we do.
We get criticized for spending money on posters that tell people what we’re doing and sometimes we even get criticized for testimonies because “it makes it sound like it’s about the person or the church and not God.”
The church is also a non profit corporation and yet whenever we fail to hit our numbers it is our fault, not the fault of the people who didn’t give.
A lot of church members get mad if they aren’t served within what they consider is an appropriate amount of time and not only do they give feedback about how our procedures need to change to give them better service, but they might just walk out and never come back.
When we tell people what we do in our literature, we get criticized by our own folks for thinking too highly of ourselves.
If our coffee hour doesn’t pay for itself, somebody’s going to hear about it. After all, it’s a luxury, and people don’t really need it.
And as for point systems, give aways, or thank yous, well, it’s the church. If we spend money on that then we’re told that people don’t need to be thanked and if we don’t spend money on that people tell us we’re ungrateful.

Why do two organizations, both specializing in blood (red blood cells or the blood of Jesus) receive such different reactions when they are both simply going about their mission?

I think that part of the answer is that we need to loose some of our “self righteous church people attitudes” that keep us from telling others how important the church is. Fifty years ago the church was seen as important to society and most people attended. Not so these days. And part of that may be our own fault for being so concerned about not being seen as not humble that we come across as insular, insecure and irrelevant.

Another part of the answer, in my opinion, is that almost everyone considers the work of the Blood Center to be life saving and life changing and important. But the work of the church? Only a few realize that we are also a place where lives and eternities are saved and changed. This might also be part of the difference between growing churches and dying ones. Take a look at the materials from your local blood bank some day. No doubt that they consider their work of critical importance. Then look at your church materials. Do you see the same kind of confidence in the critical nature of the church’s mission? Will it ever be different? Will more people come to realize that what we do as a church matters in a life saving way? I believe the answer is “yes.” But only when more people experience the life saving/life changing power in the blood of Jesus. And that is our mission.

A New Identity Comes At Enormous Cost

2009-11-11T14:43:00.001-08:00

The Bible tells us that our new identity in Christ was purchased by his death. Because he died, we are made new. New identity costs big time.

I’m contemplating the whole topic of new identity for our congregation now that we are leaving the ELCA. So far, I am very thankful to our bishop for not trying to stop us and for not putting up bureaucratic obstacles. Now that our course seems clear, such obstacles would only make the angry people in our congregation angrier and the sad people sadder. We’re healing and we’re holding together after having a lot of very difficult conversations.

It’s interesting to me that most of the churches leaving the ELCA seem to be finding their new identities in mission. In other words, having taken a stand on the word of God, they now seem more committed than every before to go out and make disciples and be salt and light. It’s exciting to see. All of these departing congregations will be forming new relationships with congregations and denominations and associations that share their scriptural worldview.

It also looks to me that the ELCA will be getting a new identity of sorts. Also termed mission, it seems as if those remaining in the ELCA will be finding new unity in having taken a stand on social justice issues like gay marriage. Now, without the rest of us to raise a ruckus, the gospel of inclusion without transformation and salvation without the cross can be preached across the denomination and the trend toward universalism can continue unabated. Now there will be no one left to point out the inconsistency in preaching the Old Testament prophet’s hatred of the oppressor without preaching the Old Testament prophet’s hatred of sexual immorality.

From what I’ve seen and heard during the last couple of weeks, it looks as if measures are underway to be sure that there is no resistance to the new unified missional identity within the ELCA. From my vantage point, it appears as if efforts are underway to silence any remaining resistance within the ELCA. I site the following:

In a recent conversation with a certified and trained interim pastor, I found out that he was prohibited from even interviewing for any vacant interim position in our Synod. The only explanation is that the Synod office doesn’t approve of his stand against the actions of the Churchwide Assembly.

This from a friend whom I trust: Two clergy reported a bishop said to a group of clergy: "I will not do this, but every ELCA official who comes after me will.
If you do not agree with the resolutions of the CWA on sexuality in August,
you will be set aside."

From a Facebook post on Nov 6:
“My godfather, a 50 year Lutheran pastor, was forced out of his church this weekend for taking a stand against the ELCA decision. He delivered a sermon regarding the gospel (little g) of acceptance replacing the Gospel (big G) of redemption. Most of the congregation agreed with the sermon, but a small number found it "intolerant", including the Sr. Pastor, and he was asked to resign...and not allowed to clarify his comments. I have a copy of the sermon...it's quite tame. Anyway, thought you'd find that interesting. He's quite hurt.”

Apparently respecting “bound consciences” does not apply to bishops or Synods, who must carry out the policies enacted at the August CWA. This from the Lutheran Core November, 2009 newsletter:
“ELCA synods will not have the option of upholding traditional Christian
teaching on marriage and homosexuality in their standards for pastors and other rostered leaders according to a draft of candidacy rules released Oct. 10 by the ELCA
churchwide organization. No synod or bishop may make decisions on ministry standards that differ from the new policies of the ELCA churchwide organization as defined by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the policy draft explains.” See the full article and explanation at http://www.lutherancore.org/pdf/Connection-Nov-09.pdf

Requiem for a Relationship

2009-10-29T15:35:00.001-07:00

Our congregation voted last Sunday to leave the ELCA. 85.5% of those who voted wanted to go. It should be noted that another congregation in Waukee, IA also voted to leave on the same day and that the week prior, a church in Fontanelle, IA also voted to leave. We aren’t going alone. And I hear they are more to follow.

I was very proud of our congregation. There was no cheering, no clapping after the results of the vote were announced. We had a prayer and dismissed the meeting. People who wanted to go made an effort to comfort those they knew wanted to stay. The end was full of grace. My attention is now focused on trying to minister to those members who are disheartened by the result of the vote. Some of them will eventually leave our congregation. It’s heartbreaking. Some of them have been here for years and years and invested themselves in our ministry, in friendships and relationships.

Immediately after the vote, I kept fighting back tears. I wanted to get to my office and just ball. But people needed things and they wanted to talk. By the time I did get to my office, about 45 minutes later, I had no tears.

I have a variety of emotions. I’m pleased with the vote because I feel the congregation stood on the word of God. I’m saddened by the rending of people’s lives that will result. Quite frankly, there was no way to avoid this. Because if the vote had been different, it just would have been different people leaving and grieving. And I’m angry. Angry with the institution and establishment that brought this forward when 57% of respondents told them they were strongly opposed to the course of action that led to the current situation in the ELCA. I’m angry at the bishops and lay leaders who let the vote go forward, always keeping their opinions private, and shrugging their shoulders and saying, “We have to proceed. It’s the will of the church.” Rubbish.

We tried to avoid all of this. We played by all the rules.
Our congregation was kept informed of every action at Synod and church wide assemblies.
We did our study group and sent back our info regarding all the various sexuality studies.
We went to local conference meetings and stated our opinions and “engaged in the conversation.”
We sought to elect delegates to Synod and Churchwide Assembly. We were always defeated.
We sent out letters and e-mails to pastors, council presidents and churches, asking them to join us in our opposition.
We brought in speakers and invited local congregations.
We enlisted the help of national organizations.
We kept informing the bishop of our dissent.

But in the end, all our efforts locally and nationally failed.

We are not people filled with hate or anger although that is how we will undoubtedly be characterized. We have been called names and have suffered much from those who disagreed with us.

We are not poor losers. We did what we were supposed to do and we played by the rules. We fought the good fight. We engaged the issues. We are people who are certain that the word of God is clear about marriage and sexuality and who know that you can’t take away the requirement to repent and believe from the gospel of Christ.

We are not being chased out. We are leaving on our own. Heads held high.
We have not left historic Lutheranism. We still hold to the ideals and teachings of the Lutheran Church which has always taught about law and gospel, the centrality of Scripture in everything, and the need for daily repentance and amendment of life.

Finally, I want to congratulate our congregation for making a stand on what is and what isn’t God’s word and for having the courage to leave our denomination because of it. It is my belief that by doing so, you stand with the likes of Jesus, Peter James John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Iraneaus, Augustine, Luther, and your Grandparents and parents. Those who sought to elevate human reason over the word of God in this matter stand with Bishop Spong and the Jesus Seminar.

Who is the Jesus Seminar? Exactly. And if you know or care today who the Jesus Seminar is, know that your kids or grandkids will one day ask: “Huh? Who were they? Never heard of them.” Because everyone who has tried to change the word of God before is dead and forgotten. Jesus is alive. The Bible remains and his word goes out and lives are continually changed and people are healed and transformed. All because they hear the call of Christ, “Repent and believe.”

I know that some of you who read this blog have been doing so because you have found some comfort in the arguments which have been made for leaving the ELCA. I have been overwhelmed by the positive response in e-mails and phone calls. God bless you all. If I can encourage you as you struggle with all the complex issues surrounding these issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

For those of you who have been following because you are angry, please forgive me. I am only living out and speaking what I understand about Scripture. May you find peace with God.

Now it’s time now for us to start talking about the future. And what life looks like in a new world, with a clean slate. Mission is there. And we embrace the opportunity. Thanks for reading. PJ

Two Thoughts Confirmed

2009-10-09T08:01:00.001-07:00

At the LCMC Gathering this week I had two thoughts confirmed: Thought #1: We need to be around more mission-minded churches. Thought #2: Everything must change.

Here are some vignettes of the conversations I had.

Jamie is second year student at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. He has two years left. He was the only Luther student recognized this year at the Gathering. Why? Because students serious about the bible are fleeing denominational seminary programs because of run away biblical revisionism by many faculty members. What does this mean? It means that in the mid-term, it will become increasingly harder to find young pastors who love God’s word and are faithful to it in the mainline denominations. A tectonic shift is well underway.

What kinds of seminaries are students now going to? Their were about 20 seminarians recognized this year. The majority of them are going to Bethel Seminary where are very own Brent and Tina also attended. No one should be shocked by this. Our friends on the west side, Lutheran Church of Hope, has well over a dozen students at Bethel. These days it isn’t a question of “you must attend a seminary of your denomination,” it’s more “you need to attend a seminary that is faithful to the word of God.” How did mainline Protestant Christianity wind up in such a sorry state of affairs in the US? Because we lost the battle for the seminaries long, long ago. Making our master’s degrees count in the eyes of the world means that seminaries have to be accredited by the world. That immediately requires them to compromise. I was taught in seminary by admitted heretics. They weren’t nasty people by any means, but they didn’t hold with the historic teaching of the church and they were bold enough to tell you so. Because of accreditation, they are all tenured and cannot be removed no matter they teach. How weird is that? Many people insist we send our students to denominational seminaries so that they will have a strong denominational identity formed in them. But the denominational seminaries cannot form a strong denominational or even Christian identity any more and haven’t been able to for years. There were also a lot of students going to church run programs like The Master’s Institute (http://www.themastersinstitute.org/ )in the TC and the brand new, LCMC endorsed, Beyond the River Academy (http://www.beyondtheriveracademy.org/ )which runs special programs for older, more established students.

Jamie is currently involved in planting a new church (http://www.thecruxlife.org ) As he’s learning in the classroom is he able to put what he learns into immediate practice. The seminary didn’t set this up, he was asked to help out by a LCMC church in the Twin Cities. He’s a self starter who has decided to answer the call of Jesus and turn his worldly experience toward kingdom work. Jamie is from Des Moines and has been working with our homeless population for years, preaching at the Bethel Mission. Jamie wants to come back to Des Moines after seminary and plant a church for the homeless. Now, I ask you: isn’t that extraordinary? Here is a guy who isn’t looking for a soft landing. He’s not looking for a nice little church somewhere. He wants to do mission. That’s what LCMC is like because it is full of men and women and churches who have that same heart for mission. People and churches who aren’t afraid to change everything and even die to previous ambitions for the sake of mission.

Met another pastor named Dana from northern LA. ( http://www.firstlutheran.org/ )He’s been working at his church in an urban center for 27 years. These days, if you want the church to thrive, the leadership tends to stay a long time. He’s now lead pastor. His church and school sit on 7 acres of urban land across from a major medical center that wants to buy them out for millions and millions. Those millions could move his church and school out to the ‘burbs and build a really, really nice campus. But God spoke to Dana in a dream. They are staying downtown. And now, everything must change.

Post war, Lutheran churches in California grew because so many Lutherans from the midwest and east coast settled there. Bill Vaswig, our guest at Zion 2 weeks ago, reportedly said told a Zion member who was visiting him in California, “See that white stuff on the mountains over there? It isn’t snow. Those are all the letters of transfers from Lutherans moving to California.” But now, California has changed. It is incredibly diverse and many, many people have never been to church. So Dana’s church decided that if they were going to stay in the city and minister to the city, they would change their name. No one in their city knew what a Lutheran was so they removed it from their name. Then they selected a new name for their church, one that they felt would reflect their new reality as an urban mission center: LifeHouse Church. Now the new name probably won’t bring in people in droves. But it will change the way that Dana’s church thinks about itself. In the Bible, when people had been changed by God, they frequently got a new name. Jacob became Israel. Saul became Paul. A new name to signify a new way of being: mission. Everything must change.

Met an old seminary classmate of mine. He was always very popular. He could have any church he wants. He’s got it together. But he was white as a sheet for much of the conference. Why? Because my old colleague left the comfort of the established church and the salary and the benefits and is now planting a church in California. There is no safety net. He and his ministry are entirely in God’s hands. It’s been three weeks now and he’s a bit freaked out. Why did he do it? For the sake of the mission. Because everything must change.

I’ll close with this. At the Gathering we learned about 20 new house churches planted by two Iowa LCMC pastors in Vietnam and Cambodia. They are both humble, unassuming men. They love their Thai Dam brothers and sisters and risked imprisonment to bring them Jesus. Because they love Jesus. Because everything in this world must change and will change, when they hear about Jesus. That’s the mission for which he’s invited us along. And I am overwhelmed to see how it plays out in the lives of the people and churches of LCMC.

Observations from the LCMC National Gathering

2009-10-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

I’m in Fargo, ND, at the LCMC National Gathering. It’s wonderful. It’s like coming home. You can watch the Gathering until 10/7 at noon CST via web streaming at www.lcmc.net Here is my brief report.

Personally speaking, my time her has been incredible. It has been a time of personal and professional renewal. I have laughed long and hard and sung and prayed with over 700 of my brothers and sisters in Christ. The keynote speakers have been fabulous. The break outs have been informative and very, very relevant. It’s been a joy connecting with these mission minded brothers and sisters.

Here are my observations:

This is where the happy Lutherans have gone. I know this will offend some of you but from my perspective this is true. The worship was songs we know by heart both traditional and contemporary. There was swaying, lifting hands, spontaneous applause... such a sense of joy dominates the environment here. There is laughter everywhere.
The business part of the meeting was brief. There is no bureaucracy to support. Get this, the numbers part was brief, all the motions were passed, all but one unanimously, and the real focus was on the state of the association. And the state of the association is growth. 20 new house churches in Vietnam and Cambodia have been planted. I wept at this because those churches were planted by LCMC pastors who were denied permission by the ELCA to plant those churches. Why were they denied permission? Because it’s illegal to spread the gospel in those countries. Praise the Lord that LCMC exists to empower mission. LCMC churches continue to grow in Belarus, Russia, Canada and Mexico as well. So the business we discussed was about hope, life, and kingdom growth. It was amazingly refreshing.
There was little to no anger at the ELCA. Sure there were some new members who needed prayer in dealing with difficult situations, but overall I found the attendees to be about doing mission in the here and now and leaving the past behind them. LCMC seems to be an organization for those who want to devote themselves to mission, not anger. The quote of the day from a Canadian pastor: “I want to be light. I don’t want to fight.”
I have never met a friendlier group of over 700 strangers anywhere. In the crowded halls they all laughed and talked and greeted each other. So many new friendships were created. There is a real sense here of “being on the same page.” And, just so I’m clear, it’s a unity that comes from where we’re going not from where we’ve been.
The Bible teachings by pastors and by such names as Walt Wangerin and Walt Kallestad was biblically sound and built up all who heard.
The breakout sessions were amazing. Nearly as good as the breakout sessions at a Willow Creek conference. They are mostly congregations sharing what’s working with other congregations. It’s done with such humility and, I’ll say it again, a real sense of having the same mission.
There are many seminarians who are finishing various programs at different seminaries and who will be coming on board in the next year. It was exciting to see them brought forward for prayer. I was astounded by the large number of pastors who joined the association this year as well.
There were so many visitors! Over 300 more than expected. They represented churches checking out LCMC. Word on the street is that most are planning to join.
I couldn’t believe the number of my former seminary classmates I ran into. It seems that everyone I went to school with who loves the word of God and wants to tell people about Jesus is either in LCMC or soon will be. Amazing.

We hope to get all 16 LCMC churches in Iowa into a working relationship. There are many things we can do together and we can support and love and build up one another. Next year at this time Des Moines will host the LCMC National Gathering and Lutheran Church of the Cross in Altoona will be the site. We’re excited to be a part of this great organization. Thanks for reading. PJ

Belief vs. Belonging

2009-09-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

So there is a lot going on in my head these days and it isn’t really fully formed yet but since this blog exists to share those thoughts with you, I’m going to go ahead and do a brain dump here so I can get some extra space between my ears to think about other things.

I was reading another blog by Trevin Wax that I read regularly. Check it out at:
http://trevinwax.com/2009/09/23/jim-belchers-third-way-for-the-church/

I’m thinking about how and why we do church and I’m thinking about the collision between two predominate and colliding philosophies: believing and belonging.

Belonging has to do with community and is therefore very people focused. We want people to feel connected to our church body. We talk a lot about our “church family.” It’s important that people feel welcomed, safe, and comfortable when we are together. These are all really good points. We wouldn’t want to attend a church where we felt constantly threatened. We wouldn’t want to attend a church where we didn’t think that somebody cared about us.

The downside to emphasizing belonging is that you probably don’t emphasize teaching what Jesus wants you to believe because it will make people uncomfortable. I know that sounds weird to some of you but it’s true: Jesus makes people uncomfortable. Many times, Jesus himself destroys community. He himself admits it: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. (Mt 10:35-36)

So that leads us to believing. More than anything else, Jesus taught about himself and who he was. He said we must believe in him. He said we had to leave family and friends and preconceptions and possessions for him. In other words, our relationship with Jesus is predicated upon belief. Shouldn’t the reason we do church, stay church together, bring people into the church, everything we do as a church, be because we want ourselves and other people to know Jesus and grow in their belief in him? (In other words, shouldn’t our beliefs be the reason we gather, the reason we do mission?) Shouldn’t our association with a church be determined by whether or not we believe the same things about Jesus?

I was reading about a division in one of America’s premier churches, Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Florida. They have a new senior pastor after 50 years of following their founding pastor. Read about it at this link: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1243679.html

The long time members were upset with the new members and the new pastor because they didn’t “pay their dues.” They just walked in a took possession of something other people had built. The ones complaining have put tradition, belonging, membership, history, above what they as an evangelical church are supposed to believe: that everyone needs to come and meet Jesus and believe in him.
Check out the senior pastor’s op ed piece in a local paper to apologize for the bad witness all this was creating:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-opedonlinecoralridgechurch091809,0,6104431.story

I think this conflict between believing and belonging is played out everyday in many churches. I think pastors wimp out because they don’t want to deliver a message that people don’t want to hear. They don’t want to tell their churches what to believe because that will somehow violate community. What that means is that their churches are built on a foundation of belonging and not believing. Keeping people happy and together is more important than teaching them what they need to believe. It means that whenever some big issue that God has something to say about comes roaring in from the world, these churches are silent.

I think what this means overall is that instead of influencing and changing the world for Christ, many churches allow themselves to be changed by the agenda of the world. They bow to a membership that demands: “You must change what you believe in order to accommodate me and make me feel like I belong.”

Does the church of Jesus Christ exist to make people feel good or to tell them the truth about Jesus, themselves, life and eternity?

Jesus himself has been the one who always issued the invitation: come to me and be changed. We teach what it is that has been handed down for centuries by the saints who have gone before us - we call it the apostolic teaching. The church has been the place that changes the world and its beliefs. Where the church has been changed by the beliefs of the world and has changed to accommodate the world, reformation and revival breaks out, led by the Holy Spirit, to take the church back to the Bible and the apostolic teaching. I believe very strongly that the result of the ELCA churchwide assembly will be reformation and revival in the Lutheran church. I doubt the ELCA will survive as an institution, but Biblically faithful Lutheranism will thrive and grow and perhaps even fully take root in the soil of America.

Here’s what we don’t want to happen: we don’t want our desire for community to trump doctrine (what we believe). Why? Because community that isn’t built on true doctrine won’t survive anyway. But community that is built upon a shared belief system will flourish and thrive. Look at China, Vietnam and North Korea where the church is exploding. Those Christians are brought together by shared beliefs and truly enjoy a type of community that is an authentic community of those who could be arrested, tortured or killed at any moment. It’s biblical community. They come from different social and economic positions, different backgrounds, different politics, but the thing that makes them a community together is what they believe about Jesus.

I guess I’m saying that believing (what we believe) must form our community and not vice versa. A community that has no doctrine or determines doctrine by consensus of the community is really nothing more than a mob.

Where do we get this “doctrine” in which we are to believe? The Bible. That’s where we learn about Jesus, life, ourselves and eternity.

So what does this mean for us and the way we do evangelism and welcome guests? It means that we proclaim what it is that we believe and teach and it means that we’re certain that when people join our church they understand and recognize that these beliefs are not negotiable, even if they bring discomfort. It means that we must make sure that our desire to create community never trumps our desire to share what we believe with others. What we believe (about Jesus) has to be what holds us together. Not our fear of people leaving.

The ELCA made a decision to elevate making a segment of it’s community feel comfortable over and above what it professed to believe (biblical doctrine). A community that violates it’s own doctrine is no community at all and will factionalize over every issue imaginable. Without belief being the reason for community, community is never sustainable.

A Confusion Between Love and Hate

2009-09-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Jesus says: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19 NASB

This is what I wonder: if the Church of Jesus Christ isn’t being persecuted, called names, tortured, driven underground, hunted, put to death, short of funds, etc., is the Church being the Church? If Jesus warns us that the world will hate us because it hated him, should we even desire a relationship with society in which the Church is encouraged, respected, revered, etc.?

Sometimes those of us in church work wonder aloud if it wasn’t a terrible thing that the Emperor Constantine made Christianity not only legal, but the state religion of the Roman Empire. Oh, I don’t doubt that God can work good in just about any situation men muck up, but it does make you wonder if the Church (at least in some parts of the world) hasn’t lost her edge and grown soft and complacent.

Now this softness is definitely not found in areas of the world where the Church is hunted down and persecuted. Places like Vietnam and North Korea and China and Saudi Arabia see enormous growth and incredible miracles. Without the support of the world, the Church flourishes because it cannot help but to rely solely on the power of Christ.

I see a real change in the way that the Church has engaged society in North America over the years. The Church was a huge leader in drawing together 13 very different Colonies and giving them a sense of shared identity and a common view of liberty. The Church was the leader in the movement to abolish slavery. The Church was the leader in the prohibition movement (OK, maybe that didn’t go so well, but hey, we were definitely pushing society). The Church was the leader in the Civil Rights movement. When the lack of available health care was an issue during the last century, the Church led the way in establishing hospitals and clinics to provide needed medical services. The Church cared for immigrants and widows and orphans before the social welfare net even existed. For nearly 300 years the Church has led the way in teaching people how to read (so they can read the Scriptures - the original Sunday School). I saw a glimmer of leadership from the Church after 9/11, during the invasion of Afghanistan, when hundreds of Christian workers arrived to help the new government and establish schools, radio stations, women’s centers and help to write a new constitution which includes freedom of religion. But those were mostly ‘undercover’ operatives from non-denominational fellowships that were ready to go and minister to the people who lived in darkness. Conversely, when the Iron Curtain came down and many countries became open again to receive the Gospel afresh, most of the historic denominations in the US were unprepared for the event and had no plans or people in place and ready to go. Cuba could open any day, and yet, I very much doubt whether any of our Mainline Protestant Churches are ready to go with Spanish speaking evangelists and mission workers.

Lately, all I see from the Church in North America is a kind of whiney complacency. I think this is especially true in Mainline Protestantism. Gone are the days of standing boldly against a sinful society in need of the redemption of Christ. Gone are the days of the talk of sin and how society is going astray. Gone are the days of a radical dependance upon the grace of God in Christ. Instead of initiating bold new initiatives to advance the Gospel, the Church has settled for following along with the rest of society. Instead of opening hospitals and clinics, some denominations hire lobbyists in the vain hope that Congressmen will be impressed by their denomination’s declining membership statistics. Instead of taking a stand against society, conversely, some expressions of the Church have taken a stand against the Bible’s view of marriage and have joined society in advancing alternate views of marriage between a man and woman. Instead of seeking ways to evangelize new arrivals to our shores, these denominations seek ways to nullify their historic beliefs in a vain attempt at accommodation. In many churches, care of the earth and recycling are considered of much greater value than making disciples of Jesus.

In a phrase: instead of the Church remaking society in the image of God, the Church has given in to the remaking of the image of God by society.

What should be done? It’s time to get back to our first love, as Revelation has it. It’s time to get back to a passionate love for Jesus Christ. A love that will spur us on to share him with our neighbors, our society and our world. It’s time to get back to being disciples. Oh, by the way, that means that the world will hate you. Are you ready for that? You might just find it’s worth it.