Last evening, our Vacation Bible School team gathered at the church to decorate for this year's event that starts this coming Monday evening. While we had a lot to do, it was great seeing a couple of dozen people working and laughing together as we prepared for our upcoming children's outreach. Energy flowed all over our campus as the team gathered to do the task before them.
As we worked together, I had the following thoughts about teams and teamwork. These are not in any particular order.
1. Common Goal - Teams function much better when everyone is on the same page - each team member knows the goal and is working toward making that goal a reality.
2. Delegation of Responsibility - Everyone on the team needs to know what their responsibility is. A good team leader points the other members of the team in the right direction.
3. Leadership - The team responds to capable leadership. A clear sense of who is in charge is vital. Everything rises and falls on leadership.
4. Affirmation - Team members accomplish more when compliments are flying around.
5. Celebration - Teams that take time to celebrate their accomplishments tend to accomplish more than those that just work toward the goal and go home. Applaud others. This is similar to affirmation but is very intentional and is aimed for the entire team.
6. Laughter - Enjoying each other and having fun is key to accomplishing great tasks.
There are many other things that make up great teams, but this is what I saw in action last night. I was thrilled to see our team come together and get so much done, having fun all evening long! Thanks everyone! You are an outstanding team!!
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
What Would Our Church Look Like If..."
As we worked through specific teaching on discipleship this summer, I asked this question to the people of our church: "What would our church look like if...?"
Here's a bit of the background to that question. When I became the pastor of this church over 11 years ago, it had been in significant decline for many years. In fact, the consensus of the leaders was that it would close within five years if something didn't change. Since that time, God has been leading us into a more missional mindset and the church has grown significantly. As I stated in a previous blog, we are adding another service to our schedule to try to facilitate additional growth.
To be honest, a great deal of our growth has been transfer growth - people who have come to us because the church they were in was not effectively ministering to the community. Transfer growth has helped us by bringing us a number of new leaders and resources. As a result, we've done more than we thought we could do several years ago.
However, transfer growth doesn't really increase the Kingdom of God! All it does is "shuffle the deck." So I've been asking our people to think about their family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and those they see as they drive down the street. What would our church look like if we really reached out to those who need Jesus the most? And, what would our church look like if we reached out to those who are really different from us? What if we made ourselves really uncomfortable and reached those who are in poverty, or who have children with disabilities? What if?
Since that time, God has been changing the hearts of some of our people. There is a growing passion to connect with those who have the greatest needs. It's challenging. But it's so rewarding as we are beginning to see some previously unreached people coming through our doors!
So I ask you, what would your church look like if..." You can fill in the rest. But please, fill it in!
Here's a bit of the background to that question. When I became the pastor of this church over 11 years ago, it had been in significant decline for many years. In fact, the consensus of the leaders was that it would close within five years if something didn't change. Since that time, God has been leading us into a more missional mindset and the church has grown significantly. As I stated in a previous blog, we are adding another service to our schedule to try to facilitate additional growth.
To be honest, a great deal of our growth has been transfer growth - people who have come to us because the church they were in was not effectively ministering to the community. Transfer growth has helped us by bringing us a number of new leaders and resources. As a result, we've done more than we thought we could do several years ago.
However, transfer growth doesn't really increase the Kingdom of God! All it does is "shuffle the deck." So I've been asking our people to think about their family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and those they see as they drive down the street. What would our church look like if we really reached out to those who need Jesus the most? And, what would our church look like if we reached out to those who are really different from us? What if we made ourselves really uncomfortable and reached those who are in poverty, or who have children with disabilities? What if?
Since that time, God has been changing the hearts of some of our people. There is a growing passion to connect with those who have the greatest needs. It's challenging. But it's so rewarding as we are beginning to see some previously unreached people coming through our doors!
So I ask you, what would your church look like if..." You can fill in the rest. But please, fill it in!
Monday, July 14, 2014
People Helping People
We have a woman in our church who has been in the hospital or rehabilitation center since November 11, 2013. I don't mean she's been in and out of the hospital. She's not been home since 11/11/2013! Her battle has been a lengthy one. On more than one occasion her family and I have thought we lost her.
On several occasions she has been close to giving up. I started telling her months ago, "If you don't think you have enough faith to see this through, you can borrow mine." I firmly believe that her testimony will reach many lives once she is healed. I don't know why God is allowing her to go through this, but He has sustained her and is growing her faith in a powerful way! The church family has been praying daily for her healing, and we just believe that He will heal her completely!
As you can imagine, the medical bills for a situation can be staggering, even with the best insurance. The church board has given some assistance to the family over the past few months, but we needed to go a step further. I shared with our congregation the need to help out, and in just two weeks, the church family raised nearly $2,500.00 to put toward medical bills! In addition, her husband's employer called when they heard what we were doing and added another $500.00 to the total!
Other acts of kindness and love have been extended. Visits to the hospital and rehabilitation center. Donating parts and labor for vehicle repairs so the husband could get to work and the hospital to check on his wife. Cards and notes. Flowers. It's amazing to see what God has been doing to extend His love to a family in crisis. Let's keep it up until she comes home!
On several occasions she has been close to giving up. I started telling her months ago, "If you don't think you have enough faith to see this through, you can borrow mine." I firmly believe that her testimony will reach many lives once she is healed. I don't know why God is allowing her to go through this, but He has sustained her and is growing her faith in a powerful way! The church family has been praying daily for her healing, and we just believe that He will heal her completely!
As you can imagine, the medical bills for a situation can be staggering, even with the best insurance. The church board has given some assistance to the family over the past few months, but we needed to go a step further. I shared with our congregation the need to help out, and in just two weeks, the church family raised nearly $2,500.00 to put toward medical bills! In addition, her husband's employer called when they heard what we were doing and added another $500.00 to the total!
Other acts of kindness and love have been extended. Visits to the hospital and rehabilitation center. Donating parts and labor for vehicle repairs so the husband could get to work and the hospital to check on his wife. Cards and notes. Flowers. It's amazing to see what God has been doing to extend His love to a family in crisis. Let's keep it up until she comes home!
Just Thinking About the Future
I have been giving consideration to not posting anymore. Life is busy and it's been three months since my last post. But then someone told me that my posts were missed, so I guess I'll give it a try again.
As our church continues to grow, I've been challenging our people to take it to the next step. We've started making plans to launch a Saturday night service, starting September 20. The service will be at 5:00 PM. This early start will allow us to have time post-service for connections through meals, fun events, and missional activities. I'm looking forward to what God is going to do in this service.
Why is this such a big deal? Well, first of all, we are out of space on Sunday mornings, both in our sanctuary and our parking lot. We could have added a second Sunday morning service, but that would not give us the maximum expansion possibilities. We've also discovered that there a many people in our area who are unable to attend church on Sunday morning for any number of reasons. Some of the de-churched in our area are also skeptical of the traditional church formula.
The style of worship will remain the same - contemporary / blended. The atmosphere and dress will be very casual. The focus will be relational. The goal: to bring people to relationship with Jesus by extending genuine love and acceptance to those who do not yet know Him.
It would be easy for a rural church in our area to sit back and say, "Hey, we've got a good thing going. Let's not rock the boat." But as long as there are unchurched, dechurched, and unsaved people in our community, we have a God-given responsibility to reach them. We cannot allow limitations of any kind to cloud our ultimate purpose - to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. To say we can't do more would be sinful!
As our church continues to grow, I've been challenging our people to take it to the next step. We've started making plans to launch a Saturday night service, starting September 20. The service will be at 5:00 PM. This early start will allow us to have time post-service for connections through meals, fun events, and missional activities. I'm looking forward to what God is going to do in this service.
Why is this such a big deal? Well, first of all, we are out of space on Sunday mornings, both in our sanctuary and our parking lot. We could have added a second Sunday morning service, but that would not give us the maximum expansion possibilities. We've also discovered that there a many people in our area who are unable to attend church on Sunday morning for any number of reasons. Some of the de-churched in our area are also skeptical of the traditional church formula.
The style of worship will remain the same - contemporary / blended. The atmosphere and dress will be very casual. The focus will be relational. The goal: to bring people to relationship with Jesus by extending genuine love and acceptance to those who do not yet know Him.
It would be easy for a rural church in our area to sit back and say, "Hey, we've got a good thing going. Let's not rock the boat." But as long as there are unchurched, dechurched, and unsaved people in our community, we have a God-given responsibility to reach them. We cannot allow limitations of any kind to cloud our ultimate purpose - to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. To say we can't do more would be sinful!
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