Waiting

I'm so frustrated. It feels like I've been waiting for years. I do the normal waiting - at the doctor's office, in a restaurant, in many lines, but this waiting is different. It feels different; it's inner; it's hard to describe. Sometimes I just want to scream, but know that somehow that won't help.

I'm really just waiting on God. I'm very much a do-er when it comes to God and I like it. I think I'm pretty good at it too. I like to do things and have something to show for it. But right now, I really am not doing anything. Maybe it's more like I'm not doing anything "church" related.

I'm involved in a church plant and you'd think there'd be lots of stuff to do, but I've got nothing. At my previous church, I created the sermon powerpoints, did (and still do) the bulletin, ran the Nursery, organized social and outreach events, and helped hubby with the music (he was Music team leader). I shouldn't say I do nothing at the new church, I am an extra adult body in the Sunday School (no planning or preperation just need to show up and sit with the kids). Mind you I really enjoy the kids, but I am never in the church service.

I guess my biggest thing is that I feel like I'm just waiting to see where God wants me. Maybe it's because I don't know - I'm a person who likes to know things. I wonder if this is how David felt when King Saul was chasing him. David had the promise that he would be King, but had to wait before it came to pass.

I need to learn how to just be. Wait and see.

Needed to get this little rant off my chest. Thanks for listening.

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waiting, Church

How To Grow A Church - Part 2

In Living Color Originally uploaded by eye2eye.

To continue my comments (How to Grow a Church - Part 1) regarding 10 musts the church should focus on (Structuring to grow, not plateau) written by Rick Warren (famous Christian author and pastor of Saddleback Church).

Here are the last 5:

6. You must offer multiple services.

Obviously, to expand the structure, you will have to multiply, and to multiply, you have to offer multiple worship services. Why? Because more hooks in the water mean you can catch more fish.

At what point should you add a new service? I would say when you can have at least 75-100 people in that service. If you’re trying to reach new people, you have to have a large enough crowd so that the new people who just walked in don’t feel like everybody’s looking at them.

I'm not sure how to take this. Is 75-100 people too small to start another service? I think it might be, unless maybe if you've been at 75-100 for a year or two. I think multiple services are okay, but I also think that if you are going to do mulitple services why not start a new church. Or maybe we can think of each service as it's own church. Hmm.

7. You must create affinity groups to enhance community.

The more affinity groups you have, the more ways you have to connect with people. You want to avoid your church becoming a single-cell amoeba, so deliberately structure your church so it won’t become one big group that doesn’t reach out to other people.

This sounds good, but I think there is more to it than that. You have to do a lot of research and evaluate the church and see what groups would be appropriate - what works for one church may not work for another. I think this is where many churches fall short because they try to copy what is working in another church without seeing where their people are at.

8. You must intentionally break through attendance barriers with big days.

Crowds attract crowds! People like to be around crowds. When you have big, special days -- maybe Easter, maybe a Friend Day -- there’s something about seeing an extra 100 people (or an extra 1,000) that expands your congregation’s vision. They see what the church can be, and they see what it can look like. These special days help the church to see itself as bigger and growing and vibrant.

I love celebrations! And I think this is a great idea, even if they don't always attract big crowds. Getting together to celebrate is always a good thing.

9. You must add surplus seating space and parking.

When it comes to building a facility, most churches build too little and too soon. And then the shoe begins to tell the foot how big it can get! You want to build as big as you can, which means having more than enough seating and more than enough parking. Sometimes that means you’ll have to wait to build until you can build big enough. We didn’t build at Saddleback for years because we knew we wouldn’t be able to build big enough -- we were growing so fast. So don’t limit yourself by building too early.

I think adding multiple services would be a first step before building to see if you've saturated the area. I think you also shouldn't have too much more seating but determining that is the tricky quesiton. Although I don't think you could have too much parking. You can always use the extra parking for basketball and other cool stuff. You will really need to evaluate your own individual church situation to see what is viable. Maybe you should be thinking about a new church rather than growing yours bigger.

10. You must continually evaluate your progress.

Take a regular and honest look at what is going on in your church (and where your church is going). If you try to study everything you’ll end up with the paralysis of analysis, so decide to track three or four significant numbers, such as attendance or small groups.

Then compare the numbers of where you are now with where you’ve come from and where you want to be. Don’t compare yourself with a church down the road. Frankly, that won’t help evaluate the health of your own church.

Finally, decide on a standard for measuring the health of your church and shoot for it. The process is constant; you may hit the mark you’ve set today, but tomorrow is a new day. Continually evaluate your progress and make the necessary adjustments to grow healthy while growing larger.

Can't argue with evaluating. Don't just choose to evaluate the numbers though - look at how the church is effecting people. Are they moving forward on their spiritual journey? Are the people in the church speaking positively or negatively about the church and the people in it? Looking at numbers isn't bad, but it needs to be tempered with the spiritual. Don't forget to include God in the process.


There you have it - my thoughts. What are yours? Feel free to share.

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Church, Christianity

How to Grow a Church - Part 1

I recently stumbled upon this article (Structuring to Grow, Not Plateau) from Baptist Press by Rick Warren (famous Christian author and pastor of Saddleback Church). In it he shares 10 musts the church should focus on in order to grow.

Although the article is a couple of years old, I'm wondering if there can be anything learned from it.

Here are the first 5 musts:

1. You must develop an unshakable conviction about growth.

First and foremost, you need to settle on the idea that God wants His church to grow. And He doesn’t want it to stop growing!

You don’t ever need to apologize for wanting your church to grow. God wants His church to grow; it’s His will and His command. The reason churches must grow is because people are going to hell without Jesus Christ. As long as there is one person within driving distance of your church who does not know Jesus Christ, you must keep growing.

Can't argue much with that one. I, too, believe that God wants His church to grow. I think God will use many different ways to grow His church and many different styles of churches (mega, small, house, contempory, traditional, mainstream, etc).

2. You must change the primary role of the pastor from minister to leader.

You can grow a church to 300 with pastoral skills or ministry skills, but growing beyond 300 will require leadership skills. As a leader, you must learn to communicate your vision in very personal and practical ways. You also must learn to motivate your church through your messages, and understand that it’s easier to motivate a group than it is to motivate individuals.

A leader also equips others for ministry. Otherwise, you’ll burn out and the church won’t grow. An expanding ministry also demands you learn how to raise money. Those who write the agenda must underwrite the agenda, and you must learn to manage your time. Effective leaders know where their time goes.

Not too sure on this one. I think a pastor should remain a pastor. I don't think the leading of the church should be done by one main person. I think a good, well-rounded group of representatives from the congregation can lead the church.

3. You must organize around the gifts of your people.

The team God gives you will show you how to structure. Organizing around the gifts of your people will allow the church to focus on ministry, not maintenance. A gifts-based ministry encourages teamwork. It also makes better use of the talent around you (and why do you think God brought this talent into your church?).

Building your structure on the gifts and talents within the church promotes creativity and allows for spontaneous growth. Ministries bubble up, rather than waiting on a board meeting to dissect every possibility. And decision-making becomes more efficient while the structure grows more stable.

I so agree that a church should organize around the gifts and talents of the people in it. How else do the people feel part of the church if they don't get to use their gifts. I, also think that the church should also assist in the developing of gifts.

4. You must budget according to your purposes and priorities.

Obviously the budget of the church shows the priorities and the direction of the church. I’d suggest you take the budget items and ask of each item, “Which purpose does this fit under?” This will help your people visualize what you’re trying to do, and what you’re doing with God’s money.

I think this is a very good thing to do. Always make sure the budget aligns with the vision and direction of the church.

5. You must add staff on purpose.

Build your staff by first adding generalists and then specialists. First, you want to add people who can do lots of things because you’re only going to have one. Then as you go down the road, you can add more and more specialists.

When do you want to add staff? As soon as you can ... immediately, if at all possible. You want to build as many volunteers as quickly as you can and also add staff as quickly as you can. Anytime you add a staff member, that’s a faith step and allows the church to grow to the next level.

I think this one is really hard for me. I lean more towards lay leadership and developing lay leadership and volunteers than having lots of paid people. I'm not sure that adding staff is a faith step - asking someone to commit without pay (volunteer) is a tad more of a risk that we need to rely on God for.

Just some of my thoughts on this - I'll comment on the last 5 musts a little later. (How To Grow A Church - Part 2)

Feel free to share your thoughts too.

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Church, Christianity

Weight Watchers & Christianity

I've been thinking about Church a lot lately and stumbled upon this article.
How to Lose Weight and Gain a Congregation - Christianity.ca

At first I thought it amusing and now the more I've thought about it the more I'm beginning to agree with it.

Weight Watchers members feel accountable to themselves and their group. If you lose weight the entire group celebrates. If you have a bad week you share your downfalls in a supportive atmosphere. If you attain your weight loss goal there is a chance for the successful dieter to tell the whole group how their goal was achieved.

What if churches made times in their worship for public confession, personal victories and individual testimonials? Sanctuaries would be packed.

Sharing each others troubles, caring for each others needs, and just being there would be awesome to find in a church - not just in small groups but during the service time. I think making church real for today is very important.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

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Christianity, Weight Watchers

Evolving Church Conference

On Saturday, hubby and I attended the Evolving Church Conference put on by Epiphaniea and we loved it! Props to the guys who put it on!!!

The Conference had 3 main speakers - Chris Seay, Donald Miller, and Brian McLaren and then many workshops. I attended Jared Siebert's workshop about the Disconnected Church and Bradon Douglas' workshop about Leadership.

Before I go any further about it I have to thank my friend, Nancy, who watched the kids for us all day (overnight Friday till 9 pm Saturday). She is amazing!!!

Okay back to the Conference - Here are the 2 main things I got out the conference was reassurance and affirmation. Reassurance that I'm not alone and not totally crazy. Affirmation in the things I want to do. There are not many in my circle of "church" friends who are trying to think of new ways of being relevant in the current culture so this was a huge boost for me.

Some other things I brought back with me (besides 3 books - which I will have to talk about later) were:

Live in the tension (holding on to God's hand and my neighbour's hand). Not sure how to do that but am just going to try to "be" in the moment.

Hospitality is NOT coffee and finger sandwiches. It IS all about ENGAGEMENT (engaging the the lives of others).

reminded that Christianity is NOT a religion; it's a relationship

Brains are hardwired for story. Tell how YOUR story intersects with GOD'S.

Brian McLaren asked us to think about this: "Do we have a church that has a mission or a mission that has a church?" I'm still thinking. Maybe it's a bit of both or neither. What is the purpose of church? (Sounds like another blog entry. ;-) lol)

It was just such a great time. And I've got so much to think about and do. Once again thanks to the guys who put it on.

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emerging church, Brian McLaren, Chris Seay, Donald Miller, epiphaniea

Evolving Church 2006 Conference

I so want to go to this and I thought maybe some others who read my blog might be interested too.

Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, and Chris Seay will be the speakers. There will also be workshops with Pernell Goodyear from Freeway (Hamilton, Ontario) as well as a few others.

Should be interesting. Here's the link: Evolving Church 2006

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emerging church, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Chris Seay, Pernell Goodyear

Is There Middle Ground?

Postmodern vs Modern? Does this have to be the case? Is there a middle ground somewhere? Are religious institutions and/or groups having a more difficult time dealing with this cultural shift than the secular aspects of life?

I honestly think that there can be and is a middle ground. There needs to be people and places that are transitional. I find this more coming from people than from institutions. I think that I might be one of those people. Is that arrogant to say? Probably but I know that I can see both points of view and am having postmodern tendencies within my modern mindset.

I volunteer at an elementary school (with children from the ages of 4 to 7) one day a week and it has truly opened my eyes to the postmodern era. They think differently than I did; they are learning some different things than I did - maybe that's not quite entirely true, they are learning the same things but learning them differently. There is no cookie cutter learning; there is some cookie cutter style, mainly because it's just a large group. But the teachers I'm with are using many different methods in teaching the same thing.

Anyway I grew up in a modern society (with twinges of postmodernity). There were black and whites, rights and wrongs, etc. I guess what I'm trying to express is that our way of thinking and looking at the world is changing. Children growing up now-a-days don't see all the black and white issues, they see and relate to each issue individually; each issue has it's own set of variables which is different from another situation, even if it is similar.

Hope my ramblings make sense to someone out there - and if they don't feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to explain them or maybe confuse you even more. ;-)

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emerging church, modern, postmodern

Megachurches Close on Christmas

I read this and found it a little funny - ironic funny.

I can see the reasoning behind closing them and the reasoning for having Sunday service. I prefer having a service on Christmas Day - whether it's on a Sunday or not. Although I am never around for the service. In my community there are many people from other countries who can not be home with their real families for Christmas. So having a Christmas service, they get the opportunity to spend some time with their church family and still feel the connectedness on Christmas.

What do you think? I'd love to hear some feedback. Thanks

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Christmas, church, megachurches, Christian

Church invitation t-shirt

Our church invitation t-shirt
Originally uploaded by Insane Zamboni.

I thought this was really funny.

I might have changed the "We Suck" part to something a little nicer, like "Confused? We are too." Then it would also tie in with the bottom statement.

Such a cool shirt!!!
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church, Flickr

Discussing Faith

Ever have one of those days - when you have a lot to do but really don't want to do anything?

I have laundry that needs washing, minutes that need typing, a PCC year-end card that needs re-working, and lunch to make. But what am I doing spending it online because I don't want to much of anything. I woke up this morning, with a bit of a sore throat and an overall yucky feeling.

Anyway, I wanted to get some of my thoughts down about the conversation hubby and I had the other day before I forget all about it.

I wanted to pick his brain a bit about what he thought of how Christianity is changing or not changing and if any of these things were bad or good. I don't think we narrowed down anything that was negative about change or no change in the church. We both see the need to reach out to others where they are at. Here's a brief summary of what I thought we talked about - although we have talked more since so it may be a combination of those talks too.

Right now I think (can't speak for hubby, he can do that) there are many (but not most) people (Christian and non-Christian) who are finding the "modern" way of doing church lacking. Most people are still content at the way things are and that is great. But I want to know how to reach the ones who find it lacking because quite frankly sometimes I find things in the church rather boring or old or not really where I'm at (hard to explain the feeling actually).

I want to see Jesus as more relevant in my life. I want to be a closer and understand better. I want to have some more experience. Does this make senes? Let's just say I'm one of the "confused" on the T-shirt (see post above).

Well will have to post more later.

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Christianity, faith

Been A While

Well, it's been a while since I started this blog. I just want to make sure that I don't forget.

A lot has happened since June. My mom's cancer returned and she is terminal. She's almost done her chemo treatments. (She decided to be part of a study group which is experimenting with a new combination of medicines.)

Both my girls are in school now. The youngest in JK Tuesdays & Thursdays and some Fridays. I've been given some time on my own and have totally filled it. I'm going to be volunteering one day at the school.

I've had the opportunity to read the rest of Brian McLaren's New Kind of Christian trilogy. I read the first book last year and went to a seminar with Brian as the main speaker. I've just finished the second and third book this week. I couldn't put them down. They've started me on a spiritual journey that I'm sure will change my life and how I view my faith.

Anyway, I better get going and make supper. Maybe I'll be able to write more later.

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cancer, Brian McLaren, christian, books