Ministry Matters: Reach

BLOG: Iron Man 3

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:16:00 GMT

By Ben Kendrick

After The Avengers scored over $1.5 billion at the international box office (the third largest box office haul in history), Marvel Studios initiated “Phase 2” of their cinematic universe. Starting with Iron Man 3 (which opened May 3) Disney plans to deliver six new Marvel shared movieverse installments between now and the fall of 2015.

In a steadily expanding world of powerful aliens, Norse gods, mutants, supersoldiers, and talking raccoons (just wait for 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy), what role does genius, billionaire, philanthropist, human Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) have to play? That’s the initial struggle facing the character in Iron Man 3, as he’s still wrestling with Captain America’s biting question from The Avengers: “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away—what are you?” However, before Stark can even put his near-death experience in the Battle of New York behind him, he’s forced to suit up again and confront an all-new enemy in the mysterious Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a ruthless terrorist who will stop at nothing to see Stark, the President, and American freedom destroyed.

The Power Within

Unlike Iron Man and Iron Man 2, where the titular hero faces off against similarly armor-suited enemies, Iron Man 3 pits the hero against genetically engineered super-soldiers created by the Extremis program. After his Mark 42 Iron Man armor is damaged, Stark must forego his iconic suit and use wit and ingenuity to fight the Extremis soldiers. The ensuing confrontations raise questions about where one’s power truly comes from and how one should use this power.

In Iron Man 3, Stark must look within himself for the strength to defeat the Mandarin and the super-charged Extremis force, all of whom seek to use their power for personal gain. All of us, with or without a high-powered armored suit, must determine how and for what we’ll use our power. While we may not always think of ourselves as having powers, the Holy Spirit blesses each of us with gifts and talents and provides us with wisdom, strength, comfort, and healing. The power of faith can do incredible things, and we are called to use it responsibly.

Iron Faith

The Holy Spirit is the source of our power. As Jesus told his followers after his resurrection, “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit calls us, guides us, and gives us purpose. While we live in a culture that often tempts us to use our abilities to acquire wealth or recognition, as followers of Christ we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. We must use our power to glorify God and to do the work of God’s kingdom.

Some youth are well aware of their gifts. Their gifts have been affirmed and they have had ample opportunity to put their gifts to use, both within and outside of the church. Other youth may feel as though their gifts have been overlooked or aren’t valued. All young people need to be aware that God has blessed them with unique talents and abilities and calls them to use the accompanying power for God’s glory. As a community of faith we need to help youth identify their strengths and empower them to use these gifts in service of God and others. As believers, we don’t need sophisticated high-tech armor, super-serum, or mutant abilities. The power of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to accomplish the superheroic work God calls us to do.

This article is also published as part of LinC, a weekly digital resource for youth small groups and Sunday school classes. The complete study guide can be purchased and downloaded here.

ARTICLE: The Secret to Building Great Dads

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:28:00 GMT

By Tim Wright

Deadbeat dads. Absent dads. Father wounds. Dumbed-down TV sitcom dads. The labels are not handsome. And increasingly, they seem to ring true. No wonder a few years ago a major magazine featured this headline on the cover of their June issue (released on Father’s Day weekend): Are Dads Even Necessary?

Research proves again and again that dads are not only necessary, they are vital to the well-being of their children. But because so many dads have dropped the fatherhood ball, more and more women are choosing to or having to raise their kids without dad.

Recognizing the lack of fatherhood skills in many dads today, several organizations from political to religious, have dedicated themselves to “building” great dads, among them Fatherhood.org and Fathers.com. These organizations recognize that high impact fathers must be “built” over time, equipped with the necessary tools to meaningfully raise their kids.

But rather than starting that process after a man becomes a dad, perhaps we need to start earlier—in fact, much earlier, when potential dads are still boys.

Much of what a father does or does not do is “built” into him as he grows into manhood. The values he embraces, the parenting he receives, the decisions he makes, are the materials of future fatherhood. Denny Coates (Conversations with the Wise Uncle) reminds us that the thinking, reasoning, critical part of the brain develops in kids in their teen years. How they use their brain and what they put into their brain during those years will set the course for the rest of their lives, including parenting.

So rather than trying to play catch up with men who become dads, let’s start building great dads now by training our boys in the art of fatherhood.

Here are a few ways to get started:

Give boys a heroic vision for manhood: A vision built on honor, courage, commitment, sacrifice, love, compassion, forgiveness, wisdom, and grace. This happens through mentoring, teaching, correction, and rites of passage programs.

Give boys purpose: As you see his emerging gifts and talents, affirm them in him. What he’s good at is a powerful clue to his purpose for life.

Give boys masculine energy: In their report, Wayward Sons: The Emerging Gender Gap in Labor Markets and Education, Thirdway.org looks, in part, at the impact of boys being raised without dads. In addition to listing the often cited downsides for boys without a dad, the authors offer this unique perspective: If children aim to emulate adult roles of their same-sex parent, then girls may increasingly expect to fully support both themselves and their children, whereas, conversely, males may come to anticipate a less central or more transient role. (p. 47). In other words, girls being raised by mom see that raising children and working outside of the home are what women do. Boys raised by moms see no role for the male in the family and more often than not live down to that level. Dads are built by dads. So the key to building great dads is to surround our boys with great dads—their own dads or other men—who can model responsibility, love, compassion, and fatherhood to these dads in the making.

Give boys the chance to interact with children: When age appropriate, give boys the chance to mentor younger children, either by helping out in a church Sunday School class or nursery, or through connecting with local organizations that offer kids clubs.

Connect boys to their Heavenly Father: Through worship, prayer time as a family, involvement in Sunday school and youth programs, boys have a chance to experience the power, grace, and love of their Heavenly Father–the One who calls them to follow Jesus into honorable fatherhood.

Imagine a world where deadbeat dads are replaced by life-enhancing dads; where absent dads are replaced by fully engaged dads, and where fathers are no longer the source of deep wounds, but the source of strength, affirmation, love, and hope.

The secret to that kind of a dad: Start building him early, when he’s still a boy.

BLOG: Give Me that Old-Time, Watered-Down Religion

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:57:00 GMT

By Dave Barnhart

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets…” (Matthew 5:17). Have you ever noticed that Jesus sounds a bit defensive, here? Jesus launches one of his most powerful speeches, the Sermon on the Mount, by acknowledging the criticism of his opponents. For him to start this way means there must have been people saying, “Jesus is abolishing the Law and the Prophets!”

I think I can imagine what some religious people were saying about the new Jesus movement. “They’re just preaching Judaism-Lite,” they said. “These Jesus-followers set a low bar for discipleship: you don’t even have to cut off your foreskin! And you know what they forbid you to eat? Nothing! You can eat whatever the heck you like! What kind of religion is that?”

This new Jesus movement preached a message to Gentiles, of all people, and told them “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Of course, everyone knew that “yoke” and “burden” were metaphors for how you interpreted religious law. When the big debate over whether or not new Christians would have to be circumcised broke out, Peter turned on the Pharisees and said, “why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). Then the church leaders composed a letter to the new Gentile converts: “…It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well’” (Acts 15:28-29). Anyone who read Jesus’ words about yoke and burden knew what he meant: “Hey, you Gentiles—you can follow God without cutting off your foreskin!”

With such a light set of requirements, critics of the new Jesus movement had a field day. The theology of this cult was designed to please humans, not God. They were watering down the Bible, teaching their followers dangerous things that would alienate them from God.

This is why Jesus starts off the Sermon on the Mount with a defensive statement, and why Paul constantly has to defend himself to churches. Make no mistake: A good portion of the New Testament was written not to potential pagan converts, but to religious traditionalists who were critical of the liberal theology of the new Jesus movement.

This is why Paul is so defensive in Galatians: “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (1:10). He also sounds defensive in Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

The people who were trying to make Paul ashamed of his gospel were not secular pagans, but Christian Pharisees who insisted his Gentile followers should be circumcised, abstain from pork, and celebrate Jewish holidays.

So when I preach about full inclusion of LGBTQ persons or against religious exclusivism, I expect the same reaction from religious conservatives that Jesus and Paul faced from their critics: “You are watering down the Bible!” In fact, I might go so far as to argue that if you are *not* getting this kind of criticism from Christian traditionalists, you’re probably not actually preaching the gospel.

In response, both Jesus and Paul shifted the charge back onto their Pharisee critics: YOU are the ones who believe in human tradition more than the Bible (Matthew 15:1-20). YOU are the ones who are playing to the desires of the flesh: the desire to dominate, to divide, to conquer and possess (Romans 2:1-5, Galatians 5:14-24).

Jesus goes on to contrast his followers with the Pharisees throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He tells his liberal followers that they must outdo their traditionalist critics; out-pray, out-give, and out-live them in their spiritual lives: “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

Jesus ups the ante. Though his followers have heard religious language about how to live their lives, his requirements are actually more stringent: “You have heard it said you shall not murder—I tell you don’t be angry. You have heard it said don’t commit adultery—I tell you don’t lust.” How would he preach this today? “You have heard it said love the sinner but hate the sin—I tell you don’t hate at all. You have heard it said give a tithe—I tell you give it all.” Yet he considers this discipleship an easier yoke than what his critics offer.

Jesus-followers claimed that their “watered-down” religion was actually more intense about things that matter. Even though their yoke was easy in one way, they were still obligated to conduct themselves with strict personal moral discipline, making it clear to others that this new community would be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This new teaching was not for the traditionalists who already felt they knew and owned God—it was for all those alienated from God who needed Good News. Jesus compared his message to new wine, which you cannot put in inflexible, old wineskins. If his Good News offended you, maybe it wasn’t for you.

Viewed from this perspective, Jesus’ first miracle at Cana (turning water to wine) was a tongue-in-cheek jab at his critics: you may think this new teaching is “watered down.” But it may be too strong for you.

I am thankful that more and more Christians are waking up to a gospel that is fully inclusive of all people. And I am thankful that I have met more and more folks who hold traditionalist values who also understand that this new wine is not for their church, but needs a new church, a new wineskin, to hold it.

Dave Barnhart is pastor of a new church named Saint Junia, whose mission is to become a diverse community of sinners, saints, and skeptics who join God in the renewal of all things. He blogs at DaveBarnhart.net.

VIDEO: The Family of Christians (Converge Episode 6)

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:47:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Angela Roberts Jones, Clifton Stringer, Jessica Kelley, and Matt O'Reilly join me to discuss Galatians 3:26-29 and Romans 8:14-17. We discuss what it means to be a child of God, faith, how Christians relate to each other, and being led by the Spirit of God.

The Converge Podcast is also available at iTunes, or you can subscribe with any RSS reader or podcatcher.

ARTICLE: Ministry and Art

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:28:00 GMT

By Jeanne Torrence Finley

Art as Ministry

“Art as ministry is about looking at things more deeply,” explains Ellen Miller, a working artist and co-facilitator of the Visual Arts Ministry (VAM) of Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The Ben Hill congregation had been doing ministry in art for over 12 years and has had a formal arts ministry for three years. Ben Hill is an example of a congregation that values artists who contribute their gifts to help people in the church and in the wider community relate to God and to social concerns. The idea of art as ministry may be foreign to many congregations. How do the artists’ gifts function to form us in faith or to help us bring wholeness to the world?

In an interview, Miller says, “God is the original artist and has given us gifts of creativity. It is the responsibility of artists to tell the good news with their art.” We, made in the image of God the Creator, can be artists, using our creativity to serve God by working toward shalom (peace, harmony, wholeness) in the world.

“One of the scriptural foundations for our art ministry is Exodus 31:1-6, in which God gives the gift of craftsmanship for the building of the tent of meeting and the ark of the covenant,” says Miller. She explains that God gave Bezalel and Oholiab artistic gifts to work in gold, silver, and bronze and to carve wood and stone for the tent of meeting and its furnishings. Their work was for the glory of God and needed to be done by skilled craftsmen. Their work was ministry.

The Contributions of Artists

Through an endowment for an art ministry, Blacksburg (Virginia) Presbyterian Church invited Catherine Kapikian, artist-in-residence at Wesley Theological Seminary, to visit as an art consultant. Martha Dillard, an artist who chairs the congregation’s art committee, says that Kapikian “walked around with us and ‘read’ our church—how it felt, what it expressed to people when they arrived. Consulting with her helped the committee see visual aspects of the church building through new eyes.” The consultation helped enrich an art ministry that now has three components: commissioned art in several parts of the building, changing art exhibits, and opportunities such as forums in which parishioners and artists can interact.

Dillard comments on the contribution that art has made to her congregation: “Art provides a way of connecting with God that goes beyond words. . . . It helps people open up other dimensions of their lives. Beauty in any form can [envelop] people and give them a feeling of awe.”

Martha Jane Petersen is a clergy member and quilt artist in western North Carolina. I asked her what the visual arts contribute to the life of the church. She said that words dominate in worship, even in the music. Petersen continued, “The visual arts in worship offer an alternative way of relating to the Holy. The reflections in pottery, the play of light in windows, and the depth of colors in fabric tap into our feelings, intuitions, and engage our senses. This means we approach worship—and God—with our whole selves, not just with our minds. We totally participate in worship during Holy Communion, for in this sacrament all of our senses are engaged: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.”

Kapikian agrees that art helps to access the sacred and the holy. Although the church has used visual art in worship throughout the centuries, the Protestant Reformation brought an emphasis on the spoken word. Today, most worship services are still heavily worded; however, Protestant congregations are increasingly using art not only in worship, but also in education and community ministries.

Art and Social Concerns

Petersen commented on how art can raise awareness about social concerns and motivate us to act. She said, “Hanging art pieces in church halls and rooms can also highlight social disruptions [that] need our attention as a church. They can also convey a sense of calm and peacefulness when needed. They can stir our imaginations and energies to serve God more fully. Art does not have to be of a religious content, illustrating biblical stories for instance, to convey a sense of God’s presence and purpose in what we see.”

An example of raising awareness about social concerns is found in the art ministry of Ben Hill United Methodist Church. As part of the annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, the Visual Arts Ministry of Ben Hill sponsors a three-day juried art exhibit open to community artists. The exhibit includes photos, sculptures, paintings, and illustrations.

Another example of an art exhibit that raises awareness of a social concern is found at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. After the earthquake in Haiti, two members of the congregation put together an exhibit, using photos and artifacts, about their trip to that devastated country. The exhibit helped the congregation to visualize the conditions that the two women encountered on their trip.

Engaging Artists

There are many ways congregations can engage artists in ministry. I asked Petersen to suggest a few ways churches can offer hospitality to artists. She shared this list:

Offer space for artists to exhibit their work and to join in with congregational members to create art in the church.
Invite artists to speak on art and faith or art in the Bible.
Hire a part-time arts minister who will find ways to integrate art into church life.
Provide space periodically for painters to work together with other kinds of artists.
Provide studio space for artists.
Offer an option during a family-night supper or vacation Bible school for adults to experience hands-on artwork.
Hang artwork in the halls and rooms of the church.

Ben Hill United Methodist Church is a good example of a congregation in which a visual arts ministry engages artists in many ways. It uses art made by members of the congregation for bulletin covers. It offers art exhibits, educational programs for youth who are emerging artists, gallery walks, and an art Bible study for youth and adults. The educational ministry includes both art history and studio courses, and one of the program’s leaders is an art historian at Emory University. Sometimes during worship services an artist will paint in response to sermons, prayers, or anthems. In partnership with Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, “VAM on the Go” sponsors two annual events: a vesper service and a Ben Hill night at the museum, both ministries that relate the faith community and the art world.

Artists can bring a number of gifts to a congregation that could support ministry. They can provide another medium, besides words, through which worshipers can experience the holy. They can model the creative process in ways that help others use their own creativity, not just in making art but in solving problems, planning projects, and strengthening relationships. They can model the experience of seeing a congregation’s ministries as partnership with God’s ongoing creative work in the world. In addition, of course, they bring their paintings, sculpture, banners, quilts, and other fabric art.

On the other hand, congregations can do much to engage with art and artists. For example, they can provide the hospitality of space for studios and exhibits, develop educational opportunities that involve art, and give attention to art in sanctuaries and worship services.

In The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and Christian Community, Robin Jensen sums up the value of art in ministry: “Art, if it is to have any use for the church, must be vital and dynamic, relevant to the lives we now live. It can affect us and even change us by addressing us at intellectual, emotional, ethical, and spiritual levels. Art can delight our eyes and inspire devotion. Art can deepen our understanding and enrich our worship. It can soothe, delight, and set us on fire.”

Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs.

ARTICLE: Christmas in July Sunday

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:54:00 GMT

By Jessica Miller Kelley

Here at Ministry Matters, we kick off Advent and Christmas planning with a Christmas in July week in mid-to late-July to help leaders get a jumpstart on planning worship, sermons, outreach, and more for months down the road. You're lounging at the pool, but Operation Christmas Child and the nativity play are already on the brain. Your congregation is still thinking VBS and summer camp, with Christmas cards, gift lists, and Elf on the Shelf completely off their radars. The Incarnation is the last thing on their minds.

Exactly.

And that's why mid-summer is the perfect time to celebrate Christ's birth, without all the trappings of holiday hubbub that take over our whole society every December . . . and November . . . and sometimes even before the Halloween decor is put away. In July, you can interrupt people's regularly-scheduled summer programming and focus just on the coming Christ child.

I'll admit I had never heard of this concept until a reader contacted us during our first annual Christmas in July week in 2011 to tell me about her church's Christmas in July Sunday. As it turns out, a smattering of churches across the country and maybe the world hold Christmas in July weekends every year. Apparently, such traditions have been around since the 1940's, and are even more common in the southern hemisphere, where folks for whom December 25 is summertime celebrate "Christmas in July" to experience the more stereotypical snowy yuletide we enjoy up north.

Consider these ideas to plan your own Christmas in July Sunday this year:

Surprise People

Make Christmas in July Sunday a need-to-know operation, so that most people showing up to worship are caught off guard and perhaps a little (pleasantly) disoriented by the Advent wreath, bells, and manger scene they usually only see in the winter. Read the Christmas story from Luke's gospel, sing Christmas carols, and preach on the shock Emmanuel brought to the world. Use some of these beautiful liturgies for Christmas, or an evocative Christmas-themed worship video.

Tell the Story

Unlike the 4-6 weeks of Advent and Christmas worship, Christmas in July is one day in which to tell the whole story of Christ's coming. Consider doing a Service of Lessons and Carols, which intersperses Scripture readings and carols to tell the story from Isaiah's foretelling to Epiphany. If you are a Ministry Matters subscriber, you have access to this service from the New Handbook of the Christian Year. Or use these monologue scripts to tell the Christmas story from the perspective of four different characters.

Give a Long Lead Time

Advent is a great time for a special fundraiser, a "Christmas miracle offering," to make a big gift to a missional effort in honor of Jesus' birth, but sometimes a big gift takes more than four weeks to prepare. If you are planning to launch a new mission initiative at Christmas this year, use Christmas in July Sunday as a kickoff event. Give intermediate goals to reach or special projects that can be done throughout the fall, so that by Christmas, the result is bigger and involved more people than ever before. St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Mo., starts collecting toys and money for their Christmas giveaway in July and continues into December. For Calvary Lutheran Church in Apollo Beach, Fla. (where it's probably pretty summery in December too) the Christmas in July event is the fundraiser—a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, music, and decor, and ticket sales all go to a local women's and children's shelter.

Bless Your Community

Lakewood United Methodist Church in Arkansas made a weekend of it with their Christmas in July Festival last year, a two-day event with a concert, Santa, sno-cones, and a mission project in addition to Sunday's Christmas-focused worship. Such a fun fest incorporates pop-culture Christmas elements, but still provides an opportunity to explain the meaning of Christ's coming at a time with less noise and busyness. Give wintery activities a summer spin, like white water balloons for a summer "snowball fight," and serve cold chocolate milk with a candy cane. Box up school supplies to distribute in August and have a gift-wrapping contest with a missional twist. Throw Jesus a fun, outdoor birthday party where families can hear about the real meaning of Christmas as the birthday of a Lord worth following year-round.

NOTE: We are planning Ministry Matters' Christmas in July week right now, so if you have creative ideas or resources for Advent and Christmas, send me a note at jessica@ministrymatters.com, and your idea could be featured on Ministry Matters!

AUDIO: The Power of a Name

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 02:17:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

In this episode of Ministry Matters Radio, I talk with author, Bible teacher, and pastor Jessica LaGrone about the importance of names, the transforming power of God, and the significance of the words we use. Jessica is the author of Namesake, a new six week Bible study from Abingdon Women.

Listen or Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | RSS
Related Video: Naming Jacob: The Power of Words

ARTICLE: Tyrion’s Church Part 3: Incarnate Life

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 15:56:00 GMT

By Brad Gabriel

Previous: Part 1 and Part 2

One of the traditional slams against the church is that it is all about “pie in the sky bye and by when you die.” Or, as Bob Marley sang, “Preacher man, don't tell me, Heaven is under the earth I know you don't know, what life is really worth.” ("Get Up, Stand Up"). In fact, the church has always been involved in transforming life on earth to be a little better, a bit safe, with an extra margin of grace.

4. "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things."

The world is not right. Children and women are still trafficked. Shady financiers cause problems. War rages. We have reached a point where opinion shapers shrug their collective shoulders and say, “What can you do? That’s just the way it is.” Meanwhile, the faithful still hear the words of Jesus of Nazareth warning in Matthew 25: 41-43:

“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

44 “Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’45 “He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’ (The Message).

Jesus tells us that any eternal judgment is going to be more on the basis of our lives than the contents of our words. Jesus is consistent in this, certainly. In his first hometown sermon, he reads from a version of the prophet Isaiah that; “God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s year to act!” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.” (Luke 4:16b-21, The Message). Cripples, bastards and broken things, in Tyrion’s terms, matter to the Messiah. So, they ought to matter to his followers as well.

One of the reasonable critiques of the church by atheists is that we spend too much money on ourselves and not enough helping other people, those in need, and the defenseless. Not that there are any hospitals founded and funded today by atheists but that is another subject. We in the church do spend too much money on making comfortable, free of property tax buildings, more comfortable. We do spend too much time and energy arguing over how to make our buildings more comfortable. The expenditure of so much money, time, and energy might make sense if our buildings actually incorporated images of faith, conveyed openness and hospitality or simply did not leave the public with the impression that they were built “on the cheap”. That, too, is another subject. The point here is that, since, the least, the last, the lost, the hungry and destitute, the wanderers and lonely, the homeless and the isolated, the people society seems to care about the least are all around us; we have an imperative to aid them. Even more, we have an imperative to love them, not keep them at arm’s length, treat them like “clients”, or pretend that we are doing for others something that has never been done for us. The apostle put it like this:

“Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” (Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message)

So, we say thank you to God and do so with words and with works of service to people how can never repay us. Anticipating our reluctance to live like that, Jesus gave these instructions: “Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.” (Luke 14:12-14 The Message) Cripple, misfits and bastards are our people. When we are honest, they are us. But we grow from that beginning into mature and healthy sons and daughters now able to help in the same way we have been helped. This leads us to the concluding point of Tyrion’s church.

5. Death is so final. Whereas life, ah life, is so full of possibilities.

Death begins when life begins to ebb. Recently, I saw my great niece and nephew at play during my father’s 90^th birthday celebration. Both children played with abandon, with enthusiasm, with a full embrace of everything they could touch and every adult eye they could catch. Soon, they will stop playing so freely. Injuries or egos will teach them to be careful, to be moderate, to watch how others are acting and reacting. They will begin to die to childhood. In a similar way, I saw my great aunt sit on the porch of my grandmother’s house, dressed in Victorian style clothing and telling people that she was “waiting for Jesus to take her home.” Aunt Sally’s life was ebbing away long before she died. There is another option.

Tyrion’s church would realize that a life in Christ is the source of living until we actually die. Jesus said that he came to give us abundant life, life that is life that is “…so full of possibilities.” A church that enjoys Tyrion’s insight will always find new and exciting ministries. Our guide, after all, embraces many of the possibilities of life. Tyrion confesses to an absurd list of absurd crimes, hires a bodyguard with the promises of more gold than the swordsman can ever spend and even bids on his own life when he finds himself on sale at a slave auction. Life is full of possibilities, death is final. At a meeting of the Memphis Ministers’ Association one December, a United Methodist Bishop lamented that so many faith communities were simply surviving. The Senior Rabbi of the largest synagogue in the city stood next and said that, as a Jew, he believed absolutely that survival is better than what comes after. Death is final. Life is full of possibilities. One church in Memphis has refurbished itself as a mission center with showers and dorms and a full kitchen that will house mission teams from around the country. Another local church in Memphis now houses over a dozen organizations that work to transform decaying neighborhoods into vital, thriving areas. In both of those churches congregations still worship. The visible life, though, is in the possibility of nurturing new life. A church that closes its doors, actually or figuratively, begins the process of ebbing, its life force flowing away. Death will stop that church, that congregation from any worship, any praise of the Creator, and service in Christ’s name. A church that acts on the knowledge that life is not a prize to be horded but is a gift to be enjoyed, will find possibilities to actually be alive every day.

And, so, in these five quotes (see the first three in Part 1 and Part 2), we have some guidelines for Tyrion’s church. Such a church knows what it believes, celebrates and learns from its past without being bound to act the same way now, that the church did then. A Tyrion church knows the scriptures are to be studied as a whole, not simply in parts, and that the means of grace really do support us on our way. Such a church is not afraid to be about caring for those who cannot care for themselves, knows that we are all related some way or the other and that we may as well act like it. The holy life that fills a Tyrion church is amazing and transforming, celebrating every day as the gift that it is.

ARTICLE: Tyrion’s Church Part 2: Word and Sacrament

Thu, 30 May 2013 15:50:00 GMT

By Brad Gabriel

Previous: Tyrion's Church Part 1: Source Material

Humans are shaped, formed, if you please, by all that they encounter even before birth. What we take into our minds, bodies and souls form the person we become we are. To have a healthy body, eat sensibly, exercise regularly, see the doctor annually. To have a healthy mind, read extensively, study assiduously, listen to people who are farther along than you are on any particular path. To be healthy spiritually, well, do all of the above. Spiritual formation is not feel-good fluff or esoteric mind games. We know how to go about spiritual formation. The church has taught and practiced intentional spiritual formation since its beginning. The first two steps are to pay attention to word and sacrament.

2. “A mind needs books like a sword needs whetstone.”

Living faith is not passive, by definition. Life must be thought out if it is to be more than a series of blunders leading to an all- too- early end. As noted above, with “Jesus is Lord” as our creed in essence, then we have a starting place to learn more about who we are, what we are to be about, and where we are headed. Those are weighty matters. We learn about those matters in a book, in our scriptures.

Those of us in the Wesleyan tradition know that John Wesley once claimed to be “a man of one book.” While Mr. Wesley did read extensively and in many subjects, he was grounded in the book that sharpened his mind like a whetstone sharpens a sword. Christians have maintained for generations that the Bible contains everything essential to be known for one’s salvation. The rest of society has known that the Bible contains such essential human condition stories that titles for some great writing come from the Bible. We need consider only “Lilies of the Valley” and “East of Eden” or “Stranger in a Strange Land” and “Alas, Babylon.” Trivia buffs can reel off hundreds of popular expressions that originate in the Bible. We begin with the Bible. But there is so much more.

The writings of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila still sharpen the willing mind. John Calvin and Karl Barth take their place in the resources we use to keep our intellects keen so as to be “gentle as doves and sly as serpents.” Rob Bell or Timothy Keller can help us navigate the currents of the culture. Whether we read ancient texts that have stood changing climates, fire and sword and religious upheaval, or modern preachers and devotional writers who offer vital insights in modern language, believers need to read.

Words are necessary expressions of our thoughts, feelings, surface reflections and more. Words bring coherence out of chaos. Christians have known this from the start. One of the gospels even uses Greek style language and says, “In the beginning was the logos, the Word, the self-aware, creative force that calls all of creation into being.” Words matter. Words in books, long books and short books, books written for beginners and books for seminary professors matter. Without books that instruct, challenge and engage the mind, a person grows sloppy, unreflective and spiritually sleepy. Humans have a tendency to settle into a downward spiral in our enterprises. Books, reading, discussing, enjoying and being provoked by books are a needed way for us to stay alert, aware, and sharp as a sword. Of course, if books sharpen a mind, the means of grace, sacraments and more, engage the rest of the body.

3. Everything's better with some wine in the belly.

Well, certainly it is. Mere physical wine, though, can trick some people into seeing the world through Rosé colored glasses. Not a good way to go. Wine, though, is central to the sacrament of the Eucharist. Wine may warm the stomach of a person near frozen by the elements or people’s uncaring, start what someone once called a “warm glow of tolerance” to begin to spread, relieve heart ache, and provide rest. So, wine in this sense may stand in for all of the sacraments of the faith and all the means of grace of which believers avail themselves. The initiatory sacrament of baptism gives a believer family, companions, a place to stand, a home for nurture and instruction, siblings both older and younger. Isolation, anomie, loneliness are not present in a real community of faith. Other sacraments or the regular means of grace in which we can expect to meet God help us to mature. Service to those in need reminds us of the interrelatedness of humanity. Prayer offers the constant companionship of the holy. Constant conversation offers the present and tangible truth of the timeless company of believers, and so on.

The sacraments, the means of grace, provide a different place from which we view the world. We see that the deity has not abandoned the world. God is here and working in through and with us. If we are tempted to ask, “Where is God in this?” whatever the “this” is, the means of grace remind us that God is in us and with us and inviting us to cooperate with the holy to do what we can. The communal nature of most of the means also reminds us that we are not called don to save the world alone, in our life time and by ourselves. That realization takes an otherwise crushing weight off the believer’s shoulders. So, attending to the sacraments and the means, practicing them regularly, trusting in the grace they make available to us, is the reason why everything really is better with some wine in the belly. The sacraments and the means of grace also give direction and purpose to Christian living. Part three reflects on living the faith.

Next: Tyrion’s Church Part 3: Incarnate Life

VIDEO: Christians and Self-Image (Converge Episode 5)

Wed, 29 May 2013 04:04:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Rebekah Simon-Peter, Joseph Yoo, and Josh Tinley join Shane Raynor to discuss Romans 6, being dead to sin, what it means to be crucified with Christ, the power of the human mind, and more.

The Converge Podcast is also available at iTunes, or you can subscribe with any RSS reader or podcatcher.

VIDEO: I Am the Vine

Wed, 29 May 2013 03:51:00 GMT

By David Dorn

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." If we claim Christian as our title, how often do we spend time with the one whose name we bear? May we be a people who hide ourselves often in the presence of God.

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"When he sent them away, he went up onto a mountain by himself to pray. Evening came and he was alone." (Matthew 15:23)

Throughout the Gospels, we find Jesus escaping from the rest of the disciples, the crowds, even from the pressures of life to go up on a hill and pray.

Think about this scene, God getting away to spend time with God. Even Jesus needed a break. How much more do we need the same?

If we claim Christian as our title, how often do we spend time with the one whose name we bear? If we want to be a better disciple, a better follower of Christ, wouldn't you think taking time away from our worries and spending time with God is a must?

You may not have a mountain to run to or an empty field to use as a sanctuary; but you do have a car that isolates or a door at work that shuts. Utilize the mundane moments in your day to escape into the presence of the Living God.

The prophetic singer/songwriter Josh Garrels writes in one song, "So take this bread and drink this wine And hide your spirit within the vine."

Jesus said "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

This is a state of grace we must enter into. How often do you dare enter it? May we be a people who hide ourselves often in the presence of God.

BLOG: Community Focused Ministry

Tue, 28 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

Jay Voorhees is the pastor of Old Hickory United Methodist Church. Jay believes to be effective he needs to be involved in his community and believes you should too.

You came to Old Hickory United Methodist Church when?

The summer of 2010, in the midst of the Nashville floods, where I was leading flood relief efforts in South Nashville.

You’ve been involved with the Chamber of Commerce (actually the president now correct?) What on earth possessed you to get involved with the Chamber?

Part of my calling involves a belief that I am not called simply to a congregation, but also into the community where that congregation is located, thus I am always looking for those places where neighbors are coming together for the betterment of the community. I somewhat stumbled into becoming involved with the Chamber through attending a meeting and being asked if (based on some previous experience) I might help them in planning an event. Eight months later the board asked me to assume the role of president.

Why the chamber? Partially because it was and is an organization in our community that is concerned with the economic well being of the area. While that may not seem connected to the local congregation on the surface, it is generally true that the well being of a congregation is often connected to the well being of the surrounding community, and so getting involved in helping the community has an indirect impact on the climate for doing ministry. Additionally, it allows me as the pastor to be more visible and present in the broader community, which helps the congregation to be more visible and present as well.

What do you enjoy about your service outside the church and in the community?

One of the great joys of being community focused is that it puts me in direct relationships with people who don’t have a regular relationship with a faith community or God. Pastor’s who remain focused on the congregation alone can find themselves isolated from the questions and concerns of folks outside the church—folks with whom we are supposed to be offering Christ. Being involved in community activities allows me the privilege of expanding our reach outside of our walls, and in doing so, inviting those folks to come join us in the community of faith.

Most ministers wouldn’t agree to do anything extra in the community with all the responsibilities of the church, plus you are married to a minister and have kids? Why?

Do I have a choice? Seriously, part of ministry in any place is understanding the context in which your community functions. Our church is located in an historic area that was a company town for much of it’s history, and the church itself was rooted in the culture. Part of engaging in the community is the work of understanding the local culture so as to design how to speak the word of God most effectively within that culture. That involves being in conversation with people in the neighborhood, which I believe is part of the job.

Part of the problem I think many of my colleagues face is the belief that we are hired by the local church (after all, they sign the check each month) and thus all of our ministry should be focused inside that church. However, in our system we aren’t hired by a congregation, but rather are appointed to an area (a parish, so to speak) by the bishop, charged with making disciples of Jesus Christ within that area. Disciple making requires building relationships with all sorts of people in order to help them “connect to God, each other, and the world in profound ways” (to quote the Call To Action report). Yes, we have a calling to order the life of the church, but that doesn’t trump the calling to preaching the word and offering the presence of Christ (sacramentally) to others. I work in the community because I believe that is how Christ is offered to my neighbors, who I am commanded to love sacrificially by Christ.

You recently helped get a coffee house started? And last summer you worked with First Baptist Church Old Hickory to offer an Arts Camp for kids? What are you dreaming about for your community now?

Both of those projects originated out of the desires and needs of the local community at a particular moment. The VIVID program was based in an awareness of the needs of kids in the community, which was shared with the broader community beyond the church. When the community members, some of whom attended other congregations or no congregation at all got excited, we moved forward to connect the need with those resources. Jacob’s Well was solely a community based effort to create a space for community members to gather via a coffee shop. It has become a music venue and art gallery as well, simply because neighbors were willing to give their time, money, and attention to making it happen. In many ways it reflects how Christian community is supposed to work, where people respond to a common vision and give of themselves toward making that vision a reality.

My gifts and skills, if I have any, are in networking and creating connections between needs and available resources. God has called me to be a facilitator of God’s kingdom work in the community, and I am able to use my position as pastor (as well as the efforts of our members) to bridge the gap and allow folks to create opportunities for connection.

The dream I have in constantly changing as the surrounding community changes. That may be a reflection of a short attention span on my part, but I think that it represents my desire to be responsive to the needs around us as they evolve.

Currently those needs are focused around the issues of addiction and recovery, and especially the mental health issues of middle school kids. Part of that is driven out of my own experience of having a child in the local middle school who continues to come in contact with friends who are cutting, who are dealing with anxiety and depression in a severe way, and who live with alcoholic parents. One great place of success for us over the past couple of years has been the creation of two AA based recovery groups which are well attended and growing each week. We are looking at starting the only Alanon group in our area as well as an Alateen group for children of alcoholics, and while we aren’t doing VIVID again this year, we are looking at the possibility of starting some sort of group for middle schoolers to deal with the issues they face this summer.

What do you wish you had been taught in seminary?

Heating and Air Conditioning repair? Honestly, my seminary education at Candler School of Theology prepared me well for the type of ministry that I do. Tom Frank helped a lot through his insights into congregational and cultural analysis (documented in his book, “The Soul of the Congregation”) and John Freeman’s class on Town and Country Ministries taught me to understand that understanding one’s context of ministry is as important as the practice of ministry.

One thing that would be helpful would be helping congregations to deal with changing demographics and creating new identities to reflect those changes. Both my last church and my current one are old, established congregations who found themselves in rapidly transitioning communities and were struggling to keep up with the changes around them. In one case, many of those changes were related to racial/ethnic transitions in the community, and I confess that I had very little training in how to create, promote, and maintain multicultural ministry. In my current community, the transitions are generational and the struggle is how to honor the elders while making the changes necessary to appeal to a new younger generation. Training on how to facilitate these transitions would be helpful.

The other lack in my education was the work of training others for leadership. There was quite a bit in my education on leadership—what it meant to be a leader, how to cast a vision, etc. While having a strong leader is important, part of that work goes beyond vision to the actual work of training and mobilizing people to carry out that mission.

What do you for fun? To relax?

I love music and if I wasn’t a pastor and had a modicum of talent I would love to be a lead guitar player. As it is, I play music when I can (primarily bluegrass and old-time fiddle music). I also become involved many years ago in a form of folk dancing called contra dancing, and Friday nights are my dance night, which allows me to connect with others and is great exercise. I’ve even worked as a contra dance caller along the way, and it’s been an important teacher for me in what it means to lead others in the dance that we call the church.

ARTICLE: Tyrion's Church Part 1: Source Material

Tue, 28 May 2013 13:38:00 GMT

By Brad Gabriel

The sword and sorcery series by George R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire is a force in the literary market. The (so far) five novels in the series have sold in excess of 22 million copies, been translated into close to two score languages and dramatized in the HBO series titled “Game of Thrones.” They’ve also spawned several games and graphic novels, as well as securing a spot in TV’s nerd-chic sit-com, The Big Bang Theory. This is a successful set of stories.

Success in stories many comes from many sources. Success may lay in recognizable situations dealt with honestly, excellent use of language, and, in the case of this series in particular, honest characters and character development. The world of A Song of Ice and Fire is populated with believable characters. The actors are complex, sometimes self-contradictory, sometimes self-delusional, violent, and morally ambiguous if not morally broken. These are characters well aware that we all make an almost infinite number of compromises as we make our way through life’s journey.

For a historical reference in our reality, one may think of the struggles between the English Houses of Lancaster and York back when the crown could be won on the battle field. In both our reality and the novels’ reality, large families vie for ultimate power. These families or “Houses” use skullduggery and slander, assassination and open war with massed armies. Magic is present but does not dominate.

Of all the characters in Martin’s fantasy world, Tyrion Lannister stands out as the favorite for many readers. Tyrion is the brilliant, angry, overlooked son of another major player in the political maneuverings, intrigues and wars in that fantasy realm. Tyrion is overlooked because he is a “little person,” a dwarf, and, as Tyrion claims, “All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eye.” Tyrion’s family has its dysfunctions. Tyrion Lannister’s father seeks imperial control through use of the tremendous wealth, military muscle, and wit at his disposal. His treatment of his dwarf son leads Tyrion to find his own way in the world while, simultaneously, becoming the most perfect representative of House Lannister. Tyrion develops an amazing set of survival skills in a world where life is often less than cheap.

Tyrion’s insights and survival skills may be a source of contemporary cultural insight for traditional churches. Life for traditional organized denominations and even several non-denominational Christian traditions has come unstuck since their previously esteemed positions in society of the early to mid-post World War II years. Traditional faith expressions are losing members and social importance at an accelerated rate. Adherents to those faiths are less supportive of their institutional frameworks than possibly ever before. Further, as Solomon well knew, wisdom is found in unusual places. So, looking to insights from a fictional character in a novel that has captured the imagination and interest of a large segment of the population may not be the worst thing we do in this time of vast and sweeping changes in the religious landscape of the United States.

The following guides (explored in this and two forthcoming articles) are all taken from various manifestations of George Martin’s character, Tyrion Lannister in the series A Song of Ice and Fire.

1. “Lannisters always pay their debts.”

This phrase is neither original to nor exclusive to Tyrion. Every member of the Lannister family knows in his or her bones that the family always pays what it owes. Coin, gold, wealth in whatever form available, is only the tip of the iceberg of what a Lannister pays. Loyalty is rewarded with gratitude, challenge met with defiance, and attacks invite death as the only payback. This phrase is the Lannister family Credo. True, the official motto of the family is “Hear me roar,” but what they believe, what gives them a point of view and motivation is the matter of debt, what they owe as a House or individuals and what they are owed as a House or individuals. When a Lannister makes a promise, then he or she will move heaven and earth to pay that promise.

Their actions certainly indicate that Lannisters often find the shortest route to paying off the debt they owe is between the fourth and fifth rib, straight into the heart. Still, “A Lannister always pays his debts.” At one point, when Tyrion finds himself on an auction block in a slave market (don’t ask, too long to get into at this point), he offers all the gold of the ancestral family home to the person who would buy his freedom. Readers have no doubt that Tyrion will honor such a debt. Of course, being a sly, cunning person with incredibly well developed self-preservation instincts, one may assume that Tyrion would still come out the better. Maybe he would have the gold transferred elsewhere. Or there is always the fourth and fifth rib approach to removing an inconvenience. But, the willingness to pay is there. The family creed is strong. One may imagine failure to pay a debt causing a psychotic break for a Lannister.

What is the central organizing principle for the church? What words are so much a part of our spiritual DNA that we cannot deny them and be Christian in any meaningful sense of the word? What is really our creed in its shortest, most concise form?

Isn’t “Jesus is Lord” the church’s equivalent to the Lannister’s belief? Yes, we speak of our “Baptismal Creed” and the “Apostles’ Creed” and several modern or ecumenical creeds. Those wonderful almost lyrical at times, phrase, though, expound on the basic, “Jesus is Lord.” If “Jesus is Lord” and we believe that absolutely, without question or reservation of any kind, then we can engage in honest discussions about the phrases found elsewhere. Until we believe that “Jesus is Lord,” all the way, in that part of a person that is virtual reflex, then all the other phrases can be and have been food for intellectual fodder. “Jesus is Lord” also has the benefit of brevity.

For much of the world outside church, all Christians seem to believe pretty much the same thing. Well, we do. We have a point of view through which and only because of which, the world makes sense. We have that central organizing principle that we neither created nor claim exclusively. “Jesus is Lord” directs how we use our time, our money, our brains, and our bodies. Once we live in the truth, the reality, the meaning giving vitality that “Jesus is Lord” offers, then we will move heaven and earth to live from that focal point. “Jesus is Lord” will allow Bible study to shape our living not just be memorization of long disappeared tribes. “Jesus is Lord” will direct of worship and our service, our formation programs and education efforts.

Next: Tyrion’s Church Part 2: Word and Sacrament

AUDIO: Is Pope Francis a Universalist?

Mon, 27 May 2013 19:29:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Did Pope Francis really say that everyone is saved? Or are some of us reading too much into last week's homily?

Listen or Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | RSS

Views expressed here are not necessarily those of Ministry Matters, UMPH, or any related organization or agency.

AUDIO: Audio Lectio: June 2, 2013

Mon, 27 May 2013 06:01:00 GMT

By Alive Now

Pray Luke 7:2-7. 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year C. Jesus and the Centurion. Alive Now Audio Lectio is a weekly guided meditation using the gospel reading from the lectionary. Join us each week to pray the scripture.

AUDIO: Tattoos and Faith

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:23:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

In this episode of Ministry Matters Radio, we discuss tattoos and spirituality and we consider the question, "Should a Christian get a tattoo?" Guests are Kim Goad and Janet Bostwick Kusiak, authors of Inked: Choosing God's Mark to Transform Your Life.

For a free study guide to use with Inked, visit InkedByGod.com.

Listen or Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | RSS

VIDEO: Naming Jacob: The Power of Words

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:23:00 GMT

By Jessica LaGrone

Words are powerful, and we should be mindful of that when we speak them over our friends, our family, and especially our children. This clip is from Jessica Lagrone's teaching session on Jacob from Namesake, an exciting new Bible study from Abingdon Women.

ARTICLE: Struggles for Men

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:59:00 GMT

By Alex Joyner

The End of Men?

Something is happening to men. By traditional societal measures of success, they are slipping. They are underrepresented in higher education. They have been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn. They are less likely to be married than in the past and more likely to be confused about their role in marriage and family.

Writer Hanna Rosin highlighted the changing role of men in a 2010 Atlantic magazine article provocatively titled “The End of Men.” She also expanded on the themes of the article in a book called The End of Men: And the Rise of Women. Rosin is not a triumphalist who celebrates as men struggle. Instead, she explores what’s going on with men and women in the contemporary landscape and asks, “What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?”

The prevalence and pitfalls of patriarchy have been well documented; but a new ordering of society is emerging in its wake, formed by economic and cultural forces that are rapidly changing conditions for men. What are the challenges faced by men today, and how can Christians reach out to men as they address them?

Economic Clout on the Decline

Let’s be clear: When it comes to the paycheck, men are still bringing home more money than women. As reported in a 2012 Deseret News article, “Overall, women still earn only about 80 percent of men’s wages.” But things are changing quickly, and the changes show up most clearly among young adults. The same article noted that “according to a recent analysis of 147 of the country’s 150 biggest cities conducted by a market research company, the median full-time salaries of young women are 8 percent higher than those of their male peers. In some cities, young women bring in as much as 20 percent more.”

The 2008 economic recession has also affected male workers far more than women. Rosin reported that “three-quarters of the 8 million jobs lost [in the recession] were lost by men. The worst-hit industries were overwhelmingly male and deeply identified with macho: construction, manufacturing, high finance.” While some of these sectors have rebounded, the long-term trend is not good. Figures from the Pew Research Center say that close to 40 percent of all 18- to 29- year-olds are unemployed or have stopped looking for work.

Researcher David H. Autor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) says that men are struggling as the jobs in which they were traditionally employed disappear. He told The New York Times in a recent article that “the working world just has less and less use for these folks.” Rosin says, “The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men’s size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today––social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus––are, at a minimum, not predominantly male.”

The Education Gap

The problem is compounded by the growing gap in educational achievement between men and women, something that began before the recession. In figures cited by Rosin, women are now earning the majority of master’s and bachelor’s degrees—around 60 percent of them in both cases. “In a stark reversal since the 1970s,” she says, “men are now more likely than women to hold only a high-school diploma.”

This comes at a time when a college degree is becoming essential for receiving even a middle-class income, so the educational struggles of young men can easily lead to less earnings. The situation is not leading to much change, however. “I think the greatest, most astonishing fact that I am aware of in social science right now is that women have been able to hear the labor market screaming out ‘You need more education’ and have been able to respond to that, and men have not,” said Michael Greenstone, another MIT economics professor also quoted in The New York Times piece. “And it’s very, very scary for economists because people should be responding to price signals. And men are not. It’s a fact in need of an explanation.”

Rosin offers one potential explanation: Perhaps contemporary educational methods are more suited to girls and women. “It’s not all that clear that boys have become more dysfunctional––or have changed in any way. What’s clear is that schools, like the economy, now value the self-control, focus, and verbal aptitude that seem to come more easily to young girls.”

Then Comes Marriage . . . or Not

Marriage and family statistics also highlight the struggles of men. Several recent studies have noted that, while teen pregnancy is down, births to unmarried women are actually up. Young women in their 20’s, in greater numbers, are choosing to have children whether or not they have an intention to marry. The trend is particularly noticeable among economically struggling women. Kay S. Hymowitz reports in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “Fifty-eight percent of first births among working and lower middle classes in the U.S. are now to unmarried women.”

What accounts for the rise in unmarried births? Perhaps marriage is not as attractive if men are having a difficult time finding economic security for themselves. Derek Thompson puts it bluntly in an article in The Atlantic: “In a dating pool where poor women are more likely to be surrounded by men with low and falling fortunes, more women have ditched a union for good economic reasons: It could be a financial drain.” Technological advances from quick-fix foods to home appliances have also made single parenting less onerous. “Technology,” according to Thompson, “makes it cheaper and easier than ever to be single. It makes marrying a financially unstable man even more risky.”

By contrast, couples in the higher income brackets have the highest rates of marriage and higher stability in those marriages. As reported in a 2010 TIME magazine story, “In 1960 the median household income of married adults was 12% higher than that of single adults, after adjusting for household size. By 2008 this gap had grown to 41%. In other words, the richer and more educated you are, the more likely you are to marry, or to be married––or, conversely, if you’re married, you’re more likely to be well off.”

The effects of this for children, and particularly boys, can be longterm. The New York Times asserts that boys who have fathers who are struggling or who grow up in single-parent households headed by a single mother may struggle as well. “A vicious cycle may ensue,” says David Autor, who coauthored a study on this phenomenon with Melanie Wasserman, “with the poor economic prospects of less educated males creating differentially large disadvantages for their sons, thus potentially reinforcing the development of the gender gap in the next generation.”

The Fall of Men

The critically acclaimed television drama Mad Men includes an iconic opening credit sequence in which a man in a business suit falls through the sky surrounded by 1960’s-era advertising images of women, most of them created by male-dominated advertising agencies. The series focuses on the changing social roles of men and women within a particular ad agency in the mid-1960’s. While it was an era of expanding opportunities for women, many men experienced a profound sense of dislocation, perhaps even a feeling of free falling, as old roles and expectations for them were constantly shifting.

Fifty years after that volatile time, men continue to explore what it means to be a man in modern society. Churches—which have undergone their own transformations as more women have moved into clergy and lay leadership positions—are sometimes seen as forces upholding a model of the nuclear family headed by a man as the paradigm of a Christian social order. But as fewer families look like a 1950’s sitcom family, churches have the opportunity to walk with men (and women) as they adapt to the real changes they are experiencing.

Cory Duckworth, vice president of student affairs at Utah Valley University, sees young men struggling and says, “I am fearful that, for some of them, life is going to be a continual revolution of spinning their wheels and not getting any traction.” Out of his own Mormon faith, he seeks to reach out to them. He told the Deseret News, “I just don’t see them moving forward, experiencing the joy and happiness life ought to be bringing. I see too much frustration, a lot of loneliness and despair.”

Part of the Christian tradition has been affirming the notion of vocation, the sense that every human life has purpose and meaning that can be fulfilled in work in the world. This is expressed in Psalm 139:13-14 in a prayer to God: “You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.”

Helping young men see their worth apart from assumptions about their economic value is part of that awakening to identity as a child of God. By offering opportunities to explore their gifts and challenging them not to retreat from the world but to live out their gifts in the world, churches can help young men identify the new possibilities of this day.

VIDEO: Prayer Service for Oklahoma Tornado Victims

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:51:00 GMT

By Robert Spain

Bishop Robert Spain spoke this morning at UMPH's prayer service for the Oklahoma tornado victims.

VIDEO: Who You Are in the Heavenly Realm (Converge Episode 4)

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:22:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Grace Biskie, David Dorn, and Matt O'Reilly join Shane Raynor to discuss Ephesians 2, grace, access to God, the blood of Christ and more.

VIDEO: Are You a Hypocrite?

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:50:00 GMT

By David Dorn

Are you what Jesus defines as a hypocrite? You may be surprised by the answer when you introspect. Now there is a difference between acts of hypocrisy and being a hypocrite. Neither are good, but one involves singular acts; the other involves a lifestyle.

Small Group Questions

What do you think about when you hear the word "hypocrite?"

Can you think of examples of the difference between hypocritical actions and being a hypocrite?

What do you think of hypocrites in the church?

Can you explain why Jesus puts such an emphasis on what one thinks about and meditates on?

Do you think you could incorporate this prayer into your daily life? "Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Question of the Day

Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Are you a hypocrite?

WEBSITE - http://preposterousproject.org/
TWITTER - http://twitter.com/#!/iampreposterous
FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/preposterousproject

BLOG: Telling the Story

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:37:00 GMT

By Mike Poteet

Does the Good Book make for good television? Millions of Americans seemed to think so (as many as 4 in 10, in fact) when History Channel aired its five-week miniseries, The Bible, in March. The first episode drew 13.1 million viewers, more than watched American Idol that week. More than 10 million watched each subsequent episode, beating AMC’s popular The Walking Dead. Viewers for the Easter night finale rose to 11.7 million.

In ten hours The Bible presents many of Scripture’s most dramatic narratives. Several—such as Noah’s Ark, the Exodus, and David and Goliath—are Sunday school standards. Others—the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, or John’s visions in the Book of Revelation—may be less familiar, even to long-time churchgoers. The series’ final four hours depict Jesus’ life, culminating in his suffering, death, and resurrection, and the early years of the church.

Why Did People Watch?

Few media observers expected The Bible to be a ratings hit. What accounts for its success? High production values helped. The Bible’s husband-and-wife executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey knew that today’s audiences expect visual excellence. One of Downey’s teenaged children told her, “Whatever you do, don’t make the special effects lame.” The Bible also brings modern script sensibilities to bear on its characters. Downey says, “We tell these stories from a human point of view, showing people from the past who were struggling with some of the same things that we struggle through.”

An onscreen disclaimer at each episode’s outset acknowledges that The Bible takes creative license with its source material while seeking “to stay true to the spirit of the book.” Some critics question whether the series achieves that goal; British newspaper The Guardian reports some Bible scholars have criticized the miniseries’ “‘whitewashed’ [that is, primarily Caucasian] cast . . . marginalized role of women, and . . . aversion to unpleasant details.” But not all unpleasant details are avoided; the series vividly depicts several biblical stories of violence and warfare. But the producers argue their main focus is presenting, in Downey’s words, “the story of love and the redemptive power of God.” In addition they want the miniseries to motivate people to revisit the Bible or read it for the first time. “We know that our Bible is a book that changes lives,” says Downey.

Do You Love to Tell the Story?

Whatever one thinks of The Bible, Burnett and Downey’s passion for the project and the exceptional attention it has drawn offers all Christians an opportunity to reflect on how we go about telling Scripture’s story of God’s love and power. We believe that it is, as an old movie title has it, “the greatest story ever told,” and yet we do not always go to great lengths to tell it, or to tell it as well as we can.

The youth with whom you minister may have watched The Bible, or know people who did. They may or may not spot how it differs from Scripture, or appreciate whether such differences matter; but, depending upon their experience, they may wonder, “Why can’t the Bible be this interesting at church?”

The church should remember, as ancient Israel and the early Christians knew, that telling God’s story, with all its drama and real, human characters, can be a compelling way to spark and sustain faith. It must also affirm that the Bible is much more than an entertaining story: It is a story through which God changes lives. The living Christ meets us in and through its God-inspired words, equipping us “to do everything that is good” (2 Timothy 3:17), not only as individuals but as a community of faith. God calls us to know the story so that we can tell it in ways the Spirit can use to show others where they belong in the story, too.

This article is also published as part of LinC, a weekly digital resource for youth small groups and Sunday school classes. The complete study guide can be purchased and downloaded here.

AUDIO: Too Old for Ordination?

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:31:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

The bigger question is not if it's okay to discourage people over 45 from going through the ordination process, but rather, why aren't we discouraging everyone from going through it?

Listen or Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | RSS

Views expressed here are not necessarily those of Ministry Matters, UMPH, or any related organization or agency.

VIDEO: Why Is Jackie Robinson Important?

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:40:00 GMT

By Clay Morgan

The movie 42 tells the story of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers who teamed up to integrate Major League Baseball in 1947. Until that time only white ballplayers could play.

This video explains why an athlete like Jackie transcended a game to impact American society and help kick off the modern civil rights movement.

In my opinion, 42 is a very good movie, a well told story about a part of U.S. history that holds great significance.

Clay Morgan is the author of Undead by Abingdon Press. Buy a copy and be sure to check out his YouTube channel usahistoryguy.

AUDIO: A Methodist and a Muslim Burial

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:03:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

A United Methodist woman in Virginia has placed herself in the middle of a controversy involving the burial of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Martha Mullen seems to be making the charge that no one wanted to bury Tsarnaev because he was Muslim, but the evidence simply doesn't support her claim.

Listen or Subscribe: iTunes | Soundcloud | RSS

Views expressed here are not necessarily those of Ministry Matters, UMPH, or any related organization or agency.

ARTICLE: Rethinking "Family Friendly"

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:34:00 GMT

By Melissa Meyers

A few years ago, I went to a movie with some friends. I got to pick the movie and I chose The Boy in the Striped Pajamas because I heard a review that said it was “family friendly.” Suffice it to say that this movie about the Holocaust doesn’t end well. As we sat in stunned silence, one of my friends turned to me and said, “You are never picking the movie again. Clearly you don’t know what family friendly means.”

I suppose she had a point. If the review I heard called it family friendly, clearly the reviewer had a different definition from my friends! Recently, I’ve crowd sourced many people I know to try and figure out just what this popular term means. I’ve gotten a variety of responses from, “something without sex and swearing” to “something for kids” to “something I’m clearly not invited to because I don’t have children.” It is not surprising to me that the definition changes when talking to someone with kids as opposed to not. So, I did a little experiment. I looked up several church events that called themselves “family friendly” and tried to decide if I would attend or not. I’m a single woman with no kids (unless you count my cats, but they’re not always welcome at church events). The truth is, there were none that I would attend. This doesn’t make them bad events, necessarily; but it does make me think that I’m not their target audience. I fit into a very different market from a family with three children. Were these churches intending to limit their events to moms, dads, and their children; or did they just mean that the events were appropriate for all ages?

Maybe the bigger question in all of this is, Who decides what is family friendly and what isn’t? Are there rules and criteria? I’ve heard that one of the unofficial rules in determining movie ratings is that one F-word earns you a PG-13 rating, but two gets you an R. Are there similar rules in determining what is family friendly; and if there are, who made them up? Truthfully, many parents have different expectations about what family friendly means when it comes to media. One parent I know won’t let their children watch the movie The Lion King because they find it too violent, while another parent said it’s their child’s favorite movie. If Disney doesn’t understand family friendly, who does?!

Child psychologist James Dobson founded Focus on the Family as a vehicle for distributing parenting wisdom and advice, and one would assume they are not only focused on the family, but friendly to it; but the organization has come to be known in recent years as an organization more focused on defining the word family than on potty training and discipline. For some, that reputation strengthens the advice they offer, and for others that makes their advice invalid. “Family friendly” in that context carries a host of political implications.

I once had a conversation with a parent disgusted by what was in the media today, and she said to me, “I will only ever let my children read the Bible, because that’s the best G-rated thing I know!” My response was one of surprise and disappointment. I asked if she had ever read the Bible. The Bible would be the last book I would call G-rated. There’s murder, rape, incest, and swearing, not to mention Song of Solomon. (Ask most middle schoolers where those stories are; they’ll tell you.) Even the teachings of Jesus tackle difficult issues like adultery, murder, and poverty, which parents might not want to discuss with their smaller children. Consider the surprise of one father who had to explain what virginity was to his five-year-old daughter because she wanted to know what made Jesus’ mother, Mary, a virgin. If even the stories and teachings in Scripture are dangerous, doesn’t that make our churches the least family friendly places around?

In the midst of all of these questions, the church does have a voice in the conversation. It is our role to wrestle with the questions, question assumptions, and think theologically. In Mark 3:34-35, Jesus is notified that his immediate family members have arrived, and he rebukes the person, saying “Who is my [family]? . . . Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.” If Jesus’ definition of family is expanded, why shouldn’t ours be as well? Family doesn’t necessarily mean Mom, Dad, 2.5 children, and a dog. Family means a community coming together to love each other, support one another, and serve the community.

In my context of ministry, I work with our young adult group. Young adults in our church range from eighteen to forty. It’s a pretty wide range and encompasses many different stages of life: single, married, married with kids, divorced, single with kids. Our mission statement as a church says that we are “a church family.” Our identity as family is central to who we are and doesn’t require us to market or advertise as family friendly, although we are! Our young adult events are family friendly in as much as we offer childcare when events are held at the church, and we welcome children when events are held at members’ homes. Perhaps “family friendly” is the best description, or perhaps “multi-generational,” or maybe “all ages welcome.”

As people of faith, we often equate community with family, which on one hand is a wonderful image. A family is a group that loves and supports one another and defines relationship. On the other hand, a family is a closed system and there’s not really a way to get in or out (beyond birth or marriage) and not all families are loving and supportive. Does it mean that as a church, we stop using the word family? Not at all. Based on context, family can be a very important word and description. But it’s important to think through what audience you are targeting, and use words accordingly. Know your context, your community, and your identity as a church. Make sure family is a word that will not divide or exclude, but welcome people into your community of faith.

BLOG: Why VBS Is Important for Your Church

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

VBS has been around for years however many churches have changed where, when, and how it is offered. Maybe VBS is in your job description or you’ve been asked to direct it, regardless of how you've gotten involved—VBS is still one of the best outreach ministries for your church! Still not convinced? Here are some reasons why VBS is still important and relevant today.

7 reasons why VBS is important to the life of your church and mine:

Reach families for Jesus Christ-obviously you’ll have children’s activities, offer youth and adult studies too! Make sure your church leadership sees VBS as an outreach program not just for kids. Plan to have Bibles available for people to pick up and take home.
Invite new families-who don't have a church home to visit during VBS. Plan some activities during VBS so families meet each other like a cookout, or an ice cream party. Any activity where families can come and meet new people.
Use untapped spiritual gifts-if you’ve encouraged people to take a spiritual gifts inventory some may need places to serve. Make sure to communicate where different gifts are needed during VBS and the time commitment involved.
Find future teachers-volunteers might have so much fun with the age level they teach, they may volunteer to continue with their group after VBS.
Short term service-VBS is an opportunity for busy volunteers to serve. Make sure you have easy ways for people to come help, even if they don’t have a lot time. People want to be involved, schedule times when people can come help organize supplies and get crafts ready. They might not be able to come for a work day, but they might have 3 hours after worship.
Spiritual growth-after VBS most of your volunteers will be physically tired but spiritually refreshed. Plan devotions and prayer time during planning sessions, but also consider starting a small group Bible study to begin after VBS so new friendships can continue to grow.
Your reason here-you’ve no doubt thought of a reason that is particular to your setting. If your leadership would hear it better coming from another source, tell them we said it. Then after VBS is a huge success show them this article and this reason.

Plan for success

Pray, then pray more!

Practice good stewardship, create a budget for purchases and a realistic list of volunteers needed to implement the program.

VBS can be spiritually rich without being financially draining! Tap into volunteers who are creative financially and artistically. When you get caught up in perfection, remember it’s all about the kids!

Plan a schedule that works for your setting, and be flexible. Be realistic about what your church can do this year. Use your Director’s Manual to plan the where, the when, and the how—including deciding whether you'll offer an 8-hour VBS or traditional 5 days!

Your church still has time to plan VBS, it could be your best outreach event this year!

VIDEO: John Wesley and Christian Orthodoxy

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:20:00 GMT

By Laurence Wood

Dr. Laurence Wood discusses whether or not orthodoxy was important to John Wesley and what this consisted of for him.

Source: Seedbed @ Asbury Theological Seminary

VIDEO: Mary Magdalene (Converge Episode 3)

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:43:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Was Mary Magdalene really a prostitute or does she owe her bad reputation to a 6th century Pope? Was she the first apostle? Jessica Kelley, Curtis Zackery, and Eric Van Meter join Shane Raynor to discuss these questions and more.

The Converge Podcast is also available at iTunes, or you can subscribe with any RSS reader or podcatcher.

ARTICLE: Including All Families

Thu, 02 May 2013 07:57:00 GMT

By John Hill and Nancy Speas Hill

“Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still. Let this be our song, no one stands alone. Standing side by side, draw the circle wide, draw the circle wide.” –Mark Miller, “Draw the Circle Wide,” Worship and Song, 3154

By its very nature, any community includes some people and excludes others. The hymn lyrics above remind us that as Christians our call is to draw the circle of belonging wide; all are welcome at our table, and in our congregations. Unfortunately, we can unintentionally exclude people by making assumptions about their lives and needs. In no area is this more tenuous than when talking about the families that comprise our congregations.

We tend to imagine the typical American household as one with a married couple and a couple of children. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States for 2012, the reality is much different. Of the 117.5 million households in 2010, slightly less than half (58.4 million) had married couples in them, and less than half of those (22.1 million) had children under the age of fifteen in them. This means that less than one quarter of the households in the U.S. are what we might call a “traditional family.”

Yet, in the church, we still focus much of our programming and communication efforts on the traditional family, which can, if we are not careful, exclude and alienate three quarters of the people in our communities.

When we pause to think about the types of families that are present in our communities and churches, we begin to see the diversity of families: single people (of all ages), unmarried couples (both straight and gay), with and without children, single mothers, single fathers, blended families, grandparents or other relatives raising children, children who split time between divorced or separated parents, families with foster children, multiple generations living together, and the list goes on. We believe that God’s grace is for all people, but how do we communicate and live that out in our faith communities?

Watch Your Language

One of the most immediate ways that families discern your attitude toward their makeup is through your use of language; something as simple as the words you use can let a family know if they will be warmly welcomed at your church. Paying attention to your language is not about being politically correct and trying to keep from offending people; rather, it is about helping people feel accepted and loved, just as they are.

Next time you are in a worship service, listen for obvious and subtle ways family structures are referenced. You may be surprised by how often mothers and fathers are specifically mentioned, particularly to children. If a child is without a present and active mother or father (due to any number of factors, such as divorce, deployment, death, or having same-gender parents), repeated mention of that parent sends an unconscious message that this child is different than others. From there, it’s a short and easy leap to believing that he or she and their “different” family don’t belong in the worship service or congregation. There is nothing wrong with highlighting moms and dads as role models, but grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, older siblings, friends, stepparents and foster parents also serve and inspire – why not mix it up and use alternative or additional examples? You need not mention every relationship every time, but varying the familial references can go a long way in helping the congregation understand family in more inclusive terms.

Print and media materials provide another highly-visible opportunity to implicitly include or exclude various types of families. Do your publication pieces and website have pictures of all different types of households, or do you tend to use pictures of only one or two types? When you talk about involvement and membership, do you echo Article IV of the Constitution of the UMC, which says that all persons are eligible to participate in the life of the church? When you ask newcomers for their contact information or register children and youth for programs, do you say something open-ended like, “List individual family members and their information below (include yourself and everyone in your household),” or do you ask specifically for mother, father, and children? Is there room to list two physical addresses for kids who live with two families? Or do you assume that one child means one address, with a mom and a dad? How are children of divorced parents loaded into your database so that both parents are kept informed of ministry communications?

Name Wisely

The ways in which we talk about our ministries within the church are also important. Our church used to lump together all the programs and activities that were not age-specific into a category called “Family Ministry.” The intention was to include families of all types; instead, many folks assumed that “Family Ministry” meant families with children. Within the last few years, we have shifted our language to “All Church” or “Church-wide.” After the change of language surrounding our annual retreat, one of our older single adults stated something to the effect of, “I didn’t know that I was invited on the retreat. I don’t have a family. I am my family.” Since then, she has been involved in the leadership of the retreat. How many years did we miss out on her presence with us simply because of a misleading name?

Event names can also put up unintentional barriers. Consider the popular and traditional Daddy-Daughter Dance. If a child has no present father, she can likely find an uncle, grandfather, or family friend to escort her, but she is all too aware that she is different. She is the exception. The same issue applies with any gender-specific events, whether it’s Mother/Son, Mother/Daughter, Father/Son. Instead of zeroing in on specific familiar relationships, perhaps you could hold a “Small and Tall Ball” or a “She and Me Campout.” It may lose some of its alliterative allure, but it still gives children a chance to strengthen their bond with the important adults in their lives. By choosing language more carefully, more people, especially kids, can feel included and welcomed.

Plan Carefully

No matter what you call your congregation’s special events, care must be taken when scheduling and organizing your ministry. Children’s schedules vary dramatically with their ages, and the family’s availability is additionally dependent on the adults’ work schedules. Regularly holding church events at 7 p.m. or later will prevent families with young children from attending, as disregarding children’s sleep schedules can be disastrous for busy families! At the same time, only hosting daytime events excludes families with adults who work the traditional 9-5 workday. The best approach may be to offer a varied ministry schedule. No one program or schedule can meet everyone’s needs, but by offering several options, perhaps all families can participate in some way. Some kids will be able to attend both daytime and early evening programs, but even more kids are able to attend at least one of them.

It is especially important to think broadly when providing pastoral care to diverse families, especially in times of celebration or grief. Family-centric holidays like Mother’s and Father’s Days are important, but take care that they are honored in a way that doesn’t isolate some families. Having all the mothers in the congregation stand, for example, is like an arrow through the heart of a woman who is struggling with infertility. When new children do arrive, their family experiences a major transition, whether this is the first child or fifth, and regardless of how the child comes into the family. Adoptive families may have different needs than biological families, but they all need to be supported and celebrated. In times of deep sadness, refrain from making assumptions regarding the nature of particular relationships: the death of a grandparent can be a fairly minor trauma to a child who has only met him or her a few times, but it can be absolutely devastating to a child whose grandparent resides in the home. When celebrating marriage anniversaries, recognize that there may be couples in the congregation who are not (and perhaps cannot be) legally married but celebrate an anniversary special to them. Again, don’t assume that you know who might have these special dates—go ahead and ask.

Know Your Community

Beyond keeping your congregational life family-friendly, it is vital to know your neighbors well so that you can reach out to the community. Maybe there are families with young children who could use help with childcare, single parents of school-aged children who could use an afterschool program, or single adults who would benefit from events designed to foster meaningful relationships in a community of care. Basic demographic research will give you a good start, but get to know your community by spending time with them, especially those who might not already feel at home in your congregation. Ask yourself how the church can love and serve them, and if you don’t know how you can help, then simply ask them.

It is rarely, if ever, our intention to exclude people from the life of the church; but without intentional consideration of inclusion of all family types, we are bound to leave someone out. May we all continue to draw the circle wide, and wider still.

ARTICLE: Sermon Series: Evangelism Lessons

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:59:00 GMT

By Bob Pierson

3 Week Series

Week 1: The Good Samaritan Church

Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:25-37

Today there is so much confusion about what it is to be a Christian. Churches have defined it in many ways: how we worship, the music we use, our liturgy. Being a Christian has been defined by particular rules, such as the way we cut our hair, the garb of our clergy, and the amount of water used in baptism. In a society that has become very secular, we need to get to the point of what it is to be a Christian. Peter sought to answer that in 1 Peter 2:21: “You were called to this kind of endurance, because Christ suffered on your behalf. He left you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps.”

In 1896, a Kansas pastor named Charles Sheldon was inspired by those words and wrote a novel defining what it is to be a Christian called In His Steps. The idea is so simple. To be a Christian is simply to ask, “what would Jesus do (WWJD)?” Several years ago, people wore WWJD bracelets, and it was popular to affirm our faith with that simple slogan. The popularity of the bracelets and slogan has waned, but the meaning is still essential. The Christian is to follow in the steps of Jesus, asking, “What would Jesus do?” in every decision.

In Luke 10, Jesus tells a story of a man attacked on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Some people coming down the road see he has been robbed and is injured, in a desperate condition; they are too busy to stop and help. The good Samaritan sees the man and stops to help. He goes beyond normal courtesy, even placing himself in danger. Jesus says at the end of this story that we are to go out and “do likewise.” We need to be the people who help if we are going to do what Jesus would do.

As Jesus was just beginning to preach, he went back to his hometown and read aloud the scripture,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus said he was called to help people in need.

At the end of Matthew 25, Jesus makes that point extremely clear as he tells the story of judgment day. We will be divided like sheep from goats. The sheep, those who help ordinary people, get to go to heaven. Those who don’t are the goats and will go to the other place. It’s very clear; we are called to be like the good Samaritan.

Today, churches are declining in membership, attendance, and participation. We ask how we are to reach new people and new generations, and we are susceptible to all kinds of membership campaigns and gimmicks. In previous generations, we won new converts by telling people that the thing to do was to go to church; everyone in town went to church. Today it is not “the thing to do.” In other generations, people went to church because they were scared into it. They were told that if they didn’t go to church, they would go to hell. Today, people disregard our scare tactics and are not going to church. Sometimes it would help if we had the most entertaining worship; surely then people would come to church! But, when a praise band takes a job at another church or a popular youth director goes to seminary, the youth group begins to fail, and we realize that entertainment, fear, guilt, cultural pressure, or attendance campaigns will not work in the long run to create sincere relationships with Christ.

Jesus said that what will work is helping people where they hurt. “Needs-based Evangelism” is being sensitive and caring; it is helping people. The greatest mistake the church has made in recent years is not noticing the hurts of the people on the side of the road. We get so busy going to our meetings and activities that we do not have time to stop. The irony is that, by that very act, the church is dying. Churches all across the world are growing and thriving when they are sensitive to the needs of the people. Jesus says that he came to help; if we are to be his followers, that is what we must do. There will be lots of techniques for reaching new people, lots of membership campaigns that will be tried and materials that will be sold, but until we really care for and help others, the church will not grow. The answer is not simply doing a little bit of good in a world that needs so much; it is really caring; it is inviting someone to a cancer support group where there is prayer and faith and hope. It is caring enough to go to the hospital when that patient undergoes treatment or surgery. It is meeting friends and family and inviting them to join you in prayer.

To be a “Good Samaritan Church” (perhaps the best name for a vibrant church today), doing a little bit of good from time to time will not cut it; it requires really caring about each and every individual. In this way, people come to know Jesus not by some slogan that they use or an empty prayer that they say but through acts of love. Jesus set an example, and we should follow in his steps.

Week 2: T E L L

John 1:43-51

The mainline Protestant church today is declining. The percentage of Americans who claim to be Christian is decreasing. These trends have been happening for twenty years. These statistics ought to remind us not of a need to have a new membership campaign but to do what Jesus taught and to make disciples. Our effectiveness will be made possible by three decisions: the decision to follow his final instructions, the decision to do what Jesus taught, and, finally, the decision to tell others about Jesus Christ and how wonderful it is to follow him.

They were doing what is natural, just telling a friend about a really good deal. We do it all the time. It is called word of mouth. You find there is a bargain at your favorite department store, and you tell your friends. You hear your favorite singer is coming to town, and you tell your friends and family. There is a new television series that you really like, so you tell others, whether they like it or not. We are always telling.

John 1:43-47 shares the simple story of Philip telling Nathanael about Jesus. This “telling” others happens over and over. The book of Acts is the story of telling others about Jesus. It is so natural and simple, and yet for a Christian today to tell another about Jesus seems so hard.

The people we want to share with live in a society that has become very secular. In fact, much of our society views organized religion in a negative way. Church members are thought of as hypocritical and uncaring, arrogant and judgmental. Often the language we use to describe our faith is difficult for non-Christians to understand. We use unfamiliar metaphors and symbols. Most troublesome, we have not lived our faith very well in front of the very people we would like to share with. That being the reality, how do we share?

The letters in the word TELL can be a reminder of some of the principles of how to share our faith. The T reminds us of the Truth of our own lives. In order to tell the story of Jesus, we need to know that truth ourselves. It needs to be in our minds, but more than that, it needs to be a part of our experience. Some of us have known the truth of Jesus Christ since childhood; we are almost born into the faith; it has become so much a part of how we think and live that it is who we are. Others of us have become Christians along the journey of life. We have made a change and a promise to follow Jesus. We have experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we sense the excitement of being a part of the church. We each have a story and truth about what being Christian means. Too often, we detract from that truth with fear, guilt, mistakes, and how we have changed from our worst nature. Certainly that is an important aspect of truth in all of us. But Christianity is not just about how bad we have been but about how good Jesus is. The truth is that God loves us despite our faults. Our self-esteem is secure. That’s our story. It is our truth.

The letter E reminds us of the word Explain. Much of the task of telling about Jesus is to explain. A lot of misinformation is present in our society. We need to explain our beliefs. We need to be prepared to answer hard questions. Many doctrines of the church require careful study. We must have answers for these questions. We must be able to explain. This is the story of salvation for all of us, and it must be explained and understood for us to be able to enjoy it, celebrate it, use it, and tell it clearly.

The first L reminds us of Living. If a person is to understand what the Christian faith is all about, they will understand it best by the way that we live. We need to show that love, generosity, kindness, patience, understanding, integrity, and responsibility are the principles we live by. Our society seems to reward un-Christian behavior, so we must tell others about Christ through our actions in ordinary times and in times of crisis.

A young woman found she had a difficult disease. Her friends at the office were impressed with the effective way she dealt with illness. They were amazed because she seemed to have unusual strength to handle this difficult time. When they asked how she remained so strong, she shared the strength that God had given her. They saw Jesus in her behavior.

The last L represents Leading. We are called to invite someone to church and to explain salvation. We need to learn how to lead others to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Jesus called us to go make disciples. There is no exception to that. How we share the faith and tell the story is a critical part of our discipleship. In order to really TELL we have to spend time studying, praying, and practicing. Our real effectiveness is our deep sincerity and commitment to follow Jesus. We may not have all the doctrines of the church worked out in our minds when we have an opportunity to invite someone, but we must try our best to explain what church is about, even if we fumble. We need to remember that the truth of how we live is important as a means of invitation. We are called to tell with love what Christ has taught us. Every day we live, we are telling the story of Jesus with our own lives.

Week 3: The Final Instructions

Matthew 28:16-20

It was halftime of the homecoming game. The home team was behind by two touchdowns. The coach knew his job was on the line. The team knew this was the most important game of the year. As they sat in the locker room, the coach’s instructions were clear. They had a new strategy for the second half, some assignments were changed, and an attitude of determination was set. As the team went back on the field, no one questioned what they would do or when; the time was now. They had heard the final instructions, and they were clear.

The CEO was visiting the city from corporate headquarters, meeting with all of the members of this particular branch of the company. The sales force, management, manufacturing—everyone was there. As she began to speak, she told them clearly about changes that had to be made. She described the new strategy, telling them what had to be done. She ended with an enthusiastic summary. The applause was vigorous. The employees knew that, if they wanted to keep their jobs, they had to do what was said that day by the CEO who had given the final, clear instructions.

At seventy-eight years old, he had been in good health most of his life, but now he was dying of cancer. He asked for his children to come to his bedside at the hospital. All were saddened by their father’s illness. They were all very emotional. As the family gathered around the room, he began to tell them things he believed in—things about life, things he wanted them to do. Then, he asked each of them to promise to do what he had reviewed. That day, they all agreed to follow his final instructions as best they could.

We’ve all had experiences like these, some of us in the same situations. We understand the imperative.

In each of these stories, the instructions are clear. The emotion is strong, and behavior cannot be compromised. The team has to follow the instructions—now. The corporate management strategy was an imperative. The family gathered around their dad’s deathbed comes to understand what family is all about. They will do their best to do what he asks them to do.

Matthew 28:19-20 tells a similar story. Jesus asks his followers to meet him on a hillside in Galilee. They had done this many times before in the three years of following Jesus. This was not unusual; the unusual thing was that this is the last time. There is something final about this meeting. Jesus shares “The Great Commission.” He makes it an imperative. As followers of Jesus, we must understand that imperative. What Jesus says to the disciples, he says to all of us. To follow his way truly, we need to follow this Great Commission.

Look at the words carefully and review this imperative. First, Jesus says, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples” (vv. 18-19a). This is an imperative—we must make disciples of Jesus Christ, who comes to us in authority. Everything the church does—fellowship, worship, recreation, community service, and acts of social justice—must align with the imperative to make disciples. We have become immune to the phrase because we’ve heard it so many times. Jesus told us that our first obligation is to help people become followers of Jesus! It is the final instruction.

The second aspect as Jesus states it is to “make disciples of all nations” (v. 19b). There is no limit to whom we are reaching, those of every age, station, and situation in life. As we do evangelism, we tend to focus on certain groups—groups that are like us, those with whom we can communicate— and there’s no problem with that, but we must understand that, in reality, our field is unlimited.

Jesus says that we are to baptize new believers. We are not just to tell them about Jesus’ teachings or help them enjoy the music of worship and recreation in the fellowship hall. We are to lead people to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; we are to lead people to “take up their cross and follow him”; we are to baptize them as followers of God, seen in the power of his daily presence and in his beautiful creativity.

Finally, Jesus says we are to teach them to obey all of Jesus’ commands. We are to help people really understand the purpose of the gospel, take time to explain the difficult doctrines and the easy ideas. All species of the animal kingdom teach their offspring the skills necessary to survive— gathering food, providing shelter, taking care of themselves. We as “parents” of new followers of Jesus need to teach everything he taught. It’s not always easy, but we are to teach the whole gospel—not just what is convenient or popular, but all of what Jesus taught. The church has a responsibility to help us all come to understand and teach it.

As the disciples walked away from that fantastic experience, and seeing Jesus ascend into heaven, they had many alternatives. They could go back to fishing or grieve in their homes because they had lost their Savior. They could go about family responsibilities—on and on, we have choices.

In the church today, there is so much to do. There are many good, important things to be involved with; there are so many things that are pressing and critical. Evangelism has gone out of style; this “Great Commandment” has been rejected by many Christians. They have clipped it out of the Bible and tossed it in the trash as not possible, not practical, and not doable. Yet if we are truly to be on God’s team, working for our leader, Jesus, and are truly to be children of God the Father, we have no choice. We must make disciples! This is our imperative, the final instruction! This is our task!

ARTICLE: Let's Make a Deal

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:51:00 GMT

By Richard Stearns

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. —Mark 8:35

Have you ever watched the game show Let’s Make a Deal? This show took on new significance for the Stearns family this year as my daughter, Hannah, actually appeared as a contestant on the show. A third-year law student at the time, Hannah hoped she might win a little money to help with her tuition expenses. So she got tickets to the show, and in order to increase her chances of being chosen as a contestant, she dressed up as a law book—a torts book, to be precise. She felt a bit foolish, but it worked, and she was picked to come out of the audience to be a contestant.

Hannah did well. She ended up winning a motorbike, a laptop computer, and a couple of nice backpacks. To her parents’ great relief, she sold the motorbike to get cash to pay her bills.

Let’s Make a Deal is a great little metaphor for the choices God requires us to make. In the show contestants are brought up on the stage and offered a wide range of prizes, both good and bad. But the real essence of the show, and the thing that makes it so compelling, is the agonizing choices the contestants are forced to make. The host might first offer someone one thousand dollars in cash, with no strings attached. The contestant can quit right there and go home one thousand dollars richer. But then the fun begins; he offers a trade-in of the cash for the unknown prize that lies behind the curtain on stage. Of course, the contestant doesn’t know what lies behind the curtain. It could be a brand new Corvette; a two-week, all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii; or a case of dill pickles! It’s the contestant’s choice: trade what he has already won for the promise of something better, or play it safe and keep what he already has. The drama of the show is increased as winners are constantly offered opportunities to improve their prizes but always with the risk of dill pickles.

In a real way the decision to follow Christ and to lay down our lives to follow him is quite similar. Jesus was playing Let’s Make a Deal with the rich young ruler: “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Matt. 19:21, paraphrase). I’m offering you the great adventure of your life. I am inviting you to partner with me in my great kingdom mission. I promise you will find your deepest purpose and your greatest fulfillment in life in doing what I created you to do. All you have to do is lay down what you’ve already won, and I will replace it with treasures beyond your imagination.”

It’s that last sentence that’s the hard part—“lay down what you’ve already won.”

“Can’t I keep it all, Jesus?”

“No, my child, because no one can serve two masters—you will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24, paraphrase).

What are you clinging to? There are so many things that compete with God in our lives. Perhaps a career that you have invested decades in building or maybe a business you have started. Surely it can’t be wrong to pursue a career or build a business? It could be money, wealth, and the ability to create wealth that have their hold on you, or perhaps the many things that money can buy. The more you have, the harder it is to sell everything you have and give it to Jesus. That may be why so many people give their lives to Christ when they have nothing left to lose.

You might be clinging to an unhealthy relationship or an identity you have shaped. Maybe you have an addiction you have not been able to let go of. Lots of people cling to a physical place; do you live somewhere you love that you aren’t willing to leave? Do you love your house, your friends, your comfort, and the familiarity of your life? These are not bad things unless you place them above God.

The common thread behind all of these attachments is control. We want to control our lives and our choices, and we don’t like anyone who threatens to take that away. Remember my comparison between following Jesus and enlisting in the army? When you give your life to following

Jesus, he asks you to give control to him. As one bumper sticker aptly put it: “If God is your co-pilot . . . switch seats!” Jesus wants to drive; he wants to lead; but he cannot until you “lose your life” for his sake so that he can give you the life he always meant for you to live. What are the most precious things you possess? Are you willing to offer them to Jesus?

Now here is a really important thing to understand. If you lay down all of these things in the service of Christ and his kingdom, he won’t necessarily take them away from you. He doesn’t ask us all to quit our jobs, leave our homes, and have an estate sale to liquidate all our earthly possessions. No, he only asks that we turn all of those decisions over to him. I know many followers of Christ who are serving him in powerful ways who have not been called to sell, leave, forsake, or abandon the lives they have built. But they have been called to use the lives they have built for Christ and his kingdom. Sometimes he does take the things we have laid down at his feet, but unlike the game show host on Let’s Make a Deal, he always replaces them with something better.

Adapted excerpt from Unfinished: Believing Is Just the Beginning by Richard Stearns. Available April 30, 2013, from Thomas Nelson

VIDEO: The Woman at the Well (Converge Episode 2)

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:16:00 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Grace Biskie, Adam Thomas, Joseph Yoo, and Clifton Stringer join Shane Raynor to discuss the account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.

The Converge Podcast is also available at iTunes, or you can subscribe with any RSS reader or podcatcher.

ARTICLE: The Clubhouse: Student Ministry

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:57:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

Front and center on the Students page of the Ginghamsburg website is a quick video by Chris Freeman, the Director of Student Ministry. Chris explains how the student ministry centers on their love of Jesus and being a Christ follower. What comes next are the three areas in which the ministry is focused: community, discipleship, and service.

“…you need to know that service is such an important part of what we do as well. We believe that God wants to use students right now to change his world and so we like to give you as many opportunities as we can to allow you to give and invest in the community around you…” Chris

One ministry that students may participate in is The Clubhouse a non-profit partner with Ginghamsburg Student Ministry. The Clubhouse prepares teens with a service opportunity to provide free, faith-based programs to students in grades 2-6 who have limited opportunities. Teens serving at The Clubhouse must be entering seventh grade and may participate up through twelfth grade. The Clubhouse Director is Cheryl Bender. I recently chatted with her about The Clubhouse and her work there.

How did you personally get involved with The Clubhouse? And how long have you been serving there?
I have been with Clubhouse for the last twenty-two years and very passionate about working with teen leaders to reach out to children as mentors. As a teen I received amazing hands-on experiences that helped shape my faith and thinking, to be who I am today. I was blessed to have those experiences as my friends from other churches didn’t have the same challenges through hands-on service. Through Clubhouse I am able to further these opportunities to the next generation of teens who want to serve others for Jesus in real ongoing ways in their neighborhoods or those near them.

You have a LCSW degree, did you ever dream you’d be working with a church to help children in this way?
Actually I’m a Licensed Social Worker with a Clinical Psychology background. I knew that I would work in a faith based organization but not necessarily in a church setting. I was truly blessed to have grown up at Ginghamsburg Church that has vision to do things outside the typical church model. So when the position of Clubhouse Director was established it was like a natural fit for me to do what I had always treasured. Building teen leaders through service learning and providing a supportive relationship structure for children a win-win for both ages. Teens developing skills and finding out more about how to use of their faith to meet real needs around them. And then providing free afterschool and summer challenges for children that need as many positive caregivers as they can get!

What has been the greatest reward for you as the Director?
Simply seeing ordinary teens giving their time to do extraordinary things with the children. Through investing their time they develop relationships with the children. Challenging them to make wiser decisions, planting seeds for future dreams and caring about the day-to-day things like not just doing their homework but understanding how they do it! Also, watching teens find out more about what God has placed them on this earth to do with their lives.

How many children, teens, and adults are involved in The Clubhouse?
Each year Clubhouse has over 400 teens and 90 adults that serve the 400 children that attend. Over the years Clubhouse has had 6,000 teen mentors working with 7,500 children.

When you first started The Clubhouse what was the greatest challenge?
My biggest challenge was actually people not believing that teenagers could design and lead an afterschool program long term. However it didn’t take long for other churches, communities, and funders to see the simple effective way Clubhouse works. I've included some letters from Clubhouse children who are now adults who wanted to share more of their experience! I hope you enjoy reading their stories. Click on the pdf The Clubhouse testimones below.

Ways to Serve at The Clubhouse

Clubhouse iComprehend – for teens in seventh through twelfth grade
Teens who can simply read and do fifth grade math are needed at The Clubhouse and more importantly the children need YOU. We provide the training, and you bring the care for kids grade 2-5 to do more than get their homework done!

Clubhouse Adult Servants
Adult members [of Ginghamsburg] are invited to help The Clubhouse teens by providing homework help, tutoring, behind the scene organization, sharing your hobbies, driving students from two area schools to The Clubhouse, or basic data entry.

Clubhouse Prayer – How the Congregation Serves
Members commit to cover one Clubhouse child in prayer along with their family, school and neighborhood. Starting in January, Clubhouse provides prayer cards.

Faith Days - teen leaders
Creative themed days with small groups of 2-4 children participating in interactive games, crafts, discussions, and journaling for the purpose of building the faith of the children.

Sport, Art & Life Skills - teen leaders
Teens design and share with children a sport, art, dancing, music, or other activities they choose for the purpose of teaching basic skills to interested groups of children. Teens create a six week program proposal or help co-lead with another teen leader.

ARTICLE: Singles Ministry

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:40:00 GMT

By Cindy Young and Ellen Bauman

Contrary to the stereotype of “singles” in the church as early twentysomethings, singles ministry is made up of people of all ages and stages of life: those who have never been married, are divorced, widowed, empty nesters, have children at home, and those caring for aging parents. It can be difficult to equate all these persons with one, monolithic “singles ministry.”

Single adults age forty and older, whether never married or currently unmarried, typically share common interests. These groups are easily combined. The most difficult group to reach seems to be the younger adults, age twenty-one to thirty-five. There is a need to offer separate activities based on age. Filling classes with singles is a little more challenging. Most churches cannot sustain an effective singles ministry. Small churches do not have the resources, staff, or leadership to make it happen.

In the Central Texas Conference, we have a Singles Council to organize events for singles across the area and provide support for churches in their individual ministries to singles. This ministry model works well in the Dallas metroplex area, but it is more difficult in rural areas. Our council, made up of one voting member per participating church, meets monthly to discuss the concerns of single adults and the best way to meet those needs. We serve a large geographic area, with multiple churches participating in our events. While leadership is limited to members of UM churches in our conference, our events are open to all singles in our community regardless of church affiliation. We offer a wide range of activities to meet the needs of as many as possible, and communicate these opportunities through our website, Facebook page, and a weekly email blast.

To meet the current needs of our singles, we strive to offer a wide range of programs focusing on personal growth and healing for the individual and leadership development for the local church.

Starting an Area-Wide Singles Ministry

If your congregation’s offerings for singles seem limited, consider forming a Singles Council in your area. Plan an organizational meeting with key leaders from the larger churches in your area, including a staff member from one to be a spiritual mentor to the group. Obtain info on single leaders from each of the churches, large and small, in your conference. There are singles in all churches. Look for potential leaders at the organizational meeting. If a group is organized, you will need to establish people in charge of general administration (chairperson, secretary, and treasurer), educational programming, social events, and publicity.

Plan a kickoff event—something social with icebreaker games, food, music, and plenty of opportunities to talk and get to know one another. Be sure you have nametags, greeters, and sign-n sheets to get additional info on all attendees. Broadcast this event to ministers, staff, and leaders at each church. Make sure the organizational folk invite their single friends to the event.

Once you've had the event, discuss what made the event a success and plan to meet once a month to keep the momentum going. Dinners, retreats, dances, parties and mission outreach events.

In Central Texas, we have continued a basic format that consists of one major event each year, one smaller event each quarter, a monthly dinner, and multiple smaller activities hosted by local churches. The annual event has grown from a one-day to a three-day retreat. Quarterly events range from “A Day at the Lake,” a one-day seminar/workshop, Chili Cook-Off, and our Christmas dinner and dance. Each month, dinners are held at an area restaurant and hosted by a different church.

Unique Considerations

Some of the things single adults are looking for are group activities, fellowship, spirituality, outreach, and purpose. These are needs common to many demographics, but there are some unique needs to consider when planning your activities for singles.

Care and recovery. Many singles in the church today are “single again” and need support in the form of grief workshops, support groups, and divorce recovery groups, offered at various churches from time to time.

Holidays. Starting the Friday after Thanksgiving, we have dinner every Friday night till New Years. This time of the year can be very stressful and lonely for singles, and we want to make sure they have a place to be.

Singles with children. The church still has some work to do in the way it views “the family.” Families are varied in their make-up, and families led by single parents are but one variation. By continuing to prefer the “traditional family,” we not only limit singles’ ability to serve but also overlook those who have gifts and talents for leadership. Include single parents in your family ministries, and offer childcare at your singles events.

Joint custody. While we have not offered events specific to single parents and their children, we do try to schedule activities on the first and third weekends of the month when the custodial parent typically does not have their children. This enables divorced parents to participate without childcare expense.

Tight finances. Offering some no-fee activities and keeping the cost down on others is very important for single-income households. It is a struggle to make ends meet in some situations, and we want to make it easy for everyone to attend our events.

We strive to keep a balance of activities to meet everyone’s needs and to not take away from singles’ involvement at their home churches. It is important for singles to be involved at their home churches by serving as greeters, ushers, singing in the choir, going on church-wide mission trips, helping teach Sunday school to adults and children, participating in book and Bible studies, and more. The goal of singles ministry is not to ghettoize the singles or play matchmaker but to equip single adults to be strong in their faith and to play an active role leadership in the church, and to help churches recognize single people for their contributions of financial resources, time, and talents to the church.

BLOG: Faith Facing Tragedy

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:57:00 GMT

By J. Michael Lowry

Collectively this has been a hard week. News of the tragic terrorist bombing at the Boston marathon was joined last night by the massive explosion here in West, Texas. While Boston may be distant, we still reach out instinctively with our prayer and our care. The town of West lies in the heart of the Central Texas COnference of The United Methodist Church. This tragedy is close to home and touches our lives much more intimately. Here too we reach out with the love and care of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I was on the phone last night with Rev. Don Scott, the District Superintendent of West United Methodist Church. West UMC is pastored by Rev. Jimmy Samson. At the time of writing this blog (Thursday morning, April 18, 2013), Rev. Laraine Waughtal, Disaster Relief Coordinator for the Central Texas Conference, is in West working with Pastor Samson on how we might best respond. Rev. Kyland Dobbins and Dr. Randy Wild from our Conference Mission Support Center are coordinating our response. We are aware of four church members whose homes are demolished and many others who have suffered damage. Four families of West UMC are currently unaccounted for. A number of churches in the Central District of the Conference are open as emergency shelters as needed. Officials from The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR— a part of our connectional worldwide mission to places experiencing disasters and one arm of the General Board of Global Ministries) has already been in touch with the offer of an emergency grant to help in relief efforts.

As is being widely reported, the community of West currently has all the emergency help they need. Officials in West are asking people to stay away until further assessment is done and specific help is requested.

How should we as a people of faith face these and other tragedies?

First, foremost, and always, let us be a people who place our lives and the lives of our loved ones before God in trusting prayer. Remember the promise of God. “Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Second, let us be a people of patience. We give thanks for first responders and other early responders who are immediately engaged. This is a time to commit in faith for the long haul. After the cameras have been turned off and the news reports stilled, we will remain in service and love to the community of West. In the ensuing days, weeks and months, needs will emerge that call for our action.

Third, let us be a people of hope. In the upcoming days we will have an opportunity to live out our faith-based hope through generosity of spirit, time and resources including financial resources. We are calling on the churches of the Central Texas Conference to receive a special offering for disaster relief in West. Checks should be made out to The Central Texas Conference Disaster Response. Please note in the note section “The City of West.” Other ways to offer support are through UMCOR and the American Red Cross. As the full scope of the need unfolds the Central Texas Conference will respond with further specific calls for help as needed. I urge you to watch our conference website for updates as they become available.

Prayer, Patience, and Hope frame faith facing tragedy. Dr. Randy Wild recently reminded us of one of St. Augustine’s prayers:

God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage.

Flood the path with light, we beseech Thee; turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road to life, to Thy honor and glory. Amen.

— Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa (354-430 A.D.) As quoted in “All Will be Well: A Gathering of Healing Prayers

May we face these and other tragedies with faith, hope and love. God is with us in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit!

J. Michael (Mike) Lowry is a United Methodist Bishop in the Fort Worth Episcopal Area, the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church.

ARTICLE: Let the Children Come: Kids Coming to Church Without Parents

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:43:00 GMT

By Reggie Blount

“Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.” (Matt. 19:13-15 NRSV)

In a congregation I recently pastored, I remember a youth named Shawn. The community we served was in a “food desert,” meaning the underprivileged community did not have access to fresh produce within a five mile radius. One summer our congregation offered a weekly, free farmer’s market to the community, providing those who came with free fresh fruits and vegetables.

One week as we were setting up, 12-year-old Shawn showed up and asked if he could help. We allowed Shawn to assist and he worked very hard setting up the produce and clearing out boxes. After we completed the set-up and prepared to receive the community, Shawn asked if he could also receive some of the produce for his grandmother. He told us his grandmother was unable to come herself because she was unable to walk. We allowed him, to and he was overjoyed! For the next several weeks, Shawn was there to assist in the set-up and then took a bag of produce home for his grandmother.

Very soon Shawn began showing up to Sunday school and worship, and brought his younger sisters with him. Some in the congregation became concerned about the children’s circumstances and home life, and wanted to make sure the children’s parents or guardians knew the children were coming to the church. One of our members took the children home after service and met the grandmother. We discovered the grandmother was the guardian. The children’s mother had tragically passed away, and their father was not in the picture. We also discovered that the grandmother was living with multiple sclerosis (MS), and it had reached a debilitating state, in which she was unable to walk. It became apparent that Shawn, this 12-year-old, was assuming a lot of responsibility to assist his grandmother and look out for his sisters.

Shawn and his sisters began coming to church on a regular basis, and the congregation began to nurture these children. Shawn is a talented drummer and began playing drums for the worship service. He and his sisters became active in the various ministries for the children and youth of the church. The women’s ministry adopted the family and helped make sure the family’s basic needs were met. The following summer, the women’s ministry partnered with another congregation that was hosting a summer camp to make it possible for Shawn and his sisters to attend camp.

Seven Spiritual Yearnings

The ministry of the free farmer’s market definitely drew Shawn to the church, providing an opportunity to obtain some needed food for the family. What I also believe drew Shawn to start coming to church on Sunday was a yearning for more. Kids have spiritual yearnings just like adults:

Identity: A yearning to understand who they are; to answer the question, Who Am I? or Whose Am I? A yearning to understand what it means to be made in the image of God. Who am I in God’s Greater Story?
Purpose: A yearning to understand their reason for being; to be able to answer Why am I here? What role do I play in God’s Greater Story?
Intimacy: A yearning to be loved unconditionally by God, church, family, and society.
Healing: A yearning to be whole again after experiencing various levels of brokenness.
Mentoring: A yearning for a caring leader/spiritual director interested enough to help them navigate the waters between adolescence and adulthood.
Nurture: A yearning to be encouraged and empowered in the midst of their faith development.
Courage: A yearning for strength to live the Christian life when it is mostly counter-cultural to popular culture.

The church provided Shawn a place to belong, to try out and share gifts and talents, to be cared for, to be nurtured, mentored, but most importantly a place to experience healing. The church provided Shawn and his sisters a place to be loved and to heal as they continued to make sense, as best they could of the death of their mother and the debilitating illness of their grandmother. There are many children in our communities who come to our churches yearning to experience the love of Jesus that cares, that nurtures, that loves, that heals.

Keeping Covenant

In the Baptismal Covenant of the United Methodist Church for children and others unable to answer for themselves, there is a vow made by the congregation during the Renunciation of Sin and Profession of Faith:

Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include these persons now before you in your care?

With God's help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.

We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness that they may grow in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.

I believe this is a vow the household of faith should keep with all children and youth God entrusts to her care; not only those who come with their parents but also with those who don’t.

If we let the children come, the faith community has the opportunity to proclaim in their presence that they are beloved children of God. The congregation also has the wonderful opportunity to practice discipleship as they offer an example before the young people of what it means to be more like Christ. The community has the opportunity to provide young people a sanctuary; a safe place; a refuge of love, forgiveness, and healing. The community also has the opportunity to continually lay hands of blessing and offer prayers of intercession for the lives of all the young people entrusted to their care. The faith community should foster opportunities for young people to grow in their service to others and to grow into becoming true disciples. The congregation should claim responsibility for the covenant made with God and these children at baptism to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love, and extend that love to all young people who come through their doors and who are a part of their surrounding neighborhood community as well.

Our congregation kept covenant with Shawn and his sisters; and with permission from their grandmother, they were baptized into the household of faith with the entire congregation standing as their sponsors.

If the faith community keeps its covenant with its young people, including those who come without their parents or guardians, they have a wonderful opportunity to reach the unchurched adults in these children’s lives as well. When the faith community shows genuine love and care for the children, the adults in their lives will want to know more about the community that is sharing it. As the children become actively engaged in the life of the congregation, the opportunity is there to invite unchurched parents to witness their children’s engagement. Chances are, the same spiritual yearnings the young people experience are the ones the adults in their lives experience as well. Let the children come, satisfy their yearnings, and watch the adults in their lives come as well!

ARTICLE: Evil Doesn't Win

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:42:00 GMT

By Andy Stoddard

April 16 is not my favorite day of the year. This is the day that I remember the power of evil and sin to destroy lives.

And it’s the day that reminds me that in the journey of my life (and our lives) that evil doesn’t win.

And each of us, we know the power of evil. We see it in the world. We saw it on 9/11. We witnessed it yesterday in Boston, and many, many lives were forever changed and disrupted. We have seen the force and power of evil.

Evil has its moment. But evil doesn’t win.

That said, I don’t like April 16.

On April 16, 1978, my mother was murdered. I have always called her “Mama Sarah.” She was killed as she was walking out of our house, with me in her arms. She was walking out of the house because she did not want me raised in an abusive situation, in a situation full of drugs and destruction. She was walking out of the house because she wanted me to have a better life.

She was walking out of the house because she loved me.

And in that, she laid down her life for me. Literally. I sometimes tell folks I have the burden and blessing in my life of having had two people lay down their life for me, Jesus and Mama Sarah.

And, every day I wake up and know that I am here, I give thanks for no greater love. I give thanks that I, literally, should not be here.

And if you’ve ever wondered why I’m a little on the ADD side, this is why. I’m not going to waste a second that God has given me.

And every time I look at my daughter Sarah and mourn over the fact that she will never know the grandmother she was named for, I give thanks for no greater love.

I have experienced in my life the power of evil to bring destruction.

But I’ve also seen this. I’ve seen that evil doesn’t win. See, when Mama Sarah died, I was adopted by her mother and stepfather. I call them mama and daddy, because that’s who they are.

By the way, if you want to know the power of evil, consider this. Mama Sarah was murdered on her mother’s birthday, April 16. And she was buried on my birthday, April 18.

Evil has it’s moment. But it doesn’t win.

I was adopted and raised by my mama and daddy. And if I had not been raised by them, I wouldn’t have been raised in the church I was raised in. Which means that I may not be a Christian. Which means that I may not be a preacher. Which means that I may not be here, doing what I’m doing.

I may not be affecting your lives and your faith. If I hadn’t been raised by my adopted parents, I wouldn’t have gone to Bouge Chitto, which means I wouldn’t have gone to Co-Lin which means I wouldn’t have met Holly, which means I wouldn’t have my family.

God brought good out of this terrible tragedy.

Was my mother’s murder a good thing? No. Or course not. My heart aches for it. But, the power of God is not that he stops bad things from happening. It's that he can bring good our of anything.

Even the worst evil.

Evil doesn’t win. My life is a testament to that.

Romans 8:28 says this: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

All things will work for our good. And his glory. I am thankful. It may look bad. But know this. Evil doens’t win. Let us have that hope. And let us rejoice, even in our tears.

This post originally appeared on Andy Stoddard's blog. Andy is the pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Petal, MS.

BLOG: Nothing is Sacred

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:08:00 GMT

By Ronnie McBrayer

The words “holy” and “sacred” are sometimes used interchangeably. I don’t think this should be the case, as there is a huge difference between the two. Sacred comes from the Latin, “sacrum.” You might recognize that “sacrum” is also the name of the bones in your pelvis. The ancient Romans called this part of the human body “sacred.” It is where the reproductive organs are, and, particularly in the female, it is from where life springs.

Thus, as one line of thinking goes, the sacred was recognized as something that had to be protected and secured. That is an excellent picture, actually, of how we employ sacredness. Human beings create sacred rituals that draw lines, build barriers, and protect and secure our space and turf. We feel we have to keep everything that is perceived as a threat on the outside, so as to guard our life and our future.

A quick example: Not long ago I was preparing to speak at a church and had my always handy coffee cup with me. Without any thought, I sat it down on the pulpit while I was reviewing my sermon notes. This church had more than a lectern or podium. It was truly the “sacred desk.”

A person came up to me and said, “I would appreciate it if you removed your cup. This furniture is sacred.” I complied but then added, “Yes, it is ‘sacred,’ but do you know why? Because it has been designated so by a church committee, not by God. God’s holiness is not violated by a Styrofoam cup” (I didn’t mean to be snarky, but I don’t think this person became a fan).

And a second example: During one of my pastorates we moved from a shabby little storefront building to a beautiful, magnificent sanctuary. It was an incredible upgrade with actual pews, a baptistery, a steeple, and other sacred things. In our old location we had been picking up children in our little church van and bringing them to worship. These little people were tornadoes. Turned loose in an empty room, they would find something to destroy. When we moved to our new building, we kept picking up these children, but I knew it would not last.

During our first week of Vacation Bible School in the new building one of the church mothers retrieved me from my office. She was enraged. “I need you to come with me right now!” she said. She took me to a hallway, pointed at the wall, and asked, “What are we going to do about that?”

Two and a half feet above the floor was a swatch of dirt staining the white wall. It ran down the entire length of the hallway stopping at one of the classroom doors. A classroom of these “dirty bus kids” had all run their hands down the wall as they walked to class, that’s all. But I knew then that there would be no place for them in our new space.

The sacred is the ritualistic space, community, and people-dividing behavior of human beings. The holy, however, is something completely different. Something holy is something that is “whole.” The root word is “health.” In other words, holiness is something that cannot be divided. It is something that is complete, unbroken, and intact.

Thus, holiness is not something defined by lines of segregation or by different shades of acceptance. It is defined by openness and welcome. The holy doesn’t alienate, it invites. The holy doesn’t separate, it welcomes. The holy doesn’t divide, it embraces.

Whereas what is sacred is a small restricted space that must be sheltered and guarded, the old Norse word for “holy” means “a large living room,” where people are made to feel very much at home. I pray that God makes us holy: Whole, healthy, welcoming people! But I also pray that he never allow us to become a sacred people, for when we lose our ability to be hospitable, inviting the outsider in, we have lost our unique witness in the world.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, pastor, and author of multiple books. You can read more and receive regular e-columns in your inbox at www.ronniemcbrayer.me. If you're interested in checking out his books, visit Ronnie's page at Amazon.

BLOG: Bec Cranford and Church of the Misfits

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:13:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

Bec Cranford is the Volunteer Coordinator at Gateway Center; you can read about her work with the homeless community here.

During the second part of the interview Bec talked about her call to ministry, which she described in phases: her lightning bolt getting knocked off her bum, a time of disillusionment and discontent, righteous indignation/anger, and then a call “home.”

Bec was raised in a Baptacostalist church; where her parents were in ministry. Not everything was as it seemed though. Bec said, “Mental illness was a stigma in the south—especially in certain evangelical circles—my father never dealt with that, and he was closet alcoholic.”

When she was twenty-one, her parents finally divorced, basically because of her father’s alcoholism. She also found out that he had told the church community that she was a lesbian (she is not). As a result she was treated poorly, and so she just left church. At that point she says:

"I was just done with my dad, the church, and God. It all just looked like a bunch of hypocrisy. They talked about Jesus, and even more about purity codes and holiness. The church seemed bigoted and racist.”

She describes herself then as “liking Jesus but really turned off by church.”

So she left church and got into drugs. One evening she showed signs of overdose, and her vision darkened. She experienced something “really scary, like an absence of love,” and she was fearful. At that point, she cried out, “Jesus, if you’re real, help me!”

She’s not quite sure if what happened next was caused by the drugs or was a psychological state. She saw a crucified Christ figure looking more like “Bob Marley meets Jack Sparrow.” It wasn’t a blonde Jesus who came to save me.” She laughed a bit telling the story, but she was convinced at that moment she “wanted to serve God and bowed to God to serve him.”

Bec didn’t feel welcome in a lot of churches after that. She adds, “I had green hair, tattoos, wore combat boots, and I was angry. ” It was a difficult time for her. She told God, “Whatever you do, don’t make me a Pentecostal. Make me like a Lutheran or something rational.” She also had mystical experiences and glossolalia, which she tried to rationalize away by telling herself, “This is some weird cognitive thing with some Hebrew and Italian mixed in.” These experiences “warmed my heart, so I went back to evangelical churches looking for answers and started my whole call process.”

After attending a Bible college she came back to Atlanta interested in starting a Spanish language worship service. But the leadership of the church said, “We need to teach persons English if they’re going to be American citizens.”

Bec says she was “prideful and angry. I thought I knew it all because I’d gone to college.” She experienced a long season of discontent and had lots of questions for God. Her anger, she explains was “a result of cognitive dissonance from the faith I grew up with, what I learned in school, and the pain I was seeing in the world.”

Bec was seeing populations that evangelicals weren’t reaching out to—“postmoderns and queers.” Once again she found herself saying, “God, you need to find somebody to do something;” then she realized that the passion she was feeling was in fact part of her call. Her ability to see the pain people were experiencing helped her realize that God was in fact calling her, not somebody else. She was being called back home to “love people who thought differently about church, God, and Jesus.”

While attending seminary, Bec began to feel a call to start a church. At that point she began to pray and seek God and explore what God was doing in Atlanta. She met with mainline pastors, connected with emergent village, and read books by Rob Bell and Len Sweet. She announced to her husband, Terry, that she felt God was saying, “Go plant a church.” The target audience was “postmoderns who would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, queer persons, and those who were hurt or doubting.”

She left seminary early to move home and plant a church. Bec once again talked to the church leadership. She said, “I honestly had a lot of pride, but tried to humble myself and explain that I wanted to contextualize Christ to postmoderns.” She was interested in “helping people explore a variety of doctrines as a basic first step, to be a starting place for new people.” The church leadership sensed her call but in the end her way of doing church was too different for them to embrace. Her home church wasn’t at all affirming of that call. They believed her viewpoints were welcoming to the point of “accepting sin.” Her response was “that maybe it was God’s job to figure all that stuff out and we’re just to love people.” The church stated that with her viewpoints they didn’t even want her working in the nursery. Of course she was terribly hurt and says it was “a time of humility and a dry season.”

She and Terry decided to start a bar ministry discussing hymns and theology after awhile attendance wasn’t growing and they were getting discouraged. She asked, “God, did you call me to do this, or am I just a complete failure?” There were times when she sat up all night in prayer or crying. Then one night she heard clearly, “Get up and go downtown [Atlanta].” She remembers thinking that she and Terry didn’t need to go downtown because there was nothing there. But they drove in anyway; they saw the people; and “we just fell in love with the city.”

Terry was recruited to work with the chronically homeless to help meet basic needs. Next, Bec was hired by Gateway Center. Six months later, they started the Church of the Misfits and committed to meeting weekly. Bec says, “We don’t have a lot of noses or nickels, but it’s good. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” The church is drawing persons from a variety of beliefs; they’ve begun to share their stories more intimately including their brokenness; and they’re exploring Jesus together.

They moved around frequently for church. They were continuing to meet in bars, and then someone in their group admitted to being an addict. At that point it was time to shift gears, so they opened their home to their new church community. The main worship room is furnished with couches and icons. They’ve intentionally created a space that will be safe for all people, and they’ve backed off from the bar ministry for now.

Bec is discerning whether to officially connect with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She has some courses to complete for ordination. Terry was ordained in the Southern Baptist denomination so he’ll be completing the process first.

I was not surprised to find out who her favorite prophet is. “Jeremiah,” she replied. “A lot of people think he was a sap because he lept into a relationship with God. Jeremiah got in God’s face. He complained and he was real. Some people think he was bipolar. He experienced real emotion. He said, this is stupid I don’t even want to do this. Jeremiah calls God a deceiver. He’s so in the face of God that sometimes we think that’s tantamount to being evil or rebellious. But it just shows he had such a deep relationship with God. Jeremiah cared about justice issues, he cared about the people being taken away in exile, and he cared about God; but sometimes Jeremiah had human moments.”

And I thought to myself—human moments—the kind experienced by Bec Cranford, Volunteer Coordinator for Gateway Center and church planter called by God.

Bec says about her relationship with her father and mother now, "We are reconciled. He is doing great, retired, and still singing. He spends most of his time doing yard work. My mom is amazing. She has always been there for me, and has continued to support my call to ministry, even when it was unpopular or unorthodox."

ARTICLE: Gateway Center

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:00:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

Bec Cranford is the Volunteer Coordinator at Gateway Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

She originally came back home from seminary, to plant a church. Her roots are in Baptacostalism, and she went through a time of transition in her theology from an emphasis on proclamation evangelism to social justice. Now, she finds herself exploring mainline polity. (read Bec’s story and call to ministry here)

Bec works with groups and individuals who want to reach out and serve the homeless population in Atlanta. The orientation Bec and a group of interns provide volunteers is designed to help breakdown stereotypes, introduce volunteers to justice issues, and specifically learn ways they can take their experiences home. During orientation, persons from the Atlanta Faces of Homelessness project, who are currently homeless or who have transitioned out of homelessness, share their stories.

Bec says, “Sometimes groups will come to do an urban missions week, wanting to focus on proclamation evangelism, and what we ask them to do is to take on the less blessed position.”

Oftentimes when we do charity or volunteer work we think we’re going to go give something to someone. We know it’s more blessed to give than to receive but Gateway asks volunteers to be less blessed. Even though volunteers may be donating their time or resources we ask them to be the recepients from the client's gifts.

Volunteers are often surprised and ask, “What can the homeless give me?” And Bec tells volunteers “clients can share about their faith, their culture or wisdom, their experience or maybe even a song or poem they have in their heart—and that always touches people.”

We live in a fast paced culture and it’s easy to become judgemental. To challenge preconceived notions, Bec spends time with volunteers talking about the causes of homelessness. She integrates biblical theology in those conversations for example, the book of Job, and asks “Was it Job’s fault that all that stuff happened to him?” This approach encourages volunteers to be more open to homeless people and what can be learned from them.

Volunteers have many different ways to serve at Gateway. They have specific work tasks like sorting donations, painting, or even working in a small garden area. Bec also gets volunteers involved in more relational activities. Once she had a youth group who manicured the ladies’ fingernails, or she might have volunteers bring beads and make necklaces with the children. The goal is to stretch volunteers a bit and providing a good educational experience. Everything the volunteers do is greatly appreciated!

The number of volunteers depends upon the month and season. Gateway has a lot of groups who want to volunteer during the holidays and summer breaks. Some groups come as part of an alternative summer break, urban missions projects, or educational experience.

Atlanta is a big school town, so many of the colleges and seminaries are involved, including campus organizations. Gateway also has internships through Shepherds Project, Mission Year, and others. Small and large churches volunteer and Gateway receives support from Atlanta-based businesses like Home Depot, Delta, and Coca-Cola.

Bec works with over 9,000 individual volunteers annually and about a 100 more churches and businesses serving on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Of course placing volunteers keeps her busy, but there is always a place for someone to help out. Some of the best times are when people show up to do menial tasks or can just be there to listen to the clients.

Questions for discussion:

How is your church reaching out to homeless people?
What organizations, like Gateway, could your church volunteer with?
What preconceived notions and stereotypes do your members have about the homeless?
If any.
What has your experience been with being less blessed?
How do you teach both proclamation evangelism and social justice in your church?
Bec mentioned the book of Job, what other biblical stories could your small group begin to study and discuss?

ARTICLE: Justice Prayer

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:46:00 GMT

By Kimberly Knowle-Zeller

I came home around lunchtime. I drove myself home, opened the fridge and wondered what I would gather for a meal. I sat down and turned on my computer, put some music on, and looked out the window at the crisp, dreary January day.

I don't normally take such time to reflect on how simple yet meaningful it is to make the decision about what to eat. I don't normally look outside and give thanks for being able to breathe fresh air and see glimpses of sunlight. I don't normally reflect on how many choices I get to make in a given day.

But today is different.

For today, for just a moment, I received a glimpse into a world where choices aren't taken for granted. A world where sunlight doesn't reach your face. A world where doors shut behind you. A world where you are known not by the content of your heart but by offenses and actions.

In a word - jail.

This morning, the church I serve and a few other churches partnered to provide a hot meal for the inmates at the Pettis County Jail. Because of budget cuts, hot meals are few and far between in any given week. Super Bowl weekend seemed as good a time as any to cook chili and pimento cheese sandwiches. We collected from various churches the ingredients for chili and sandwiches. Several folks baked cakes and provided fresh fruit.

Trying to be mindful of the task at hand, I prayed:

I prayed for those who are prisoners to not only the justice system but to cycles of violence and drugs.

I prayed for those who are separated from loved ones.

I prayed for those who work extra shifts to pay for court fees.

I prayed for those who don't get to see their children grow up.

I prayed for those who never knew the love of family.

I prayed to God for compassion.

I prayed to God for understanding.

I prayed to God for mercy.

And after all this prayer, I needed to get moving. After all, we had a meal to deliver.

We could only drop off the food in the back by the kitchen. The meal will be served on Super Bowl Sunday - a hot meal cooked and prayed over, a meal of love. A meal for God's children.

A tour of the jail was the final part of our day. I've never been to a jail and didn't know what to expect.

Once inside we were surrounded by darkness, dreariness, and the lack of light and hope. And then there are the sounds that you can't ignore as each door shuts behind you. Every move is watched. Every corner covered. Every window only provides one way of viewing. It was stifling.

Perhaps what was most distressing from the tour was my total inability to do anything. At all. I just watched. Observed. Asked a few questions. We couldn't interact with anyone other than our group and the guard. We were mere spectators.

Then I came home. I sat. I wondered.

I know some folks who have a loved one in jail or who served in the recent past. I ask them questions. I listen. I pray for them and their loved one. I wonder what more I can do.

The question still remains about how to connect and follow the gospel mandate to proclaim release to the captives. To visit the prisoner in jail and to know that when we do so, we do it to Christ.

I have no answers; yet, I hope to have further conversation with those in my community about seeing the prisoner as brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that they will know and see themselves as children of God.

Perhaps in my questions I will ponder truthfully the reality about who is really trapped? I wonder if we have a connection in our society to prisoners because our lives are behind not physical bars but bars of fear, ignorance, racism and addiction? Are we prisoners to following the status quo? Are we prisoners to self-doubt and insecurity? Are we prisoners to a theology of glory rather than a theology of the cross?

Join me in the questions and join me in praying with Jesus:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

BLOG: I Have Sinned

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:53:00 GMT

By Robert A. Ratcliff

This week I changed my Facebook picture. I did so to support a political cause in which I believe. In what follows I want to explain why what I did was a sin, and why I am led to confess it and ask your forgiveness.

Let me start by saying I haven’t changed my mind. I still believe that the cause I supported is just and fair. Unlike most political causes, I see this one as a simple and straightforward matter of common sense justice. Most importantly, I believe the position I supported best comports with the mind of Christ. So what’s with all this sin talk? Here’s what:

First, I have to recognize that I have a fiercely partisan spirit. Every political cause to which I attach myself is at least as much about my side winning as it is about the right decision being made for our country or society. I am often proud and arrogant about my political opinions, believing that those who hold positions different to mine do so, not out of genuine conviction, but out of bad faith or intellectual inferiority. I have undoubtedly brought that spirit into this week’s debate.

But second, and more important, I want to admit that simply by holding to my position (irrespective of the way I’ve held it), I have fractured the Body of Christ and grieved Christian brothers and sisters. To see why, you have to understand the tragic nature of the human predicament. This universal flaw we call sin so manifests itself in human life that even our attempts at justice wind up causing others harm. This doesn’t mean we have to give up our search for justice, but it does compel us to see that no human justice will ever be perfect (you theological types know that this is no new insight; St. Augustine and Reinhold Niebuhr have already explained it quite well).

In my case, aligning myself with that political position brought grief to other Christians, some of whom are my friends and family. My position violated certain of their deeply held theological convictions, causing them to worry about me. Many of those on my side of the debate would say that the folks on the other side think I’m going to hell for what I believe. But that’s not right, at least not for most of the folks I know. They don’t think that my beliefs endanger my eternal salvation; they think that I’ve fallen into serious error, that I’m compromising the cause of Christ, and potentially harming the consciences of Christians over whom my views might exert influence. The friends with whom I disagree, because they care for me, have been hurt by what I’ve done.

And for that I am truly and genuinely sorry. Would I do things differently? In this case, no. Like I said, I still believe with all my heart in the justice of what I have espoused. But I also know that I am a sinner, and that for every two steps forward I take there’s going to be at least one step back. So if you are a fellow Christian on the other side of this debate, please know that if I have violated your conscience, it is simply because the only alternative was to violate mine.

ARTICLE: Dreams Can Do Something

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:20:00 GMT

By Whitney Simpson

“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.” ― Mother Teresa

One thing that I’ve been reminded of a lot recently (in life and in ministry) is that dreams do not come to fruition overnight. It seems I meet dreamers who think their dreams will never come true or that their dream will not matter or help another person as they envision. I am guilty of not always acting on my dreams and letting them fade into the morning sun. But, I’m learning to pay better attention and to partner with God’s nudges to “do something” about them more often. Instead of letting these dreams and ideas we may not fully understand fade, maybe we just need to do something about them and let God decide if they are reality. Recently, I’ve seen one of my dreams collide with another dream at a local non-profit and it’s been an exciting and confirming experience.

For most of us, our dreams begin as nudges or feelings in the pit of our stomach to "do something." What began as an urge to "do something" in one community five years ago has turned into a dream not only for the dreamers but also for those locals without reliable health care.

A group of individuals began meeting to dream about providing health care for those in Wilson County who were working but did not have health insurance. This small group began researching local health clinics, recruiting volunteers and within a short period of time was offering basic health care for a very small fee in a local office building. What began as a dream, quickly turned into a 501(c)3 non-profit, Charis Health Center. Thanks to the hard work, passion, and vision of the volunteers, the center continues to grow.

In 2010, Charis added a part-time nurse practitioner as the first staff member thanks to grant funding. In 2012, they hired a part-time Executive Director, Karen Rudzinski, to continue dreaming alongside the Board of Directors and office volunteers to manage grants, funding, and volunteers. Just months ago, this booming non-profit closed the doors of that original office building and moved into a much larger and spacious vacated physician's office. No longer are the volunteers just getting by with available space, but they now have dedicated medical space to offer quality health care and a prayer room for spiritual care as well. The prayer room has been made available for patients, volunteers, and the community. Charis was founded on the belief that wellness incorporates body, mind, and spirit. This faith based clinic from the beginning wanted to offer space for both health care and spiritual care for their patients.

This is where my dream fits into the picture. My dream to "do something" began after years of personal health crises (one crisis after another including cancer, stroke, and brain surgery occurred in my 20's and 30's). God nudged me during my own healing to begin walking with others in 2010. The calling was to reach out and help others find healing and wholeness through spiritual care by offering spiritual direction and retreat leadership. Charis opened their doors for my practicum coursework and we are now partnering to offer spiritual care alongside primary health care for interested patients. Studies show that patients show greater motivation to complete the task of healing when their spiritual needs are met and that spiritual care may even help improve pain management.

The vision from just a few is now helping so many. It really is amazing how God can begin working on our hearts without the full details. Just this month, a local physician, Dr. Joseph Ozenne announced he is now volunteering as the clinic's medical director. According to Dr. Ozenne, the opportunity to more fully incorporate his faith into his medical practice has been a dream of his for some time. Without following that nudge from the Holy Spirit to do something, there would be no Charis Health Center for the patients, staff or volunteers. Since opening the doors in January 2008, Charis staff and volunteers have served more than 2,800 patients and provided over 7,800 office visits. I’d say that is doing something!

We often think our dreams are unlikely, improbable, and impossible. We think we can't make a difference by starting out with just one person in need or one part of a community. We get scared off by the big picture. In reality, only God can fulfill the dreams he places on our hearts. Have a dream? Like that amazing group of people who had a dream and a vision for starting Charis Health Center, maybe you should do something about yours.

What is your dream? Who will you share and invite into your dream?

BLOG: The Safety Briefing Card and Church Vision Casting

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:21:00 GMT

By Ron Edmondson

The airline safety briefing card…

Doesn’t mean much to a frequent flier. But to a first time flier…it’s gold.

Church, what can we learn from this? Let me share a recent situation I witnessed that illustrated this principle for me.

I’ve learned my way around an airport over the years of traveling in business, government, and now ministry. So much so that I don’t listen to the directions very well. It gets me in trouble sometimes. i amost missed a flight recenlty because I didn’t hear a gate change. But, mostly, I pretty much know what they’re gonna say…or think I do.

Flight delay, right? I saw it coming.

Safety talk? I could recite it.

I’m like a steward runner up. If ever they can’t perform their duties I’m in.

“Ladies and gentleman, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the safety features of this Boeing Dc9.There’s a safety card in the seat in front of you…”

“Federal regulations require…blah, blah, blah, right?”

If you’ve traveled much…You know the drill.

But recently I was reminded why they do that every time. The same way. Always.

On our plane was one who had never flown before. Ever. He was in his sixties I would guess, but this was his first flight.

And he paid attention to everything. Everything. I watched him read the card. He looked around to “familiarize yourself with the exit signs." He clung to every word of the steward. He was the model passenger.

Why? It was all new to him.

You see, everyone might be accustomed to the routine, but there’s always a chance, like for this guy, where it’s someone’s very first time.

It was also a great reminder for me as a church leader.

That’s the way it is for some who come to church…every Sunday.

Some could script things. Some could preach should I not be able to fulfill my duties. Some would probably actually prefer that.

But there’s always one (hopefully) who has never been here before. Perhaps ever.

Perhaps they’ve never been to any church—ever. They don’t speak our language of church.

As a pastor, I’ve always been concerned about that one.

And as I read the Bible,that seems like a Jesus characteristic too. He encouraged leaving the 99 found to seek and assist the 1 who was lost.

That’s why it’s important that we tell our vision. Tell it clearly. It’s why we must explain things well. Very well. It’s why we must communicate basic information. Every week. Every time.

(Even if it’s boring to the rest of us . . . to someone . . . it’s gold!)

Thanks for the reminder, U.S. Air. And that random guy who was flying for the first time. I hope it was a great experience for you.

Bonus question: What does your church do EVERY WEEK in case a visitor shows up that Sunday?

ARTICLE: Review: Should We Change Our Game Plan?

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:48:00 GMT

By Eric Van Meter

The title of George Hunter’s latest book suggests the answer to its question. Should We Change Our Game Plan? Yes, Hunter answers, and it is past time to do so.

Hunter, a Distinguished Professor, Emeritus of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary, compares the current relationship between church and culture to the changes in basketball over the past half century. The church, he says, is akin to a basketball coach who still teaches two-handed set shots and underhanded free throws. By refusing to acknowledge that the way the game is played has changed, such a team would become a laughingstock, unable to complete. Likewise, churches that hold on to mindsets and practices that no longer fit the culture are doomed to futility.

Hunter traces how the divide between church and the larger culture has developed. While Christianity once enjoyed a “home field advantage” in Western culture, in which churches were both an assumed fixture and a center for gathering in everyday life. Over hundreds of years, however, phenomena such as the Renaissance and the rise of empirical science have caused widespread secularization. Christianity’s various responses to secularization—deism, retention (instead of evangelism), compartmentalization, etc.—have been woefully inadequate.

Is there a better response to postmodern people, a better way of doing church in a postmodern context? To Hunter, the answer lies at least in part in church history. Early Christianity, he asserts, was essentially a lay movement. Likewise, today’s setting requires that evangelism take the work of Christ into the world, not leave it in the hands of clergy who spend most of their efforts within the church.

If a new lay movement is to make any significant headway, however, it requires that church leaders recover from the individualism that pervades most of what we call ministry. The work of Christ in the world demands a team approach, one in which all people work together in apostolic teams to bring the gospel message into populations often viewed as unreachable by churches.

As they organize into teams, church leaders must put renewed effort into learning about how to approach the postmodern world with the gospel. Hunter suggests that our best sources for learning can be found in scripture, tradition, research date, and behavioral sciences. He also spends considerable time explaining the rise of megachurches and argues that they have much to teach us in the way of reaching pre-Christian people.

Should We Change Our Game Plan? puts on display the skill with language that Hunter has developed from years as a writer and lecturer. However, the content of his latest book adds little to the conversation about church growth in the postmodern world. Hunter’s book will be useful as a study tool for small groups that have not been exposed to current cultural trends and recent Christian responses to them. But it does not provide any new insights for those who have already been engaged in the conversation surrounding ways the church can and should change.

ARTICLE: Review: Church Worth Getting Up For

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:58:00 GMT

By Patricia Farris

While visiting a variety of churches, Charles Gutenson, author, professor, church consultant, and former COO of Sojourners, asks the pointed, possibly painful question: “If I were not already a Christian, why would I have gotten out of bed to come to this?”

Ouch. If we’re honest, how many pastors and church leaders have asked ourselves the same question? In Church Worth Getting Up For, Gutenson presses on to explore what makes church worth getting up for. His insights are powerfully instructive in an American context in which growing numbers of people are answering that very question in the negative with growing frequency.

Gutenson first clears away the self-serving answers we might be tempted to give, such as: people don’t want to be confronted with their sinful behaviors. How inconvenient it is, then, to be reminded that studies show that born-again Christians behave no differently than the culture at large. Moreover, Jesus seemed to have a way of reaching out to sinners and tax collectors and and prostitutes, all of whom flocked to him for healing and grace. So there’s something more, Gutenson posits. Something deeper.

Through interviews with a pastors from a variety of churches, from megachurches to the small garden-variety congregations, Gutenson offers insights and directions. It turns out that “a church worth getting up for” varies depending on the context. Discernment of one’s local context is critical. What are your demographics in terms of age, race, ethnicity, and so forth? Are you trying to reach folks with modernist or post-modernist frameworks?

In every context, Gutenson shows that the younger demographic (folks under 35) are either neutral about church or negative. The three primary reasons cited are that people in churches are perceived as hypocritical, judgmental, and anti-homosexual.

Additional common perceptions quoted by Gutenson is that the church is seen as too focused on getting converts, too sheltered from the real world and real people’s issues, and too political on the conservative side of things. In short, the “brand image” of the church is deeply negative.

Even so, by these same people, Jesus is identified as one of the greatest people of all time. Jesus’ brand image could hardly be better, in the ways that he loved all people including enemies, that he affirmed the value of each person, and in his completely selfless way of living.

Gutenson uses this information to focus the spotlight squarely back on the church itself. Rather than placing the blame on the society at large or factors beyond our control, Gutenson argues that the church needs to ask hard questions of itself. As a result, he insists, the church will need to focus more on looking like Jesus and less on talking about what it believes.

What are people looking for in a church? Gutenson argues that the answers lie in authenticity, honesty, and transparency. People want a place where they can be themselves and not “put on airs,” as a previous generation might have put it. A church worth getting up for will welcome people to ask all the questions they have, and find a God that is real, alive, powerful, and vibrant.

Gutenson pushes the church to re-Jesus itself and to embrace a radical hospitality in which newcomers would not be able to say that no one there looks or acts like them. He calls for visionary leaders who encourage innovation, think outside the box, emphasize growth as well as maintenance, and, in Mike Slaughter’s language, set high expectations and high permission-giving as the norm.

Drawing on the work of Alan Hirsch on the missional church, Gutenson argues for attractional models of church, an emphasis on changing the world, and using all the latest technological advancements that are available. If short on specifics, Gutenson points in vital directions. He stirs the pot in ways that are guaranteed to ruffle feathers.

If his basic question resonates, church leaders should indeed probe deeply into “what makes church worth getting up for.” There are no guarantees, Gutenson cautions. But, he preaches, it’s a great time to be alive and a great time to be part of God’s work of reconciling the world to himself.

ARTICLE: Time and Money: Taking Your Church to the Community

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:30:00 GMT

By Sarah Cunningham

I’ve read that you can tell a lot about what a person values by looking at what he or she spends time and money on. I think we could use these same indicators to learn a lot about a church as well.

Imagine archaeologists digging through the rubble of your current church building one thousand years from now, and they stumble onto a log of how your staff or attenders spent their time. Every service, every potluck, every small group, every Bible study, every hour the cleaning team or the hospitality team or the greeter team got together to meet. And then imagine the researchers compare the total of those hours invested in building or maintaining in-house ministries to the total number of hours the church spent outside the building. By studying how your church used its time, what would the archaeologists determine about your church’s identity? Based on the data, would they likely conclude you valued going to the world?

What if, along the way, they found your church’s detailed accounting records? If they studied the money spent on mortgage payments, electricity, sound equipment, music, props, books, snacks, and everything else that must be purchased to conduct ministry to weekend and midweek attenders? And what if they then compared that total to the amount of money that went to developing ministries or purchasing items that benefited residents beyond the four walls of your church building? Based on the data, would they likely conclude you valued going to the world?

I’m not suggesting that a certain percentage of time or money must be set aside for programs outside your doors. But I do remember as a child thinking it seemed a little bit odd when church leaders proudly announced that they gave 7 percent to foreign missions or 4 percent to local missions (or some other similar number). My little brain always quickly calculated that meant 11 percent was going to the community or “world,” while 89 percent went to run the church. When I got older and began to say this aloud, I quickly learned it was an unpopular thing to say.

But it still strikes me as very opposite, although difficult to reverse, of what Jesus intended. If the main idea was to go to the world, how did we end up designating only a small amount of money to expanding that purpose?

Some churches have taken measures to keep their overhead low by renting space rather than buying, sharing the same building among several congregations, or employing bivocational pastors. However, most churches won’t be able to responsibly reverse the way they allocate 100 percent of their time and money overnight.

Even so, churches can do some things to gradually shift their focus to include a stronger emphasis on going:

Add ideas about faith’s portable nature, about going, into core values, websites, membership manuals, and informational brochures.
Encourage and recognize the service of people who serve in the community as much as you publicly applaud those who serve the church. Perhaps hold a ceremony to acknowledge the woman who selflessly gave ten years to the church nursery. Take the time that same night to recognize the guy who coached kids’ soccer for ten years at the community rec center.
Hold small-group leader trainings that prepare people to lead groups that serve your attenders, and invest in trainings that help people nurture community outside your church’s four walls via office book clubs, play groups, Super Bowl parties, neighborhood barbecues, and so forth. You’d be surprised how many people would enjoy learning about how to be a better friend and neighbor.
Try to make sure the building is used as much as possible if you’re going to devote the money to paying a mortgage on a building. Do you have a gym? Open it to a local middle school that doesn’t have enough room for all its teams to practice. Are there substance abuse or support groups that could offer their services in one of your classrooms? Could you open the sanctuary during limited hours for people who need a quiet place to pray? Aim to be a seven-day-a-week church.
Determine to allocate a larger percentage of time and money this year than you designated last year for ministries that happen outside your building. If you were at 7 percent, go to 8, 10, or 15 percent.
Set a goal to start a certain number of ministries that will serve people who do not attend weekend services.
Reserve a certain number of weekend services, classes, and small groups per year to encourage and prepare people to carry faith to the community.
Determine to create space in services to share what the church is doing outside its building. Let those who participate in service projects, mission trips, or ministry efforts to the community talk about what they learned. Interview community members on stage or via video, and ask them to share how they joined with or interacted with church attenders during an outreach experience.
Offer orientation to serving your surrounding community, and encourage as many congregation members as possible to attend. Most important, provide training and teaching for church leaders as they influence the larger body of attenders and often shape initiatives that represent your church to those who are not members.
Recruit volunteer leaders, or if you have the funds, hire a staff person who has the heart and ability to champion community relationships for your church.

One additional word of wisdom: whether or not you can allocate more money to serve the community, always keep in perspective that money and tangible resources aren’t the most important things you have to offer. Hope, peace, and purpose found in God are worth far more than any amount of money you could offer. And even if you don’t have the financial resources to help someone in need, it can be helpful sometimes to just offer to listen or to have a cup of coffee together in an act of friendship.

ARTICLE: Confronting Drug Abuse

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:15:00 GMT

By Erik Alsgaard

Synthetic Marijuana

Sixteen-year-old Emily Bauer was on a breathing tube, lying in a hospital bed in Texas on the afternoon of December 16. All medications and nourishment had been stopped, with only morphine flowing into her body. Days earlier, doctors performed emergency surgery and drilled a hole in Emily’s skull, inserting a tube to relieve mounting pressure. Her family waited by her bed, expecting her to die. Instead, the next day, she was still alive. That morning, Emily’s mother said to her, “I love you.” Amazingly, Emily was able to whisper back, “I love you too.”

The family said that the reason Emily landed in the hospital was drug abuse, but not from any of the “usual” or “normal” drugs associated with overdosing, such as heroin or cocaine. Instead, what almost took Emily’s life was a form of synthetic marijuana packaged as “potpourri,” a substance that she and her friends had bought legally at a local gas station.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that the use of synthetic marijuana is “alarmingly high.” According to 2011 data, more than one in nine high school seniors—11.4 percent—had taken this drug in the past year, making it the second most commonly used illicit drug. Additionally, illicit drug use in the United States is growing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported last December that “in 2011, an estimated 22.5 million Americans aged 12 or older—or 8.7 percent of the population—had used an illicit drug or abused a psychotherapeutic medication (such as a pain reliever, stimulant, or tranquilizer) in the past month. This is up from 8.3 percent in 2002.” The most commonly used illicit drug is marijuana.

Better known by street names such as K2 or Spice, synthetic marijuana creates a “high” like smoking real marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Emily’s stepfather, Tommy Bryant, was reported in the press as saying, “Had I thought that there was any chance that she could have been hurt by this stuff, I would have been a lot more vigilant. I had no idea it was so bad.”

Synthetic marijuana is “a mixture of herbs or other plant materials that have been sprayed with artificial chemicals that are supposed to mimic the effects of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana,” the Partnership at Drugfree.org explains. However, because the drug is synthetic, the effects on the body can be quite different than regular marijuana. The effects of the drug are quite fast and can last for up to eight hours. No one knows the long-term effects of using the drug. “The paranoia that is associated with K2/Spice is closer to the psychological reaction to PCP or angel dust than to the paranoia associated with marijuana.” Barbara Carreno, spokeswoman for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, said that synthetic marijuana is so dangerous because “it can be 100 times more potent than marijuana.”

CNN.com reports that synthetic marijuana was linked to 11,406 emergency department visits in 2010, and that children ages 12 to 17 were the most likely to be brought in. The first state laws banning these kinds of drugs were adopted that same year; and today, at least 41 states and Puerto rico have laws on the books banning them. In 2012, President Obama signed legislation that banned five of the most common substances used to make synthetic marijuana and bath salts.

One commonly reported side effect of smoking synthetic marijuana is extreme, migraine-like headaches. In fact, this was the first symptom Emily Bauer reported. Her family believes this was around the time she started smoking the drug, about two weeks before she was admitted to the hospital.

Bath Salts

According to the Partnership at Drugfree.org, bath salts are sold under a wide variety of street names. Some examples are Bliss, Blue Silk, Cloud Nine, Drone, Ivory Wave, Lunar Wave, Ocean Burst, and Stardust. Bath salts are ingested by sniffing or snorting, while synthetic marijuana is usually smoked. People who use bath salts often experience short-term paranoia, including suicidal thoughts, violent behavior, confusion, and hallucinations. The effects, which take only minutes to achieve, can last for up to six hours.

So, what are bath salts? They are not the kind of salts one would place in a tub of hot water prior to taking a bath. They look similar, hence the name. According to an online guide for parents published by the Partnership at Drugfree.org, bath salts are “a man-made, chemical (as opposed to organic) stimulant drug. . . . Amphetamines, or speed, are an example of stimulant drugs.”

The technical term for bath salts is “substituted cathinone,” which has a stimulant effect on the user and can be very dangerous. Substituted cathinones, according to the guide, are “synthetic, concentrated versions of the stimulant chemical in Khat [a plant cultivated and used in the Middle East and East Africa].” The chemicals most commonly found in bath salts are Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), mephedrone, and methylone.

Methamphetamine

Perhaps much better known than K2 or bath salts, crystal meth is a powerful drug wreaking havoc across the globe. Several big-name celebrities have fallen victim to the drug, raising its awareness but hardly diminishing its appeal. Black Eyed Peas’ lead singer, Fergie, was once hooked on meth; Redmond O’Neal, son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal, was jailed for use; and Full House actress Jodie Sweetin wrote in 2009 how she once attended a premier “high as a kite” on crystal meth.

First invented in Japan in 1919, methamphetamine is “an addictive stimulant that strongly activates certain systems in the brain,” according to the Partnership at Drugfree.org. During World War II, meth was given to allied bomber pilots to keep them awake on long flights. However, usage of the drug was stopped because soldiers became irritable and aggressive. Meth was once used to treat heroin addiction in the 1960’s, but by 1970 it had become a controlled substance in the United States. In 1996, Congress passed a measure that also regulated the ingredients used to make meth, such as pseudoephedrine, hydrochloric gas, and iodine.

Right after a person smokes or injects the drug, meth creates an intense sensation, or “rush,” that lasts only a few minutes but, according to users, is “extremely pleasurable.” After the initial rush, users frequently become agitated and sometimes violent. Other immediate side effects include sleeplessness, a decrease in appetite, anxiety, and convulsions. The person could also suffer a heart attack.

“Crystal meth is one of the most addictive substances on the planet,” said Pax Prentiss, the founder and director of Passages Malibu, a drug and alcohol treatment center. “It also does the most harm.” He should know: Prentiss once encountered a long-time addict who had done the drug so much, he had lost his nose. Dr. Eric Braverman, an addiction specialist and author, notes that crystal meth “blows out” the brain’s ability to make dopamine, which can—and does—lead to brain damage. Users often develop a tolerance for the drug in short order, needing ever-larger doses to achieve the same rush. Addicts have reportedly gone without sleep, food, or other necessities of life to get high.

What We Can Do

In addition to the real cost in terms of human lives damaged or destroyed, the usage of illicit drugs in the United States impacts our economy. According to the Partnership at Drugfree.org, drug abuse in the United States costs employers $276 billion per year. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that “three-quarters of people with a drug or alcohol problem are employed.” What can we do in light of such statistics?

Churches can offer programs to educate people in their communities. They can cooperate with local programs to advocate for change. They can also offer space for recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

What can parents do to avoid situations like Emily Bauer’s? The Partnership at Drugfree.org states that communication is the crucial first step. “Clearly communicate the risks of alcohol and drug use,” the guide says. “Let your children know you disapprove” of their use. Monitoring who your children “hang out” with is also important, as well as knowing where your children are at all times. Spotting drug and alcohol use can be a challenge, but it is important for parents to know the signs, such as declining grades at school; abrupt changes in friends, groups, or behavior; changes in sleeping habits; less openness and honesty with family members; and/or a sudden onset of severe headaches. When you do spot a problem, the guide says that focusing is crucial. “Don’t panic, but act right away. Start talking” with your children. “Take action and learn more.”

News reports indicate that Emily Bauer has suffered brain damage and is paralyzed. She is also unable to see. In late January, Emily ate her first solid food since the incident, something the family takes as a sign of hope. Emily’s stepfather, Tommy, says he wouldn’t wish this nightmare on any parent. He and his family have started a nonprofit organization called Synthetic Awareness for Emily, which has a goal of educating families, teachers, and doctors about the dangers and warning signs of synthetic marijuana use. “We want to let other parents know about this so they don’t have to go [through] what we’ve been going through.”

BLOG: What Are We Doing?

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:42:00 GMT

By Jessica Miller Kelley

Palm Sunday morning, I led my two daughters to the back of the sanctuary so they could be part of the palm-waving processional to kick off Holy Week. On the way, I spotted a visiting family with children and asked if they wanted to join the other kids in the processional. The boy was feeling shy, but the girl, about eight years old, came on back and waited with us for the service to begin.

As the announcements finally got started, the preschoolers used their palms like swords and my toddler's initial enthusiasm waned, this bespectacled third grader looked up at me and asked, "What are we doing?"

"Well, it's Palm Sunday," I told her, "so we're remembering when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. People got excited and waved palm branches along his path, so we're pretending to be those people, welcoming Jesus in."

She listened respectfully, and then said, "But what do we do when we get up there?" gesturing to the front of the sanctuary.

"Oh. Well, we'll put the palms in those white vases there, and then you can go back to your seat."

The Why and the How

This little girl's question (and my possible misinterpretation of it) reminded me that the confusion visitors (and regulars, for that matter) can feel during worship has two dimensions, which might be verbalized in two questions: Why are we doing this? and How do we do it?

There is the philosophical desire to understand the significance of strange actions and the practical concern for what to do to avoid looking foolish.

Communion is an easy example. Why are we eating a little piece of bread with not enough grape juice to wash it down? Why does this help us remember Jesus? And how are we supposed to walk/kneel/pass to get it? (There's nothing like the face of a newcomer who has just eaten the bread they were supposed to dip in a common cup.)

What are we doing? Why? How?

What are we doing when we stand for some scripture readings and not for others?

What are we doing when everybody says certain words that don't seem to be in a book, bulletin, or on a screen?

Some things—particularly the hows—can be a bigger concern for visitors, but even lifelong Christians and long-time church members can forget things or let once-meaningful things become rote and meaningless.

Remind people of the whys and the hows. Be aware of practices or words that are so familiar to long-time members of your church that you may take explanation for granted. Try to view your church with fresh eyes—or better yet, ask someone to visit an point out to you confusing things you might not even notice. Tell people why you're taking up an offering, how you line up for communion, where to find the words to that song or response some people have memorized.

It shouldn't take more than a sentence or two to explain how to participate in an element of worship. ("Read the words in bold." "Take the bread and dip it into the cup." "Approach by the center aisle and return to your seats by the side aisles.") If it does, you might be making it too complicated.

The whys shouldn't require too many extra words either. Obviously, some of the deeper theological "whys" will require a separate conversation, Bible study, or some book/website recommendations for people who really want to know more. But if the spiritual significance of a certain worship element can't be made clear on at least a basic level without interrupting the flow of worship, you may need to rethink its place in your worship experience.

ARTICLE: The Biblical People of Easter

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:54:00 GMT

By Nancy Ferguson

Jesus Is Risen!

Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen! Christians everywhere declare this truth that is the foundation of our faith. This Sunday we hear again the story of those who discovered the empty tomb and who encountered the risen Christ.

Each of the Gospels gives us an account of the Resurrection events and the people who witnessed them. In each account, Jesus’ followers move through an array of feelings and actions that ultimately lead to belief and commitment that changed the world. By looking carefully at the followers of Jesus in the stories, we can deepen our understanding of what it means for us to live as Easter people.

The Women

All of the Gospels tell us that there were women who watched the Crucifixion and stayed until the end. Joseph of Arimathea is given permission by Pilate to take Jesus’ body and bury it in a new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:43-46; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:38- 42). Three Gospels tell us that the women watch as Jesus is buried (Matthew 27:55-61; Mark 15:40-47; Luke 23:49-56). We can only imagine their sense of grief and loss that the man they had followed, believed, and loved for three years was now dead.

On the morning after the Sabbath, the women return to the tomb. Mark 16:1-3 and Luke 23:55–24:1 say that the purpose of the visit is to anoint the body with spices, a task traditionally assigned to women. They witness the burial, but they worry about the large rock rolled across the entrance to the tomb. Jewish burial practices varied. Some followed the tradition of other Near Eastern peoples and buried their dead in a hole in the ground. Others followed the practice we find at Qumran of burying the dead in a shallow grave marked by a rock pile. Wealthy families often dug into the soft limestone rock to make shelves to hold stone coffins. Many of these caves were closed by heavy stone wheels that could be rolled back and forth in a groove.

The wording of all four Gospel accounts suggests this is the kind of tomb in which they placed Jesus’ body. Matthew reports that the women return to “look at the tomb” (Matthew 28:1). It is not hard to imagine that the women wanted to be close to Jesus in their grief. John reports that Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and sees that the stone has been removed (John 20:1). In all four Gospels, the women are the first to discover the stone has been removed and the tomb is empty.

How do they respond? Matthew describes their fear and great joy as they run to tell the others (Matthew 28:8). Mark reports that they are alarmed when they see the empty tomb and a man dressed in white. They are “overcome with terror and dread” and flee. They say nothing to anyone because of their fear (Mark 16:8). Luke reports that they are perplexed and do not know what to think about the empty tomb. They are frightened by two men in glowing clothes who appear and announce that Jesus has been raised (Luke 24:1-10). John writes that Mary sees that the stone was rolled away at the tomb and runs to Peter and “the other disciple” to tell them that Jesus’ body is missing. She is overcome with grief and weeps beside the empty tomb. After her encounter with Jesus, she announces to the others that she has seen the Lord (John 20:1-2, 11-18). Emotional responses of the women run the gamut from confusion and alarm to fear and grief to great joy, extremes that are not unusual to anyone who loves others deeply. They believe and become the first witnesses of the Resurrection.

The Disciples

During the events of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion, the 12 disciples–– those closest to Jesus during the three years of his ministry—do not act with much courage or loyalty. Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver; disciples fall asleep in the garden while Jesus prays; Peter denies that he knows Jesus. Except for the presence of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:25-27), there is no mention of the disciples at the cross. The women were there and followed the body to the tomb, but nowhere does it say any of the other disciples were present at the burial. We must wonder what happened to them.

Only John and Luke report that any of the disciples come to the empty tomb. Luke tells us the disciples don’t believe the women when they report that Jesus is risen. However, Peter runs to the tomb, stoops and looks inside, sees the linen cloths, then returns home amazed at what he has seen (Luke 24:11-12). In the Book of John, both Peter and another disciple run to the grave. They look inside and see the folded burial cloths. When the other disciple sees the folded cloths, he believes the women’s report; but they still do not understand that Jesus has risen from the dead (John 20:3-10). In both accounts, running to the tomb indicates urgency, a need to know that must emerge from their love for and commitment to the one they have apparently lost. At this point, their response to the empty tomb is amazement. They want to know what has happened. How can they make sense of this? It is a question we often ask as contemporary followers of Jesus.

Post-Resurrection Appearances

In the midst of grief, confusion, terror, amazement, bewilderment, belief, disbelief, and joy, the risen Jesus appears to his followers. In Matthew 28:9-10, he greets Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and gives them instructions for the other disciples. He gives the disciples the Great Commission before his ascension (28:16-20).

Mark 16:9-20 describes Jesus’ appearances to Mary Magdalene, two disciples, and then all the disciples. After upbraiding the disciples for their disbelief, he commissions them to proclaim the good news to all creation (verses 14-15).

Luke 24:13-35 records Jesus’ appearance to Cleopas and his friend as they walk along the road to Emmaus. Jesus explains the Scriptures and then eats dinner with them. It was not until he breaks the bread that the two men recognize Jesus, who immediately disappears. They respond, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” (verse 32). They go to Jerusalem, find the eleven disciples and their friends, and tell them what has happened. Luke 24:36-49 tells us that Jesus appears to the disciples as they are meeting together. Initially, they are terrified and think he is a ghost. Jesus shows them his hands and feet, eats fish with them, and explains the Scriptures to them. Luke ends with the ascension of Jesus and with the disciples joyfully worshiping the risen Christ and praising God.

John 20 describes Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene and several appearances to the disciples. In the first appearance to the disciples in a closed room, Jesus shows them his wounds and breathes the Holy Spirit on them (verses 19-23). Thomas, who was not with them at the time, needs proof. He says, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe” (verse 25). Jesus appears to them again when Thomas is present and invites Thomas to touch him. Thomas recognizes Jesus and moves from doubt to belief: “My Lord and My God!” (verses 26-28). After another encounter with the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius, John 21:15-18 tells about a poignant moment with Peter. Three times the risen Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Peter, hurt by Jesus’ questions, responds, “You know I love you.” Ironically, during the trial of Jesus, Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times (John 18:15-25).

What Can We Learn?

All of those who visited the empty tomb or encountered the risen Christ in the days after Easter had one thing in common: They were witnesses to the fact that Jesus was not dead but had risen. Like the firstcentury followers of Jesus, we are witnesses to the Resurrection and the promise of new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself, the key person in the stories, provides the guidance and direction for his early followers and for us in two of his post-resurrection appearances. In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus meets his disciples on a mountaintop and commands them to go, tell, baptize, and make disciples. In the final encounter with Peter in John 21, Jesus tells him to feed his lambs, care for his sheep, and feed his sheep (verses 15-17).

As we reflect on their responses to the risen Christ, we can also reflect on our own responses. How do we encounter the risen Christ day to day? How can we be witnesses to new life? How do the Scriptures enliven our faith? How does the risen Christ cause our hearts to burn within us? How can we feed Jesus’ sheep? We don’t respond to these questions without help. Jesus says, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, NRSV).

VIDEO: Not For Sale

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:17:00 GMT

By Christopher P. Momany

Did you know that 27 million people are enslaved today? More than were bartered during the years of the transatlantic slave trade of centuries past. Students of Adrian College in Michigan talk about why they got involved with the Not For Sale anti-trafficking campaign.

ARTICLE: Review: Flames of Love

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:08:00 GMT

By Eric Van Meter

Is universal salvation a watered-down, anti-biblical concept that strikes at the core of Christian life and practice? Or is it a legitimate alternative to the doctrine of eternal damnation?

Pastor and author Heath Bradley embraces a “hopeful belief” that the latter is true. With Flames of Love: Hell and Universal Salvation, he ventures into hotly contested territory, exploring from a mainline point of view a topic popularized by evangelical authors such as Rob Bell and Francis Chan.

But universal salvation—the notion that God will ultimately bring into his eternal kingdom every person who has ever lived—is not, as some suggest, a novel concept created by weak-stomached liberals. It is, according to Bradley, a possibility advanced by a number of early Christian leaders, including Origen and Gregory of Nyssa. Those who point to “tradition” as a primary reason to reject universal salvation ignore the diversity of belief that existed before Christianity was incorporated into the Roman Empire.

On this foundation, Bradley builds the argument that universal salvation is not only far from heresy, but also the most sensible conclusion when faithful readers examine the Bible both carefully and logically. He does not deny the reality of hell, whether on earth or as some form of temporary punishment. Rather, he denies the finality of hell for those created by an all-powerful God characterized by all-powerful love.

Bradley seems well aware that his view is not the majority opinion, nor is it the only valid possibility. He also cites annihilationism (that non-Christians are given no afterlife) and eternal conscious punishment (a real and eternal hell) as rational interpretations of the Scriptures and Christian tradition. And, more importantly, he acknowledges the passionate backlash by many modern Christians against universal salvation. Still, he asserts, the latter is the most coherent option among the three.

Once he has made his argument for universal salvation, Bradley addresses six major charges often levied against his view, including the arguments that universalists reject the Bible and deny human freedom. He responds to each of these charges not with fiery rhetoric or accusations, but with respectful conversation that fairly explains his detractors’ position while still holding firm to his own.

Bradley’s ability to balance his passion and keen intellectual insight with his commitment to respectful conversation is one of the greatest strengths of Flames of Love. He models the kind of fair-play debate lacking in much of American life—including church life. In the end, his concern is not so much winning everyone over to his interpretation, but in convincing his readers that universal salvation is a concept that should be taken seriously by thoughtful Christians.

Although Flames of Love is an intellectual book heavy on logic and philosophy, Bradley’s prose is clear and quite readable. Small groups and individuals may have to expend more energy to understand this book than they might for lighter studies. However, the payoff in expanded knowledge and challenging ideas is more than enough to make Flames of Love a worthy read.

BLOG: A New Reality in TV

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:42:00 GMT

By Melissa Slocum

Recent years have seen a shift in reality television programming. When MTV debuted shows such as The Real World and Road Rules in the early 1990’s, the premise was to find a group of very different people and document their living together, conflict and all, for a period of months. As the genre became popular, other networks cashed in on the format with shows such as Survivor and The Amazing Race, which added an element of competition.

But lately networks have become more specifi c. Instead of gathering a diverse group of people, channels such as TLC, History, and Bravo have begun to highlight unique subgroups within American culture. Shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, Swamp People, Pawn Stars, Deadliest Catch, Real Housewives, and LA Ink give viewers an inside look into hobbies, professions, or cultures that people might otherwise not know about or see.

What Is Real?

While reality shows, by definition, aren’t scripted, they often coach participants and selectively edit footage to exaggerate conflicts and behaviors to make the show more interesting to viewers. High ratings, and not necessarily a fair treatment of the show’s stars, determine whether a show stays on the air. Not only do we need to be careful about believing all that we see on these shows, but we also need to refrain from passing judgment on the featured groups and subcultures based on these portrayals. There is much about these people that ends up on the cutting-room floor. If we were able to see the many hours of footage involved in producing just one show, we might discover that the stars of Duck Dynasty aren’t as strange as we think.

Unity Despite Differences

Christianity, like reality television in 2013, is diverse, but with many unique subcultures. We may be arranged by denominations and traditions; but even within a denomination (such as The United Methodist Church or the Presbyterian Church (USA)), there are a variety of congregations. Churches come in all sizes; some are urban, others rural, and others suburban; some worship in a traditional style, others embrace contemporary elements; some serve people who speak a particular language or have a particular cultural heritage.

We see this diversity even in the New Testament. As Paul and other apostles spread the good news to people throughout the Mediterranean world, they established many churches, each with its own fl avor and culture. Paul respected the differences among Christians, saying that he became “all things to all people” for the sake of the gospel. But he also stressed unity in Christ. Our differences are important—but not as important as the core truths that bring us together.

Over the centuries differences among Christians have divided the church. The fi rst major split, in 1054, created what we now know as the Roman Catholic Church (in the west), and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The church in the west split again with the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s. Most denominations we know today have formed since the Reformation. While all of these churches profess Christ, they are separated by their understanding of God’s grace and practices such as baptism, Holy Communion, confession, and ordination.

Every congregation and denomination has something unique to offer to the body of Christ. Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, “. . . Let’s grow in every way into Christ, who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does their part” (Ephesians 4:15b-16). As believers we can work for unity throughout the body of Christ, knowing that the Holy Spirit will guide us through any differences that divide us.

This article is also published as part of LinC, a weekly digital resource for youth small groups and Sunday school classes. The complete study guide can be purchased and downloaded here.

ARTICLE: Seeing Dead People

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:37:00 GMT

By Clay Morgan

An old friend of mine named Dave died recently. Cancer. He was my age, a great guy with a heart you could feel and a smile that made you believe.

Dave and I weren’t always close, just always connected. Every time we saw each other we would hug and smile and catch up on where we were heading in life. We were teenagers together in the same church and twenty-something college students together at the same university. We were also guys at some of the same parties, both of us uncomfortable in the shared knowledge of a God who knew we weren’t giving our best in those days.

Then some years passed, a few random encounters in between, and we were once again reconnected. We had both changed after going through our own personal apocalypses. His was much more severe, a tragic diagnosis that would ultimately prove inescapable. One beautiful summer morning we met up, and he was smiling. I wondered how sick he really was and if I might hurt him when we hugged. I asked him how he was doing. He told me God was good. Good. What is that anyway? We always talk about the good life. It used to mean something about money or status or at least a lot of people who thought we were cool. But a good God is not the same thing as a good life, to most people. And when someone who is dying tells you that God is good, you don’t forget it.

Sometimes life feels like a cosmic vending machine. There’s a lot of nice stuff in there like great friends and love, but there are also nasty selections like cancer and divorce. Sometimes we directly push buttons for some of the bad stuff, but other times we push the button for happiness and instead end up with our hopes and dreams stuck on the ledge like a teetering Snickers bar while something horrible, like a car wreck, falls to us.

Dave and I ran into each other again only a couple months before he died. He was leaving a youth football game that he had just refereed. He looked thin, but told me he felt OK. He told me God is in control. At those words, my faith strengthened and my heart broke at the same time.

A lot of people ask questions about the meaning of life or why I’m a “Jesus weirdo” or how a good God could allow so much suffering to happen. Answers to these kinds of tough questions often flip to autopilot, like some processor that computes objections and responds with appropriate points of logic and evidence. But lost in that is the emotion, the rawness of the experience of doubt. Part of being a spiritual zombie is hitting that autopilot mode, which is bad, because we forget what a struggle this business of faith in God really is. The best we can do most of the time is try to imagine what God’s perspective must be like.

During one climactic scene of The Walking Dead, a character named Andrea decides to end her life. She can’t handle the terror of existing among the undead anymore. The group is evacuating a government facility that will soon self-destruct, but Andrea decides to stay with a couple of others who have chosen a brief, painless death by incineration rather than fighting to survive the zombie apocalypse any longer. An older character named Dale cares about her and refuses to let her stay and die. He doesn’t fight her or get physical in any way but rather sits down next to her and says if she dies then he does too. He refuses to leave her side, so she escapes with him and lives.

And she hates him for it.

She won’t talk to him and treats him like dirt after that. When he finally confronts her, she lashes out in anger. She wanted to die. That was her choice, and he had no right to stop her. Stunned and hurt, Dale can only say, “I saved your life.”

If we get angry over terrible things happening on earth we can ball our fists toward heaven and yell, “How could you?!” What does that look like to the Creator of those balled fists? Maybe God just looks back at us and says, “But I saved you.”

The most heartbreaking part of the cross for Jesus was the full knowledge of every person who would ever choose death in place of his love.

A friend and I went together to the funeral home for Dave’s viewing. Mourners waited in line for hours to pay tribute to his life and family. We could see his body in the casket for the last fifteen minutes of waiting in line. There’s nothing right about looking at a thirty-three-year-old man in a casket. It was very sad. As we reached the front of the line, Dave’s parents were there to greet us. I hugged his mom, who was more comforting to me than I could be to her. My friend was visibly downcast as he spoke with Dave’s dad, staring at his clasped hands, not sure what to say. But Dave’s father put his arm around my friend’s shoulder and said, “No, look at that.” He directed our attention past the casket and pointed to a beautiful painted portrait in the corner of the room. It almost looked like a photograph, this image of Dave smiling back at us. “Doesn’t he look good?”

It was a beautiful moment. We were sad and thinking about the death, but Dave’s dad saw him as being alive and better than ever. We remember how people were in the good times so that we can block out the painful memories of weakness and death. That scene is a picture of the way it is with us and God. Jesus became the ultimate slate wiper for us. God puts his arm around us, points to a picture of Christ, and says, “No, no, no. That’s what I see when I look at you. I don’t see your sadness and failure and death. I see my Son. Alive.”

That’s why Jesus means so much to me, and I believe that’s why my dying friend could say that God is good. We don’t have to fear the face of death once we clearly see the face of God.

ARTICLE: Online Identity

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:26:00 GMT

By Jim Hawkins

A Moving Story

It was a moving human-interest story: A college football star overcomes the adversities and grief from the deaths of his grandmother and his girlfriend, becomes a Heisman Trophy finalist, and leads his team to an undefeated regular season and the national championship game. Only, the story wasn’t all true.

On September 12, Manti Te’o, a senior linebacker at Notre Dame, learned that his grandmother, Annette Santiago, died. He said that just hours later he found out that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia.

That Saturday, September 15, Te’o led his team to a 20–3 win over Michigan State, a stunning upset victory. After the game, he said, “My family and my girlfriend’s family have received so much love and support from the Notre Dame family. Michigan State fans showed some love. And it goes to show that people understand that football is just a game, and it’s a game that we play, and we have fun doing it. But at the end of the day, what matters is the people who are around you, and family. I appreciate all the love and support that everybody’s given my family and my girlfriend’s family.”

The human-interest story of the grieving football star continued. Te’o decided to miss Kekua’s funeral the following Saturday, September 22, and instead traveled with the team to the University of Michigan. He said that Kekua had insisted that he not miss a game. That night, Te’o intercepted two passes as Notre Dame beat Michigan, moving to 4–0, the best start for Notre Dame in more than a decade. After the game, Te’o said of his girlfriend, “All she wanted was some white roses. So I sent her roses and sent her two picks along with that.” Notre Dame’s head coach gave the game ball to Te’o in her honor.

Hoax

On December 6, Te’o got a phone call from a person claiming to be Lennay Kekua. That’s when he discovered that not only had she not died in September, but she never even existed. A person, or more than one person, had invented Lennay Kekua.

Two days later at the Heisman Trophy ceremony, Chris Fowler of ESPN asked Te’o what moment of his very public grief he would most remember. The linebacker said, “I think I’ll never forget the time when I found out that, you know, my girlfriend passed away and the first person to run to my aid was my defensive coordinator, Coach [Bob] Diaco, and you know he said something very profound to me. . . . He said ‘this is where your faith is tested.’ ”

Te’o talked about his girlfriend to the media at least two more times after he discovered the deception. On December 26, Te’o told his coaches that he was the victim of a hoax. Yet the hype continued.

The morning of the championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama in January, CBS This Morning ran a short feature of the inspiring story of Te’o playing through his grief. The news program included a quote from Kekua: “Babe, if anything happens to me, you promise that you’ll stay there and you’ll play and you’ll honor me through the way you play.”

Deadspin.com publicly revealed the fake girlfriend hoax in January, after the championship game. University officials subsequently confirmed the report. In a statement released after the hoax came to light, Te’o said, “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.”

Questions about the football star’s involvement in the deception swirled. Did he help create the nonexistent girlfriend? Did he keep the story going to promote his popularity, improve his chances with Heisman voters, or boost his stock in the upcoming NFL draft?

Katie Couric asked him whether he was in on the scheme. Te’o replied, “Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12.” Months later, he found out about the trick. “Then I’m going to be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question [about his girlfriend]. You know, what would you do?”

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, 22, has admitted to duping Te’o. In an interview with Phil McGraw of the Dr. Phil Show, Tuiasosopo said he created the online persona of Lennay Kekua and that Te’o was not involved with the hoax. He said over time he developed feelings for Te’o that he could not control. He also believes as Kekua he actually helped the football player become a better person. “I pretty much had this escape of Lennay and this was where my heart had pretty much invested, not just time, but all of my energy went into this,” Tuiasosopo said. Tuiasosopo insisted to McGraw that while he understands that the hoax was cruel, he did not mean it as a joke. He also said that he has not financially profited from it.

Falling

How could Te’o, or anyone, be so foolish as to fall for a made-up person? Actually, he’s not alone in being duped by such a hoax. The 2010 movie Catfish documented a 24-year-old man’s romance with a 19-year-old woman he met online. It turns out the young woman was the creation of a bored housewife. The movie spawned the term catfishing, the act of taking a false identity online and using it to trick others to believe the fictional persona is real, usually for the purpose of developing a relationship.

“It’s surprisingly common for the average person to get swept up in online scams, especially romantic ones,” says Scott Haltzman, a psychologist and author of The Secrets of Surviving Infidelity. “The two people communicating have the opportunity to present polished versions of themselves in emails and text messages, crafting idealized personas that may not be real. And since both parties have no context for each other’s behavior otherwise, they’re likely to give each other the benefit of the doubt.”

That was true for Joan Romano. Romano gave $25,000 to “Austin Miller,” a US soldier based in Afghanistan who she met on the dating site Match.com, who turned out to be a scammer based in Ghana. That was also true for Debbie Best, who fell in love with John Scofield after meeting him on the Christian dating site Mingle2.com in 2012. She wound up giving him $1,000 and her credit card information before she discovered he was a scammer. And that was true for Carole Markin, who was assaulted by someone she initially met on Match.com.

Catching a Catfisher

Jesus warned his disciples that they were being sent out like sheep among wolves. So he urged them to be as wise as snakes, yet as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). In other words, we are to be aware of the techniques of those who want to deceive us, without becoming deceitful ourselves.

John Wesley’s General Rules, particularly the first two rules, do no harm and do good, provide a helpful guide for using social media. The General Rules remind us that in all of life, including our interactions online, Christians are to be guided by loving God and loving our neighbor.

Some particular ways to be wise as snakes when online include: Research anyone with whom you develop a relationship online. Check your mutual friends on social media sites, and ask them how they know that person. Consider a more thorough background check, especially before you give that person money or meet them. Don’t rely on a telephone call to verify a person’s identity; Skype can help you pick up on nonverbal cues and put a name with a face and voice. If you do meet the person, make arrangements to do so in a public location such as a coffee shop or restaurant. Meet during daylight hours. “Don’t spend too much time together,” suggests Haltzman. “You may be tempted to make up for lost time but resist so you don’t fall into a false sense of intimacy.” If you become a victim in a catfishing scam, contact the authorities, par- ticularly the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

This article is part of FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs. The complete study guide accompanying this article can be purchased here.

ARTICLE: Considering the Context of Worship

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:42:00 GMT

By Jacob Armstrong

When I was appointed to pastor a new church start, I began to dream of what “my” new church would look like. By the time I hit the ground as pastor of a church with no name, no building, and no people, I had a clear vision of what worship would look like: what we should do and how we should do it. In a few short weeks, though, I realized my vision—though great, I’m sure—did not exactly fit the mission field.

As a 27-year-old, I may have desired one type of music, but the community around me would connect more with another kind. The type of clothing that I might have hoped would be “cool” to wear in worship would only be comfortable for a small segment of people that God had sent me to serve.

This led us into a season of listening to our community. We needed to hear from them. Intentionally listening to our community meant careful observation and open conversation that allowed us to hear the felt needs of the community—which later informed our topical preaching series—and to understand the culture of our neighbors—which would help us know how to choose relevant language, music, and dress for worship. The message of hope in Jesus would be the same, but our community taught us what language to speak so they could understand it. This did not mean an abandonment of what we often think of as traditional. In fact, we found in our context that the ancient forms of religion would speak strongly to those who feel disconnected from God in our community.

I learned that no matter how compelling the vision may be, it must connect with the people to whom God has sent you, or it is a vision that will not live. New churches and old churches alike must desire God’s vision instead of our own, and I believe God’s vision will always lead us to reach the people in the neighborhoods around us.

ARTICLE: Inked: Showcasing God's Work

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:18:00 GMT

By Kim Goad and Janet Bostwick Kusiak

Tattoos were first introduced to the United States when German-born Martin Hildebrandt tattooed both Union and Confederate soldiers in their camps. Tattooing reached its “golden age” in the 1940s when sailors returned home sporting their new body art. Tattoo popularity spread to include bikers in the 1950s, hippies in the 1960s, rock stars in the 1970s and 1980s, and athletes in the 1990s. Now, tattoos have become part of the mainstream. According to the Pew Research Center, 40 percent of people born between 1961 and 1981 have at least one tattoo.

For the 60 percent who don’t have a tattoo, Josh Hamilton has done his share of picking up the slack. But long before the star outfielder for the Texas Rangers ever thought of getting the first of his twenty-six tattoos, Josh was marked by a dream to play baseball. At six years old, he was throwing a baseball at fifty miles per hour—so fast that the other parents complained that their kids were in danger of being hurt. The Tar Heel League bumped him up to his brother’s team of fifth through seventh graders.

As a teen, Josh was ranked by Baseball America among the top five high school players in the country. He was so heavily scouted that he even missed his senior prom in order to avoid any potential scandals.

At eighteen years old, just two days after his high school graduation, Josh was drafted—as the number one pick in 1999—by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The dream that had marked his early childhood was becoming a reality, and he inked a record $3.96 million signing bonus.

Showcasing Truth or Lies

In his book Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, Josh explained that his original ink began to be smudged when he was in a major car accident in 2001, resulting in a back injury. Unable to play the sport he loved and being isolated from his family, Josh began frequenting a tattoo shop in a Tampa strip mall; it became his second home. In tattoo lingo, showcases are people who display on their bodies a lot of work from the same artist. Now, with nothing but time and money, Josh would spend hours in the chair, numbing out, letting the artist decide what he wanted to ink onto Hamilton’s body. He was fast becoming a showcase for that artist, and the marks would prove to be more than skin-deep.

Josh’s story has similarities to the story of the twelve Israelite spies. When God brought the Israelites out of slavery and was ready to bring them to the land he had promised them, Moses was instructed to select a leader from each of the twelve tribes to go and stake out the land. After forty days of exploring the land, its towns, its people, and its vegetation, they came back and reported this to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! . . . But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.”

Only Caleb said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the Bible says that those against Caleb spread fear throughout the Israelites, saying, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. . . . We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Josh did what so many of us do. We imprint on our minds that we are grasshoppers. Then those around us see that ink and treat us according to the mark we’ve taken on for ourselves—that we are small, insignificant, a failure. And what does that tell people about the Artist we’re showcasing? The Bible says we are “God’s handiwork,” “the work of [his] hand,” and created for the display of his splendor.” Do we believe that? What’s more, do we really allow it to change the way we identify ourselves? Does it challenge us to live differently, to go forth and take possession of whatever God has promised for our own lives?

Which Artist Is in Charge?

When asked to explain the meaning behind each of his twenty-six tattoos, Josh half laughs. “The truth is, most of the time I wasn’t interested in what they were putting on my body . . . the artists were in charge .” And, left in charge, what they inked included a number of demons on his body. He said that what started out as a release eventually became another master to obey.

The next few years were gouged by drug abuse, baseball suspensions, rehab stays, hospital visits, dangerous threats from drug dealers, and the heartbreak of those who loved him.

On a fateful day in October 2005, Josh woke up after a crack binge in a hot trailer surrounded by strangers. He had loaned his truck to a dealer to get more crack, but the dealer hadn’t come back. He walked trancelike down a two-lane highway and eventually found a pay phone, where he called his estranged wife, Katie, for a ride. Josh said, “I was a bad husband and a bad father, and I had no relationship with God. Baseball wasn’t even on my mind.” But on the ride home, Katie told him about a dream she had—one where God impressed upon her that He was going to bring Josh back to baseball, but that it wouldn’t be about baseball. It would be for something much bigger. Josh blew her off.

While Katie believed that God was going to bring Josh back to baseball for something bigger, she wasn’t ready to let him come home. With nowhere else to go, Josh showed up at his granny’s house. Mary Holt, who had always provided a safe haven when he was a little boy, took one look at Josh’s wrecked body and said, “I’m tired of you killing yourself. I’m tired of watching you hurt all of these people who care about you.” She took him in and forced him to rest, and for the next few months, she nourished him back to physical and emotional health. God used her as an instrument in the process of reinking the original etches that had marked the early years of Josh’s life.

It wouldn’t be easy, though; the smudges and smears of the ink he’d been showcasing were stubbornly stamped on his being.

That first week, Josh had a nightmare, which he related to an interviewer:

I was fighting the devil, an awful-looking thing. I had a stick or a bat or something, and every time I hit the devil, he’d fall and get back up. Over and over I hit him, until I was exhausted and he was still standing. I woke up in a sweat, as if I’d been truly fighting, and the terror that gripped me makes that dream feel real to this day. I’d been alone for so long, alone with the fears and emotions I worked so hard to kill. I’m not embarrassed to admit that after I woke up that night, I walked down the hall to my grandmother’s room and crawled under the covers with her.

The next night, Josh picked up a Bible at the foot of his bed and asked God for help. He came across this verse: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

“The devil stayed out of my dreams for seven months after that,” Josh said. “I stayed clean and worked hard and tried to put my marriage and my life back together.”

Grasshoppers or Conquerors?

Crediting God and Granny’s approach to rehab, Josh was sober for eight months and returned to baseball in June 2006. A few weeks later, the devil reappeared in the same old dream, but with an important difference. Josh said,

I would hit him and he would bounce back up, the ugliest and most hideous creature you could imagine. This devil seemed unbeatable; I couldn’t knock him out. But just when I felt like giving up, I felt a presence by my side. I turned my head and saw Jesus, battling alongside me. We kept fighting, and I was filled with strength. The devil didn’t stand a chance. You can doubt me, but I swear to you I dreamed it. When I woke up, I felt at peace. I wasn’t scared. To me, the lesson was obvious: Alone, I couldn’t win this battle. With Jesus, I couldn’t lose.

About 275 years after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan to claim God’s promise for them, they would again face what looked like giants. For seven years, they had been hiding in caves from the Midianites, who would invade and destroy their livestock and crops. The Bible says the Israelites finally cried out to the Lord for help and, once again, God came to their rescue. The angel of the Lord found Gideon—hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat there so the Midianites wouldn’t discover it—and said to him: “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

Mighty warrior? That’s not a tattoo Gideon remembered getting. He was hiding out in a winepress, for crying out loud! Even Gideon thought it was ludicrous (one might even say as ludicrous as calling a crack addict a Major League Baseball All-Star). He said, “What do you mean, God’s sending me to save Israel from the Midianites? I’m from the weakest clan and, not only that, I’m the least in my family!”

Then again, this is the same God who “calls things that don’t exist into existence.” And God used Gideon to lead just three hundred men to defeat what many scholars estimate must have been hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers. This time, instead of doubting grasshoppers turning away from God’s plan, mighty conquerors were born of faithfulness to God’s calling.

We choose what marks are engraved on our minds. But so many of us see ourselves as grasshoppers and not as mighty warriors. Do we believe in a God who uses the unlikeliest to fulfill his mission? Do we believe that a God who used a small band of men to defeat hundreds of thousands and who brought a baseball player back from a crack addiction to the World Series can fill up the marks of our lives and turn us into showcases of God’s splendor? We allow our past experiences to create such deep grooves into our thinking, but God might yet mark our lives differently.

ARTICLE: Get Their Name

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:42:00 GMT

By Bob Farr

After consulting with more than four hundred churches throughout the country, we have observed that the primary focus for most evangelism effort is on recovering inactive members. Evangelism becomes passive, waiting for them to come, being polite when they arrive, helping them to join our organization, and then trying to get them to come back if they quit attending worship or giving money. This hands-off style of evangelism is not working—and has not worked for more than fifty years!

We worked with a church that launched a new worship service to reach those not already connected to the Christian faith. To connect with persons who were not involved in any church, the pastor passionately urged those already actively attending worship to invite others in their relational network to come to a social event designed to reach out to those not already Christian. One young man who had grown up in the church and its passive culture of private faith not only refused to invite anyone but was adamant that he would not even attend if inviting others was the expectation. He didn’t do that, and he wouldn’t do that!

We must help people in our churches move past the fear of inviting or sharing faith with others and move toward an active, passionate missionary lifestyle. We must recapture our missionary soul as professing Christians in America. We must learn what we have been afraid or ill equipped to do.

We can’t keep waiting for people to arrive at our doors. We have done this for too many years. This passive behavior goes against the missional roots of our Christian faith. We have gone from being outwardly focused to being inwardly centered. This static and inward passivity won’t work in a secular world where the gospel must be actively demonstrated to be communicated.

How We Get Evangelism Wrong

Observation One

Inwardly focused churches tend to define and practice evangelism as “reconnecting disconnected church folks.”

Observation Two

Outwardly focused churches define and practice evangelism as connecting the unconnected folks to Jesus and then to the church.

Observation Three

The pool of churched people to connect with is dramatically shrinking, while the pool of the unchurched, never-connected population is growing exponentially. This is especially true among the millennial generation.

Observation Four

Early denominational movements focused on unconnected folks, while the established churches of the day focused on and supported the folks who were already churched when they arrived in America.

These movements become institutional over time, and they focused on membership rather than discipleship. The mainline churches were dislodged from the center of American culture by the upheaval of the 1960s. The situation became further confused by the resulting rise of religious conservatism in the 1970s and 1980s. This led to the American polarization of religious liberals and religious conservatives, which in turn led to the disaffection of youth from religion in the 1990s and 2000s. The mainline churches as a result are bewildered and unsure about how to proceed through an accelerated state of decline.

If any denomination is to have a future, it must reconnect to the biblical purpose and mission of making new disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. To accomplish this mission, it requires us to be once again people who widely, continually, and fervently share their faith in Jesus Christ with those who do not yet have such a faith. This sharing must occur in relevant ways, without being obnoxious, so that they might have the possibility to come to this life-transforming and saving faith.

ARTICLE: 21st Century Wells: Christian Community in the Third Place

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT

By Eric Cooter

Is it possible for authentic Christian community to form in ‘unlikely venues’?”

When I served as the rector in a transitional size parish it was difficult, due to the intense schedule of worship services, pastoral care, committee meetings, parish programs, etc., to carve out a few hours each week for sermon preparation. I tried crafting sermons in my office on the parish property, and I attempted sermon preparation in my home study, but neither place seemed to provide me with the right creative, quiet space. After six months in my first call, I soon discovered that I needed a third place, which would provide me with an alternative atmosphere, some space for creativity, and at the same time, offer me a plethora of real-life situations, from which I could draw for my homiletical musings. The third place I finally chose was unique and it clearly hearkened back to the coffee house ministry my spouse and I led a few years before we left for seminary. That “unlikely spot” for me soon became one of several local coffee shops, which offered not only really good (I mean really good) espresso, but also it provided a unique opportunity for me to connect with people in a way I had never imagined possible.

“Going back to school?” was the young man’s question as he sat down on the sofa across from the coffee shop’s comfortable well-worn, leather chair I snagged as I entered the shop. I imagined the young man’s question was triggered by the fact I had a “textbook looking” Bible commentary sitting near my laptop.

“Oh no, I just finished grad school last year; I am working on a sermon for Sunday,” I replied.

“So, you are a pastor,” he asked.

“I am a priest in the Episcopal Church,” I said.

“Oh, interesting,” he paused with a troubled look on his face, “I never really understood all that religious stuff.”

I couldn’t resist that opening remark and decided to take a risk for some conversation. So, I set my commentary down, closed my laptop, and then the curious man and I talked about religious stuff for the next hour or so. This was only the first of many such safe space conversations I began having throughout my vocational journey. It was through discussions like these that I came to realize the significance of holding safe space available for people to explore the spiritual life. I also learned quickly how simple it is to open up space for “safe” conversations that engage folks who are unlikely to step through the doors of our churches.

A colleague of mine who is also facilitating this form of ministry, sent me this quote by Henri Nouwen the other day, and I think it offers us some sound advice about what it means to meet people where they are, to take a risk and enter into relationships of trust, to create space for belonging that help people come to know the love, reconciliation, grace, mercy, and life everlasting, present in Christ, in us.

More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.

Henri Nouwen

It is critical to our mission to create space for authentic conversation in what I call “21^st century wells.” The ministry of presence is the ministry of the baptized in Christ. It is the missionary commission, which is to go and make disciples of ALL. We are called to, in this world, create spaces (in multiple places) by which relationships of Christian authenticity might emerge. We must realize that in the 21^st century, for so many reasons we may or may not understand, it may be difficult and even desperately risky for some folks to enter what at one time—the church building, was a safe place for relational engagement. Thus, the burden to step out of our comfort zones and meet people at “the well,” falls on those who are called to be “Christ-like” in the world.

Now Jesus . . . had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The Gospel according to John, Chapter 4 (NIV)

Do you see the connection? Samaritans did not worship at the temple. Samaritans and Jews did not engage in social interaction—they were separated by an unfortunate cultural separation. Had Jesus not stopped at the public, common “watering hole,” I wonder how likely it would have been for this conversation to take place. I know that people like to use this scripture as I have, to encourage good church folk to “meet folks where they find them,” to go out and evangelize, but doesn’t scripture help us to see that we should tear down barriers to relationships? Are we not sent out to meet ALL folks where we find them? Are we not commissioned to fashion, by our authentic relationships, a people who live by grace? We need to recognize in this culture, a society in which 20 percent of the population now claim no religious affiliation at all, we can no longer reach the “ALL” by merely opening doors, creating wonderful programs, hiring stellar leaders, or trying new worship styles. We need, no, we must go to the “wells” and invite people into an authentic relationship that is safe, where vulnerability is gently held and nurtured. We need to be in the third places of people’s lives. We must be the risk-takers in the “third places” of today’s culture.

The third place is a generic designation for a great variety of public places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work.

Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place, p. 16.

So if the faith community and its many opportunities for connection, is facing greater challenges to provide a “third place” for a growing number of people, where then do we look, and thus discover, places of relational engagement today? It all depends on the local context. For some villages, a “third place” may be the local Starbucks or community coffee shop. In others, it may be the local pub where friends gather for conversation, liquid refreshment, and good food. Still in others, the “third place” could be the local gym, library, soccer field, baseball field, or family restaurant. A third place may even be someone’s home where folks gather each week for a shared meal, some great conversation, and merely “regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings.”

Three years ago, my spouse Terri and I invited a dozen or so folks to gather every Friday night at either our house or another friend’s home with the intent of being together. It became our “third place.” We all brought food and libations to share, but we also brought our troubles, our celebrations, our spiritual struggles, doubts, and fears. We were doing life together and we were doing life in a Christian context, sharing our spiritual journeys, encouraging each other, and praying for and with each other. Some of the folks in our little group never would have come to church on Sunday, but they all came together each week, and entered into a safe space where the core value of vulnerability was held with gentle, loving hands. After a year or so of “doing life together,” one of our group stopped me one night and said, “Eric I want to thank you for this gathering. When you first said, let’s gather on a Friday night, I thought you were crazy. After a week of working 40+ hours, all I want to do on Friday night was have dinner, put the kids down, kiss my husband and then crash. Now that we are a part of this little group, I would not miss this night for anything. Thank you!”

We can create “third places” in our local context that provide space (safe space) in which, authentic Christian community might emerge, but we must do so with caution. If we begin this journey of meeting folks in “21^st century wells,” we must keep our hidden intentions in check. If we take this risk of connecting with folks, and our primary expectation and goal is filling pews on Sunday, you may want to re-think the project you are considering. The goal of “third place” ministry is not recruitment, but relationship building, and it can only be done by creating space for fragile relationships to sprout, and thus offering loving possibilities of those relationship being nurtured over time. When we meet folks in the “third place,” when we invite a group to gather together, when create space where questioning is ok, doubts are welcomed, and opinions are honored, I believe we will be surprised at the unique opportunities God will give us to connect with people in a way, we have never imagined possible. We may even bear witness to the possibility of authentic, Christian community developing in a pub, a coffee house, a soccer field, a gym, or wherever the “21^st century wells” might be located in our own villages.

If you would like to explore creating a “third place” in a 21^st century well, please contact me at 941-548-6027 or email me at ecooter@episcopalswfl.org.

BLOG: Pastor, How Are You on Facebook So Much?

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:13:00 GMT

By Ron Edmondson

I’ve posted a similar answer to this before but in my new role some are asking the question again: Pastor, how are you on Facebook so much?

I honestly think the real question is “Why?” and some think it means I don’t work very much, but if only they knew.

Perhaps, if you follow me online, you wonder the same thing. So, let me try to help you understand.

First things first, I’m probably not on as much as you think I am. If you think so, then the strategy is working. I’ve been doing online ministry since 1996. That’s a long time. I started with a daily devotional that quickly turned into a ministry opportunity. Though they are mostly recycled now, that site is still active. (www.mustardseedministry.com) I learned that if I was going to do ministry with the potentials to reach tens of thousands (the Internet makes the world small), I had to be smart about it.

So, I work smart.

Here are four words to describe my Internet strategy.

Since I’m a pastor, and you’d want me to be pastoral, they all begin with the same letter.

Value – I recognize the value of being online. For the past several years, Facebook has been the most prominent way people reach me in my church. It also gives them a sense that they know me. I hear people every week say they feel they can follow me throughout the week, just by reading my status updates. In addition, I have the opportunity to minister to even a larger group, including hundreds of pastors and leaders around the country.

Vision – I have a vision of not only sharing the stuff I write (which I also see as a ministry), but sharing pieces about my life. I’ve learned it makes me seem more real if you see the person behind the thoughts. That’s why you may read something funny, some random thought, even an encouraging word I have for my wife. I want you to know me, so that when I share something serious, you’re more likely to take it serious because you feel you know me and hopefully I’ve become a reliable source. (Just to be clear, I’m capable of being wrong too, and unless I’m posting Scripture itself, it’s an opinion.)

Velocity – Now as for the frequency. There will always be those who think I post too much and those who wish I posted more. If I’m quiet for a couple days, I’ll hear from people who wonder if something is wrong. I’ve learned people depend on a certain amount of frequency. Plus, for those who are only on once or a few times a day, they may miss some of what I post if I don’t post things periodically throughout the day. The pace of doing so is really easy. I usually have my phone with me. If I have a thought, it takes me only a few seconds to put it out there. You’ll notice I don’t respond to a lot of other comments. I’m usually on and off of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn very quickly. The total time per day is less than it appears. Plus, I can automate many of my posts if I choose to do so. Sometimes I do…sometimes I don’t. I’m not telling which are and which aren’t. The key is consistency and I’ve gotten pretty good at that over the years.

InVestment – (How’d you like the clever use of that V?) I have to believe that online communication is making a difference in people’s lives. I can only judge that based on the feedback I receive, and I receive lots. I’ve been overwhelmed at the responses I have gotten throughout my church and the world. I literally get emails every single day from people saying I was there at just the right time or said just the right thing. I’m not taking credit for that, just pointing out that God uses this avenue in ministry for His glory and I’m thankful to play a part.

Well, that’s my story. Why are you online?

Ron Edmondson is pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, KY. Visit his blog at RonEdmondson.com.

VIDEO: Jesus Ate with Sinners!

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:26:00 GMT

By David Dorn

Jesus is more concerned with the rejects who knew they needed change in their lives than those who thought they had life all figured out. Jesus goes where He is needed. Do we have the self-awareness to realize we need Him? And Jesus said, "I want mercy and not sacrifice." Do we show mercy towards other people or do we offer hollow actions to God? Do we show mercy towards other people or do we offer hollow actions to God? Check out this free Bible study on Matthew 9:9-13.

Website - http://preposterousproject.org/
On Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/iampreposterous
On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/preposterous...

Small Group Questions

Before watching this video, what did you think of this concept, that Jesus ate with sinners?

Jesus spent time with people who knew they needed Him, not the ones who felt like they had it all figured out. Which one would you say you are?

Why do you think the religious leaders were upset that Jesus spent time with tax collectors?

Do you think you could have dropped everything to follow Jesus like Matthew did? Do you think that was an example of extreme faith, extreme stupidity, or the Holy Spirit moving him?

In your life, what does it look like to show "mercy" more than "sacrifice"? What does sacrifice mean for you?

Question of the Day

What about God amazes you or confuses you?

ARTICLE: Review: The Go-To Church

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:56:00 GMT

By Eric Van Meter

According to Bryan Collier, the best way to grow a church in our current American context is not to try to attract adherents to a single site complex. Rather, it is to go out among people in surrounding communities—in other words, to be a “go-to” rather than a “come-to” church.

In The Go-To Church, Collier advocates the use of a multisite model in order to become such a church. He relates the theories and experiences of beginning new sites at The Orchard, a fast-growing congregation in northern Mississippi where Collier serves as lead pastor.

Although Collier insists that he still advocates for so-called “parachute drop” church plants, he believes that churches must also invest in ministries that are under a single church umbrella, but operate at different locales. This conviction began with the realization that, although The Orchard was growing in its Tupelo location, the church was unable to reach people in outlying areas—particularly smaller towns that were unlikely to sustain a new church plant.

Rather than try to overcome the significant costs of both transporting and providing space for the unchurched people in neighboring areas, The Orchard elected to begin new sites tailored to the needs of their target populations. One is an extension campus with its own pastor to lead worship and care for members. Another provides pastoral leadership, but uses video to feed in the sermon from the mother campus. Still another was launched not based on location, but on demographic in an effort to reach out to young adults who are unlikely to be a part of a large suburban church like the main campus.

All of The Orchard’s sites seek to engage people using their own culture and language. They focus on worship and discipleship within the church, but are adamant that their people go out into their communities to be the church.

For churches considering a move into multisite ministry, Collier asks them to first check their motivation. If the multisite concept is used as a de facto merger of differing congregations or as a strategy for growing the main campus, it will fail. The only valid reason for starting a multisite ministry, he insists, is to reach people that no one else is reaching with the gospel.

While he does not provide a step-by-step guide to multisite ministry, Collier does offer several suggestions. First and foremost, he says, the new site must have the right leader: a dynamic pastor with initiative and the ability to draw people to him or her. Fiscal considerations are important, as well as “seeds,” people from the mother church who commit to getting the new ministry up and running.

The Go-To Church is less an instruction manual for multisite ministry as it is a limited autobiography of Collier and The Orchard’s experience with the multisite process. Their story comes across with a great deal of passion, but not always with clarity. Readers who look for an instruction manual on multisite ministry will not find it here. However, those who simply want an example to help them plan for their own specific context—a process Collier believes is essential—will find an instructive narrative from a church and pastor that has walked this road successfully.

ARTICLE: Summer Program Lets Kids Be Kids

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:26:00 GMT

By Sherrie Ilg

SPRINT (St. Paul’s Reaching Into Neighborhoods Together) began in 1995 as a brainstorm of two members and a pastor attending “FORUM,” a national United Methodist Youth Ministry event in Mesa, Arizona. Service would be the centerpiece, with St. Paul’s youth volunteers and recent graduates working for a small stipend to serve the Wellington Heights community by providing a blend of recreation, education, service, and faith development for neighborhood adolescents. SPRINT would be a summer program, an extension of St. Paul’s youth ministry, offering an opportunity to serve the poor, immigrant, and refugee families of our community.

Structure and Fun

The team of volunteers and hired staff gathers at 11:00 each weekday for devotions, prayer, and planning. Neighborhood youth arrive at noon for lunch—most walking to and from St. Paul’s— then participate in recreation, community awareness, education, field trips, and special events each summer weekday afternoon until 3:00 p.m.

The Barnes & Noble Reading Program provides a great opportunity for older children to read to the younger children and helps plant the idea of volunteering and helping others. Kids enjoy time in the kitchen preparing snacks, using math skills, reading skills, and people skills, working as a team, the kids plan, cook, and take pride in serving their snack. Swimming at the local pool, roller skating, bowling, doing archery, running track, shooting hoops, and going to the city parks are ways SPRINT incorporates movement and conversation about healthy lifestyles.

Each year we ask for help from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Cedar Rapids Fire Department and the Red Cross to help provide safety tips for our children. We talk about who the children can trust and where they can go for help. We want our kids to know these people as the “good guys” who are there for them.

Including people of poverty, some non-English speaking, along with the natural, unavoidable wear and tear on the church rooms being used was sometimes uncomfortable for the church. Not everyone embraced the program’s goals and was comfortable with the noise level, messiness, and commotion. Nonetheless, it was congregational support that funded SPRINT the first summer, with a grant from the United Methodist Church for new youth programs providing essential financial backing for the three following years. Then, United Methodist Women embraced SPRINT and partially funded it each year as a part of their missions budget.

The budget for 2012 was approximately $12,000 and was funded by church contributions, the St. Paul’s Foundation, and community grants. One director, four youth counselors, a younger “junior counselor” volunteer, and a maximum of thirty-six children participate with the support of a five member advisory board. There is no cost to the participating children.

Learning Their Struggles

One challenge in the beginning years, in addition to funding, was getting to know better the population being served. We soon discovered that in order to have a program for neighborhood adolescents, we had to provide for the younger siblings in their care during the summer. Many of the 11-14 year old children were responsible for numerous younger siblings during the day, so we expanded to include groups for elementary age and preschool children.

SPRINT serves a number of refugees experiencing the trauma of leaving their homelands. This sometimes results in behavioral challenges, which are addressed by collaborating with volunteer counseling resources. SPRINT has become an excellent way for youth in the congregation to increase their cultural awareness and sensitivity.

Instability is another struggle the staff observes. Lu Wherry, Director of SPRINT, says, “Even with pre-registration, we are never sure who is going to show up on a daily basis. Our children live in a neighborhood of turmoil. On any given day a parent may be evicted, arrested, or thrown out of a living situation. . . . Sometimes we are the only form of normal in their lives.”

Transformative for All

The experience of SPRINT has affected the lives of staff as well as those of participants. Two former SPRINT staff members are now ordained clergy. Four are teachers serving low-income schools. One is an attorney with an interest in poverty law.

Wherry says, “It is the best job in the world. I get the chance to work with wonderful kids doing wonderful things. It is more an opportunity to help steer the children of Wellington Heights than a job.”

We are always amazed with our SPRINT kids and how positive they are. So many have had troubles in their lives, a missing parent, a parent in jail, or they are in the custody of a grandparent. Many have moved many times in their short lives, attending different schools, always meeting new kids and teachers, always having to adapt to something new.

With the SPRINT program, at least their summers can have some consistency. They look forward to the SPRINT program each summer and days and days of carefree fun—free of turmoil, free of fear, free of hunger—days spent just being a child.

Recently, a former participant, now a high school graduate and mother of a two-year-old, told us, “I never really knew why you guys did all the work of being with us every day, but it totally changed my summer. I had something to do each day. I looked forward to it. I could tell you cared.”

ARTICLE: Review: Pursuing Justice

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:47:00 GMT

By Patricia Farris

Son of a Dutch immigrant father, Ken Wystma left behind the faith of his childhood upbringing, going so far as what he labels a destructive lifestyle into his college years that caused him serious health problems. Confronted with those critical consequences of his choices, he writes that at age 22 he was given a second chance at life and invited by faith to give his life away. Now an active, engaged, social justice evangelical, he is a pastor, church planter, president of Kilns College, and founder of The Justice Conference, an annual event that brings people together to explore a variety of organizations and avenues for giving one’s life away in the pursuit of biblical justice.

Wystma writes with the urgency of a man who has come into his true calling. He is passionate in his conviction that to give one’s life away after the example of Jesus is to understand justice “as rooted in the character of God, mandated by the commands of God, present in the Kingdom of God, motivated by the love of God, affirmed in the teaching of Jesus, reflected in the example of Jesus and carried on by those who are moved and led by the Spirit.” (p. xvi) In other words, justice is, for Wystma, the picture of God’s love, and integral to how a faithful Christian thinks, prays, acts, hopes, believes, works, spends, and lives.

“God’s heart beats with justice,” Wystma argues (p. 9). Pursuing Justice: The Call to Live and Die for Bigger Things presents his case through Scripture citations, stories from the lives of historical and contemporary faithfuls, poetry and art, first-hand accounts, quotations from devotional writings, and snippets of passionate preaching designed to put justice on the front-burner of the life of faith.

His perspective is not new, though some of his insights are compelling. The chapter on ‘Playstations and Poverty’ is alone worth the price of the book. You’ll never look at a Playstation the same way again, once you have considered the devastating human cost of the mineral coltran that is essential to its operation. But the short paragraphs, rapid-fire sentence-long assertions, compelling quotes, and the single-minded intensity of Wystma’s style give Pursuing Justice an urgency and accessibility that make it a resource for youth and young adult groups and for those of any age who sense a yearning for an engaged faith that makes a difference in this world. Families will find useful pointers for engaging questions of consumerism and meaningful life choices with kids.

Having recently read Marcus Borg’s Speaking Christian, I was struck by the points of convergence in the theology of Borg and Wystma. My hunch is that readers of one would not readily seek out the other, given preconceived stereotypes of “progressive” and “evangelical.” That would be a mistake. The renewal of the church evident in the engaged Christianity of the emergent church would benefit and be strengthened by both voices, as would the worship and mission of the “traditional” church. Wystma’s voice, in concert with others, is a voice of renewal and hope.

VIDEO: Abraham Lincoln and Christianity

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:04:00 GMT

By Clay Morgan

Did Abraham Lincoln devote his life to Christ during his famous trip to Gettysburg? Clay talks about that and a letter he once read from private archives tucked away in the attic of Ford's Theater in Washington D.C.

To read more about Abe Lincoln's faith in Clay's book Undead check out http://claywrites.com/undead/

ARTICLE: Faith Formation in a Digital Age

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:12:00 GMT

By Julie Anne Lytle

The beginning of the twenty-first century marked a technological move to web 2.0 in 2004 and a corresponding social turn toward improved applications of relationship-cultivating interactive media. Americans quickly and creatively responded to the rapid introductions of social media applications including blogs (1999), smartphones (Palm Kyocera 6035, first in U.S.) (2001), Wikipedia (2001), MySpace (2003), Second Life (2003), Skype (2003), Facebook (2004), World of Warcraft (2004), YouTube (2005), RSS (Real Simple Syndication) (2005), Macromedia Breeze live web conferencing (2005), and Twitter (2006).

Faith communities are slowly responding by blending new resources to reach the unaffiliated as well as engage and support faith community members. The 2004 Pew Internet and American Life Project Report, Faith Online, identified nearly 82 million Americans—64 percent of Internet users—perform spiritual and religious activities online to supplement their ties to traditional institutions. More recently, the 2010 Hartford Institute for Religion Research national survey of 11,077 of the nation’s 335,000 congregations found that 69 percent have websites (up from 33 percent ten years previous), 4 percent have Facebook pages, and 1 percent stream worship services.

Pastoral leaders are increasingly using blogs, Twitter, and other interactive forums to share information, present ideas, and initiate genuine dialogue. Even Pope Benedict XVI has been an unexpectedly strong supporter of social media, having launched a YouTube channel with six languages in 2008 as well as a Facebook and iPad app, “Pope2you,” in 2009, and encouraging priests to proclaim the gospel by blogging and using new web communications tools.

With rosters dwindling, many faith communities have designed evangelism-oriented sites to reach the growing population of “nones.” OnceCatholic.org and ReThinkChurch.org illustrate sites designed to encourage a synchronous interaction between denominational representatives and the unaffiliated. Launched in 2001, OnceCatholic was likely the first interactive site designed to enable those who left the Roman Catholic Church to interact with companions in hope of healing hurts and encouraging former members to ”come home.” Similarly, the United Methodist Church’s campaign to ReThink Church, launched in 2009, uses threaded discussions to help individuals and communities focus on church as a way of life. The site hosts “conversations,” encouraging viewers to “share what is on your mind” and identifies ways to meet others and get involved in activities that will change the world.

Faithful people and church professionals continue to develop new faith formation resources designed to support new initiates and active members. Luther Seminary associate professor Mary Hess spearheaded the creation of FeAutor.org as a place for pastoral leaders to share religious resources using Creative Commons licenses. Additionally, mobile technologies now enable most of these resources to be available anywhere and anytime.

As faith communities gain comfort with digital technologies that expand their ability to connect with one another, the creation of virtual churches is raising the most questions and concerns. Unable to presume that a physically gathered community will remain the norm for faith communities, some early adopters are exploring the potential of online communities. Some virtual churches are designed to complement brick-and-mortar faith communities like Fort Lauderdale’s Sunshine Cathedral, which gathers regularly at 1480 SW 9th Avenue and at Sunshine Cathedral of Second Life, while others are online-only like the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life and Faith Village.

Taking advantage of a multi-directional, multi-sensory environment, the sponsors of these virtual spaces are creating immersive worlds so that individuals will always have a space to gather to share stories of God’s presence, hear God’s call, and engage God’s mission. They also offer support to those who, for whatever reason, are not entering a physical church or want to supplement their real world commitments with virtual ones. They are convinced that virtual churches are a natural evolution of ways to respond to Jesus’ command to proclaim the gospel to all the nations. Their efforts are challenging faith communities in real life and cyberspace to reconsider the boundaries of Christian life in each.

Faith formation 4.0 is still in its infancy even though the technological innovations that initiated it were introduced as early as 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Three primary characteristics frame this era:

a convergence of voice, video, and data on one digital platform;
ubiquitous access—anywhere, anytime, by anyone with network connectivity; and
the potential for multipoint interactivity—with seemingly endless combinations of sending and receiving messages from one-to-one to many-to-many.

Secondary characteristics include a democratization of authorship, easy replication, personalization, and customization. Paralleling paradigm shifts in contemporary culture, these characteristics are initiating evolutionary and revolutionary changes in faith communities. Religious institutions and faithful people are still trying to learn the language of these technologies and use them appropriately to invite seekers and support longtime members.

Digital media and social networking are easier to create and update, less expensive to produce, and more broadly accessible than previous media. This means faith communities can tailor websites and networked resources to meet the needs of particular groups along the cycle of discipleship. Although networked computers were initially viewed with skepticism as disembodying and isolating technologies, the growing awareness of social media’s ability to convey social presence—particularly when the alternative is no pastoral presence—is changing attitudes and increasing use for everything from pastoral care to lifelong learning.

Typically fostering a distributive network, the resulting collaborative leadership and flattened authority are being both celebrated and lamented as grassroots movements gain voice (and power) and institutional authorities lose control. Notions of time and space are also shifting as interactive media leave impressions that we are always available and the borders between public and private are blurring. Overwhelmed by the breadth of information and resources, seekers as well as longtime members would benefit from mentors who can guide them through the maze to recognize appropriate resources.

The concept of virtual churches and dispersed participants is challenging central assumptions about what it means to be church and whether or not physical structures need to be maintained. Openness to the possibilities of experiencing God’s presence remains central to the efficacy of digital media and social networking for personal conversion and social transformation.

excerpted from: Faith Formation 4.0: Introducing an Ecology of Faith in a Digital Age by Julie Anne Lytle ©Morehouse Publishing, an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated. Used with permission.

ARTICLE: Community Baccalaureate Service

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:30:00 GMT

By Katie Z. Dawson

One of the ways that local churches can be in ministry with their community is to be aware of the transitions that others are experiencing. One of those “endings” my local church had already been marking was the yearly graduation of our high school seniors. Not only is this a significant event for teenagers in our community, but also for their parents and grandparents and teachers.

In 1998, our community ministerial alliance began a baccalaureate service, held on an evening the week before students of our local high school graduated. While not a school-sponsored event, it was a chance for the churches in our community to celebrate our graduates and to give thanks for all they had learned.

It has been a joy to participate in this service during the five years I have been serving in Marengo, Iowa, and an honor to share a glimpse into how we have made this service work.

Preparation

About two months before graduation, the pastors and/or education ministers from each church gather together to begin preparations. Our first task is to determine a host church for the event—which rotates every year—and then to select a speaker. Our baccalaureate speakers have ranged from folks we brought in and paid a small honorarium, to recent graduates, to pastors from the churches in our community. This last option is the most affordable and also helps ensure that the person speaking is a key player in the planning process.

Invitation

The next step is to get a list of graduates and their addresses. We have found that the secretary at the high school can pass along the information we need. While the separation of church and state might be an issue in some places, our school was willing to work with us, knowing that attendance was not mandatory nor would it occur on school property.

One church (typically one who is not hosting the event) takes the responsibility for printing and mailing invitations to each senior and his or her family. For the class of 2012, our invitations read:

We are very excited that you are graduating this spring from Iowa Valley High School and we want to celebrate this important moment with you.

Each year, the Ministerial Alliance hosts a Baccalaureate Service. This big fancy word basically means that we are having a worship service in celebration of YOUR graduation and in thanksgiving for lives dedicated to learning.

This year, our service will be held on Wednesday, May 16^th at 7:00pm. It will be at the First United Methodist Church, 895 Court Ave. You and your entire family are invited to attend and be a part of the celebration as well as stay afterwards for refreshments.

As a graduating senior, you are invited to arrive no later than 6:45 pm. The senior class will meet in the Fellowship Hall at the church and will all enter the worship space together. This is your big day and we want to honor you in the process!

We hope to see you there!

Invitations are also sent to each faculty and administration member, as well as all of the members of our school board. Our high school secretary helped us distribute these invitations in the teacher mailboxes at school. Depending on the number of students your local school is graduating, the costs involved include stamps, envelopes, paper, and of course, time.

If your church is located in an area with many local high schools, you may need to publicize the event differently—through posters or flyers, or word-of-mouth via the high schoolers from each participating church.

Planning

The next task is to plan the actual worship service. Based on the direction and scripture our speaker chooses, our worship follows a fairly simple format:

A time of gathering and prelude music while family and friends are seated and the graduates gather.
Processional hymn/music and entrance of the graduating class
An opening prayer
Scriptures and special music
The baccalaureate message
Recognition of the class that is graduating and (if possible) the reading of their names
A prayer for the graduates
A closing hymn
A “charge” to the class and a benediction for all who have gathered
Postlude and transition to the reception

We try to include as many different churches as possible in the leadership of the service—from the reading of prayers and scripture to the offering of music. Our goal is to make the service meaningful and yet also be sensitive to those who are unchurched. The cooperation of many different styles of worshiping communities often helps us to find the right balance.

Hosting

Once the service is planned, the major responsibility falls to the host church. The week before the service, bulletins are printed and folded. On the day of the service, ushers are needed to direct guests to the sanctuary and hand out programs. Volunteers from the host church also donate desserts and staff a reception following the service. This past year, my congregation hosted the event and provided juice, coffee, and home-baked cookies for the reception.

Recognizing

A unique aspect of our community’s baccalaureate service is that we also present two awards following the recognition of the graduating class. One is a scholarship of $400 that goes to the graduating senior whose life best exemplifies Christ. The student is chosen based on nominations from the pastors in the ministerial alliance. The second award is a gift of $100 to the faculty, staff, or administration member whose life best exemplifies Christ. All are welcome to make nominations for this award and the recipient is chosen by the ministerial alliance. It has been a powerful way to recognize the witness of students in our community and to encourage and support teachers who share their faith in their whole lives. The funds for the two awards are donated throughout the year by the member churches of the ministerial alliance.

In five years, has anyone joined one of our churches because of baccalaureate? Probably not. Have they changed their faith commitment to Jesus because of baccalaureate? Maybe, but there are no great testimonies I have heard. What we have done is simply be present with members of our community during a significant moment in their lives. We have celebrated with them, given thanks to God for them, and have sent them on with blessings and encouragement. We are planting seeds and now each of the students who have passed through our doors knows that not only do we care about them, but God does too.

ARTICLE: Strong Families

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:41:00 GMT

By Nancy Ferguson

What Is a Family?

Families are the core social group of all societies, and all human beings have them. We may love them or wish we didn’t have to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them, but regardless of how we feel about them, we were all born into families.

What is a family? Is it parents with children? Yes, but family is not restricted to this particular structure. The United States Census Bureau defines family as “a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.” The bureau defines family group as “any two or more people (not necessarily including a householder) residing together, and related by birth, marriage, or adoption. A household may be composed of one such group, more than one, or none at all. The count of family groups includes family households, related subfamilies, and unrelated subfamilies.”

These definitions, articulated for the purposes of the census, point to the variety and diversity of family structures. Family structures vary for many reasons, such as divorce and remarriage, changing attitudes toward marriage, economic factors, and broader acceptance of nontraditional families. Family structures include blended and stepfamilies, cohabiting families, same-sex-parent families, grandparent-led families, and single-parent families. A recent Pew Research Center study determined that attitudes about these different kinds of families vary according to age, race, and economic class.

The Search Institute Study

In a time when much of the news reported in the media about families focuses on areas where improvement is needed, a recent Search Institute study focused on the positive aspects of American families. Search Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to helping people understand what children and youth need to grow up strong, identified assets or characteristics that build strong families and then studied the outcomes.

The purpose of the study was to introduce a new framework of “Family Assets” and to measure their use in families. The assets included relationships, interactions, opportunities, and values that help families thrive. The goal was not only to establish positive practices but also to assess the results of those behaviors. The study linked Family Assets to measurable outcomes for all family members— youth and adults. An examination of Family Assets can be helpful to us in several ways. They can guide us as we relate within both our families of origin and our present families, they can instruct us as we nurture strong families within the church, and they can support us in a theological understanding of each person as a child of God and of the many blessings of families within Scripture.

The study surveyed a parenting adult and a 10- to 15-year-old in 1,511 families that were diverse racially, ethnically, economically, geographically, and structurally. Asian, African American, and Hispanic families each represented 14 percent of the study. Twenty-three percent of respondents reported an income under $35,000, and 28 percent reported an income over $100,000. Of those interviewed, 62 percent were women.

Several of the results are worth noting: (1) On a scale of 1–100, the average American family scored 47 on the Family Asset Index. (2) Families are more alike than different. (3) Some factors such as race, access to community resources, marital status, and race/ethnicity do make a difference, but they are small. (4) Teens and their parents tend to identify similar assets when talking about their families. The study’s conclusions suggest that “the vast majorities of families have both strengths to celebrate and opportunities to grow stronger together.”

One 40-year-old father said this in response to the question, What does family mean to you? “Family? Boy! My first reaction is an emotional one, it’s not even an intellectual one. It’s not words, it’s feelings . . . When I think of family I think of my core, my initial family of origin that lifted me to where I am. And now my being there with my own children and family, and being able to take them where they need to go . . .” Another study participant, a male teenager, responded to the question, What makes families strong? “My great uncle [in Hawaii] told me . . . ‘Ohana means family. And family means no one left behind.’ ”

Families in the Bible

The Bible offers various family structures. In the Old Testament, the words most often translated as family or families suggest “clan,” “household,” “father’s house,” or “ancestral house.” Other words used less frequently suggest “brothers” and “seed.” In legal terms, a man was head of the household; and his wife or wives, his children, and his slaves or servants were considered to be his property. Sons could leave the family to establish their own households, and daughters could marry into another man’s household. The family is defined by its sense of oneness with the male head of the household. The Book of Ruth vividly demonstrates this dependency. In Ruth 1, we learn that when Naomi’s husband and two sons died, she and her two daughters-in-law were still a family unit; but they had no males to support them. Orpah returned to her father, but Ruth traveled with Naomi to Bethlehem. Ruth 2 describes the way Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s fields in order to provide food. Boaz, a close male relative of Naomi’s husband, would later marry Ruth and thus provide security for both women.

In the New Testament, the word used for family denotes a living domestic group, an ancestral lineage, or a reference to Christians as a “spiritual family.” By the time of Paul, families or households generally referred to one husband, one wife, children, and slaves. Paul frequently used family as a metaphor for life together in the early church. Romans 8:12-17 offers an example by referring to God as “Father” and those in the early church as “God’s children” and as “God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ” (verses 15-17).

Across the ages, regardless of the structures, families have existed to support one another for mutual benefit and for survival. When families include children, they grow up within these family groups with the same basic needs. They benefit from parenting that understands these needs and practices positive assets to strengthen their growth.

How to Strengthen Families

While Search Institute’s Family Assets are interesting, they are without much practical value until we ask how they can be helpful to us in our own families and in the faith community. We can respond to the question in a variety of ways. We can begin by understanding what our faith has to say about families and the responsibility of God’s people to care for one another. We can each look at the list of Family Assets and ask how we would score in our own families. As a community of God’s people, we can ask how we can use Family Assets to create ministry for the families in our congregation and/or the community.

Search Institute provides some ideas for how families of all shapes and sizes can nurture relationships. First, they suggest that family members show one another they care in little ways. Second, they suggest that families keep the focus on the relationships even in the midst of challenges. Third, they suggest talking about everyday stuff on a daily basis so that the conversation will be easier when hard topics need to be discussed. Finally, they suggest talking with family members about what interests or excites them (their “sparks”).

Often we think of faith communities as families. One way to practice Family Assets as a church family is to follow the suggestions above. Think about your congregation. Assess how well it already practices care for one another in small ways, focuses on the relationships within the church family, talks about everyday stuff, and talks about one another’s “sparks.”

How the Church Can Use Family Assets

When asked about institutions that helped their families most, study participants said that faith communities did the most to strengthen their family. Almost one out of three participants noted that it was faith communities—in comparison with one out of ten who responded that it was schools, health-care providers, social workers, or employer services––who were most supportive.

The question for congregations then is how they can strengthen and make use of this perception. In addition to suggestions for families, Search Institute makes suggestions to faith communities about ways they can use the assets to strengthen families. They encourage congregations to give young people and adults an opportunity to reflect on the ways their church can reinforce Family Assets, looking at the church’s activities from worship to Christian education and evaluating them.

Another suggestion involves providing opportunities for members of the congregation to reflect on the ways that their theological tradition connects with the assets. Furthermore, congregations can offer intergenerational settings for reflection on members’ experiences, beliefs, and values as they relate to Family Assets. The assets can also be practiced as family ministry through support for families in trouble and by linking families for mutual support.

Families—Blessed by God

A theological foundation stone for Christians as they consider the role they can play in building strong families is the idea of blessing. Biblical scholar Claus Westermann says, “A theology of blessing . . . refers to the generative power of life, fertility, and well-being that God has ordained within the normal flow and mystery of life.” Such an idea underlines the learnings of Family Assets. As families live together within that “normal flow and mystery,” their lives can be strengthened by positive behavior and by the blessing of a loving God.

Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs.

BLOG: The Arrogant Jesus I Follow

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:30:00 GMT

By Clay Morgan

One of my students I’ve known better than most attended four classes of mine at two different colleges on the way to his degree. He’s crazy smart and always challenges me to think.

As we became friends in recent years our conversations often turned to philosophy and spiritual matters. He considers himself agnostic but only because he knows that calling himself an atheist is self-defeating since it’s a claim of absolute knowledge of the universe, and he’s too smart for such hubris.

A while back we were hanging out at the University of Pittsburgh when he told me about a class he was taking on religion. The professor required students to examine one of the gospels of the New Testament.

“Which one did you pick?” I asked.

“Went with the book of John,” he told me.

“Cool. What did you think?”

He exhaled cigarette smoke and said something that really made me think.

“Well, Jesus kind of seems like an arrogant _____.”

Let me pause for a minute and ask: What would you do with that statement? Do you agree? Does it offend you?

I asked him why he thought that.

My friend said, “He goes around telling everybody that they’re wrong and gets in the faces of the religious leaders.”

“He calls himself ‘the way and the truth and the life’ too,” I offered.

“Yeah, stuff like that,” he agreed.

We had a good conversation about truth, morality, and arrogance after that. These types of conversations often revolve around the basic contention that all religions are basically the same, and why can’t people just pick what’s best for each individual? Also tied up in this debate is usually the idea that Christians think they’re better than everyone else. In other words, Christians are arrogant because we claim to know the only true path to God and heaven.

Aside from the cases of Christians who actually have acted arrogantly over the past twenty centuries, is the claim of Jesus being the only way to God an arrogant statement in itself? Are the claims of Christ in fact immoral?

One thing to consider is that truth has to be exclusive. Like the Highlander, there can be only one. I cannot say that I am a doctor to one person and then walk down the hall and tell another person that I am not a doctor. Both statements cannot be true.

Also, when it comes to belief systems we should remember that every religion has claims of exclusivity. If you say that some ways are right then you’re excluding others. If you say that all ways are right then you’re excluding every system that claims that some ways or only one way is the correct path.

And when you get down to it, calling a belief system wrong is claiming that you are right. Is that not an exclusive, perhaps even arrogant, claim?

The issue isn’t whether or not we like the claims being made but whether they are true and real. If Jesus’ claims weren’t true then he’s delusional or something worse than arrogant. All of my studies and experiences to this point have convinced me that Jesus spoke in love not arrogance. His teachings are consistent and good and for me they are intellectually and existentially satisfying. That’s why I believe them. I have found nothing better or more true.

If you would like to read more about this topic, let me suggest two brilliant, quick reads. The first is called Aren’t All Religions The Same? by Amy Orr-Ewing. Here’s a sample:

“Take a step back and think about what is being said here. Do you see the breathtaking claim that is being made? Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Moses, and Muhammad are all blind, but in fact, I can see! These leaders all had a small perspective, but I am the one who sees the full picture. Now who is being arrogant? It is just as arrogant to say that Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus were all wrong in their exclusive claims as it is to say that Jesus is the only way. The issue is not about who is arrogant, but what is actually true and real.“

I also highly recommend Aren’t All Religions Equally Valid? by Andy Bannister.

If you have thoughts or questions I’d love to hear from you, either in the comments or via my author page. There’s nothing better to talk about than what we can know about ultimate truth.

This post originally appeared on Clay Morgan's blog.

ARTICLE: Child Hunger in the United States

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:26:00 GMT

By Nancy Ferguson

The Numbers

According to the 2011 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, 17 million children in America—one child in every four—experience hunger. The numbers are staggering. Perhaps we would not be surprised if these figures came from developing countries. But in the land of McDonald’s on every corner, overflowing supermarkets, and obesity, surely this can’t be true. Yet the experts agree and indications show that the numbers will only continue to rise.

In an effort to clarify the meaning of being hungry, the USDA uses the term food security and describes households in one of four ways. High Food Security includes households where there are no problems with food access or limitations on that access. Marginal Food Security describes households in which there is anxiety over food sufficiency but no reports of changes in diet or food intake. On the other hand, in Low Food Security households, there is reduced quality, variety, and desirability of diet but no indication of reduced food intake. In Very Low Food Security households, there are disrupted eating patterns and periods of reduced food intake. In Very Low Food Security households, families worry that food will run out or not last long, are unable to afford healthy food, skip meals or cut portions, are hungry but do not always eat, and/or do not eat for a whole day.

Researchers are able to track food security data county by county in the United States. Data from 2010 shows that the highest percentage of food insecure households—and therefore hungry children—is found in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Oregon, and the District of Columbia. The problem of access to food has been further challenged in recent years by household foreclosures and loss of one or more household members’ jobs. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, it is estimated that “nearly 5.5 million children live in families that have lost their homes to foreclosures and 8 million children live in families where at least one parent has lost a job.”

Effects of Hunger on Children

Not long ago, a two-year-old boy received care in Boston. He was hungry, not just that night but during every day of his short life. He was smaller than average for his age; and all of his organs, including his brain, were not fully developed. Doctors at Boston Medical Center’s Grow Clinic diagnose such children as having a “failure to thrive.” The sad thing, said one of the doctors, is that parents are working. “They are earning money [but] their dollars just don’t go far enough.”

Research about child development has found that health problems during childhood can keep children from school attendance and other activities. They are unable to participate fully in life. In addition, food scarcity has been found to affect a child’s brain structure and therefore his or her ability to learn and interact with others.

The effects on children’s health may also have long-term consequences. A study conducted by the National Cancer Institute and the University of Calgary focused on the long-term effects of hunger in children. Children who went hungry even once were found to be two and a half times more likely to have poor overall health up to 10 to 15 years later. “Our research shows that hunger and food insecurity are really damaging in terms of children’s life chances,” reports one of the scientists involved in the study.

Programs That Help

The good news is that there are already resources in place to address this crisis. The USDA, through its Nutrition Assistance Programs, makes food accessible to hungry people. Food stamps; aid to children and pregnant women through Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); National School Lunch Program; Commodity Supplemental Food Program; and the Summer Food Service Program are all examples of government programs aimed toward getting food to people who need it. The bad news is that not all families who are eligible for such programs participate. For example, the USDA reported that three in ten people eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program do not apply for the program. The other bad news is that these government programs are under the threat of budgetary cuts. A proposed House budget in 2012 would have cut WIC programs for up to 350,000 WIC recipients and $50 million, or one fifth, of the Emergency Food Assistance Program that provides food to food banks across the nation.

In addition to government programs, nonprofits, faith-based, and community programs take up the slack in distributing food and educating families about food resources available to them. Feeding America, the largest hunger charity in the country, runs 200 food banks and offers advocacy and interpretative efforts. The Campaign to End Childhood Hunger provides coordination between anti-hunger networks, program administrators, and policy makers. Among its strategies to make a difference are efforts to educate the public, promote government and private sector response, and strengthen local coalitions.

According to a report from the news archives of The United Methodist Church, “The United Methodist Church is building an army against hunger.” The Society of St. Andrew, a nondenominational hunger relief group heavily supported by United Methodists, sponsors a program called Harvest of Hope that sends volunteers into harvest fields to glean what is left over. Each year the program gleans up to 17 million pounds of food from farm fields that otherwise would have gone to waste.

Over the last few years, the issue of childhood hunger has received the attention of both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama has dedicated herself to helping our children grow up healthy and reversing the alarming childhood obesity trend. On December 12, 2010, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. On that occasion he said, “All children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams.”

Options for Response

When faced with such an overwhelming problem, so often we want to sigh and accept the fact that there is probably little we can do. We can, however, make a difference in ways both big and small. The differences we can make begin at our own tables and our own eating habits.

Americans waste 40 to 50 percent of the food we produce. Timothy Jones, a researcher with the University of Arizona, has spent the last ten years studying food waste. Using archaeological methods to examine landfills, Jones was able to determine the path food takes from farms to landfills as well as the culture behind the waste. He was able to determine the percentage of the food produced that is wasted. We can begin to address child hunger by asking how much food we have wasted this week.

Although many of us grew up with the adage to “eat your lima beans because many children in the world are starving,” we can now act effectively to get wasted food to hungry mouths. The USDA has a website with ideas for actions that faith communities can do to make a difference. For example, a church building can become a host site for afterschool and summer feeding programs. Educate others in your congregation about the government programs available. Learn to eat healthy and share that information with others. Volunteer and encourage others to volunteer with organizations like Harvest of Hope. Hold a Great American Bake Sale to feed the children who depend on you in your community.

What Our Faith Says

In John 6, we learn that Jesus cared about people who were hungry. He fed 5,000 people with two fish and five small loaves of bread. We can learn from his example. As we hear the statistics about the numbers of children who go to bed hungry at night, we can look at what resources we have and determine how we might use them to make a difference.

Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs.

ARTICLE: Easter Sunrise: Outdoor Worship

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:24:00 GMT

By J. Wayne Pratt

As individuals, we often find peace, comfort, and a close connection to God in a garden. Gardens often provide a space for worship in a neutral setting outside the church for people to gather and share a faith experience.

Theme

God raised Jesus Christ from the tomb, and today we meet our Savior in a garden of love and grace.

GREETING

This morning, this joyous morning, we journey to the tomb with Mary Magdalene and discover the stone is rolled away. An empty grave remains to prove my Savior lives. With joy, we discover that Christ Jesus has risen. Come, let offer praise and thanks to God for fulfilling the resurrection promise.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Christ has risen!
Christ has risen indeed.
Faith, hope, and joy are alive.
A new age is dawning, and death cannot harm us.
God of all creation, we praise you.
God of resurrection and eternal life, we have gathered in this garden to worship you and celebrate your victory.

GATHERING PRAYER

Loving God, we gather in the early morning of your Resurrection. We have been mourning and weeping believing that you have been taken from us. Instead, you meet us in the garden of new life. Here, in this sacred place, we discover that you are alive, that sin and death cannot defeat you. Now our tears of sorrow turn to tears of joy as we experience your presence among us. Today, we begin to understand that joy comes from grief. You call us to go into the world to share this good news, and because we are not left alone, we can pray your prayer. (All pray the Lord’s Prayer.)

SCRIPTURE READING

JOHN 20:1-18 (the author recommends The Message)

MEDITATION: IN A GARDEN OF NEW LIFE

It was only a few brief days ago that we were witnesses to the trial, crucifixion, and the death of Jesus. Today, oh how today is so very different.

It all began in a garden: a garden of life, a place of refreshment and renewal. Here, most everything is green with life and growth. We read in the Scriptures that both physical life and eternal life have their genesis in a garden setting. Eve, the mother of humanity, was conceived by God and brought forth in a garden; in fact, it was a lush and vibrant garden of comfort and sanctuary. Yet, because of an act of sheer disobedience, she and her husband, Adam, were expelled from this idyllic paradise. Their lives were cast into a wilderness of despair and death. Paradise was now just a memory.

On this early morning of Easter, we hear of yet another garden. A garden of eternal life made possible through our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried and rose again in a garden setting. Today, we are witnesses to a transformation garden, a resurrection garden.

As we heard in the Gospel reading for this morning, Mary Magdalene is the first to enter this garden, and here, she discovers it was much more than a garden of memories, more than a cemetery to receive the remains of a lifeless body. Mary Magdalene is a principal character in the drama that unfolds in a garden of new life.

Mary Magdalene has returned to this garden of memories to tend to a lifeless body. She is there to more fully prepare and anoint the now dead body of Jesus, but to her amazement, the stone that served to seal the tomb has been rolled away and the body gone, disappeared, nowhere to be found.

No doubt she is panic-stricken, beside herself with fear and worry. In her anxiety and confusion, she runs to Peter and John, and breathlessly panting blurts out, “They took the master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.” At this moment, she certainly needs a word of confirmation from them. She needs, perhaps more now than ever before, to know that there is a rational explanation for what has taken place. This painful state of unknowing is perhaps the greatest problem she ever faced.

In this dramatic Easter garden account, we too accompany Mary Magdalene and encounter a resurrected Jesus. And, we realize in this experience we encounter once again, that we are the recipients of many, many fruitful blessings. For without that glorious resurrection of Jesus, there would be no hope, no assurance of life eternal. Because he lives, we are provided with the assurance that we will live with him forever and ever. We will live together eternally in the heavenly garden of paradise that God has created. While Mary Magdalene floundered in that garden setting, unknowing, and failing to recognize the resurrected Jesus, we are fortunate to live on the other side of the story. We know the journey Jesus had made, we know the outcome, and we know the hope that abounds.

The Gospel tells us Mary did not recognize Jesus but, rather, thought he was the gardener, a caretaker. How, we wonder, could she not have immediately recognized the one whom she followed and supported and cared for in the days of his earthly ministry? How could she not recognize the one who was so very near and dear to her; the one who chased the demons from her soul, healed her, and forgave her sins? Why, we ask over and over again.

Jesus was different now. He was transformed with a resurrected body that is both physical and spiritual at the same time. We know that when Mary Magdalene finally recognized Jesus and attempted to share an embrace with him, Jesus cautioned, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” The same holds true for us also. As Paul taught, when Christians die, they are transformed with a similar body—spiritual, imperishable, eternal.

Mary Magdalene didn’t remain in that garden with the resurrected and transformed Jesus. Her encounter with Jesus created so much excitement that she knew she must share this good news with others. Full of wonder, full of hope, she again raced to Peter and John and boldly exclaimed, “I have seen the Master!”

For Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John, and for all who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it was simply the best news ever heard. Yes, Easter is the most glorious day of the year. It is the day we celebrate the joyous news that the Master is alive, that a new, transformed life has blossomed in a garden.

Because Christ Jesus defeated death, he is truly the victorious one. And by his victory, we are given the wonderful promise, “Because I live, you also will live!”
Thanks be to God!

CLOSING PRAYER (UNISON)

Lord, we have so much to be thankful for this Easter morning. In the chill of the morning air, we do feel the warm blessing of your Spirit. We can rejoice this day because our tendency toward disbelief is overcome by our capacity for faith. We are truly amazed that a cross of crucifixion has been transformed into a symbol of new life, a symbol of eternal life.

We are thankful that you come to greet us in a garden of hope, trust, and faith. We thank you that a dark and empty tomb has emerged into a garden of light and living. In all our days, we shall live for Christ, the resurrected and risen Savior. Amen.

BENEDICTION

The tomb is empty,
   Christ has risen.
As you journey in faith,
   may your life be full,
   your love be abundant,
   and your hope be eternal.
Live this day and always for Christ Jesus
   because the Risen Christ lives in you.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

VIDEO: Warm Bodies and the Meaning of Life

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:32:00 GMT

By Clay Morgan

Clay watched the awesome new movie Warm Bodies then got into character for a review. The filmmakers may not have intended to have so many strong spiritual parallels but makes some great observations about humanity, life, our longings, and what it all mean.

No actual human brains were consumed in the making of this video.

ARTICLE: God, What Can I Do?: Shaping Creative Worship on a Budget

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:14:00 GMT

By Dottie Escobedo-Frank

Creative worship is nothing new. It is an old, rich tradition that began with the Israelites carrying around a holy tent with an arc of the covenant, and stone tablets and regular stuff that carried sacred meaning and holy memory. Every time we sing or use instruments in church, we are worshiping God with our creativity. We are making an offering of music, song, or dance. We are offering up the best of ourselves for the God who gave the best for us. David called for the most proficient musicians and the court's most skilled dancers and the sought-after artisans to create a sacred space for worship so that people could enter into the Presence of God. We humans have been doing creative worship for our Creator God ever since we found our voice and noticed our bodies.

Creative sermons are not new either. Look at the prophet Jeremiah. He used creative methods to get the message across to a people who seemed to be hard of hearing. Jeremiah did things like uncovering a buried linen belt that was mildewed and falling apart, or smashing a clay jar, or wearing an oxen yoke (and those babies must weigh a good bit) just to get across a message. Ezekiel had a creative message when he lay in the dirt and built a battle ground, and was tied up for 430 days.

Rich, deep recesses of creativity. We serve a Creator God, and we are formed as “creatives” in the image of the Creator.

I think about two people here. One is John Wesley who said, “I set myself on fire and they come to see me burn.” He was the pastor who couldn't fill the pews but found a way to take the gospel to the streets and to the fields and was amazed by the crowds of people who came to hear about God's love. He found his voice of passion and he found those who would listen, and he moved himself out of his comfort zone into passionate preaching. Look what happened. You are here because of him.

The other is Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act who bemoans that she just wants to “get some butts in the seats.” She saw what wasn't working, remembered her former skill, and worked out of her abilities to bring a church to meet a Savior she so desperately needed. All for the glory of God, and to save her own butt… Sometimes it works that way.

John Wesley and Whoopi Goldberg both found ways to be so passionate about the gospel that people were compelled to hear and, hopefully, to respond to God's grace.

When I served at Mission Bell United Methodist Church in Glendale, Arizona, I was searching for ways to make the worship and the message unforgettable. If the gospel was meaningful, then it must be delivered in a way that would be memorable. So in taking a high view of the good news of Jesus Christ, I searched high and low to bring creativity to the Word. What I found was artists in my community that could help deliver or shape the word. For example, a potter threw a pot right there in the sanctuary while I preached on Jeremiah's visit to the potter's house. Or the teens danced the message in their own style, making meaning for their generation. Or a musician wrote words and music to add to the message. Or a painter, or a firefighter, or an actor, or a mime artist… you get the picture. What I found was that creative souls were everywhere and community-driven worship was so much grander than hidden-in-the-tower worship. When all of God's gifts come together to shape and form worship, then our offering of praise takes on the effect of a harmony.

I also found humor, and surprise, and interruptions, and layering. Humor gets to the deep emotions that we can tolerate and helps us to go deeper with emotions we shun. Surprise catches us off guard with the gospel message and brings new light to an old story. Interruptions act much like surprise but bring us to a place of “pause” or “reset” and therefore give a fresh start to our wrestlings. Layering is when we keep adding new forms to the delivery of the message…like when we start with words, add music, then add lighting, then add movement on the screen…then take it back down to words alone. It has the effect of keeping us moving forward with the message and it takes us to a place of deeper connections.

Right about now you might be thinking, “But I don't have the resources to make all that happen!” I know that thought. All this creativity stuff came out of attending a conference at Community Church of Joy. I was amazed and delighted by the worship but went home so discouraged because I didn't have the resources CCOJ had. I didn't even have a video projector or computer. We were still working off the old-fashioned projectors with typed words or glued-on images. Kindergarten stuff. And at that time, we didn't have the resources to buy equipment or to hire staff to run it and create it. And, so in a moment of complete desperation, I said “God what CAN I do?” And I met the potter, Roy, who helped me form a message. The rest is history. I just kept trying things out and learning what people responded to and kept stretching my understanding. Oh yeah, and I failed miserably along the way too! It wasn't always easy. The risk of failure was great and I hit a time or ten of sheer folly, but I had a forgiving church who knew how to laugh at me and still love me. And I knew that the risk of failure was greater if I did nothing different. So, I kept on trying, sometimes looking quite the fool, often feeling uneasy, but watching the Messenger work through my attempts at “setting myself on fire.”

Now I am cataloging creative sermons and creative worship services so that I can keep fresh and keep growing. My file is filled with ideas. My resources are expanding as I allow God to enlarge my thinking and to free me from my boxes.

I am often asked, “How do you come up with the ideas?” To be honest, when I am looking for something it often evades finding. But instead, I get distracted with the other stuff of life, like watching the kids play sports or jogging or listening to a rap artist or attending a Suns game… and while I am doing the regulars of life, irregular ideas pop into my head. I write them down. I connect the ideas I have to the scriptures I have been reading. I try to see if those ideas really work themselves out in my own life. I test them against other scriptures. And then I talk with my team. Usually by the time I talk with the worship team the idea is fully formed, but they have a way of making it better with their input. Then I try it on for size in a sermon or in a gathering. This is the moment of truth and I am often brought to my knees in trembling and fear before I put the message out there. Here's where I cry out to God, “Okay God, maybe this was a stupid idea after all, but please show up and speak through me anyway!” What I find is that God seems to rescue the message and the Holy Spirit often transforms my attempts into His whisperings. And that is really wonderful.

Sally Morgenthaler describes the new way of church as “the postmodern art of pastiche: creating something unprecedented out of the pieces at hand.“A “pastiche” is a mixture of creative works much like a medley that borrows from many songs. A pastiche takes what you have in your setting, and creates something brand new in its communication form, all the while borrowing from the “what is” of your cultural setting. A pastiche tells the old story out of the heart and soul of the borrowed pieces of your church and community. It is “mosaic” in third dimension.

Now that's the essence of creativity. It is mixing up and borrowing and “conglomerating” from the bits and pieces that God gives you. It is letting God take the stuff of your lives and make the message that transforms a community into “heaven on earth.”

The gospel is rich and it is ripe for the telling. Creativity is nothing new. Creative worship and creative sermons are at the finger tips of your imagination. When we free ourselves from forms, and when we let the Holy Spirit lead us, the sky is the limit in what God can do in our midst.

You are made in God's image. Take God's creativity to your worship setting and have the time of your life!

ARTICLE: Time Your Egg Hunt Right to Get Visitors in Worship

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:02:00 GMT

By Kara Witherow

Nearly 5,000 people attended one of Harvest United Methodist Church’s five egg hunts, which were held immediately following five of the church’s eight Easter worship services. What used to be held on the weekend preceding Easter is now an event held in conjunction with the Easter worship services.

The timing is intentional and by design, church leaders say.

In years past, crowds for the hunt itself were large, but often did not translate into increased worship attendance or new visitors attending Easter services.

A few years ago, though, as Harvest Church was planning its annual egg hunt, bad weather loomed and the church was forced to cancel the event. Not deterred, they rescheduled it for the following weekend, which also happened to be Easter.

The event worked so well that church leaders never again considered hosting it on a weekend other than Easter.

“So often at Harvest, we stumble onto something, and it’s not necessarily by design,” said Rev. Jim Cowart, Harvest UMC’s senior pastor. “We didn’t invent this or anything, but what we’ve found out, at least in our area, is that there are people who want their kids to go to an egg hunt maybe more than they want them to go to church. But that’s who we’re targeting—people who don’t go to church and for whom church really isn’t on their radar. So the egg hunt is a little bit of an excitement and enticement for them to come to the worship service.”

Harvest UMC’s Easter egg hunt is one of several “bridge events” that the church hosts throughout the year. Intended as a connecting “bridge” between the church and community, the egg hunt and other similar events are designed to welcome and introduce newcomers to the church and its members.

One such bridge event is the church’s hosting of the African Children’s Choir. In the past, the concert was typically held on a weekday evening, or whenever the choir’s calendar coincided with the church’s. Much like the egg hunts, the concerts attracted large crowds but church leaders did not see an increase in visitors or new attendees the following Sunday.

But now that the concert coincides with a worship service—Rev. Cowart preaches a 10-15 minute message, the band plays a few songs and then the African Children’s Choir performs—the church has seen an uptick in the number of new attendees. The week following the combined concert/worship service Harvest UMC saw a 14 percent increase in attendance—nearly 200 visitors and new attendees.

“What [hosting an event in conjunction with a normal worship service] does is that it lets people who are just coming to hear the children’s choir also experience a worship service at Harvest,” Rev. Cowart said. “And then hopefully they’ll think, ‘Hey, I kind of like this,’ or ‘I was made to feel welcome at Harvest,’ or ‘My family could fit in here.’”

Hosting these types of bridge events is possible for any size church in any location. All that’s needed is organization, planning, volunteers, and an emphasis on community.

“Using the word community is key,” Rev. Cowart said. “It says that we want you guys, we want you here. And when they’re here be nice to them! We think these events can work in any church, any size. It’s just a matter of organizing and doing things a little differently. I can’t imagine now why anyone wouldn’t do this.”

Harvest UMC’s message is that the experience that guests have the day of the event is the same experience they’ll have during a regular worship service. While those who attend a bridge event service may hear a shorter-than-usual message or fewer worship songs than during a typical worship service, the message is never compromised or diluted.

“What better time to do an Easter egg hunt than on Easter or that weekend,” said Jennifer Cowart, Harvest UMC’s director of Christian Education and Emerging Ministries. “We let people know very clearly in the service that Easter is not about the eggs, it’s not about the bunny, it’s about Jesus Christ. Until that becomes your reality, though, it is about the bunny, it is about the eggs. So we use the egg hunt as a way to draw visitors in. As Paul said, become all things to all people, so we want to speak their language so they can come and hear about who Jesus is.”

This article first appeared in the South Georgia Advocate under the title “Egg hunt helps Harvest Church spread Easter message, share God's love.” Used by permission.

Jim and Jennifer Cowart, quoted in this article, are authors of Start This, Stop That: Do the Things that Grow Your Church, new from Abingdon Press. Read an excerpt on Ministry Matters.

VIDEO: Jesus on Zombies

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:58:00 GMT

By David Dorn

I bet you didn't realize that Jesus talked about the living dead long before they were ever popular as zombies. With his statement, "let the dead bury their own dead" Jesus is declaring that those without faith in him are the living dead, they just don't know it. But in Jesus we can have life. Through Jesus we have a way of salvation, but he gives us a choice. Have you ever chosen him? Check out this Bible study on Matthew 18-22.

Website - http://preposterousproject.org/
On Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/iampreposterous
On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/preposterousproject
Music by http://opsound.org/artist/macroform/

VIDEO: The Undead Youth Ministry Interview

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:03:00 GMT

By Paul Turner

Youth ministry strategist Paul Turner interviews Abingdon Press author Clay Morgan about his book Undead.

ARTICLE: Before You Plan That International Mission Trip ...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:52:00 GMT

By Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena

When organizing an international mission trip, it is helpful to prepare your group to go with open minds and open hearts: open to learning from the people you will meet, open to listening to them, and open to understanding them and how they interpret the gospel in light of their history and reality.

Groups sometimes go with the idea of teaching or showing “our” way, or evangelizing. We should definitely always try to show God’s love and be a word of hope; however, we should remember that in the majority of the countries where mission teams go, the people are already Christian. Most groups who visit Nicaragua, for example, find that they encounter some deeply committed Christians and have their faith deepened by the Nicaraguan Christians. But the Americans have to be open to hearing new ways of talking about Jesus’ teachings.

People who go on mission trips want to help or serve in some way. We often think in terms of a work project—something concrete where we can see the result. We would suggest that a more useful way to help and serve the people is to learn from them: about their culture, their reality, their history, the history of our country in relation to theirs, how their country was impoverished, and the unjust systems that continue to impoverish it.

Go to Learn, Not to Teach

When groups come to Nicaragua, we try to have one to two days of encounters with people and organizations who can share this information and their perspectives with us. The groups are then better prepared to educate others back home about the country. Sometimes they learn of some U.S. policy that could be changed or improved, and in response they may call, write, or visit their representatives. In this way, they are helping in a long-term manner that might positively affect the lives of many, many people.

Consider planning an integral experience for your mission team that includes getting to know people and organizations in the country you plan to visit; learning about the people and their country; worshiping together or reflecting together on the differences and similarities in your countries and your lives in light of Jesus’ example and message. In Nicaragua, we usually include a day of tourism near the end of the time that also can serve for group processing and reflection.

Go to Support, Not to Lead

Most, but not all, mission teams include a work project. However, it doesn't make sense for mission teams to take charge of the planning and execution of work projects when local people need work and have the expertise suited for their environment. (For example, construction is very different in many earthquake-prone countries, and people native to the area know how best to build for their environment.) Instead, focus on raising funds before you go and on offering support work while you are there.

We host mission teams through the Nicaraguan organization to which we are assigned by Global Ministries: The Women and Community Association. Teams plan visits with us at least a year in advance and begin fundraising for a project they will support. Sometimes it is a construction project, and other times the group may paint a playground or plant trees together with members of the community. The rest of the donation goes for a health, education, or human rights program.

Let’s say the group is going to support the construction of a classroom: the Nicaraguan host organization, Women and Community, will coordinate with local leaders to choose and plan the project. The team sends money months in advance, and local people are hired to build the classroom. The money stays in the community economy; local people earn money and the mission team works on finishing touches—painting usually, or perhaps a drop ceiling.

When you consider the cost of an international trip, it just doesn't make sense to have the primary focus on work, given that we can spend a fairly small amount of money and put local people to work. (I think the groups that just want to work should find a U.S. location for their trip.) When the trip also includes a major emphasis on learning and on relationship building, I believe a lot of good can come out of international mission experiences for the groups and for the people they work with in the country—if they go with an open heart.

Suggestions that can help you “do no harm”:

Contact your hosts and get any materials or orientation they provide. Take seriously suggested advance reading. If you don’t receive reading suggestions, search them out.
Listen to your hosts both before and during the trip and try to abide by their orientations.
If your hosts do not include at least one day of learning as described above – ask them if they could set up, or find someone to set up, the kinds of meetings described above, and let them know you are prepared for the extra costs of honorariums for speakers.
Find someone to facilitate a group dynamics workshop to get to know one another in advance of the trip.
Gifts and donations should go to churches and organizations and not to individuals. Individual gift-giving erodes community cohesiveness.
If you plan to do an international trip every few years, attempt to find an organization or church to partner with. In this way, over time, people in both communities have a chance to get to know one another, understand the other’s joys and suffering, and grow in love and respect.
Gather for shared prayer and study in the time prior to your departure and ask your church to hold you in prayer during your trip.
Expect to be changed by the experience.

ARTICLE: Don’t Blame God When Your Team Loses

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:08:00 GMT

By Josh Tinley

A Public Religion Research Institute Survey released earlier this week showed that that 53 percent believe that “God rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success” and that 27 percent of Americans believe that “God plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event.”

There have been plenty of devout Christian athletes who have had long and successful sports careers: former NBA most valuable player and two-time champion David Robinson, six-time Olympic medalist (and four-time gold medalist) runner Allyson Felix, Cy Young Award-winning pitcher John Smoltz, all-time great NFL defensive end Reggie White, are just a few of the athletes who have excelled at the top level of their respective sports while being outspoken about their faith.

But for every Christian athlete who ends up in his or her sport’s hall of fame, there are many more stuck in minor leagues or on practice squads or who lack the skills to play their sport beyond high school. And there are others, such as former NFL MVP and born-again Christian Shaun Alexander, whose careers are cut short by injury. Can we really say with any confidence that “God rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success”?

A year ago, NFL quarterback Tim Tebow appeared to be the beneficiary of divine meddling. As quarterback of the Denver Broncos Tebow, who is famous for writing Bible verses in his eye black as a college player and kneeling in prayer after scoring, made several incredible game winning plays in the fourth quarter and overtime, many of which came in games where he otherwise played poorly. The Broncos, who began that season 1–4, went 7–4 with Tebow as the starting quarterback and earned a playoff berth. In their opening round playoff game, the Broncos upset the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers behind Tebow’s 316 passing yards.

But following Tebow’s transcendent 2011 season, the Broncos signed Peyton Manning and traded their former quarterback to the New York Jets. Tebow spent 2012 as a backup and ended the season as the Jets’ third-string quarterback. Thus far no NFL team has expressed interest in having Tebow on its roster in 2013. If “God rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success,” why is America’s most recognizable Christian athlete looking for a job? What does that say about God? What does it say about Tim Tebow?

Jesus never says that God’s people will be rewarded with “good health and success.” To the contrary, Jesus invites us to a life of sacrifice and tells us that we are blessed when we are “hopeless” and “harassed” (Matthew 5:3, 10). And while some American Christians have the opportunity to play professional sports, many more Christians around the world suffer from poverty, war, famine, disease, and persecution. They would love some “good health and success.”

The idea that “God plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event” poses similar problems. When the St. Louis Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV, the world learned the story of Rams quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner, who wasn’t drafted out of college, went from working in a grocery store in Iowa to Super Bowl MVP in just five years. Along the way, he gave his life to Christ, a decision he credits for his unlikely rise to superstardom. But Warner led two more teams to Super Bowls and lost both times, once to a team that would later be accused of illegally taping the Rams’ practice to get an advantage and once to a team whose quarterback was twice accused (but cleared) of sexual assault. What does that say about God?

And what does it say about God that the 2004 USC Trojans won the BCS National Championship only to vacate the championship six years later when the NCAA determined that running back Reggie Bush had been ineligible? Why, for that matter, would God allow cyclist Lance Armstrong and runner Marion Jones—both of whom would receive bans from their respective sports for doping—to win so many Tours de Frances and Olympic medals?

Maybe God is making a statement about the NCAA’s rules. Maybe God is reminding us, “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23), even if we’ve never taken performance enhancing drugs or illegally recorded our opponents’ practices. So before we get worked up about the splinter in Lance Armstrong or Marion Jones’s eyes, we should deal with the logs in our own eyes (Matthew 7:1-6). But when we look for God’s hand in the outcome of every sporting event, any message we think God is sending us gets muddled.

And when we decide that God determines who wins a sporting event, we have to ask the uncomfortable question of why God intervenes in human affairs to help a team win a football game but not to end the conflicts in Syria or Mali. Such a God is less a lord, father, or comforter than a college student who spends so much time playing Madden 13 that he neglects to study for midterms.

The cover of last week’s Sports Illustrated features the headline, “Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?” And, yes, God does care. We can affirm that God cares about who wins the Super Bowl just as God cares about everything else that happens in this wonderful universe God has created. But we shouldn’t assume that God has a rooting interest, that the outcome of Sunday’s game was God’s will, or that certain Christian players on the winning team have been rewarded for finding favor with God. When we make these assumptions, we end up with a God who doesn’t look much like the God we know in Christ.

Josh Tinley is a curriculum editor for Abingdon Press and the author of Kneeling in the End Zone: Spiritual Lessons From the World of Sports.

BLOG: Bringing the Age Groups Together

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:18:00 GMT

By Missy Buchanan

Not long ago I stood with my feet in the clear water of the Caribbean. It was a quiet morning as I lingered and listened to the natural rhythm of the waves that was interrupted only by an occasional boat passing in the distance.

From the corner of my eye, I could see a silver-haired couple wearing tropical cover-ups and hats. I noticed that they walked unevenly, most likely due to arthritic knees, I thought. The older man put his arm under the crook of the woman’s elbow and steadied her as they slowly strolled along the beach. At times, they paused to let the foam curl around their bare feet.

Though I couldn’t hear the conversation, I saw them stop to speak to a young couple as they passed by. The twenty-somethings had fit, tanned bodies and teeny swimsuits. They smiled as they greeted the older couple, then turned back to the water and jumped the turquoise waves. I imagined that they were honeymooners beginning a new journey in life. Not far away, a middle-aged grandmother reached down to brush the sand from her granddaughter’s legs while the grandfather slathered sunscreen on the arms of a toddler.

I reflected on the scene for a while. It was a snapshot of what I wish the church to be. What we are called to be. A place where people of all ages come together and plunge into the life-giving water.
With that image planted firmly in my mind, I watched people of all ages interact at the water’s edge over the next few days. There was an older man leaning on a cane who found joy in watching a preschooler hunt for seashells. A balding father who gently encouraged a self-conscious teenager to give sea kayaking a try. A young family who grabbed hands as they waded into the shallow water to snorkel.

I noticed how the some folks actively pursued water sports while others preferred to walk quietly on the beach. They had come from different backgrounds and had had different life experiences. Some were just beginning the journey of life. Others were nearing the end. But they had all come to the seashore to be refreshed and renewed.

I couldn’t help but think about the things that seem to cause a division between age groups in church. Things like upbringings and traditions. Theological understandings and social issues. Politics and perspectives on history.

Let’s face it. The church has also unintentionally promoted divisions between generations by overemphasizing age-related ministries. In trying to meet the specific needs of children, youth, adults and senior adults, we have created an aura of exclusivity among age groups. Unless we are intentional about efforts to bring the age groups together in ministry, the church will never be truly healthy.

Oh, how I wish that every church was a place where generations would stop and listen to each other and care for one another. It is my prayer that we all gather at the seashore and together stand in awe of the Creator.

ARTICLE: Hospitality: More than Coffee

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:59:00 GMT

By Betsy Hall

12Stone® Church has already added an additional Saturday night six o'clock worship service to make room for their increase of newcomers this season. The service began in January and will continue through Easter. They have had several hundred 12Stone regular attenders commit to changing to this service—freeing up seats at their regular 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. Sunday worship times. They plan to evaluate this new Saturday night worship after Easter to decide whether or not to keep it. (I'm guessing they will.)

To prepare for the new Saturday night service, church leaders held a campaign asking not only for 300 volunteers to change their worship time but also for additional volunteers to help in Hospitality and Children’s Ministry. The goal was to make sure the new service matched the Sunday morning worship experience.

Adding services is nothing new to 12Stone. At Christmas the church offered twenty-two worship services over their four campuses not counting their Online Campus services. They are serious about having a seat in worship for newcomers they don’t want to turn away anyone.

Tanya Sullivan, the Director of Hospitality, has trained twenty new team members who are already working at the new service. Her team leader for Sunday night has also volunteered to lead these twenty new volunteers. One area Tanya oversees is the Sunday morning Brew Team, which consists of ninety people brewing coffee and hosting at four free coffee stations around the church.

And hospitality is not just about coffee. The main campus has a worship center that seats twenty-six hundred people, with two additional rooms where the church can host up to six hundred people for service overflow, special events, and trainings.

Until newcomers are seated for worship, the hospitality goal is that each person be already welcomed by volunteers in the parking lot, by greeters outside, and by door openers. There is also, a Guest Services area where all newcomers receive a gift bag with a coffee cup, a complimentary Starbucks® coffee coupon from their full service Café, a Bold Crossings sermon CD, and information on how to get connected at 12Stone.

In addition to the ninety peole that serve on the Brew Team, Tanya’s Hospitality Team consists of five volunteer leaders and seventy-five additional team members. "Everyone has a genuine heart for service," she says. The team members are responsible for hospitality events, and their duties include set up, hosting, and cleanup. Her team plans and implements food and beverage for numerous events like Membership Classes, Lunch and Learns, Baby Dedications, and Leadership Development. Every Sunday, they serve a meal for those who have volunteered during all three worship services—over a hundred people.

With a church the size of 12Stone, Tanya can’t possibly be at all the events they host, so she has created tools for her busy volunteer leaders to use to keep things organized. See the links below for her Event Detail Planning Sheet and Hospitality Event Setup Sheet.

When asked about her gifts and calling to hospitality she replied:

I have always enjoyed planning and hosting events since I can remember. I started with a college internship at an event-planning firm, and each job that has followed has involved planning events and hosting guests. God gave me a serving heart for hospitality, and I thoroughly enjoy entertaining guests to provide them with the best possible experience. Coming to 12Stone was a perfect fit for me, and I am privileged to lead a wonderful group of volunteers who have the same serving heart toward others.

Tanya has been with the church for five years and came from a hospitality, restaurant, and catering background. She and her family attended 12Stone before she started working there. 12Stone employees, including Senior Pastor Kevin Myers, used to come to the restaurant where she worked and encouraged her to apply for the job opening in an effort to bring her level of hospitality service to 12Stone events.

For more information about 12Stone Church, go to www.12Stone.com

BLOG: Wondering About Young Families

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:06:11 GMT

By Jacob Armstrong

A 2010 study found that the median age of United Methodists was 57. The median age of those in the United States hovers around 35. This glaring discrepancy has caused a well-founded sense of panic or at least disappointment in the United Methodist Church (most other denominations claim similar incongruities between church age and population age). For some the panic/disappointment is connected to a fear that our institution will cease to exist. For many, though, the emotions connected to this data and the desire to do something about it has more to do with the mission of the church. Our hearts break when we realize we are failing as a church to reach young and younger people and connect them with Jesus.

I am a pastor whose age is less than the United States median and who has 4 other people living in my home who fit that criterion too. The church I serve is a 4-year-old church who has many others below the age of 35 as well (and many above it too!). I want to share some practical advice for churches that might be interested in reaching young parents and young children. I do not share this advice, though, from my experience as pastor of a church with young people. I share it from the experience gained from one weekend when I had the opportunity to take my 3 young daughters to church.

I was taking the Sunday “off”. My family was excited because it was one of those rare Sundays when dad/husband would be home on Sunday morning. The Saturday before my wife asked me where we would be worshipping on Sunday morning. I wondered, “How many of the families that visit my church for the first time begin thinking about it within the 24 hours before?”

Where else would I turn but the internet? I began looking at websites of churches in our area that we might be interested in visiting. I was struck by how many had out dated material on their site. I also noticed how difficult it was to simply find the worship times for Sunday mornings. What I wanted to know, though, was more than the worship time, and even more than the Church’s stated vision or mission (which can be found easily on most sites). What I wanted to know is what my children could expect. The church we chose to visit gave a simple outline of what we could expect to find for our children when we walked in the door, and their presentation of the material made me at least feel like they had welcomed a young family before. We chose the 9am service because our kids get up early. My wife asked me what time we would need to leave and I said 8:30…I didn’t want to be late for church.

Now remember, most Sunday mornings I am out the door before the sun rises. When I woke up Sunday on my day “off” I had plenty of time to sit at the breakfast table and relax. There was a part of my heart that longed for church, a part of my heart that longed to worship. I wondered how many of the folks that attend my church feel that same longing on Sunday morning. Another part of my heart longed for coffee. I didn’t want to move. My kitchen was tranquil, quiet, and all the movement of my week seemed to come to a place of rest early that Sunday morning. I began to consider spending my entire day sitting in that one place looking at my backyard trees and doing nothing. I wondered how many of the folks that attend my church consider that it might be more faithful to sit still at the kitchen table rather than come to church.

At 8:30 we were not ready to go. We were not dressed and we were not in a good mood. We rushed to get everyone’s shoes and coats on and left at 8:44. When we got in the car there was a tangible feeling of tension in the air. Because of our rush it felt as if we were angry at each other. I wondered how many young families that come to my church feel tension as they approach our Church on Sunday morning.

We arrived to the church a couple minutes after 9. The church had someone greet us at the front door and lead us to where our 3 children would go. They had an easy sign in procedure and a safe way of checking our children in. We put our 3rd and 1st grader in their respective rooms. I carried our two year old into the toddler room. I set her down. She screamed. I picked her up and she stopped. I set her down and she screamed again. I began to sweat. I apologized to the teacher and carried my daughter out. My wife and I walked into a darkened sanctuary carrying a crying 2 year old at 9:14am. We had missed most of the music. We found a seat; I sat down and began to relax. Even with all the rushing and tardiness I was glad I was there. I looked over at my wife and realized she has done this alone for 8 years now. I wondered how many single parents come to my church each week and experience all the things I experienced that morning alone.

The sermon was good, really good. Yet, I often thought about my girls in those rooms they had never been in, with adults they had never met, and children they had never played with. I bet I paid attention to 60 percent of the sermon. I wondered what percent of the sermons I preach people are able to pay attention to.

After the service as I walked my young family back to our car, I was really glad that we had come to church. We felt better. The sense of tension among us was gone. We felt happy and thankful that we had worshipped together. It was worth the struggle.

A few things to think about if you are at a church that wants to reach people under the age of 35 in America in 2013.

Make sure your website has the information that a young family needs to know before they bring and then entrust their children to your care. If you can’t prove that to them on the website, chances are they will stay home.
Understand that the spiritual forces of evil want the discrepancy between church age and population age to grow larger. Know that it is hard to get young children to church. Think about what you can do to make that easier for young families from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave. Think about what you can do to make it easier for single parents, and more accessible for parents with children of special needs.
Make sure parents find a safe environment for their children. What procedure do you use for check in? For notifying a parent of a crying child? For ensuring the safety of all children? If you aren’t thinking about these things parents will know it. They won’t leave their kids, they won’t bring them back, or at best they’ll be thinking about it during your sermon.
Remember that there is a deep longing within parents of young children to connect with God and for their kids to connect with God. This is a critical time for the parents and the children. Let’s do everything we can to create a place for them to connect with God.

BLOG: When Churches Compete, Everyone Wins

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:56:11 GMT

By Shane Raynor

If your church wants to be better, maybe it should start competing with other churches.

Judging from the reactions I get from some church people after I say that, you’d think I’d suggested adding Justin Bieber to the Holy Trinity.

Some of us have become afraid of the word competition. We think the concept is worldly, even evil. But competition doesn’t need to be a bad thing. At its best, competition can make everyone stronger.

In the church world, fear of competition comes largely from a misconception commonly heard in economics discussions. Some of us think that the number of potential church members in a community make up a pie and that the size of that pie is fixed. Each church gets a piece of that pie, and the only way to get a bigger piece is to take pie from the other churches.

This simply isn’t so. Here’s why.

In the business world, if a product has reached market saturation, then the pie analogy starts to have some validity. Theoretically, once there are no new customers for a particular type of product, competing vendors are forced to go after each other’s customers to increase their market share.

But Christianity is nowhere near market saturation, so churches don’t need to compete for the same people. The reality of course is that a congregation that is effective at attracting the unchurched is also going to occasionally steal a few sheep from the church down the street. This is normal and it need not be taken personally. There’s a big difference between directly targeting another church’s members and attracting them while trying to reach a different group. Remember, people in the pews often have the same hang-ups about church as the ones who aren’t already part of a congregation—they just haven’t figured out how to escape yet. There’s no way to attract one group without appealing to the other.

So what’s the point of competing if it isn’t to destroy the competition? Well, for one, to raise the bar and improve everyone’s game. Competition can be friendly. Consider one-on-one basketball. Although you want to win every time you play, if you have half a brain you also want your friend’s game to improve as well. Why? Because that pushes you to continue raise the level of your game.

Playing against scrubs is good for your ego, but it won’t make you a better basketball player.

Remember, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). Congregations sharpen each other too. As long as there aren’t any serious alternatives to your church, you can get away with sparse ministry offerings, mediocre sermons, and subpar music—for a season. But when NewChurchPlant.tv comes to town with top notch everything, sooner or later it’s going to hit you that the playing field has changed. Actually it was changing all along—the competing church just made it obvious.

There are at least a couple of strategies churches can use as they pursue friendly competition with other congregations. One is the “do it better than the other church” strategy. If the other church’s pastor has great sermons, your sermons will be masterpieces. If their band is really good, yours will be better, and so on. Another strategy is to do what the other church isn’t doing. No congregation can be all things to all people. No matter how successful a church is at reaching the masses, there are always going to be opportunities for other congregations to reach different souls. Some people don’t like rock worship bands. Others don’t like lectionary preaching. Some don’t care for small groups. Others aren’t keen on Sunday School. Every church with strengths also has a few weaknesses. You can capitalize on those weaknesses by making them your church’s strengths.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul writes, “Don’t you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize? So run to win.” (CEB) The next verse tells us, “The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies.” In this passage the Christian life is compared and contrasted with an actual footrace. Our prize is not temporary, it’s eternal. And it’s not finite, it’s infinite. The paradox is, although there’s more than enough of a crown to go around, we’re still supposed to run to win. And since we’re all in the same race, we’re competing with each other, even though we’re ultimately on the same team. Perhaps God is pleased when we try to outdo one another—but in a holy way.

Church is like that too—we’re all working together for the same kingdom, but we’re doing it in competition so we can push the entire body of Christ toward excellence.

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BLOG: The Gospel of Mark Driscoll

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:29:57 GMT

By Clay Morgan

So Mark Driscoll, right? Eh.

I’ve never been the blogger who jumps on every controversy du jour with a quick take that will get easy traffic. After watching the Driscollversies roll like choking waves week after week lately I might as well offer my take.

Driscoll is a controversial preacher from Mars Hill which is a church in Seattle and not a different planet. He’s often angry and/or saying offensive things. A quick Google search should explain what I mean. I know people who like Driscoll and those who loathe him. Kristen from Rage Against the Minivan recently did a good job describing how @PastorMark has brought a certain Howard Stern style to the pulpit.

Now we can move onto his most recent muck-up. Here’s what the mad chatter said during President Obama’s inauguration:

Praying for our president, who today will place his hand on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know.
— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) January 21, 2013

What a guy. In a TOTALLY unrelated note can you believe that some people think Christians are arrogant and judgmental? Where could they possibly get this stuff?

“I can too put my hand on the Bible.”
“Yeah, the Bible for LIARS.”

Here’s what I’m NOT going to do. I’m not going turn the beat around on Driscoll and spit venom back at him. One, that’s not the gracious thing to do. Two, he’s already giving opponents of Christianity enough ammunition without me jumping off the top rope, elbow of justice poised, into the ring of Christian infighting. Although, confession time, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle at some of these reviews of Driscoll’s new book. Yes, I know that ultimately it’s a sad commentary and stuff, but he kind of asked for it.

Responses to Driscoll’s Inauguration tweet were fiery and explosive. You know we’re living in strange time indeed when one of the best replies comes from, *checks notes, wait that can’t be right*, Alyssa Milano? (Insert Who’s The Boss pun here.)

@pastormark Your last tweet is not very Christian of you. Shouldn't you be inspiring people to love and have compassion and respect?
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 21, 2013

It’s tough to respond in a measured way sometimes (although I recommend this take from Lore at A Deeper Church as well as this one from Christian Piatt). It’s difficult to not rage a little when a high profile pastor feels like he can tell the world exactly what our president believes. Glad to hear Driscoll knows what’s in every man’s heart.

‘But wait Clay, do you really think Obama is a Christian?’ I’m sorry if that question comes to your mind. Here’s a quick rundown on some of the Greatest Hits of Jesus:

Love God with everything you’ve got.
Love others exactly as you want to be loved.
Go tell people everywhere that God loves them and they need Jesus.
Don’t judge people.

Not only are we not supposed to judge what’s in the hearts of others, we are explicitly told NOT to do that. Now, I don’t want to get worked up here so let’s anagram. It helps me relax.

Mark Driscoll=I’m Dark Scroll, Kill Mars Cord, and my personal favorite Mad Rick Rolls.

Okay, now I feel better. Stress gone.

So this is the point where some people say, “Well, what are we supposed to do, ignore the evil ways of everyone? Somebody has to speak up! We expected to never stand up when Obama/people…?”

Here’s the way I see it, and no, I don’t pretend to have it all figured out.

1. The Bible says to respect government leaders and always remember that God is in control (check out Romans 13). New Testament peeps didn’t defy the rulers unless they were told to renounce their faith. Far as I can tell, no one is forcing us to renounce our faith.

2. We’re also supposed to take the plank out of our own eye instead of throwing handfuls of saw dust into our neighbor’s eyes. While Driscoll is saying the president is a liar who doesn’t believe in the faith he professes, many people are looking at Driscoll asking why he says and does the things he does while professing the same faith.

3. And what about Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Does Driscoll or any of us like being judged? Should we ask Driscoll if he really believes these things he’s saying then what about the part of speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)? It’s okay to disagree with behavior that God calls wrong, necessary even if you want to be more specific, but we seem incapable of criticizing ideas without attacking others.

I don’t know, maybe Driscoll is tapped into some God line I never read about in the Bible. He seems to have his own gospel anchored in a style that Christianity needs to escape because it’s not always very good news. It’s hard enough to represent Jesus well when we don’t fill up at the pride pump every day on our commute to life. Humility is as closely related to truth as love is. We do well to ensure those virtues are in our own hearts rather than examining the hearts of others.

This post originally appeared on Clay Morgan's blog.

BLOG: Saeed Abedini, Religious Freedom, and President Obama

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:01:58 GMT

By Shane Raynor

Last Friday during a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney read a statement of “deep concern” over the detainment of U.S. pastor Saeed Abedini in Iran. The White House joined the State Department condemning Iran for its “continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion.”

The question about Abedini was the last one of the 45 minute briefing, and Carney took only a couple of minutes to answer it, so this certainly wasn’t at the top of the press’s agenda for the day. Still, for Christians concerned about the sparse media coverage of religious persecution, it was a hopeful sign.

The universal right of freedom of religion. We know our country believes in it, but it sure is nice to hear it officially from the White House. And considering the amount of support the current administration gives to so-called “rights” that aren’t explicitly in the U.S. constitution (e.g. abortion and universal health care), Jay Carney invoking a freedom that’s actually in the Bill of Rights was a refreshing throwback to a time when our nation seemed much less divided than it is now.

It’s much easier to condemn human rights violations when it’s our enemies who are doing the violating, but we’ve not been as good at calling out our allies in the Middle East who regularly do the same thing. In Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for example, Muslims who convert to Christianity face harsh prison sentences, and in some cases, death. Earlier this month, an Egyptian woman and her seven children were sentenced to 15 years in prison for converting to Christianity. But we don’t hear much about this from our government or from the news media. And this virtual silence on the issue didn’t start during the Obama administration—it goes back at least to the George H.W. Bush administration and before.

The Saeed Abedini case is more significant than most because Abedini is an American citizen. He converted to Christianity from Islam 13 years ago in Iran, and he and his wife became active in the underground house church movement there. They moved to the U.S. in 2005 to escape persecution, but Abedini returned to Iran in 2009 to visit family and was arrested. He was released when he agreed to end his involvement with the house church movement. Abedini became a U.S. citizen in 2010 and last year he returned to Iran to visit his family and to help build an orphanage. He was arrested in September and has been incarcerated in the notorious Evin Prison since then. On Sunday he was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly threatening Iran’s national security through his involvement with the house church movement.

With this case, President Obama has a huge opportunity to build trust with some of the Christians who didn’t support his reelection bid in November. It’s no secret that the president is viewed with suspicion by many in the community of faith—his views on abortion are at odds with the views of most evangelicals, and the announcement last year of his support for same-sex marriage intensified the distrust. It also arguably dampened the enthusiasm of some of the president’s own Christian base. Add to that the recent conflicts between the administration and religious organizations over health care, and it becomes clear that President Obama could stand to improve his image within the Christian community.

But what could the White House do to go beyond the statement of concern we heard about last Friday? Well, the United States doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Iran, but the president could use his bully pulpit and the worldwide influence of the United States government to put pressure on the Iranian government to release Pastor Abedini. But this is even bigger than Abedini. He's the current face of religious persecution, but people are harassed for their faith every day in many parts the world. A few speeches from prominent American politicians would help shine a much-needed spotlight on the issue of religious freedom and persecution. President Obama stands to gain a lot with very little risk. Frankly I can’t understand why he’s not running with this issue.

I suspect that if Saeed Abedini were a mainline pastor trying to establish a family planning clinic in Iran (rather than an independent evangelical building an orphanage) his current situation would be getting a lot more press coverage. But whether or not that’s the case, I’m grateful for the fact that we’ve heard as much about him as we have. Many others around the world are in similar situations and we’ve never even heard their names.

Please remember this courageous pastor and his family in your prayers.

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ARTICLE: Planting New Churches

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:30:50 GMT

By Dave Barnhart

Our Church-Planting Heritage

In the early days of American Methodism, most churches didn’t have full-time pastors; they had circuit riders, itinerant preachers who rode their horses around a cluster of churches. “No sooner was a congregation established somewhere,” writes retired bishop Will Willimon, “than the circuit was reorganized and the traveling preacher sent somewhere that had no church.” The frequency with which the Methodist movement started churches led to the claim that there were more Methodist churches than US post offices. Like Johnny Appleseed, the Methodist movement planted new communities of faith as the English-speaking population increased and spread westward. Today, United Methodist bishops still appoint pastors to churches in an “itinerant system,” a remnant of this missionary heritage.

Early American Methodism also began as a lay movement. “Everyday” Christians, not clergy, were the driving force in organizing new small groups, planting new churches, and preaching to new believers—people with names like Robert Strawbridge and Barbara Heck. Jacob Albright was another such lay member of an early Methodist group. The son of German immigrants, he saw the potential of this new Methodist movement to reach a flood of new German immigrants to America. Soon his followers created a new denomination, the Evangelical Association, which was more tailored to the needs of his ethnic group.

By 1965, Methodists were the most numerous of all Protestant denominations in the United States. In 1968, two centuries after this lay-led, church-planting, missionary movement began, The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church would merge to form The United Methodist Church.

Why Start New Churches?

It’s no secret that many Protestant churches in the United States, including The United Methodist Church, have lost this zeal for evangelism and church-planting. According to Eric Ramsey of the Southern Baptist Convention, “North America is the only continent in the world where the church is not growing.” As Lovett Weems reports in his book Focus: The Real Challenges That Face The United Methodist Church, 1965 was the last year that Methodist churches reported a membership gain. Having achieved such success, church-planting slowed, and membership declined. The general population in the United States, though, has continued to grow. “Existing churches alone cannot increase attendance in proportion to population growth,” Weems writes. “The only means by which denominations can possibly keep pace with population growth is through new church starts.”

The goal of new church starts is to reach more people with the life-changing good news of Christ. For Jacob Albright, it only took a passion for Christ and an awareness of the unreached populations in his own community to start a church-planting revival. According to Weems, new churches need to grow larger in order to reach “more people, younger people, and more diverse people.” In 2009, although churches averaging 500 or more in attendance made up only two percent of the total number of churches, they represented 25 percent of membership, 25 percent of professions of faith, 28 percent of youth, and 28 percent of people of color. New churches that grow reach new people. Last June, I was appointed to plant a new church in Birmingham, Alabama. As our fledgling church has been meeting in homes, planning our first public worship services, and doing the evangelical work of inviting people and hanging out with them, I have become more appreciative of our church-planting heritage. A friend likes to point out that every church that exists today, even ones over a hundred years old, began as a new church start. Many of them began as an idea around someone’s kitchen table and met in a house, barn, or public building. Someone saw a need and felt compelled to share the good news with new people. You are reading this essay, alone or in a group, because someone responded to the call to reach new people.

Data across denominations suggest that “new churches reach new people at a higher rate than established churches.” According to Richard Harris of the Southern Baptist Convention, “Established SBC churches report 3.4 baptisms per 100 resident members, whereas new churches average 11.7. It’s not hard to conclude that more new churches would lead more people to Christ.”

Churches that help plant churches can sometimes experience an evangelistic revival of their own. One 1,200-member church grew to 1,600 members after they planted a new church. The original church briefly considered focusing more of their resources on their own burgeoning ministries rather than the ministries of the new church; but when they examined how many people had made new professions of faith, they found that number to be only eight of their 400 new members. In the new, smaller church, the number of adult converts was 100.

What Do New Churches Look Like?

God continues to call new communities into existence and new people to lead them. Such communities may have their own unique music, worship format, and population. After Hours Denver is one such new com-munity. This church, led by Jerry Herships, meets in bars on Monday nights. They are focused on being a “missional” (mission-focused) church that reaches out to the local community. Missional churches don’t just focus on caring for those who are homeless. “It’s about finding out what’s the need of a community and addressing that need,” Herships says.

Sacred Tapestry is another unique plant. Led by Teresa Angle-Young in Marietta, Georgia, their worship centers around brunch on Sunday mornings; and instead of congregational singing, they listen to jazz. Angle-Young has tailored the worship service for people who don’t like to sit in pews and who don’t like singing, as well as to attract non-churchgoers who may feel more comfortable in a coffeehouse setting than in a traditional sanctuary. “I’m trying to remove any kind of barriers . . . that keep them from engaging,” she says.

Part of what drives this new Methodist church-planting movement is the recognition that we do not all belong to one culture. Instead, we belong to many different subcultures. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to spreading the gospel, and so multiple churches can exist in the same geographical space or even in the same building. Some of us may have grown up singing the words of the children’s song “We Are the Church,” which says that the church isn’t a building, or a steeple, or a resting place—“the church is a people” (The United Methodist Hymnal, 558). Many of these new congregations take that message to heart. They have realized it’s not enough to hold various events and special Sundays hoping to attract people through the doors of a conventional church. Instead, they have decided to imitate Wesley by taking their message outside the walls of the church.

Creating New Churches for New People

There are as many different styles and personalities of churches as there are people-groups and subcultures, and they develop in different ways. Some are classic “parachute drops,” in which a church-planter is appointed to a community alone and begins knocking on doors. But as churches have become more intentional about reproducing themselves, they have developed a variety of strategies for doing so. Mont Duncan, executive director of new church development in the Florida Conference of the UMC, says that starting new churches isn’t a cookie-cutter approach.

Some established churches become “parent” churches to a new community by spinning off a worship service, Sunday school class, or small group into a new location. They may support the new church financially or with staff and space. Path 1, the denominational new church-starts movement at the General Board of Discipleship, has identified nearly a dozen different church-planting strategies. “One of the most surprising and exciting ones for me,” says Emily Reece, new church strategist at Path 1, “is lay-led church plants.” Laypeople, she says, are sometimes sent “to serve in ways that we don’t have enough clergy to do or that clergy may not be best equipped to do.” In many ways, these trends hearken back to Wesley’s early Methodist movement in America.

How Do We Help?

I’m always encouraged when I talk to members of established congregations and the first thing they ask is “How can we help?” While a new community of faith may not be for them, they recognize that their friends, or grandchildren, or coworkers may need it.

The most obvious thing that members of established congregations can do is pray. These new congregations, pastors, and lay leaders need plenty of spiritual support. Another thing supporters can do is to educate themselves about their own local church-planting efforts. United Methodists belong to a connectional system in which we try to align our ministry efforts to do more than we could do alone. Some people may be called to start a church, and some may be called to help others discern their call. Some may be called to raise funds, and some may be called to write checks.

Members of established congregations can also refer and invite. Most churchgoers know a friend, relative, or coworker who might attend a new church. Sometimes new congregations need help with things established churches take for granted like child care, event planning, or music; so service is another way established members can help.

Emily Reece names three strengths that United Methodists have in planting churches. First is the deliberately inclusive attitude of the church, which is often more open to sending women and ethnic minority leaders to start churches. Second is the Wesleyan emphasis on God’s grace, which is a welcome message for people who have been turned off to church in the past. Third is our connectional system, in which all United Methodist churches are connected and cooperate in some way to reach new people. “This is ‘back to the future’ for us,” says Reece. “We’re returning to our roots; but we’re also planting with more varied strategies and we’re getting better at it, and those are good trends.”

VIDEO: Inaugural Prayer Service Sermon

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:20:49 GMT

By Adam Hamilton

Here's Adam Hamilton's full sermon from the Inaugural Prayer Service last Tuesday at the Washington National Cathedral.

ARTICLE: Getting Counting Wrong - and Right

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:41:41 GMT

By Jorge Acevedo

Many in my denomination are in uproar over the recommendations that every one of the more than 32,000 United Methodist churches in America measure vitality for at least the next ten years.

These markers of vitality include effective pastoral leadership, multiple small groups and programs for children and youth, a mix of traditional and contemporary worship services, and a high percentage of involved and spiritually engaged laypeople. The hope is that if we give attention to these drivers of congregational utility, maybe just maybe we can turn our 85% of our United Methodist Churches that are not vital. If we do so, we will be the first denomination in history to ever reverse this kind of decline.

In the conversations I have had with leaders and in many of the articles and blogs I have read on-line, there are a variety of responses to this new mandate. Some argue that metrics don't tell the story of vitality. Others worry that they will be used punitively against clergy and low functioning congregations. Even others question whether these are the right metrics.
Now I'm not bright enough to answer these concerns, but I do have a fundamental conviction about counting. Here it is plain and simple. Metrics matter! Counting matters! Let me illustrate.

Football is king in my sports universe. In the late summer and early fall, from Mike and Mike in the Morning to fantasy football, every aspect of football is taken apart and dissected by the experts. They have every statistic on football known to humanity. Points per game, third down efficiency, passing ratings, and penalty yards per game to name a few! And why? It's because they know that these metrics matter to the bottom line. And what's that? To win football games! The metrics aren't the only thing that matters, but they matter. Metrics have the capacity to tell how a team is currently doing as well as forecast how a team might do in a future game, not to mention scoring the game to see who gets the "W." Counting matters in football or else why keep score?

When I went to Dr. Drass' office several weeks ago for my annual physical, counting mattered too. My blood pressure, cholesterol counts, and body weight all matter. He told me I was in good health except that I needed to lose about twenty pounds. I wanted to say to Dr. Drass, "Well, I might be fat, but you're ugly and I can lose weight. Ugly is forever!" The only problem is Ed is a handsome man and in my church too! Those numbers are vital indicators of the health of the body.
Counting matters but it does seem to me that we can get it wrong or we can get it right, and the Bible has good examples of both.

Getting Counting Wrong

It seems to me that, at first, King David was a hesitant leader. The last of Jesse's boys, at first he seemed more at home with sheep and songwriting than warriors and warring. But the calling of God and the anointing of the Spirit bid him to a God-sized assignment. He was to be the second king of Israel. After ascending to the throne, after many a victory in war, after many a song about him killing “tens of thousands,” David seemed to slowly drift into arrogance and self-reliance. Success in ministry has a shadow side. It's the tendency to think that maybe just maybe, we made the success happen. This happened for David. Look at 1 Chronicles 21:1-7 (NLT):

Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.” But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?” But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah. But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do. God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it.

The Bible says that Satan himself rose up against Israel and tempted David to take a census. Joab had a major concern about the king’s request, but David insisted, so Joab took it and when God evaluated the counting, God was displeased.—so displeased that God punished the people. Why? Listen to what Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary writes about David's counting:

This act of David in ordering a numbering of the people arose from pride and a self-glorifying spirit. It indicated a reliance on his part on an arm of flesh, an estimating of his power not by the divine favor but by the material resources of his kingdom. He thought of military achievement and of conquest, and forgot that he was God's vice-regent. In all this he sinned against God.

Ouch! David got the counting all wrong! Instead of making it about God, he made it about himself. Every leader knows the temptation for counting to be “all about me.”

As pastor in one church for fifteen years, I have and still wrestle with the evil one about counting with this motive. By grace, our numbers have mostly been "up and to the right" for most of the decade and a half in Southwest Florida. There is a seduction to fruitfulness. I know when the whisper of evil is heeded in my heart. It's when I'm counting and I find my self worth and value as a child of God in how we are doing. Good weeks means Jesus loves me. A bad week means He doesn't! I know that's crass but that's what the inner demons say. Sometimes I get counting wrong.
When we count to inflate our self-worth, when we count to define of self-importance, then counting is not just wrong it's sinful. This seduction is always there for us as leaders. We have to be honest about it. I have fallen prey to counting wrongly and have had to repent and turn from it. But it does still seem to me that we can get counting right too. Just as awful as counting wrongly is, counting rightly is beautiful and honorable.

Getting Counting Right

Years ago, I heard a pastor say "If God didn't want us to count in ministry, then why did God name a book in the Bible Numbers?" It's cute and clever and I think at least partly right. I do think God wants us to count in ministry. When you look at all four Gospel narratives as well as the book of Acts, Jesus ends his ministry with the mandate to “go and make disciples.” The first followers of Jesus and everyone who has followed Jesus ever since has had the same mandate...to make disciples!
Counting the making of disciples seems to be important to Dr. Luke in his biography of the work of the Holy Spirit through the first followers of Jesus. In his second book, Acts, the growth of the church was counted. Trace with me some of the counting.

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. —Acts 2:41

But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children. —Acts 4:4

The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers. —Acts 9:31

So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day. —Acts 16:5

It seemed that counting mattered to our spiritual fathers and mothers.

In our worship folder at Grace Church, the heading for weekly worship metrics says, “We count people because people count.” It’s not original with us, but it’s still true. People matter. And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about a person worshipping with thousands in a mega-church or worshipping with ten in a very small church. They matter and frankly, they deserve to be counted!

I think at the end of the day, we can get counting wrong or we can get it right. When counting defines self-worth or self-importance, it’s wrong. When counting defines faithfulness to our mission to make disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world, it’s right! Jesus said of His followers in John 15:8 (NLT):

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Jesus used the word “much” here. He connected it to fruitfulness and said that when “much fruit” is evidenced in the life of a Christ-follower God is glorified.

For the mission of Jesus that the Bible states clearly in five red-letter statements from the Master Himself to be fulfilled, it will take “much fruit” done by God-honoring individuals, churches and ministries. With nearly one third of planet without access to Jesus and with nearly one-third of planet having rejected Jesus at least thus far, the Body of Christ has a lot of Kingdom work to do.

ARTICLE: Adam Hamilton to Preach at Inaugural Prayer Service

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:15:16 GMT

By Ministry Matters

United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton will be delivering the sermon at Tuesday's Inaugural National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral. Adam is the pastor of the 16,000+ member Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.

Adam is the author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, Final Words from the Cross, and most recently, The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.

The prayer service is Tuesday January 22 at 10:30 a.m. ET and will be nationally televised. President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden are all scheduled to attend.

Links:

Preaching for the President's Inauguration - Adam Hamilton
Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton to Preach at Inaugural National Prayer Service - Religion News Service

ARTICLE: Taking Ash Wednesday Public

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:25:56 GMT

By Emily Case

Sometimes making a difference is as simple as trying something new. As simple as stepping outside our comfort zone and trying. As simple as going to Starbucks.

Ash Wednesday has always been a powerful day to me. As uncomfortable as it can be, I relish the chance to publicly wear my faith. The metaphors of dying to self, of repentance, of new life rising from the ashes, all stretch and grow my faith. It begins 46 days of reflection, of penitence, of forgiveness and grace. It is a sacred rite that I look forward to each year. Perhaps this is because my faith has been so influenced by the tangible. I have been changed more by actions than words. So communion, baptism, ashes, mission projects, and community have all contributed to my faith in ways I can describe. I’ve always felt Christ’s power in ashes being placed on my head, and I have always been thankful for the witness that I have worn as I have walked out the door.

But still, I’ve always wondered why Ash Wednesday was an evening service. Maybe your church is different, offering ashes in the morning, but I have never been in a church that had anything but a 7 pm Ash Wednesday Service. It means that we place a witness on people’s heads and then send them home to go wash them off before bed.

So, last year, I decided to try something different. I decided to offer ashes in the morning. In public. At Starbucks. Posting on our church’s website and Facebook Page as well as the bulletin, I invited our congregation to come have ashes imparted at a central Starbucks.

“It’s not sacred,” some told me. “You have to impart ashes in the church. In a service. Its meaningless without context. Like drive-thru communion.”

“You can’t impart ashes outside a church! Will they even understand what they are doing? Will they really let you do that?”

I heard so many concerns, but I had made up my mind. We were going to do something new and different.

And, in the end, they were wrong. It was powerful. Sacred. Transformational. Meaningful. Life-changing.

I walked into Starbucks before the sun rose. Finding a quiet spot in the corner, I centered myself and ordered my regular drink. I took a few deep breaths and waited. I read the Ash Wednesday scriptures to calm my nerves, and still nervously dropped a some ash on my Bible.

Eventually people came. I handed them a carefully crafted card (download the PDF below). One side held a prayer of confession from the hymnal with some scripture, andvthe other side had bullet points as reminders of why we wear ashes. As each person came, I asked them to take a moment to reflect and read the card. When they had, they each stood before me.

Heads bowed, I imparted this blessing as I imparted the ashes.

“Let these ashes on your head remind you that you are broken, but Christ will make you whole. That the cross on your head isn't nearly as important as the one in your heart, the one by which Christ names you and claims you. Let these ashes remind you that, one day we will all be ashes, but we love a God who has overcome even ashes. Now, repent, and believe the Gospel"

Starbucks customers watched us repent of our sins and admit to our brokenness. They listened to us quietly speak the truths of our faiths. I watched people cross themselves as they passed. I watched people stop while I was praying. I spoke with people who were reminded to go to their own churches or places of worship. I gave some people ashes. And I had many, many conversations.

“Why are you doing that?” they would ask pointedly.

“It’s a sign of our brokenness and sin. Today’s Ash Wednesday, and we are remembering our humanity, our mortality. Here, I have a card if you’re interested.”

They would take the card, and walk away. I don’t know what seeds were planted in them, but I know God was at work in us. We were tangible, living examples of humble, penitent, loving Christians. Christians more willing to accept our own sin than to point out the sins of others.

By the end of the morning I had given ashes to more than 75 people. That means 75 people went into the world as a witness. Throughout the day, Facebook reflected our ashes. Teenagers posted pictures of their ashes. Mothers, fathers, and business folk all changed their statuses to talk about getting to share the Gospel through the ashes on their heads. Just think of how many conversations these people had, imagine the witness they wore. Imagine the people they touched. Together, we were able to make a difference. I was covered in ashes, yet my heart was full of the working of Christ.

So, I challenge you to step out on faith and do an early public Ash Wednesday remembrance. Find a place. A Starbucks. A country diner. The local breakfast place. A local coffee shop. A place where people gather and pass by—lots of different people, not just people from your church. Ask your congregation to meet you there, and celebrate the beginning of Lent. Be a public witness in a way you never imagined.

I’ll be sitting at my Starbucks again this year, sipping my tea and waiting. I’ll remember to bring wet wipes this time, and hopefully to wear a black dress. I will be there, your community will be there, and so will Christ. The question is, will you?

ARTICLE: Series that Resonate: Crafting a Compelling Hook

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:03:50 GMT

By Len Wilson

Many preachers now preach almost exclusively in series, and promote them as such. Some use a series framework on which to build sermons but don’t reveal that to their congregations. Others adhere to other models and dismiss the series as a stylistic tool in the tool belt or a gimmick that tries too hard to be “relevant.”

Relevance is an abused word, a good word that has been taken in by bad guardians. Many have tried to make it wear hipster clothes. Relevant gets confused with recent. Intentions behind such work are good. The attempt to redeem cultural expression is an act of incarnational ministry; but, ironically, a misguided focus on what is recent often hurts the work of the kingdom, because attempts to be relevant fail when we chase culture, a slippery devil.

It’s a mistake to associate relevance and trendiness too closely. As able, I eschew relevant for another word. To be relevant really means to resonate, or to ring in the ears of the receiver. This type of “relevant” is like “recent” but goes deeper, past our minds. As George Hunter said in The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement,

The European Enlightenment taught that we human beings are unique creatures because we are rational creatures: while we still experience the emotions that we have inherited from our primitive forbears, education has come to lift us into the life of the mind. With the fading of the Enlightenment, it is becoming apparent that . . . we are not basically rational creatures who sometimes feel; we are basically emotional creatures who sometimes think.

To resonate is to tap into the emotional well. It’s not to abandon the life of the mind, but to create a new synthesis. It is what happens when the message connects not just to mind but to heart and soul, in the meeting of the places where we feel and the places where we think. Messages that find their way to this deep fountain change lives.

Series help create resonance, or a clarity with which a storyreceiver sharpens his or her focus on your ideas. One way a good series offers this resonance is with a compelling hook with which we can catch the storyreceiver with intrigue. The idea of a hook isn’t new, of course. The mistake we make is when we think of a hook as a device on which to hang an idea; an ornament, which is at best flowery fondant and at worst a dangerous gimmick. Good communicators don’t use a hook as a convenient place to hang an idea. Rather, they use a hook as the means to embody the idea. It’s like a symbol but doesn’t require explanation.

Think about your favorite song. A favorite song is therapy. It creates inspiration or cheeriness or melancholy. Music speaks to the soul. It resonates. Sometimes I’ll play a game where I act like I’m absentmindedly singing a familiar song just to see how long it takes someone else to pick it up and sing it without realizing it. It's fun to get someone to unwittingly sing Rick Astley or Robert Goulet. This little game doesn't have a name, but I could call it The Hook Game, because I’m using the hook of a song to “catch” the listener.

At the heart of every great song is a killer hook. It is a single lyric or riff, like the opening guitar in Smells Like Teen Spirit or the titular lyric in Yesterday, that defines the entire song. It is the part that rings in our ear. It intrigues us; it catches us and draws us in for more.

A pastor once showed me a sermon series on discipleship. He had outlined solid biblical exegesis on the topic, and several good anecdotes. It was correct, but kind of ordinary. It didn’t inspire. In such a situation, which is common, the majority of time one secret ingredient is missing: a hook. A good hook incarnates an idea.

Learning to create compelling hooks is not a master skill. Any pastor can learn to do it. It just takes practice. Here are a few tips for finding a good hook.

Make It Exact.

Don’t be general. Good hooks start with specific concepts.

Provide a solution to both a tangible “market” need and an emotional need. A market need is the hole in the conversation; a problem waiting for insight. The emotional need is the gut feeling, often fear, that drives your audience. Identify both. People are looking for answers to specific problems. A busy mom doesn’t attend mid-week discipleship class for the fun of it. She is looking for answers to specific problems in her life, like finding balance or easing stress, and is only willing to carve out the time to do it if she sees a direct benefit.

Ask yourself: what problem does this idea solve? How do people perceive the problem?

Make It Visual.

When I worked in publishing, a Japanese-American regional church leader sent me a presentation he’d written. He wanted to improve the leadership skills of the pastors in his care, so he surveyed the latest business leadership thinking. The concepts were helpful, but... yawn. One concept repeatedly surfaced in the material, though: leadership can be improved. That is a hopeful message and one with which most leaders might agree. Many of us look to learn and improve. This is a felt, or emotive, need. It just needed a hook.

As I reviewed it, an idea jumped from my memory bank: kaizen, a post-World War II corporate concept that many credit with the resurrection of Japan. It is a compound word: the first symbol, “kai,” means “to change, to correct;” the second symbol, “zen,” means “good.” Formed of these two words, kaizen means roughly, “continuous correction and improvement.” Of course, his book is for church leaders, so I tweaked it a bit to read Spiritual Kaizen: How to Become a Better Church Leader.

With this new metaphor, he reframed his work around his background in martial arts. We created striking images for the cover using the Japanese symbols. Suddenly, his concepts had resonance. Similarly, this is what a good series does.

Make It Intriguing.

You don’t have to explain everything in the title or tagline of your series. Just offer enough to capture a person’s interest. In large group communication settings, Jesus didn’t explain his ideas. He presented hooks. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. The kingdom of heaven is like a net. He raised questions rather than answered them. If you answer everything... yawn. Hooks intrigue people and, as with the disciples, make them come back for more.

Make It Authentic.

The hook needs to be indigenous to you and to your audience. Spiritual Kaizen works for the church leader I consulted because he’s Japanese American and Japanese culture is strong in his West Coast setting. The same concept might not work in the Southeast.

If your goal as a communicator is to change hearts and lives, consider writing out a few series for the coming year. In each, let images for the series shape your approach. Look for points of resonance, allow the hook to incarnate the idea, and use what emerges as a skeleton for the flesh of your messages.

BLOG: The Voice (Not that One)

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:26:06 GMT

By Jackson W. Henry

No, I’m not talking about the TV show with people competing for a chance to use their voice and get paid for it. And no, I’m not referring to the idea that our voices are somehow our gift, molded and shaped by our own pursuits. The voice is a beautiful creation of God, and it is a gift entrusted to us. Our job as a church is to be stewards of this gift.

People use their voices for numerous things—communication, expression, beautiful music, alarm, excitement. However, it is also possible for them to be used to commit the deepest violence to God and neighbor as people are marginalized, bullied, exploited, and abused. How is it, then, that we are able to develop a greater sense of stewardship with our voices? One place we can turn is to learn from today’s youth.

My church youth choir, SONlight returned from a 6-day choir tour to Dallas, Texas. Our youth choir gives teens the opportunity to find their voices and use them for praising and serving God. However, it is often not in the ways you would think.

The following is a list of goals on choir tour that allow our youth the opportunity to express themselves and use their voices:

Share the gospel of Jesus Christ
Encounter marginalized members of our society and extend Christ’s love to them
Learn to live together in Christian community
Share one another’s burdens and struggles
Return home ready to use the skills we have developed

The voice is the key to making all of these things work. Learning to use our voices means not being afraid to share the Good News of Christ’s resurrection and creatively working to usher in the Reign of God. In singing the songs we prepared for tour and visiting with the people in every situation we faced (from assisted living to homeless shelters to inner-city children’s afterschool programs), the choir became actively involved in proclaiming the Christian truth. They also engaged one another in conversations that led to stronger friendships and trusting relationships. They lived together in much the same way that the earliest Christians did, holding everything in common and relying upon one another in times of need. We can only pray that we all have the opportunity to be as faithful as our youth choir when we leave worship and go into the world.

It is clear to me that SONlight is not a group of teens preparing for adulthood, nor are they simply passing through adolescence awaiting greater blessings and opportunities in the years to come. They are leading our church now as they live by Christ’s example and use their voices to show the way that leads to life.

Is it too late to find my voice? No. Have I missed the opportunity to feel the warmth of the Spirit in ways that our youth may be encountering for the first time? No. So… how will I know how to lead? How will I know what to say? How will I know where to go? Listen for God’s voice, and then stand up and use yours. Any payment you receive will be better than cold hard cash—your heart will be changed.

Jackson Henry has contributed several songs to Worship & Song.

BLOG: Why Churches Should Be Starting More Schools

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:10:36 GMT

By Shane Raynor

I got into a really interesting discussion with a pastor online today about God and public schools. We talked about Adam Hamilton’s blog post a few days ago, and Adam’s views on God and public schools. While I agree with many of Adam’s points, and I greatly admire the work his church is doing to help some of the public schools in his area, I believe Adam is looking at the public education system, at least partly, through rose-colored glasses.

Before I go any further, let me clarify that I don’t endorse mandatory prayers and religious instruction in public schools. But in many cases, the religiously neutral public schools that Adam Hamilton envisions aren’t always so neutral—some are actually hostile toward religion. You see, religion is closely related to worldview, and if you don’t allow religion to play any role in education, then the worldview that is shaped in schools, whether intentionally or not, is going to skew toward atheism.

The argument, of course, is that it’s the job of parents and churches to teach religion, not the public schools. I agree with that (to a point) but in practicality, churches have at most two or three hours a week with kids, while schools have over ten times that amount. Even if you assume an hour a day of religious instruction in the home, you’re still looking at a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio in favor of schools. Now in a world where it’s really possible for schools to be religiously neutral, those ratios might work, but what about a world like ours where religious values are increasingly challenged in the classroom? And what about lower income parents who work multiple jobs and don’t have the time or energy to give their children as much religious instruction as they’d like?

It amazes me that many in our country have become so fired up over alleged government “intrusion” into health care, yet we’ve allowed the government to maintain a virtual monopoly over the education system for years. Think about that for a moment. We don’t want the government to have too much say about how we care for our bodies, but most of us have no problem letting government-run schools shape our kids’ minds every day. Granted, public education isn’t a monopoly if you’re wealthy and can afford a private school, but for everyone else, that’s what it is—a monopoly.

Don’t misunderstand me. There are many good, hard-working teachers and administrators in the public schools. But the system is flawed. The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been so broadly interpreted in recent years that even the generic non-sectarian Judeo-Christian civil religion of years past is now taboo in the classroom. We expect educators to teach our kids about values and rights, but we tie their hands so they can’t even mention the one who gave us those values or created us with those rights. It’s very difficult to shape values without bringing God into the picture. And if you think schools aren’t a place where values and morals are shaped, you’re kidding yourself.

Education is the new civil right, and I believe that in the years ahead, more people are going to see the need for bringing competition and choice into the education system. If America truly wants to be a land of equal opportunity, then we need to make it possible for lower income parents to send their children to the same schools wealthier families have access to. The most efficient way to do this is with vouchers. Under a voucher system, some parents would choose to send their children to private religious schools, and some would choose non-religious private schools. Some would choose traditional public schools, while others would choose charter schools and other non-traditional public schools. Some would choose to homeschool their kids. But no one would be forced to spend 7 hours a day in a failing school or in a school that teaches values that ignore or oppose the values taught at home or in their family’s religious community. And many public schools would improve if they were required to actually compete for public funding.

Nowadays we hear a lot about church planting. New churches are exciting, and they’re certainly needed. The more the merrier! But we also need more congregations that are interested in planting and subsidizing schools, especially in areas where the public schools are failing. It’s not fair to lower income kids to make them wait for their schools to be fixed, and we can’t afford to wait for politicians to see the light on school choice. Christians can act now and take the lead on fixing the education problems in this country. And we can do it by starting new schools.

Wouldn’t it be great if that became as hip as church planting?

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ARTICLE: Community-Wide Vacation Bible School

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:08:44 GMT

By Sylvia Berry

A community-wide VBS allows smaller churches in a rural area or certain area of town come together in fellowship and fun. The churches can share resources and start an annual tradition that saves money for each church and opens the door for those on the periphery of church to join in a community event.

Getting Started

Begin in the fall by contacting pastors and Christian Education directors of at least five churches in your area and asking them to take a survey of interest in coming together for a community-wide VBS. Suggest tentative dates from at least three different weeks to hold the VBS. As a matter of hospitality and to show that you are very invested in the effort, offer your church as host unless someone else volunteers his or her church for the location. Give an overview of planning a community-wide VBS and how you can share resources. The letter should include a deadline for showing interest and committing volunteers. Try to schedule your initial meeting at least by January of the year of the VBS.

Topics for Discussion as You Plan

At the initial meeting, settle on a budget and get the commitment for financial contributions from each participating church. Develop a plan for advertising the event, including radio ads, flyers, and/or newspaper ads. Estimate at least one thousand dollars to buy program materials, snacks, and arts and crafts supplies for about seventy people for five nights. Go to the grocery store in advance to determine the cost for food and supplies.

Information regarding the curriculum you choose can be found at a local Cokesbury store or online. It is important to get an estimate of how much the materials will cost for the budget. Review the potential programs for the upcoming summer and finalize your theme together. Purchase the starter kit, which includes books, music, arts and crafts, and much more. Be sure to read the material and to determine what supplies and organizational planning will be required.

Once you receive the names of volunteers and how they can assist (arts and crafts, preparing snacks, teaching class, leading music, etc.), prepare packages for each of them with instructions and information on preparing for the VBS.

Meet regularly throughout the spring to plan and prepare. Remember to give a deadline for all churches to have registration forms returned so materials can be ordered in advance.

VBS Week

The last few days before your VBS can be devoted to setup, including decoration and preparation of the various spaces that will be used. Have attendance sheets and offering envelopes in each classroom, and a good CD player for the music area.

Pooling your resources among the participating churches enables you to gather supplies you already have on hand—decorations, craft supplies, kitchen paper products, and more—rather than purchasing them all new. You can also share kitchen duties for each night’s snacks. Decide on the menu, whether you will use the suggested menus in the VBS director’s manual or suggest healthy snacks like celery with cream cheese and raisins, yogurt, fruit cups, or granola bars. Be prepared to have at least five people work in the kitchen to prepare the snacks.

Finalize the schedule for each day, including an opening devotion with prayer, scripture, and songs. After devotions, dismiss the classes with the teachers by dismissing the preschool first and then school age in order. Try to have volunteers from each of the churches participating in each classroom or activity station, so the children will always have at least one familiar adult face while meeting new people.

Make the last night special by planning a cookout or ice cream social. The children can sing the VBS songs and give a brief presentation of what they learned that week. Giving families from all the churches a chance to mingle makes it a real community event.

Going Forward

Debrief with your planning team to discuss what worked and what needs improving. If the arrangement is deemed a success, develop a schedule for churches to rotate as hosts for the annual community-wide VBS. This is an annual event that saves money, brings people together in sharing their resources, and offers a good time of fellowship and fun for children and families across the community.

ARTICLE: Hands-On Saturdays

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:12:02 GMT

By Betsy Hall

Our church was very generous with money for missions. Our budget grew every year with plans for more and more outreach efforts in our community and around the world. So we didn't have a giving problem.

However, our local missions leadership team felt we could do more if people understood the line item in the budget we were giving to, they wanted to challenge people to give their individual time to a local mission our church supported financially not just money.

So Hands-On Saturday was born, a monthly series of Saturday mornings when people were asked to give four hours of their time to volunteer at a local mission we supported financially.

We'd all carpool to a local mission site, hear a short presentation from the onsite director about the need they were addressing and their dreams, the number of lives changed both individual and families, and then we rolled up our sleeves and got busy! We did anything they needed us to do.

Over the course of several months we:

worked to build homes in our community
sorted and delivered food to the food pantry
helped remodel and paint rooms in a shelter for women and children
collected clothes and bedding for the homeless and a crisis pregancy center

Each line item in the budget we supported was visited.

We promoted Hands-On Saturday to our entire church and had several groups sign up for specific mission areas. Groups that stepped up to serve were: Sunday school classes, the youth, men's group, and some small group Bible studies.

The results we saw were:

several groups who worked together decided to adopt the mission for their group on an ongoing basis throughout the year
people who went became great supporters and provided testimonies of what our church money was supporting, and the ongoing needs and dreams
giving increased to missions and people were excited about what we were doing
and we had some people who felt a call to lead in an area that had greater needs than we were currently meeting
and some people just dreamed of new ways to reach out to our community

A simple challenge to give up part of a Saturday provided a way for people to serve in a much needed mission in our community.

[Note: At the same time our church also had a separate international mission team whose leaders were educating the church on the areas and missionaries we were supporting.]

ARTICLE: The Biblical Call to Love

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:34:30 GMT

By Erik Alsgaard

No Greater Love

Dorwin Stoddard loved his wife, Mavanell, with all his heart. On Saturday, January 8, 2011, witnesses say that Dorwin proved his love for Mavanell by saving her life at the expense of his own. As the couple stood in a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, shots rang out. According to his pastor, the Reverend Mike Nowak, “When they heard the gunshots going off, she didn’t know what it was. She thought it was fireworks, [but] he knew what it was. He pulled her down, they both dove for the ground and he landed on top of her.” Mavanell was shot in the legs; Dorwin was shot in the head and died as a result of his wounds. He was 76. “We want it to go down that Dorwin did what all husbands would do,” said Nowak, “that is, jump on the grenade for their mate. And that’s what he did.”

According to Nowak, Dorwin was a fixture at his church, serving as a maintenance man and helping out with whatever was needed. At some point, it is safe to guess, Dorwin heard the biblical call to love one another and the words from Jesus, “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13, CEB).

As the nation mourns the shootings in Tucson and wrestles with how to respond in its aftermath, Christians are comforted by the love shown in this tragedy and are reminded once again that the greatest gift God gives us in the world is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). As South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, “Love, compassion, gentleness, even when sometimes they seem to have a rough ride, in the end they prevail.”

The Bible’s Call to Love

Love is a central element of Christianity. In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus said that loving God “with your whole heart, with your whole being, and with your whole mind” (verse 37, CEB) is the first commandment, and that loving one’s neighbor as yourself is similar to the first. In her sermon that opened The United Methodist Church’s 2008 General Conference, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie echoed Paul’s exhortation on love from 1 Corinthians 13:13 when she said, “Hope is the nerve center of the Christian life. Love is the heart. Faith is the muscle.”

There are hundreds of mentions of the word love in the Bible. According to BibleGateway.com, there are 686 mentions of the word in the New International Version and 442 mentions in the King James Version. Even casual students of the Bible know there are several different words for “love” used throughout the Scriptures. In Hebrew, the word most often used is ‘ahab, meaning “to have affection for.” In the New Testament, the Greek words for “love” include agape, philia, and storge. Agape is the most common word for “love” in the New Testament, and its meaning is closely associated with God’s love for humans and human love for God and neighbor. Philia indicates love that is more like friendship and is widely known as “brotherly love” (Phila-delphia = “City of Brotherly Love”). Storge suggests familial love and is used in combination with philia in Romans 12:10 to instruct members of the body of Christ about the marks of a true Christian. Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3 criticize the absence of this kind of love by using storge in combination with another root that is rendered “lacking affection.” Eros, used to connote erotic or sexual love, is not used in the New Testament. In the Greek philosophical traditions, eros also indicated an intense desire or love for transcendent ideals of beauty and truth.

Love and Forgiveness

In Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus speaks about the consequences of anger against a brother or sister and about the benefits of reconciliation. At the Fetzer Institute, a Michigan-based foundation that supports efforts at studying love, forgiveness, compassion, and reconciliation, they are learning more about this complex topic. In October 2010, the institute published results from the “Survey of Love and Forgiveness in American Society.” What they found is that most Americans are hungry for love and forgiveness. According to the survey, 68 percent of Americans agreed that they need more meaningful love in their personal lives. This number grows to 89 percent in their communities, 94 percent in America, and 95 percent in the world. Sixty-two percent of Americans agreed that they need more forgiveness in their personal lives.

Love, Justice, and Mercy

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. espoused peaceful resistance during the civil rights movement. King developed six “facts” to help people understand what peaceful resistance was––and was not.

One of those facts is that non-violent resistance is an act of love. Writing on the website www.care2.com, Annie Bond said that for King, “in non-violent resistance, one learns to avoid physical violence toward others and also learns to love the opponents with ‘agape’ or unconditional love––which is love given not for what one will receive in return, but for the sake of love alone. It is God flowing through the human heart.”

King himself wrote about agape love in his June 4, 1957, article “The Power of Non-violence.” In the article, he said that agape is a redemptive, overflowing kind of love that seeks good will for all. King stated that when a person reaches that level of love, he or she begins to love people not because they are loveable or because the things they do are loveable but rather because God loves them. We may hate the deed that a person does, but we love the person. King believed that kind of love––agape love––was at the heart of the movement going on in the South at that time.

The Hard Work of Love

John Ruegg is 83 years old and lives alone. His wife, Joan, who is around the same age, lives about 20 miles away because she is confined to a bed with Alzheimer’s. Every other day, in a ritual carried out thousands of times around the country, John leaves the house at about 10:00 A.M., gets in his car, drives the 20 miles, and spends the day with his wife even though she now no longer recognizes him. It is a habit, he says, that he has practiced for more than six years. Asked why he visits his wife three times a week, shares meals with her, reads the Bible to her, and holds her hand, John bows his head slowly and then, with tears in his eyes, looks up and says, “Because I love her and she loves me.”

Showing love to those suffering from Alzheimer’s can be hard work. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5.3 million Americans suffer from the disease; and a new case is diagnosed every 70 seconds. In a report from last March, the association estimated that the cost for health and long-term care services for people with Alzheimer’s would top $172 billion in 2010. Caring for persons with Alzheimer’s––like John does––is very stressful. Over 40 percent of family and other unpaid caregivers rate the emotional stress of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s or dementia as high or very high, compared with 28 percent of those caring for other older people.

Practicing God’s Love

Christians proclaim that God is love (1 John 4:8), and we are called to practice God’s love so that all will know it and experience it. The possibilities for how people respond to God’s love and offer it to others are almost endless.

Gert Dunn is 86 years old and attends church every Sunday. She needs assistance to get out of a chair yet is involved in evangelism efforts at her church. Every morning, Gert pulls out her prayer list and prays, by name, for people’s needs. Then, once a week, she sends a hand-written prayer card to the people on the list letting them know they are cared for and loved by God.

Kathy Wells, a young adult, started an e-buddy system in her church. The group covenants to send Christian articles, Bible study tidbits, and devotions to one another by e-mail at least once a week. The 12 people in the group have now shared dozens of informational items with one another and help keep people connected in love even though they may now live far away.

Jilma Meneses, an attorney, first went on a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo after September 11, 2001. After visiting an orphanage, she fell in love with the children and began to try to find ways they could be adopted in the United States. Meneses adopted a girl, Gracia, and started a mission called “Our Family Adoptions” (http://www.ourfamilyadoptions.org), which has led to over a hundred adoptions. “I am compensated emotionally and spiritually, but not monetarily,” she said. “The biggest compensation is seeing these children having new opportunities with loving families, absolutely. That’s the biggest compensation of all.”

God’s Love For Us

John 3:16-17 proclaims God’s love through Jesus Christ. It is God’s love for all that generates salvation, hope, and life. Our own capacity to love God and neighbor comes from God’s love for us. When we choose to practice love, we proclaim God’s salvation, hope, and life to our world.

Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups. FaithLink motivates Christians to consider their personal views on important contemporary issues, and it also encourages them to act on their beliefs. The complete study guide accompanying this article can be purchased here.

BLOG: Get Out!

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:17:22 GMT

By Ronnie McBrayer

Churches are peculiar places. I’ve had the opportunity to serve a few of them. Some of my pastoral experiences have been overwhelmingly rewarding: Baptisms, weddings, the transformation of individuals and families. Some other experiences have been about as much fun as a sharp stick in the eye.

And the churches which I have served have met in a diverse number of places: In the hollow of a school gymnasium; in a leaky storefront on the wrong side of the tracks; in a multi-million dollar sanctuary with all the technological bells and whistles; in an old redbrick church so old it barely escaped the fires of General Sherman’s army (some of the deacons in that old redbrick church building may have served in Sherman’s army; but I digress).

Here is one of the many things that make churches peculiar: The most heated arguments in the church were not over our location or theology or future plans. No, the worst controversies I ever endured were over our style of worship.

Should we use hymnals or modern worship music? Should drums be allowed in the sanctuary? Is it blasphemy to move the pulpit to accommodate the children’s choir? What would happen if someone clapped or raised their hands during the solo? These are the questions that send the ulcerated pastor scurrying to his or her gastrologist.

See, with all these exotic locales came an equally exotic variety of worship styles. I’ve preached after a stately anthem performed by robed choir members and pipe organs. I’ve tapped my foot and clapped my hands to the cranking riffs of old hippies with electric guitars. I’ve listened closely to the tight four-part harmony of southern gospel.

I’ve worn a suit and tie to church; I’ve worn shorts and sandals. I’ve delivered time-honored three point sermons with a poem and a prayer; and I’ve preached with the technological assistance of multimedia, projectors, videos and fog machines. I’ve witnessed the traditional Easter cantata; and I’ve even seen a few interpretive dance steps across the church podium.

And all this worship diversity is in a single strain of the Protestant tradition! This doesn’t account for the truly wild multiplicity of worship expression that stretches across the Christian biosphere from the Pentecostals to the Presbyterians.

Which of these styles is “right?” I don’t presume to know. Our form of worship will always be dictated by our traditions, our culture, and our context. A look at how Christians from other countries and times worship proves this point. “Which worship style is right” is, after all, the wrong question.

The better questions are, “Does our worship push us out of our church sanctuaries (or wherever it is we meet) to be Christ to the world? What happens when the worship service is over?” These are the more appropriate questions.

If our worship moves us past ourselves to the risen and redeeming Christ sent to love the world, then the worship is “right.” If our worship sends us into the community as the Father sent his own Son, then it is empowered with spirit and truth. But if our worship focuses us, even in subtle ways, on ourselves, then it is selfishness at best and sacrilege at worst. It isn’t worship at all.

The final words of the old Latin mass were, Ite missa est – “Get out!” The priests who daily invoked these words over their congregations understood worship’s purpose. When the last song is sung, the last prayer offered, and the last homily delivered, the goal of all worship is to redemptively and missionally leave the sanctuary in service to others.

So, take your pick: Sermons or liturgy; southern gospel or rock and roll; drums or pipe organs; corporate prayer or contemplation; kneeling benches or mosh pits. But if these things do not translate into loving action in the community, if these things do not force us out of the building and out to others, we aren’t being worshipful at all. Do our worship styles matter? Sure they does. But what happens afterwards matters all the more.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author of multiple books. You can read more and receive regular e-columns in your inbox at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.

BLOG: When Rules Prevail

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:37:04 GMT

By Ronnie McBrayer

Question: Why won’t some people go to church?

Answer: Because they have been to church.

Even Jesus fell into this category. After a “bad church experience,” he left the establishment and never returned. The incident is recorded in Luke 13. Jesus was attending synagogue on the Sabbath day, when across the sanctuary he saw a crippled woman bent double by affliction. Jesus’ heart went out to her. So with just a word and a touch he made her well. The woman exploded with praise to God, for after eighteen years of suffering, she was free. The crowd gathered on that day likewise was astonished. But not everyone was happy with this turn of events. The leader of the synagogue exploded as well, but in rage.

Imagine you are seated in church on Sunday morning. It is your church, the one you have attended for many years. It is a good Sunday as far as worship services go. You were tempted to play golf or sleep in, but there you are as faithful as ever. The church is three-quarters filled. The worship leader is doing his usual dance of weaving the old hymns with the modern worship choruses to keep everybody semi-content. It’s not too bad. The children’s message was entertaining enough. The Cooper kid blurted out another embarrassing revelation about his mother in front of the whole congregation. It got a good laugh and a few red cheeks.

The Miller family has packed their pew in front of you as is their custom. Across the aisle sits Mr. and Mrs. Walsh. Mr. Walsh is the one who always gets there early to open the doors, turns on the lights and the air conditioning, and he is the one who stays late to lock things up. Mrs. Walsh is always patient and gracious as she waits for him, even though her osteoporosis has all but broken her in half. She has shrunken down to no more than five feet tall.

Standing for the Offertory and the Doxology, you see a young man, a man you have never seen before, seated in front of you. He is wearing a faded and frayed plaid shirt, old khaki pants, and Wolverine work boots. He is short, but looks lean and strong. His hairline is receding a bit and his face bears a three-day beard. You notice he has eyes of fire – kind and compassionate eyes – but like fire nonetheless. He has several friends seated with him, including the Gardner brothers who used to live one street over from your house.

As the pastor rises to deliver his sermon, the young man rises as well. He walks directly over to where Mrs. Walsh is sitting. With a warm smile he whispers something in her ear, gently touches her shoulder, and returns to his pew. Suddenly, like lightning striking, old Mrs. Walsh stands up, as straight as a string, as tall and fit as she was thirty years ago. The congregation erupts with wonder and thanksgiving! Mrs. Walsh shouts for joy as her husband, his cheeks wet with tears, hugs the young stranger. Mouths fall open. Eyes bulge from their sockets. Miss Juliet Palmer nearly faints.

Then, from the pulpit, the pastor calls the whole place to order. His face is scarlet with anger. His eyes flash. He looks down at the young, smiling, wonder-working intruder as if he could grind him between his teeth. “This is the Lord’s house,” he booms across the sanctuary, “and this is the Lord’s Day. You will not turn it into a spectacle with your parlor tricks.” You and the congregation hold your breath and look to the young man in the Wolverines for what is next.

After this event we never find Jesus attending synagogue services again. Never. Who could blame him? A religious system whose rules and traditions are more motivating and more powerful than its compassion for people is a system of rank hypocrisy.

Maybe you don't have miraculous physical healings in your church, but I bet there are some Christ-like actions that get the stink-eye in your church. What are they?

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author of multiple books. You can read more and receive regular e-columns in your inbox at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.

ARTICLE: Kids Giving Back: Easy Christmas Break Ideas

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:18:37 GMT

By Jessica Miller Kelley

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Actually, it has been looking that way since early November, most places you go. But with Christmas now less than a week away, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas break for families with school-aged children, and I can't help but think of these lyrics from the song I've probably now gotten stuck in your head:

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben;
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen;
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again!

Kids eager to open those enticing packages waiting under the tree, and then growing bored and restless as those longed-for vacation days wear on—that's the scene in many houses by the time New Year's rolls around.

But there are things you can do to make those days meaningful and more fun than trying on new clothes and playing a new game over and over again. Families can use this time off of school to practice random acts of kindness and generosity to share the Christmas joy we celebrate even after the radio stations have stopped playing carols and neighbors start taking down their lights.

Trade boredom for an opportunity to bless others with these eight simple, fun, kid-friendly ways to delight friends and strangers alike and to help those in need.

Christmas-Break Kindness (for Kids!)

Tape money to a vending machine. Include a note saying "This one's on us. Merry Christmas!" What a nice surprise for someone to find the exact change they need when wanting a beverage or snack.

Send real mail. It's not just about etiquette or nostalgia. It's about bringing joy to others. People love to get mail—a personal note in the pile of bills and catalogs. Help children write sincere thank-you notes for gifts they received, and send letters to far-off relatives. If the child isn't old enough to write, take dictation and have the child draw a picture.

Donate used toys and clothes. Part of cultivating generosity in children is helping them recognize their own abundance and others' needs. Especially after receiving new items for Christmas, talk to children about how fortunate they are to have what they have. You may have made donations of new items before Christmas, but there is also great value in teaching children to give things of their own away for others to enjoy.

Serve those who serve. Help children "see" the often-invisible service providers in your daily life by giving a flower or candy cane to the clerks at your grocery store, mechanics who change your oil, or the maintenance worker at your church or apartment building. Make cookies for your church nursery workers, pediatrician's office, local police station, or firehouse.

Chalk it up! Use sidewalk chalk to decorate your street with a message of appreciation for your garbage collectors or encouragement on your neighbors' driveways.

Raise money for a good cause. Have a hot cocoa stand at the end of your driveway, or do odd jobs like hauling away dry Christmas trees, taking down Christmas lights, or shoveling snow, to raise money for charity. Go buy toiletries or canned goods to donate, so your child can see the tangible benefits of their fundraising.

Go visiting. Take cookies, flowers, or children's drawings to homebound persons or nursing home residents. More outgoing children will enjoy making conversation, and the presence of any child can brighten the day of an isolated or elderly person, even if the child is shy and prefers to color or play with a sibling during the visit.

Prepare for future opportunities. Sometimes acts of kindness and generosity fall by the wayside when school and work are in full swing and our schedules are jam-packed. Use Christmas break to make a stockpile of handmade cards that you can send throughout the year, or to pack gallon-size bags of toiletries, granola bars, and bottled water to keep in the car and give to homeless persons you see.

BLOG: Only a Clown

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:52:32 GMT

By Ronnie McBrayer

A few months ago I was sitting outside of a café in Orlando, Florida. As much as anywhere, Orlando is a crossroads of the world. Watching and listening, we saw European tourists who were speaking German, French and Spanish. A large, cigar-smoking Italian sat to my right, who I learned was a chef at a restaurant down the road. To my left two young men sat, obviously a couple, drinking their beer and talking about work. The owner of the café came by – he was from Miami originally and was working hard to make a living, we learned.

People were getting off of the airport shuttles in droves, wearing everything from Mardi Gras beads and rainbow wigs to pinstripe suits and night gowns. There were young families and couples, drag queens and hookers, cops and business men, diners and shoppers, users and pushers, Mickey Mouse, and at least two preachers – all together in the same place. I thought for a moment: “I know what all these people have in common. I have probably never said anything in twenty years of speaking from church pulpits that matters to any of them. They don’t care what we have to say.”

In the world in which we now live, where everything and everybody is so different than the Christian world that incubated and shaped us, how do we say anything that matters to those who do not know or follow Christ? One of Soren Kierkegaard’s legendary parables begins: “It happened that a fire broke out backstage at a theater.” Kierkegaard goes on to explain how the fire spread quickly and threatened to consume the entire building.

One of the actors backstage at the theater that evening was a clown, and it fell upon him to go onto the stage and warn the public of the danger. He stepped onto the stage, dressed as he was, and the crowd began to laugh and applaud. He stopped them and gave his warning: “You are in great danger! Run for your life!” They laughed all the more. He repeated his warning, even more forcefully this time. The crowd laughed and shouted even louder. On and on this went, the clown growing more and more passionate and the crowd more and more entertained. They did not take him seriously. “But after all,” Kierkegaard says, “he was only a clown.”

Why are we as Christians not taken seriously when we speak? Maybe it is because it doesn’t matter what we say as much as it matters more how we live, and who we are? Then, and only then, will we have anything to say that is honest, credible, or effective to the society that surrounds us. It is a worn out cliché, but there remains some truth in it: People don’t care about what you know until they know how much you care. What matters at the end of the day, at the end of our careers, at the end of whatever time God gives us – what matters is that we cared, and cared deeply, for the people who crossed our paths and that we served them as Christ served us.

Taking a truly compassionate approach, where we see people as people – living, breathing, laughing, crying, struggling but priceless creations in the image of God – and not as statistics or votes or sales or dollars in the coffers or names on the roll or notches in our gun or people who will agree or oppose us – this will infuse the church with credibility and integrity so needed in the world today.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author of multiple books. You can read more and receive regular e-columns in your inbox at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.

Ministry Matters: Reach

BLOG: Iron Man 3

The Power Within

Iron Faith

ARTICLE: The Secret to Building Great Dads

BLOG: Give Me that Old-Time, Watered-Down Religion

VIDEO: The Family of Christians (Converge Episode 6)

ARTICLE: Ministry and Art

Art as Ministry

The Contributions of Artists

Art and Social Concerns

Engaging Artists

ARTICLE: Christmas in July Sunday

Surprise People

Tell the Story

Give a Long Lead Time

Bless Your Community

AUDIO: The Power of a Name

ARTICLE: Tyrion’s Church Part 3: Incarnate Life

4. "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things."

5. Death is so final. Whereas life, ah life, is so full of possibilities.

ARTICLE: Tyrion’s Church Part 2: Word and Sacrament

2. “A mind needs books like a sword needs whetstone.”

3. Everything's better with some wine in the belly.

VIDEO: Christians and Self-Image (Converge Episode 5)

VIDEO: I Am the Vine

BLOG: Community Focused Ministry

ARTICLE: Tyrion's Church Part 1: Source Material

1. “Lannisters always pay their debts.”

AUDIO: Is Pope Francis a Universalist?

AUDIO: Audio Lectio: June 2, 2013

AUDIO: Tattoos and Faith

VIDEO: Naming Jacob: The Power of Words

ARTICLE: Struggles for Men

The End of Men?

Economic Clout on the Decline

The Education Gap

Then Comes Marriage . . . or Not

The Fall of Men

VIDEO: Prayer Service for Oklahoma Tornado Victims

VIDEO: Who You Are in the Heavenly Realm (Converge Episode 4)

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VIDEO: Are You a Hypocrite?

Small Group Questions

Question of the Day

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Why Did People Watch?

Do You Love to Tell the Story?

AUDIO: Too Old for Ordination?

VIDEO: Why Is Jackie Robinson Important?

AUDIO: A Methodist and a Muslim Burial

ARTICLE: Rethinking "Family Friendly"

BLOG: Why VBS Is Important for Your Church

7 reasons why VBS is important to the life of your church and mine:

Plan for success

VIDEO: John Wesley and Christian Orthodoxy

VIDEO: Mary Magdalene (Converge Episode 3)

ARTICLE: Including All Families

Watch Your Language

Name Wisely

Plan Carefully

Know Your Community

ARTICLE: Sermon Series: Evangelism Lessons

3 Week Series

Week 1: The Good Samaritan Church

Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:25-37

Week 2: T E L L

John 1:43-51

Week 3: The Final Instructions

Matthew 28:16-20

ARTICLE: Let's Make a Deal

VIDEO: The Woman at the Well (Converge Episode 2)

ARTICLE: The Clubhouse: Student Ministry

Ways to Serve at The Clubhouse

ARTICLE: Singles Ministry

Starting an Area-Wide Singles Ministry

Unique Considerations

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ARTICLE: Let the Children Come: Kids Coming to Church Without Parents

Seven Spiritual Yearnings