Online Archives

One thing

For those thinking about church growth and new ways to tell God's story we offer this, one thing.

Book:

Mark Batterson is a pastor in D.C. His new book, "Wild Goose Chase," illuminates the soul.

Consider this passage from the Introduction:

"Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit-An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.' The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. ... Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure."

Thought:

When considering church growth, keep in mind Michelangelo's quote: "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

Blog:

Church Relevance by Kent Shaffer

( http://churchrelevance.com )

Church:

Of the 320,000 churches in the United States, if you want to watch and follow one that makes everyone's list of America's top churches, check out: The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. (www.cor.org/)

Web site pastors need to know about:

www.sermonspice.com

Source of news:

Everything you need to know to tell the story for this day is here at your fingertips. Alltop (http://alltop.com) is an "online magazine rack" of popular topics. Stories are updated every hour. To view religious stories, visit: http://religion.alltop.com/.

song to sing out loud:

"Be the Center," written by Michael Frye.

Church Web site:

Gingshamburg UMC has made developing church Web sites a ministry. Check out theirs at http://ginghamsburg.org.

question to guide you:

If you could communicate a single message about your church, what would it be?

Video recommended by the BWC Resource Center:

"Dust" by Rob Bell

Thing to imagine:

If all the sound were taken out of your Sunday service, what impression would people get? Could they see the joy, hope and love?

Trend to pay attention to:

Multi-site churches

Conference to attend:

Exponential 09 - The National New Church Conference, April 20-23 ,in Orlando, Fla.

( www.exponentialconference.org )

preachable point:

In this month's Discipler Groups pastors are exploring why they're sharing their faith and the idea from theologian and author Joel Green that "salvation means becoming fully and genuinely human."

word:

Thanks.

What was your parents' prayer for you?

What was your favorite game?

Who taught you God's name?

When did Jesus become real to you?

Somebody prayed
for you.

Who loves you?

What
tempted
you?

What has the church taught you?

How is the Bible real in your life?

Sacred or profane?

Sabbath?
No time for Sabbath!

What are your best gifts?

What don't you believe?

Adventures

Where is God most alive?

In the game of life, Christians are called to share how their stories intersect with God's. This can sometimes be a scary task. But when prompted by a question or a memory, the stories begin to flow.

So take a chance, roll the dice, see where you land and then share a bit of your faith with someone who needs to hear about living out God's Adventure.

Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

- T.D. Niles

Introvert or extrovert?

What's your one-word prayer?

Faith or works?

You kicked someone out of "your" pew.

How do you serve God?

How should the church change?

Dark or light?

Be Adventurous - Try Yoga

By Bishop John R. Schol

Evangelism has gotten a bad rap. For many, it is a dirty word and a number of Christian leaders try to steer away from it. I knew a church organization who believed the ministry of evangelism was important but used the word "evangelization" to try to steer away from the negative connotations of the word evangelism.

There are lots of reasons the word evangelism gets a bad rap, mostly because some people who claimed to be evangelists were actually promoting a Gospel that really sought to benefit their culture, their church or their ministry.

That is the first lesson of evangelism: it is not a benefit. Evangelism is people offering each other God's healing.

Salvation literally means "healing." Evangelism is offering God's healing.

In my life, I have been healed most often not by people telling me what to do, but rather by people exemplifying health and encouraging and supporting me to be healthy. I actually think the Holy Spirit has the greatest opportunity to work when we evangelize in this way.

Jesus was an evangelist, the writer of the Gospel of John was an evangelist, John Wesley was an evangelist, so were Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. Even our new president, Barack Obama, is an evangelist. My daughter Rebecca is an
evangelist too.

Rebecca began doing yoga in the last six months. She now swears by it. She also tells everybody about it. As a matter of fact, as I write this note to you, I am sitting in my living room because there is an inch of ice on the ground, but Rebecca has already left to go help in a yoga class.

As I write this, the Conference Center is closed because of bad weather and most of our churches will cancel meetings and study groups today, but yoga goes on.

Rebecca gave me some yoga lessons for Christmas. I haven't gone yet. But I am going to go. Not because Rebecca has told me about yoga. Not because she has given me some free lessons and I emphasize the word "free" here. I am going to go because I have seen what Yoga has done for her. She is more flexible, stronger, more relaxed, and more confident. I like all of these qualities in her and I wish I too had more of these qualities.

Since Rebecca told me about yoga, I have run into a dozen or more people - staff,
pastors, lay leaders and friends who have all described the same thing has occurred for them through yoga. They have greater
flexibility and strength and are confident and more relaxed.

So I am going to go. But I am nervous. You see I am a runner and my fear is I might be converted. Running has
provided the same qualities for me and I am not sure I want to be converted.

Every now and again I run into a Christian evangelist who heals what ails me. He or she lives and shares life so powerfully that the presence of Christ within them literally makes me better - more confident - forgiven; flexible - graceful - relaxed - hopeful; stronger - saved.

I notice there are more yoga classes starting. Maybe it is just because Rebecca is taking yoga that I notice and maybe it is because of yoga evangelists. I wonder if we would have more Bible studies if we had more forgiving, graceful, hopeful saved Christian evangelists.

Perhaps that's something I can meditate on in my new yoga class.

Be Adventurous: let your life speak your faith.

How is it with your soul?

Fruitful practices stretch churches

By Stephen Drachler

United Methodist News Service

To share one's faith is not an isolated, self-contained event. Like church growth, it is a multi-dimensional enterprise.

At the United Methodist Conference for Evangelism, held January 6-9, Bishop Robert Schnase asked nearly 1,000 participants to consider the word "fruitful" and how they might use five specific practices to grow in effectiveness and excellence.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has adopted Bishop Schnase's book "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations" and its companion resources for use in its Immersion Series.

"We need a word that captures the essence of the Great Commission and the teachings of early Christians, the bishop said. "To me, ‘fruitful' is that word. ‘Fruitful' is a word that shows action. It stretches us. And as a church, we are called to act and to stretch ourselves."

The practices at the core of Schnase's work are: radical hospitality; passionate worship; intentional faith development; risk-taking mission and service; and extravagant generosity.

Each of the practices, Schnase said, is designed to stretch everyone's imagination and focus them on ministry in Jesus' mode.

"The power of these practices is in the adjectives," Schnase said. The practices have been the building blocks of congregations since the second chapter of Acts - evangelism, worship, Christian education, mission and stewardship.

"The adjectives create a kind of dissonance that invites us in, stretches us, makes us think and challenges us to new action. Is our hospitality really radical? Does it exceed expectations, go the second mile, show as much passion for those outside the church as for those inside?"

The Five Practices have been put to use in several annual conferences, including the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Severna Park UMC did a comprehensive study of the Five Fruitful Practices and they "saw an infusion of the Spirit into the people," said the Rev. Lee Ferrell. "It awakened the church to a different kind of thinking" and the congregation has generated lists with hundreds of ideas for ways to be a more faithful and fruitful church.

"I am continually surprised by the comments I receive and the way in which the material has been received," Schnase said. "There is a real hunger for authentic growth, for revitalization, and to have a church with deeper meaning."

For more information, see www.fivepractices.org. or www.bwcumc.org/immersionseries.

Melissa Lauber contributed to this story.