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The Discouraged and Disbelieving *

March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The Gospel of the Nobodies: The Discouraged and Disbelieving *
Sycamore Creek Church
March 20/21, 2016
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

What’s your faith story? I grew up in a Christian home and was very active in church all the way through graduation from high school. When I went off to college I began to ask a lot of questions about the faith I had growing up. Those questions and my doubts and uncertainties grew to a climactic moment my sophomore year in college. I was sitting in an orchestra concert. The band was playing a chaotic piece that was a tribute to D-Day. There were trumpets placed all around the auditorium and they were making random noises. The music was intended to create the feeling of landing on the beaches of Normandy and having snipers shooting at you. The music began to symbolize for me my inner state. I felt the snipers of discouragement and disbelief shooting at me from every angle. The arrangement of that piece of music slowly but surely morphed into the classic hymn, It Is Well. The chorus from that hymn goes: It is well, with my soul. The hymn was intended to make you feel secure amidst the chaos of the beginning of the piece, but because I was uncertain about this whole faith thing and it was not well with my soul, the hymn only amplified the chaos I felt inside. I fell apart right in the middle of that big auditorium crying and sobbing into my hands so that no one would see me. Over the next several months I left the faith. I didn’t believe any of it any more. And yet, I somehow kept following Jesus. And here I am today, still following Jesus helping others follow Jesus amidst their own doubts and uncertainties.

Here’s the problem that many of us face: We think that following Jesus is for those who have it all together. But the point of this message is this: following Jesus is for the discouraged and disbelieving.

Today we continue a series called The Gospel of the Nobodies. The point of this series is that God relentlessly pursues those whom society (or even the church) considers “nobodies”: The night shift workers, the disabled and sick, the demon possessed, the prostitutes and prodigals, the homeless, and today we’re looking at how God relentlessly pursues the discouraged and disbelieving.

We’re going to do something weird today. This whole series has been a little weird. Easter is next week, but we’re going to look at some stories that take place after the resurrection. We’re going to jump to the resurrection so that when we celebrate it, we’ll realize it isn’t just for the ones who’ve got it all together.

Throughout this series we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Luke. Gospel means “Good News” and Luke tells the story of the good news of Jesus with special attention to the people that society considers “nobodies.” Let’s look at the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel:

While they were talking…Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.  He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
~Luke 24:36-40 NRSV

In the last few verses of the last chapter of Luke, the followers of Jesus find an empty tomb, but joy and excitement weren’t the first emotions. Their first emotions were discouragement and disbelief. Let’s unpack this experience that they must have been having by looking at the bigger context of the crucifixion and resurrection.

The crucifixion and resurrection took place in Jerusalem over the Passover celebration. Passover is the celebration of the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Pharaoh’s heart got harder and harder as Moses kept coming back to him demanding that the people be freed from slavery. It took death to finally soften Pharaoh’s heart. The Israelites were told to take the blood of a lamb and put it over their doorposts so that the angel of the Lord would pass over their house and not kill the first-born child. Passover is the annual retelling and remembering of that moment of deliverance when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We learn from that story that God will be faithful no matter what.

During the celebration of Passover Jerusalem swelled from a population of about 100,000 to over a million. This was all in one square mile of land. Jerusalem is completely overrun with people at Passover. This means that at the crucifixion of Jesus, hundreds of thousands likely saw him hung on the cross. So when reports began spreading that he had resurrected there were likely a variety of responses. Thousands on the hillside of Golgotha saw him dead. Imagine the dismissive disbelief of thousands at the news of his resurrection. Then there were the devout followers of Jesus who likely would have been shocked and discouraged. The outcasts who had been welcomed, the paralyzed who was healed, the Centurion soldier’s servant who was healed, the demon possessed who had been set free, the tax collectors who had been shown love, the prostitutes who had been respected as more than just a sex object. These followers would have likely been thinking, “The only one who had ever treated me as human being was nailed to the cross, and now his body’s not in the tomb?!”

Then there is the response from the inner circle, the disciples, both the men and women who traveled with him everywhere. The women were the first to attend to Jesus’ dead body and they were the first to find the tomb empty:

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified…
~Luke 24:4-5 NRSV

They’re perplexed and terrified at the empty tomb. So they go back and tell the men what they’ve found:

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
~Luke 24:11 NRSV

The men don’t believe them. I mean, how reliable really is a woman? Or so their culture said. All of them are disbelieving, except Peter. Kind of. Peter runs off to see what was going on at the tomb. After he finds it empty, what was Peter thinking as he walked back from the empty tomb? What have I lost over the last three and a half years? Can I get my fishing business back? What about the others? The women who experienced fear are having their hearts beginning to open up to hope. What about James and John? They’re probably wondering, “Can we show our faces in Galilee without being the laughing stock of the town?” The empty tomb is not met with joy, but outright disbelief and discouragement. Nothing was working out the way they had envisioned it would, the way they’re supposed to. That’s a recipe for discouragement.

We all experience discouragement from time to time. Some of us more often than others. Things don’t go the way they’re supposed to go. We are disappointed that God didn’t make them go differently. You invest in a company over decades and you get a pink slip instead of a pension. You go to the doctor and before she says anything, her face tells you, “The cancer has returned.” You get the late night phone call that tells you “I’m sorry, your loved one is gone.”

I experienced a bit of discouragement recently. Not quite to the level of the above scenarios but discouragement nonetheless. The night before we were to fly to Florida to visit family I got sick. Really sick. I had a 101 degree temperature. I was shivering uncontrollably. My teeth were chattering like one of those teeth-chattering toys. I had cramps in my abdomen. It felt like someone was jabbing me up under my ribs. We had to make a decision, and expecting that I was the first wave of a round of all-family illness we canceled our flight to Florida and dug into the discouragement of February in Michigan. That’s not how things are supposed to go. Discouragement.

Part of what Luke wants us to see in the discouragement and disbelief of the first Easter is for us to see ourselves in the disciples. Where are you experiencing discouragement right now?

Right about this point Luke shifts the focus of the story out of the inner circle and looks wider. We find that discouragement and disbelief don’t stop God from displaying the power of the resurrection. Besides the women, the first people Jesus appears to after his resurrection are two people with no other mention in the Bible. Two “nobodies” in the church.

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him…
~Luke 24:13-16 NRSV

Jesus appears to Cleopas and one other unnamed person who are walking on the road to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him. Perhaps this was because they didn’t know him well enough to recognize him. Jesus explains the scriptures to them, and while eating, they realize it is Jesus. (This is why we have an “open table” at communion. Many who don’t recognize Jesus may meet him while sharing a meal with him.) Notice that Jesus doesn’t appear first to the “inner circle”, the remaining eleven disciples. Jesus doesn’t appear to Pilate and the religious leaders saying, “Ha. Ha. Joke’s on you. I get knocked down, but I get up again.” Jesus showed up to the low-profile followers who aren’t mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I don’t care how much you’re known or not. I have come to bring you hope.”

Why would Jesus show up to the low-profile followers?   Because God relentlessly pursues those whom society and even the church considers as “nobodies.” Jesus had a bigger vision. It’s not just the high profile few to bring the message of Jesus’ good news. It’s not just the twelve high-profile who brought the gospel to the world. Everyday ordinary people brought the gospel to the world. People who were never even given a name.

After this encounter with the “outer circle” Jesus appears to the inner circle. Jesus appears next to his doubting and disbelieving apostles. They thought they were seeing a ghost! They were terrified.

Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
~Luke 24:45-48 NRSV

Because Jesus showed up first to the “outer circle” I think that “you are my witnesses” means all of you. Not just the “up front” people at Sycamore Creek. But the “outer circle” of Sycamore Creek. Those who may not have a “title” or even a “role” at the church, but you’re just walking on the road following Jesus. You are Jesus’ witnesses. You are those who are to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the “nobodies” of our society. Jesus is shared most expansively through ordinary everyday disciples.

Let’s consider how this works for a moment. Jeremy invited Jim Firos to Sycamore Creek. But Jim has invited countless people including Linda and John. John then invited his daughter Heather and RJ and their kids. Jim also invited Jessica and Shawn. And Jessica and Shawn invited his parents Jerry and Mary, their friend Maria and her daughter, and their neighbors Jessica and Alehandra. Alehandara invited his dad Jim. Everyday followers of Jesus being witnesses and proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

Or consider this. Jenna and Blake invited Jenna’s sister, Pam. Now Pam is full of all kinds of doubts and uncertainties about this whole faith and church thing. But she became a partner several years ago and plays and sings in the band. She invited Justin, who was baptized and is now on staff at our church. Pam also invited her friend Liz who invited her friend Brian.   But let’s not stop there. Because Pam, remember she’s someone with lots of questions about faith, also invited her friend Katie who was baptized this past summer and has joined the band. Katie then invited her wife Nikki. Katie also invited her parents Nancy and Dwayne and her sister Aubryn who played with Jeremy at Teen Fuel Café last Sunday night.

Next week is Easter. Who are your friends who are discouraged and disbelieving? Who needs to hear the good news of Jesus? What three friends can you invest in and invite to Easter? It’s not just the pastor’s job to invite people. It’s not just the “inner circle” who invites people. It’s every unknown and unnamed follower of Jesus. Who is God calling you to invite?

Prayer
God, give me faith when I don’t have faith. Give me the power of your resurrection at work in my life even when I am discouraged and disbelieving. Help me follow you. And open the door for me to invite those around me who are wrestling with discouragement and disbelief. Soften their hearts so that they might join me in seeking you as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Amen.

*This sermon is based on a sermon first preached by Glen Shoup

 

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Experience Required *

March 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment

come&see

Come and See – Experience Required *
Sycamore Creek Church
March 1/2, 2015
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

Have you ever experienced something new and had to tell people about it?  There are a lot of new things going on here at Sycamore Creek Church, and I know a lot of you are telling all kinds of people about it.  It’s an exciting time at Sycamore Creek Church.  And how did all this get started?  Let’s go back even behind that question and ask the question: How did The Church get started?  Why do people all over the world gather together every week to worship God?  From the earliest days of the church until today, people become followers of Jesus in the exact same way: through an invitation.

Most of us got here because someone invited us.  Is anyone harboring bitterness toward the person who invited you?  OK, don’t answer that.  But while a few of you have been attracted to our church as new things are happening and you got a flyer or saw the new sign outside, or wondered what was going on in this building, or heard about the amazingly awesome pastor and his amazingly awesome preaching, most of you first came simply because someone invited you.  That’s not to say that buildings and marketing and staff are unimportant.  But they are secondary.  Relationships are key.

The secret to the church growing is simple: someone who is following Jesus invests time in someone else and invites them.  The goal of the church has never been to become big, although that may happen when the goal of the church is accomplished.  The goal of the church is to share our experience with Jesus with someone else.  In fact, maybe “experience” isn’t even quite strong enough.  We share our encounter with Jesus, and we invite others to have that same experience and encounter.  Jesus’ followers became followers because of an invitation.

Today we’re going to go all the way back to the beginning of the story of the church and the first invitation.  The story of invitation begins before Jesus with John, Jesus’ cousin, who is often called “John the Baptist.”  John was a weirdo.  He was preaching out in the desert dressed in uncomfortable clothes and eating unappetizing food.  But he had a message that the people of his day wanted to hear: The messiah is coming.  John seemed to be the first real prophet to come along in a long time.  And he’s attracting quite a following.  Then Jesus shows up:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
~John 1:29 NLT

John recognizes and announces that Jesus is who he has been preaching about, and something happens in that moment:

The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
~John 1:35-37 NLT

John starts out with two disciples and Jesus has zero.  But then when John announces again who Jesus is, those two disciples begin to follow Jesus.  John 2 : Jesus 0.  John 0 : Jesus 2.  These are Jesus’ first two followers.

Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
“Come and see,” he said.
~John 1:38-39a NLT

“Come and See.”  The first followers of Jesus were responding to an invitation to “come and see.”  So they did.

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.
~John 1:39b NLT

So they spend the day with Jesus.  Do you think if they had a bad experience we would have heard about it?  Their experience that day with Jesus was good, really good.  And they passed that experience on.  It was written down and now we’re reading about it 2000 years later because it didn’t just stop with those first two disciples.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).  Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus.
~John 1:40-42a NLT

Andrew, one of Jesus’ first two followers, goes first thing to his brother, Simon, and tells him about their experience.  First thing.  He calls him on his cell phone (OK, maybe not) and says, “You’re never going to believe who I saw.”  Have you ever done that?  Call someone immediately after you had an experience and tell them, “You’re never going to believe this.  I don’t have time to talk about it.  You’ve just got to come and see.”  Then Simon comes to experience and encounter Jesus himself.

First Jesus invites two of John’s followers to “come and see” and then one of those followers invites his brother to “come and see.”  But it doesn’t stop there.  Jesus keeps inviting.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
~John 1:43-44 NLT

Here’s another invitation.  This one from Jesus to Philip.  There’s an interesting point here about who Philip was.  He was from the same town that two of Jesus’ other three followers were from.  This probably means that Philip saw people he knew and trusted.  He had an affinity with those who were already following Jesus.  Invitation always flows easiest when it is along lines of affinity.  People who are like you are more likely to trust your invitation.  That’s not to say that you shouldn’t invite people who are different than you, but that Jesus begins with the low hanging fruit.  It gets tougher from there.

Jesus is currently in Bethany and decides to go to Galilee.  Galilee is about 60-70 miles from where they’re at.  This means  that they would be walking about the same distance it would be for us to walk from Lansing to Grand Rapids or Ann Arbor.  It would take them about 20-25 hours to cover this distance.  They were about to spend some really significant time together.  Philip is on board because he trusts Andrew and Simon who are from his own home town. But Philip reaches out to someone who is at first a bit skeptical.

Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
~John 1:45-46a NLT

Nathanael isn’t quite as open as the other four have been thus far.  He’s skeptical about Nazareth and anyone born there.  It would be like me coming up to you and saying, “Hey do you want to walk to Ann Arbor with this guy I just met from Dansville.”  It would be a little different if I said he was from LA, Hollywood, New York, or Miami.  Maybe he’d have some interesting stories to tell.  But Dansville?  I drove through there once when I was lost.  But Philip is thinking, “I had this great experience with Jesus this one day, but I can’t really explain it.  I don’t have time or words.”  So…

“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
~John 1:46b NLT

Phillip basically says, “Don’t take my word for it, just come and see, check it out for yourself.”  So let’s see where we’re at.  The first followers of Jesus began when Andrew invited Peter.  Philip invited Nathanael.  And Jesus invited them all.

There’s a really simple strategy ingrained in the culture of the church from the very beginning: come and see.  This strategy results in at first a few individuals, then a few dozen, then a few hundred, to several thousands, millions, and even billions.  The early followers of Jesus didn’t try to explain.  They just said, “Come and see.”  They invited saying, “I think I’ve found what I’m looking for.  I’ve found grace, mercy, acceptance, hope, new life, and a fresh start.”

There’s a big churchy word for what’s going on here.  It’s called “evangelism.”  Ouch.  It’s the word we love to hate.  But evangelism simply means “spreading the good news.”  Over time we’ve complicated things.  Most of us have a negative connotation with this word because we’ve had a bad experience with an evangelist.  When we think of evangelism we think of somebody like Billy Sunday, a White Sox player turned preacher:

 

 

Or we think of a bad experience being an evangelist like this awkward invite:

 

 

But evangelism isn’t any of those things.  It’s just sharing the experience you’ve had with those around you.  “I can’t explain it, you’ve just got to experience it.”  Think about it this way.  There’s all kinds of things around us that you already do this with.  Have you been to the Hawk Island Tubing Park?  Our Dad Kid Night Out group has gone twice now.  I can’t explain how much fun it is to ride down an icy hill bumping back and forth between ice walls.  You’ve just got to try it out, especially with your kids.  Or have you tried the chocolate cheese at the MSU Dairy Store?  I know.  It sounds weird, right?  Chocolate and cheese?  Chocolate cheese?  You’ve just got to go check it out and try some for yourself.  It’s better than you can imagine.  Speaking of cheese, have you bought cheese at Hills Cheese at the Lansing City Market?  I know it sounds kind of old fashioned to go buy cheese from a cheese store.  But you get to try any cheese they’ve got before you buy it.  You’ve just got to go try it out.  Or have you ever been to the Dickens Pub? It’s in the basement of The English Inn.  It’s Sarah and my favorite pub in the entire Lansing region.  There’s maybe twelve seats in the whole place.  There’s just something about it.  I can’t explain it.  You’ve just got to come and see it some time.

It’s that simple.  You have a new experience that others haven’t had.  You start with “listen to me…come and see.”  Or let me give you one more.  Have you been to Tom and Chee downtown?  I tried this grilled cheese donut.  Yeah.  Grilled cheese donut.  It has mascarpone and lemon all grilled inside a donut.  Sounds weird right?  Forget it.  I can’t explain it.  You’ve just got to experience it for yourself.   Just come and see.

The goal of the first followers of Jesus was not to explain something.  The goal was to experience someone.  Jesus needs to be experienced & encountered, not explained.

I know what you’re thinking, “But you’re talking about coming to church, not experiencing Jesus.”  Jesus thought of this.  He was very intentional about creating a community of followers.  It was never just about one person and Jesus. It was always about one person and Jesus in a community of people.  Jesus instructed people to invite others.  Paul, the first missionary of the church and the author of many of the books of the Bible, understood this community as “the body of Christ.”  This community is the body of Christ that when it is at its best allows you to experience and encounter Jesus in a way that you never could just on your own.  I can’t fully explain it, but when you experience it, it’s something amazing.  The church at its best is a community where people can come and experience Jesus in a healthy way.

Lisa Pender, a partner in our church has a daughter named Colleen.  Lisa and Colleen are some of the biggest inviters in our church.  And it’s not because Lisa has all her questions answered and this life completely figured out.  It’s because Lisa listens to sermons at work and that starts conversations.  It’s because when her daughter invites a friend and that friend comes, they put the name tags on the inside roof of her car and that starts conversations.  She’s simply seeking to follow Jesus and in the process inviting others to seek with her where she’s found some of what she’s looking for.

So the goal of Sycamore Creek isn’t to be big.  The goal is to help others experience what we experience, Jesus.  But when we do that, it’s likely that we will get bigger and bigger.  Because how many people in our area don’t belong to a church?  Lots and lots and lots.  You have the opportunity to do for someone else what someone did for you: invite them to come and see.

If you’re here for the first time, you may skeptical, but if you’ll keep coming, over time you’ll see as you experience Jesus.  Jesus is someone hard to explain, you just have to come and see.

* Based on a sermon originally by Joel Thomas

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Committed to Christ: Because God first loved us

March 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment

We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19) Logo 4-color B

Before you made any move toward God, before you discovered or contemplated or considered Jesus’ invitation to follow him, God moved toward you. Before you did or said anything, God declared a deep, abiding love for you. God loves you. God loved you first. This is a life-altering truth.

Our capacity for love is influenced significantly by the love we have received. If our parents and other adults have loved us well throughout our lives, we find it easier to pass along love and encouragement to others.

Following Jesus is a natural consequence of realizing who he is and the greatness of his love for us. John Wesley, who at Aldersgate saw that “Christ died for me, even me,” is but one example of the transformative power of beholding the depth of God’s love displayed on the cross.

Likewise, may you behold God’s love and, as a follower of Christ, evidence that love to others.

Creator God, may my commitment to you be a response to your love and commitment to me, to save, redeem, and use me for your purposes. Amen.

**

In preparation for Easter, our entire church family is in a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. We invite you to join us for Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life.

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Step one: Commitment to Christ

March 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment

In preparation for Easter, our entire church family is invited to enter a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ through the series Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life.  Each Sunday and Monday as a community we’ll delve into what it means to commit to climb one step closer toward this goal.

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Daily throughout this seven-week series, we invite everyone to take a moment in which to dedicate time to consider personal next steps. Meditations will keep us focused on each of the steps along the way, beginning with this thought for today: Making or renewing our commitment to Christ.

“Come, follow me.” (Mark 1:17)

Knowingly or not, all of us follow someone. We can do so with great intention and care, or we can do so haphazardly, stumbling from here to there but nevertheless moving in a general direction. We identify those persons whom we most desire to emulate, and we make our decisions accordingly. We all have some general conception of what the good life looks like, either through exposure to a model, or by piecing together a patchwork ideal all our own. It remains with us to discern whether or not our focus is on Jesus as our model, or on something or someone altogether different.

As you begin this journey toward living a more generous life, your first stop is Jesus Christ. You must consider his invitation, his life, his path, his truth. You must ask whether or not Jesus is truly worthy of your devotion, your dedication, your wholehearted discipleship. God has supplied you with the grace necessary to bring you to a place where you can consider what a life committed to Christ entails.

Trust him, whether for the first time, or yet again. Turn your life over to him, and see what good and beautiful things he might bring.

Jesus, I wish to be your disciple, and I trust you to lead me in a good way, a way that leads to a generous and beautiful life. Amen.

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Commited to Christ

February 24, 2014 by 1 Comment

Logo 4-color B

Dear Friends,

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
What does the Lord expect of me?
What “holy habits” should I cultivate in my life?

For seven weeks beginning in March and preparing us for Easter, our entire church family is invited to enter a season of decision and commitment toward the goal of becoming fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. We will begin a new series called Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life.

We are hoping that every person and every family will be present every Sunday or Monday during this season so that we can each commit to climb one step closer toward this goal. We will dedicate ourselves to the Lord and obey what the Lord has commanded, in a spirit of gratitude for all that we have received.

On an introductory week at the start of the program, we will be asked to make or renew our personal commitment to Christ. Each of the six weeks following will emphasize a different area of faithful Christian discipleship: prayer, Bible reading, worship, financial giving, witness, and service.

Here are several things you will want to be aware of:

  • A preview booklet that describes each of the six areas of commitment is available for FREE at the info table on Sunday or Monday.
  • A 40-day devotional book is also available on Sunday or Monday for $4 or you can buy one here.
  • A set of commitment cards that show the various levels of commitment, ranging from limited commitment to full and unlimited commitment can be downloaded here.  You will be invited to complete and turn in one commitment each week during worship on Sunday or Monday.
  • A serve sheet with all the ministries of our church listed can be downloaded here.  You are invited to complete and turn this in on the last week during worship on Sunday or Monday.  Also consider taking a FREE ($15 value) online spiritual gifts survey at www.assessme.org/2364.aspx.

To celebrate what God is doing here at Sycamore Creek Church, the series will culminate in a special Ministry Celebration Sunday with ONE Sunday service at 10:30 AM on Palm Sunday, April 13 (Monday night will meet as usual), where all the ministries of the church will be on display in a service fair in the Connection Cafe.

May God bless each of us as we commit together to become fully devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.

Peace,
Pastor Tom

Schedule
March 2 & 3 – Intro
March 9 & 10 – Prayer
March 16 & 17 – Bible
March 23 & 24 – Worship
March 30 & 31 – Financial
April 6 & 7 – Witness
April 13 & 14 (Palm Sunday) – Service (ONE  Sunday service at 10:30 AM; Monday at 7PM as usual)

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One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?

April 29, 2013 by 1 Comment

OneFishTwoFish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Fish Two Fish Why Do I Do This?
Sycamore Creek Church
April 28/29, 2013
Matthew 14:17-25
Tom Arthur

Peace Friends!

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Evangelism.”  For many of you evangelism probably brings up a lot of negative associations.  It does for me too.  There are certain “tribes” of Christianity that I occasionally run into that make me feel like I’m taking a test.  If I don’t get the test right, that probably means I’m not a Christian and need to be converted to their tribe.

I also think Sarah’s experience with a Mormon who came to our door one day.  We had a sign on the door about morning and evening prayer times, and Sarah saw the Mormon evangelist look at the sign, start to walk away, and then come back to the door and knock.  Sarah went to the door and the Mormon evangelist said, “Do you know why God sent a flood on the earth?”  Sarah responded, “I’m a student at Duke Divinity School and married to someone who is studying to be a pastor.  Are you sure you want to get into this conversation?”  He said sheepishly, “No.”  And then he gave her his pamphlet and left!

I recently asked my friends on Facebook this question: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are some of the answers I got [the full answers are at the bottom]:

Two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.”

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.”

I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell me (while kids cry, dinner burns and I try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bull horn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jim Bakker.

Whew!  That’s quite a load of negative associations with evangelism and sharing your faith.  I want you to know that we do it differently here at Sycamore Creek Church.  We’re a church that is curious, creative, and compassionate.  And we are told quite often that people find this a place that isn’t pushy and is very welcoming, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey and what questions you’ve got.  I’d like to introduce you to someone who has been recently coming to SCC and is finding this a good place to seek answers to her spiritual questions.  Meet Marian Wilson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zpVU23XL-A&feature=youtu.be

Marian may be physically blind, but the eyes of her heart are seeking God and finding SCC a good place to do that.  And she even plays the keyboard for us!  And if you were here a couple of weeks ago when she first joined the band, you know that Marian is a real gift to us, even as she’s still seeking answers to her God questions.  That’s the spirit of evangelism that we have here at SCC.

Today we begin a new series called One Fish Two Fish How Do I Do This?  It’s a series about sharing the faith.  Today I’m going to answer the question: Why do I do this?  Why share the faith?

There are three basic motivations that Christians have for sharing the faith, and you can find all of them in the story where Jesus calls his followers to leave their fishing nets and fish for people.  Let’s explore each of these three motivations for sharing the faith.

Concern for Eternity

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:17

For many, the weight of eternity is a significant motivator for sharing the faith.  They look around at the people they come in contact with and see that they’re heading away from God for eternity.  They desire for all to repent, which originally was a traveling term that simply meant “to turn around”, and head toward God for eternity.

One key tool Christians have used over the last fifty years to make this point is often times called the bridge diagram.  There is actually a free app you can download to your phone that walks you and someone else through this bridge diagram.  Here’s a video about that tool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tNvEBnUj15k#at=67

http://www.howtoshareyourfaith.com/images/BridgeDiagram-8.jpg

The basic storyline of this diagram goes something like this:

  1. God created us to be in relationship, but we rebelled and sin entered the world causing a big gap to form between us and God.  The result of this gap of sin is death.
  2. We sense this distance between God and us, and we try to do good works to cross over this gap.  None of our good works is good enough to get us across the chasm.
  3. God saw the predicament we were in and sent his son, Jesus, to bridge that gap.  Through his life, death, and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and created a bridge between us and God.
  4. To cross over this bridge and be in relationship with God we ask Jesus to be our forgiver (Savior) and leader (Lord).  Where do you find yourself in this diagram?

There are some key motivators for those who feel the weight of eternity.  At its worst, the weight of eternity can lead to a motivation of fear, especially a fear of hell, and a desire to make sure one has the right “fire insurance” to not end up there.  When those who are motivated by eternity act out of fear, it is often clear to everyone else around them.  Fear as a religious motivator can be powerful, but also very dangerous and off-putting.

At its best the weight of eternity motivates because we recognize that we’re all mortal.  We all will die.  What’s the number one cause of death?  Birth!  If you were born, you will die.  Our culture does a lot to tell us we’re immortal, and sometimes we need a reminder that we don’t live forever.  While concern for eternity has and continues to be a big motivator for many Christian to share the faith, for me personally, this is not a big motivator.  I am much more motivated by the next two.

Obedience to the Truth

A second motivator for many to share their faith is obedience to the truth.  As we continue reading the story of Jesus calling fishermen to join him and fish for people we read:

As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.  And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20

“Follow me.”  This is a command.  And it’s a command that implies that the “me” that you’re following is worthy of being followed.  Jesus tells us what this means elsewhere:

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32

Here Jesus is inviting us to be obedient to the truth of his word, to be obedient to him.  What is the truth of who God is and who Jesus is?  If we find any book in the Bible that lays that out systematically, it is the book of Romans.  St. Paul doesn’t lay it out as systematically as we might sometimes like, but his letter to the Romans is the closest thing we’ve got.  Christians have recognized this and created at times what is called the Romans Road.  It is a path through the book of Romans that succinctly describes the truth of Jesus.  What you do is write the Romans Road in the margins of your Bible and then all you have to do is remember where the first verse begins.  You look up that verse and beside it is the next verse.  The content is pretty self explanatory.  There are several versions of the Romans Road, but here is my take:

Romans 1:20—Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.

Romans 3:23—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23a—For the wages of sin is death,          

Romans 6:23b—But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8—But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9-10—If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

Romans 8:1—There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:16—It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:38-39—For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 12:1-2—I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One of my favorite ways of describing what the truth of Jesus is comes from a third and fourth century church leader named St. Athanasius.  In his book, On the Incarnation, he begins by describing how we were made in God’s image so that we could have a relationship and friendship with God.  But sin distorted that image and broke the friendship.  Jesus came to restore that image.  Here’s what St. Athanasius says this about the truth of who Jesus is:

What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Saviour Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need. Here is an illustration to prove it. ‘

You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material. Even so was it with the All-holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind made after Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: ” I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19. 10) This also explains His saying to the Jews: “Except a man be born anew …” (John 3. 3) He was not referring to a man’s natural birth from his mother, as they thought, but to the re-birth and re-creation of the soul in the Image of God.

C.S. Lewis, influenced by St. Athanasius, summed this up even more succinctly: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”  I sometimes make Lewis a little more gender inclusive by saying: In Jesus, God took on the character of flesh so that flesh might take on the character of God or In Jesus, God became friends with us so that we might become friends with God.

If all that seems too complicated, John Wesley comes to our rescue with a simple description of the truth: “Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is, simplicity and purity : one design, one desire : entire devotion to God.”  Love God with everything you’ve got!

For those who desire to be obedient to the truth, there are some key motivators for sharing the faith. At the worst, this motivation can become intellectual hair-splitting. At its best one is motivated by truth, integrity, reason, honesty, and fidelity.  Why share the faith?  Because we are called to be obedient to the truth.

Joining an Adventure & Rescue Mission

A third reason why one might share the faith is because you’re inviting those around you to join an adventure and rescue mission.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.  So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Matthew 4:23-25

Now that’s what I’m talking about!  For me this is a huge motivator to share the faith.  I want to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to heal and transform the world!

One recent tool that has been developed to tap into this motivation is sometimes called the Four Circles or The Big Story or the True Story.  It is somewhat of a reaction to the bridge diagram.  The bridge diagram is very individualistic.  As you’ll see the Four Circles diagram is very community oriented.  Here’s a quick video that describes the four circles:

http://vimeo.com/24231464

To see how this works if you drew it out, here’s a more home-grown video of the Four Circles being explained by it’s creator, James Choung:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCVcSiUUMhY

http://openchurchnz.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/choung4circlestruestory.jpg

Here are the four circles:

  1. Creation – Designed by God for good.
  2. Fall – Damaged by evil and living self-centered.
  3. Redemption – Jesus restores for better, and his life, death and resurrection show that sin, evil and death don’t have the last word.
  4. Mission & Adventure of Following Jesus = We are sent together to heal to become an agent of mission to change the world.  The goal is to transform you and send you to transform the world by bringing God’s kingdom now.

I have a hard time coming up with worst case motivations for this, but if I had to, I’d say that because it is a reaction to the Bridge Diagram, sometimes this motivation can be simply reactionary.  But at it’s best, wanting to join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus I am motivated by: compassion; justice; ending or reducing poverty; tearing down the walls of racism, sexism, classism, etc.; and bringing God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Now that’s what gets me up in the morning!

I like this way of thinking about evangelism and sharing the faith because it is also communal.  We don’t do it alone.  We are sent together to heal.  We invite people to join in that adventure and rescue mission.  Who doesn’t want to be involved in transforming the world for better?  And a key doorway into this mission is through worship.  Worship is the staging ground for this adventure and rescue mission.  We attempt to make this as easy as possible for you by providing three to five Big Sundays every year.  Easter was our last Big Sunday.  So you know that we had almost three hundred people here on Easter?  That’s amazing!

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus led to personal transformation.  Addictions are broken.  Marriages are healed.  The lonely find community.  The “worthless” find worth.  The least become the greatest.  The last become the first.  The lost become found.

Imagine with me a community of people that were motivated to share the faith because following Jesus leads to joining an adventure and a rescue mission to the world.  The homeless women and children at Maplewood find a home.  Those on the edge of society find a welcoming place at Open Door.  Those who are forgotten because of their age and health find friendship and love at Holt Senior Care.  Those in need of basic supplies for life find them at Compassion Closet.  Those who need medical assistance in Nicaragua find health and healing and hope.  Do you know that these are all places where our church is already reaching out to the community and world?  We do it by receiving money and giving it away.  Do you know that we have over the life of our church received and given away almost $80,000 in special offerings that have gone to meet the needs of our community and world?  SycamoreCreekChurch is joining the adventure of Jesus and his rescue mission to save the world.  That’s why we share the faith!  Will you join the adventure?

God, sometimes we’re not very motivated to share the faith.  Sometimes we’re even scared and overwhelmed.  Give us motivation when we don’t have any.  Help us have a concern for eternity. Help us be obedient to the truth.  Help us join the adventure and rescue mission of Jesus to transform the world.  Amen.

Friends, I want to let you know about two things.  First, there are three books that have been influential to me in working on this series.  I’d like to encourage you and/or your small group to pick one up and read it.   They are:

God Space by Doug Pollock

This book is a short (127 pages) easy to read book about how to get into spiritual conversations with those around you.  I heard Doug speak about a year ago and was deeply moved by his approach to evangelism.  His approach is really about how to listen well and ask good questions.  I don’t think you can go wrong with this book.  If you’re not sure about which book to pick, pick this one.

Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale Fincher and Jonalyn Fincher
This book is a little longer (219 pages) but covers more ground than Pollock’s book.  It deals with the same topic, how to start spiritual conversations, but also spends a lot more time covering what the Christian faith is and how to respond to possible “arguments” against the Christian faith.  If your group wants to go deeper than just how to get into the conversations and needs some help with answers to possible questions that come up, this book would be the one to go with.

True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
This book is the most readable even if longest (222 pages) of the three because it is almost all a narrative (And at times is a page-turner!).  It is a “fictional” conversation between a college-age Christian, a mentor professor, and his non-Christian love-interest.  This book doesn’t dive at all into how to get into spiritual conversations, but shows how to talk about Christianity in a way that is compelling to our current culture.  The book attempts to correct some past ways that Christians have tended to present the gospel that have caused our culture to tune out Christians.

Second, in the fourth week of this series I’m going to be doing a live Q&A with you answering the question: What about objections?  I’m going to give you the opportunity to ask the kinds of questions you’re afraid will come up if you talk about your faith with others around you.  I’m not preparing much for this message because I want you to see what it looks like to answer these questions unprepared and on the spot.  I want to model for you how you might answer objections to the faith, and I may even have to model how to say, “I don’t know.  Let me get back to you on that one.”  So begin compiling your questions and bring them on week four!

Facebook Questions & Answers

Full answers from my friends on Facebook to the questions: What negative associations come to mind when you hear the word evangelism? What bad experiences have you had with evangelism? Either sharing your faith or someone trying to evangelize you?  Here are all of the answers I got:

Back in college I attended a ministry on campus. Once they had my contact information, two guys showed up to my dorm room unannounced and started grilling me with difficult theological questions that I had no clue how to navigate. I was young in my faith and they knew it. After fumbling through my responses, they left. At no point did I feel they actually cared about me. They were there with an agenda. They had no intention of hearing my thoughts. It was as if they only cared about results and could care less about fostering a friendship. Needless to say, I never returned and they never wondered where I went.

A single narrow minded focus on ‘Christianity’ and if you do not agree completely with their beliefs you are the enemy…

A focus on altar calls and “getting saved.” Specifically, I think about when this big production with BMX bikes and loud music came to my high school gym one Friday night. If you didn’t attend the event, you must not have been a Christian. If you didn’t go up front at the altar call, you must not want to be saved. Shame on you!  A similar pressure was present at other church events like concerts and such. It never happened at Lake Louise, Lake Michigan, or Wesley Woods… all UMC camps. I love being United Methodist!

I was always afraid of having to “do evangelism.” I saw a poster once that showed a polar bear on this empty frozen wasteland. The caption read “Now this is my kind of neighborhood for evangelism.”

What I don’t like about being evangelized to is the feeling that there is only one belief and if you don’t agree fully with every single facet then somehow you are “less than” as a person.  I personally don’t like to evangelize to others because I don’t necessarily “fit” the traditional Christian mold. I also have been in situations where I’ve somewhat hidden my faith because friends/acquaintances may feel that bringing up my faith in any way is an attempt to either make them feel inferior or change them in some way. For example, I know religion is a touchy subject with most members of the LGBT community, and even though I personally feel that God is love and everyone has the right to seek personal happiness, bringing up my faith could be seen as passing judgment or even an attack.
My short answer? Evangelism is awkward for me. Religion and faith place me in a box that I personally don’t fit into.

Young men in suits knocking on my door and trying to tell my (while kids cry, dinner burns and i try to escape) why their version of Christianity is the “right” one.

When I rebelled against God I disliked Christianity, especially those who evangelized their faith. As I mature in my Christian faith I respect those that profess their faith and encourage their enthusiasm. In retrospect, I am thankful to God for those annoying evangelists who sparked contempt and fear into my heart.

Interesting you should ask that, that was the exact question my worship committee discussed this month as we gear up for a sermon series on evangelism: what is it and what it isn’t. I hope God is blessing this conversation for you and your church!

Evangelists just are too pushy and long-winded. They make me feel uncomfortable.

Caring more about my soul than my health and welfare.

The people who come to my door and preach without asking if I already am a Christian, or do ask but still preach anyway. If I believe the same thing, I shouldn’t be offended or feel uncomfortable when you talk about it. I can only imagine how much worse it is if it is a non-believer who answers the door.

Walking down a crowded street a guy with a bullhorn waited until I was right in front of him before he lit it up yelling about hell. He’s lucky I didn’t send him there.

Hmm today at sm group we watched a Nooma video called bullhorn, it’s about a bullhorn guy screaming hell fire and brimstone. I loved how he talked about how Jesus “evangelized”

I don’t think of evangelism the same way as I did when I wasn’t as far along in my faith walk. Earlier in life it made me think of Tammy and Jimmy (?) Bakker. Anyway, it was a turn off, pushy, intrusive. Now I see openly talking about faith and how I can lean on God through faith feels comforting and “looks” totally different from “The Bakers.” I don’t feel fake like the big hair and clumpy makeup or the loud pushy preaching.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: , , , ,

How your giving changed the world in 2012!

January 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

2012Dear Friend,

The other day I was sitting with someone at our Monday night Church in a Diner and he said to me, “I haven’t been in church for forty years, but I really like what’s going on here.”  Wow!  Thank you, God!  This middle-aged man was invited by a neighbor who is also new to SCC and has been attending Church in a Diner.  One new person invited another new person.  This made my night.  Another evening I sat with a young man in my office who wanted to share some good news with me.  His wife had been praying for him for many years.  He had just had a “God experience” and was ready to commit his life to Christ.  Whoa!  That news made my month!  Then I got a call from someone who has attended our church somewhat sporadically.  He was an older man who was experiencing some pretty significant bumps in life.  He didn’t see much need for Jesus before these bumps, but when the turbulence hit, he was looking for anything solid to hang on to.  He reached out to Jesus and found a firm foundation.  Amazing!  Thank you, God!

People are finding Sycamore Creek Church a place where they encounter the compassion of God and it changes their lives.  They come curious about God because of something creative we’re doing, and they meet Jesus in the life of our community together.

I want you to know that your giving makes possible environments where people encounter God.  Your giving this year has had a significant impact:

  • We received $3800 in our Christmas Eve offering for Nicaragua and $800 in our alternative gift fair.  That’s $4600 to put a dent of God’s compassion in Nicaragua through our medical missions!
  • Our capital campaign has received $268,993 in two years.  We’ve paid off the mortgage on the parsonage, finished the basement, set aside 10% for a missions tithe, and saved the rest for a building.  We’re on pace for our total pledged amount of $366,137!
  • We’ve expanded our worship opportunities by offering a Monday night Church in a Diner at Grumpy’s Diner that is averaging about fifty to sixty people a night, most of them new to SCC!
  • Since October we’ve seen total attendance growth across both venues in the 30% range!  This growth has spilled over into Sunday morning as well.  Five of the last six months have seen growth on Sunday morning!  We are reaching new people and inviting them into the adventure of following Jesus.

While there is much good news to celebrate, there are some significant obstacles still before us in 2013.  While attendance in the second half of the year is up, giving has gone down.  We received $287,554 in 2011 and $245,789 in 2012, a 14% decrease, and we are projecting receiving $228,000 in 2013.  This has forced us to act creatively with less money.  In this context ideas like Church in a Diner were born.  It isn’t impossible to reach new people with less money as our attendance figures show.  I give thanks to God for your continued generosity.  Would you consider taking a step of further generosity in 2013?

  1. If you give but not regularly, would you consider giving a regular weekly/monthly amount?
  2. If you give regularly but you’re not tithing (10%), is God calling you to step up to tithing?
  3. If you tithe, is God calling you to radical generosity by giving 15-20% or more or by giving to a designated special giving (DSG) item listed on the back of this letter?

Thank you for following Jesus with everything you’ve got, money included.  Together we’ll ignite authentic life in Christ in more and more people and fan it into an all consuming flame!

Peace,
Pastor Tom

P.S. The best way I know how to do any of the three suggestions above is to automate the process either through EFT or setting up a regular check to be mailed through your online banking. Then you give faithfully even when you can’t always make it to worship.  Included is an EFT form for your convenience.

 

Designated Special Giving (DSG)

Below are listed various opportunities to touch people’s lives.  A particular opportunity just might catch hold of your heart, imagination, or spirit, and God won’t let it get out of your mind.  Would you prayerfully look over the list below and consider whether God is calling you to give to one of these DSG opportunities?  DSG is an above-and-beyond giving opportunity, above and beyond other commitments you’ve made to the church such as your annual Commitment Sunday pledge, your 20 Years Deep Capital Campaign pledge, or your commitment to Dr. Mir in Nicaragua.  If you can’t give the total amount listed, don’t feel like you can’t contribute.  Perhaps God will speak to five other people too, and their total giving meets the need or opportunity.  Take some time to consider DSG alongside your current giving, and watch what God will do in the coming weeks and months!

  • Main Projection Screen ($1,400 – $981 already given) – Help communicate the gospel effectively and excellently.  Our current screen is showing significant age.
  • Youth Ministry Intern ($5000) – We’d like to hire a college student as a year-round youth intern to help our youth go deeper in God’s grace.
  • Nursery Gates ($100) – Keeps kids safe and helps parents worship with peace of mind.  Makes our current nursery setup easier.
  • Floor Mats for the Nursery ($40) – Makes a clean soft place for kids to play.
  • Leadership Training ($300) – Conferences, workshops and coaching help our paid and unpaid staff continue to improve their craft and reach new people for Christ.
  • Signage ($100 to $2000) – We’re working on a new office sign, street signs, signs going into Lansing Christian School, and signs inside LCS that show our new logo and improve visibility.  Signs create and communicate our identity to the community.
  • Percussion Shaker ($30) – Adds more variety to the sound of our music and creates an environment where people can go deeper in God’s grace through worship music.
  • Guitar ($1000) – The guitar the church owns has significant wear and tear over the years.  A new guitar would add excellence to the music of our church which creates an environment for people to encounter God.
  • Nicaragua Meds ($2000) – We send medical teams to Nicaragua twice a year to share God’s compassion.  A huge expense that pays significant dividends in health is medicine.  Many maladies can be simply treated with the appropriate meds.
  • Coffee Shop Appreciation Gift Cards ($5) – A small gift card to a coffee shop can go a long way in showing appreciation to and retaining volunteers.
  • Member Care Training ($8000) – We are exploring bringing in John Savage several times over the next year.  Savage is a consultant we have worked with before who specializes in member care through training in listening skills.  This would help us expand our capacity for showing compassion within our community and help retain people when they experience bumps in life and the church.

If you would like to give to one or more of these Designated Special Giving opportunities, simply drop a check in the offering bag and write “DSG” and the name of the DSG (i.e. “DSG: New Screen”).

 

Filed Under: Newsletter Tagged With: , ,

Satellite Dispatches – Part I

May 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Call & Response

Mainline churches have a problem. It costs too much to start a new church. There are two big expenses: salary and space. UMC ordained clergy cost at a minimum roughly $70,000/year when you include benefits (anyone have data on other mainline salaries?) and my church rents and pays $2,100/month for worship space and $700/month for office space.

Read more…

Filed Under: Call & Response Tagged With: ,

Networking for People Who Hate Networking

April 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Networking for People Who Hate NetworkingNetworking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected
By Devora Zack
Rating: 7 of 10

Thanks to Devora Zack, I’ve realized something about myself. I’m not an introvert. I’m what she calls a “centrovert.”  The distinction is very helpful. If you’re familiar with the Meyers Briggs personality type inventory you will know that there is a scale that ranges from one side, introvert, to the other side, extrovert.  When I have taken the inventory in the past, I tend to fall in the middle toward the introvert side.  I have always claimed that I’m an introvert.  But Devora points out that people in the middle are better called “centroverts.”  The reality for me is that I can put on a lot of extrovert skills when needed, but they tend to wear me out over time.

Sometimes I look like an extrovert, especially if you come to church on Sunday morning.  But Devora points out that introverts think to talk (they’re reflective), they go deep (they’re focused), and they energize alone (they’re self-reliant).  This pretty much nails me most of the time.  On the other hand extroverts talk to think (they’re verbal), they’re expansive (range widely), and they energize with others (they’re social).

Devora points out that networking books tend to cater to extroverts.  Her book is different.  She outlines a very helpful set of guidelines that play to introverts strengths.   Here’s a list of old rules for networking that play to extroverts and new rules that play to introverts:

Old Rule: Jump on in (Patter)
New Rule: Pause (Plan for networking)

Old Rule: Sell yourself (Promote)
New Rule: Process (Go deep to connect)

Old Rule: Maximize time with others (Party)
New Rule: Pace (Know when to withdraw to energize)

Devora then runs these three new rules through several different settings that people often find themselves in such as a conference, hunting for a job, business travel, or at a networking event.  Her best example from her own experience was from a conference she personally attended.

Pause: She researched all the publishers who would be there.  Of the hundreds she found two or three that fit the kind of book she wanted to write.

Process: She narrowed her list down to one and set up a meeting with that one publisher and connected deeply by being very well prepared for that one meeting.

Pace: She didn’t meet with any of the other publishers.  She brought all her energy to that one meeting.  She didn’t try to promote herself everywhere.  She paced her energy.

The result was the book I read.  Most people would think that to get a book published you have to get it out to as many publishers as possible, and this may work sometimes.  But my own experience watching my wife (who is probably a “centrovert” on the extrovert side) write and publish is that she does best when she narrows her ideas down to very specific publishers and works to build a lasting relationship with those publishers.

So here’s how I’m taking this into my next conference setting.  I just attended a second pastors conference in Florida.  I decided to PAUSE and do some advanced planning.  I emailed the co-organizer and described myself (I actually already new him) and my situation as a second pastor.  I asked him if he knew any other second pastors who were in similar situations that I might begin to connect with on Facebook or via email.  That way when I showed up I had one or two people I already knew rather than walking cold into a room of people I don’t know.  He wasn’t in charge of registration so he didn’t know who was registered.  I suggested we set up a Facebook page/group before the conference for people who were attending the conference.  He liked the idea and made it happen.  When I arrived I paid attention to making some significant lasting connections (PROCESS) with a couple of people and PACED myself and my relational energy by going to a movie one night by myself.  Zack’s ideas helped me navigate this conference in an intentional way that played to my strengths.

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Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale & Jonalyn Fincher

December 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Coffee Shop ConversationsCoffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk
By Dale & Jonalyn Fincher
Audio Book
Rating: 7 of 10

The book I was really wanting to read was God Space: Naturally Creating Room for Spiritual Conversations by Doug Pollock.  I had gone to a workshop by him—the best evangelistic workshop I have ever attended—and wanted to review the material by listening to his book.  The only problem was that his book wasn’t in an audio format. What I found instead was the Fincher’s Coffee Shop Conversations.

The most helpful section of the Fincher’s book for me was “Part I: Making Spiritual Small Talk.”  They describe a method for getting into spiritual conversations.  Their method is very similar to Pollock’s: ask a lot of questions and be sincerely interested in the person and their answers.  There are no gimmicks here, just simple and plain care and compassion.  I’ve been attempting to do this more and more myself.  I have a tendency to ignore the people who serve me, like waitresses, baristas, cashiers, etc.  I also tend to ignore the people who are just milling around me, like the people standing in line next to me.  I can sit on a five-hour plane ride and not talk to the person next to me.  Lately, I’m attempting to break these bad habits, not so much for evangelistic reasons, but just to be a more friendly and caring person.  Coffee Shop Conversations helped give me some new direction on how to do so more effectively.

Finchers

Dale & Jonalyn Fincher

The rest of the book is more of an apologetic book.  “Apologetics” is not an apology, but a defense of a particular idea.  The word is not specifically Christian.  You could have a Republican apologist or a Democratic apologist or a Starbucks apologist or a Biggby apologist.  The Finchers do a good job covering the current landscape of our culture and the issues it has with Christianity.  I tend not to have as much of a problem with this aspect of spiritual conversations, but others who stay out of spiritual conversations because they fear getting asked questions that they can’t answer will find the Finchers provide considerable help in navigating the ups and downs of our culture’s biases for and against Christianity.  I found two or three chapters particularly helpful in this regard.  They encourage not judging something by its abuses (this is not particular to Christianity and could be said about other religions, politics, careers, etc.), watching out for red herrings (i.e. distractions in conversations that tend to derail the conversation from the main topic: Jesus), and not making mountains out of molehills (i.e. allowing for faithful Christians to disagree on some topics like evolution, drinking, homosexuality, etc.).  I also found their discussion of genre (the style or category of something) in the Bible particularly intriguing.  Sometimes both Christians and non-Christians quote the Bible out of context and create obstacles to following Jesus that need not be there.  After listening to some of their interpretations of particular Bible passages, I realized I too was guilty of this at times!

The average person will find this book helpful and stretching.  The Finchers have written a book that is intellectually sound but also engaging to the common Joe.  Having these kinds of coffee shop conversations—whether in the coffee shop, on campus, in the pub, at work, or elsewhere—is something that our own church needs to get better at cultivating.  The Finchers help us to that end.

Current Reading
Generation to Generation by Edwin H. Friedman
The Busy Family’s Guide to Spirituality by David Robinson
At the Still Point compiled by Sarah Arthur
Sticky Teams by Larry Osborn
Fascinate by Sally Hogshead
All My Holy Mountain (Book 5 in The Binding of the Blade Series) by L.B. Graham
Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches by Milfred Minatrea

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