In the Middle of Things

I’m in middle age, the middle of raising kids, the middle of projects at work and at church, and in the middle of a three month devotional booklet (and, if truth be told, sometimes I only get to the middle of a daily reading.) Lately, I’ve been reflecting on being in the middle of things and frankly it’s more exciting to be at the beginning. Or, if things go well, more rewarding at the end. You have that rush of adrenalin as you start the “big project” and you have that “well done” (and phew it’s over feeling) at the end. Being in the middle can be tedious, uninspiring, plain hard work and motivationally challenging. Relationships may get tense, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.” (as that boomer song goes). It’s in the middle when my “I” questions arise, “What am I doing here? Am I doing it right? Does anyone care what I am doing?, etc. etc.” Where’s the glory in the middle?

56 years ago, my parents were in the middle of starting an Evangelical Covenant Church in Dearborn, Michigan, sharing the Good News of the gospel in the neighborhood. Growing up I witnessed the middle of this ministry. My dad went to planning and financial meetings. My mother prepared Sunday School lessons and taught hundreds of kids Bible lessons on Flanograph Boards (I still love those flannel panels, but that’s another blog). I watched the hard work, waited for dad to come home from long meetings at night and helped my mom serve meals in the kitchen. To a kid, it wasn’t all that exciting. Still, they were faithful in the middle of things.

This past week, I attended the Annual Celebration of the Great Lakes Conference. In the middle of the business meeting, John Aho, Pastor of the Dearborn Evangelical Covenant Church gave a Good News Report on what’s going on there today. The church is still spreading the gospel in the same neighborhood, but it has changed over the years. Dearborn is home to a large Muslim community and the church is offering free English lessons in its new Friendship Center. Hometown missionaries have developed training programs to equip people from all over the country to come to Dearborn and learn how to reach out to Muslims. 56 years later, the Dearborn Church is going in directions that could have never been predicted in the middle 1950s. It’s still in the middle of God’s work.

As Christians, we believe that God knows the end of the story. Our characters, however, may only be in the middle chapters. So, we are called—in the middle—and God only knows how the story will unfold.

What are you in the middle of?

Praying, Pondering and Doing Stuff

The Great Lakes Conference Sent to Serve (S2S) challenges Covenant congregations to look beyond their own walls and meet needs of those outside of them. The idea is to get churches to focus on doing-continuing to do practical/tangible service for the immediate community. This does not assume that this work doesn’t already go on. My hope is that this blog will create a space to come together to inspire, share, and learn from one another.

I’m not a theologian and don’t want to get into any battles of the social gospel kind. I don’t really understand the definition of post-modern world and have a hard enough time trying to figure out what world I am living in. I do know that whatever world you call it, you are called in it…to follow Jesus and serve the people of God—to pray, ponder and finally do stuff. I want to emphasize the doing stuff part on this blog. My theme idea is “Outside the bounds of the church walls, but not outside the bounds of Church.” Look for topics to include:

Bad Economics makes Good Serveonomics

Jesus said if you do it for the least of these you do it for me, so he might say, “What Have you Done For Me Lately?” Share stories of serving our communities.

Are we taking care of our widows and “orphans” (broad definition of that term could include kids in divorce, military families, single parent homes, etc.)

How can we be a blessing to our community?

If our church closed would anyone notice? (reflection).

To get things started I’ve contacted a few churches in the metro-Detroit area to share their thoughts. First up is Mark Van Andel from Citadel of Faith in Detroit.

Janet Swanson: List some attributes of a church practicing Sent 2 Serve ministries. In other words, how would you know it if you stumbled into one of these places?

Mark: I would look for a church to devote at least 10% of its budget to serving the poor, oppressed and the lost outside of the current congregation. “Matt. 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we want to see what we value in life, check our budgets. There would be at least one committee, if not an entire ministry of people who address issues of injustice, poverty and outreach. The congregations would have a variety of members from different socio-economic levels, maybe even suggesting a percentage of the congregation who is in poverty, depending on the location. Members would be trained in understanding Biblical truth about people living in poverty and in some type of anti-racism training. Outreach would not be something to be done occasionally, but would be built into the DNA of a congregation. Small groups in the church would include people from varying economic levels and races.

JS: List steps/processes that will help get there.

Mark: Anti-racism training—Crossroads from Chicago is a good model. Training in understanding and addressing poverty. The budget development process includes line items for compassion and benevolence, both inside and outside of the congregation. Church membership classes should include addressing issues of racism/classcism.

JS: What are tangible resources you want to see?

Mark: Grants for training necessary to educate people on these issues. Develop trainers who can visit congregations to do the training and educating for a local church. Award churches/pastor who take significant steps in these areas with publicity, vacations, celebration dinner, etc. Make it a required part of a pastor’s job description to undergo training in these areas.

To the Blogosphere: What do you think? How do you get Outreach into the DNA of your church? Comments, considerations, examples, anyone, anyone…...

Why Connect the Church & Technology?

One of the exciting realities of church planting here on the Great Lakes Conference (and beyond) is the incredible technology and communication tools now available. "Circuit Riding Preacher" takes on a whole new meaning in the world of Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and even "old-fashioned" Websites & Email.

But why would you even bother to engage these tools?

Hey, it's the Bride of Christ, not the Bride of Frankenstein, we're serving!

...I hear some of you saying :) As with most things, it's a matter of perspective and purpose.

At Artisan Church, where I pastor in Rochester NY, we've found that a well-designed website is a huge asset for the 'attractional' side of reaching out into our community. Over half the guests in our growing congregation visit our website before attending. For many, it's the first point of contact (and hopefully not the last!) Even those who receive a personal invitation or hear through word-of-mouth usually check us out online before showing up for worship.

For the 'missional' side of connecting with people, tools such as blogging, weekly e-news, Facebook posts, and Flickr photostreams are great for vision casting, sharing stories of how Jesus is changing lives and neighborhoods, and for reinforcing community. Used well, these tools are surprisingly effective at motivating and sending people into their missional contexts, then celebrating what God does.

Does it matter if you're an established church, a church plant underway, or beginning the church planting or parenting process?

No. Not really. Because the Bride of Christ you serve actually lives in the 21st-century (whether it wants to or not), and the Lost Sheep are googling for direction & answers...

Will they find you? Will you help them make the connection?


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Additional Resources: If you want to explore this topic in greater depth, feel free to check out the Pastors Technology Seminar I presented at the 2009 Midwinter Conference. All the Notes, Video, Slides, and other Resources are available, covering the topics of: Websites that Work, Communication that Connects, and Productivity that's Personal. Enjoy!

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Jason Condon is a church planting pastor with the Great Lakes Conference of the ECC at Artisan Church in Rochester, NY, and the newly appointed Technical Director for Church Planting Training (fancy title for 'makes the tech stuff work... most of the time'). He and his wife Lisa, and their two children, Jaron & Bryn, live in the Neighborhood of the Arts in Rochester, NY, where they also run a webdesign shop for churches: SiteArtistry.com

Healthy Missional Church

Bill asked me, “What is this healthy missional church stuff? I hear you talk about it all of the time. What do you mean? I told him that our mission in the Great Lakes Conference was ‘to help every congregation become a healthy missional church.” And that by healthy we meant pursuing Christ, going deeper in relationship to him. And that by missional we meant pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world, going further in mission. He looked at me quizzically and said, “So, what you really mean is that we should really be Christians and the church should be what it is supposed to be.”

That is what I mean. There is nothing new about healthy missional church. It is about loving God with all of our hearts, souls, strength and mind and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27).

The question I am asking myself these days is: “How do I get there from here? How do I live a healthy, missional life?” Because, if the church is going to be healthy and missional it will be because you and I are healthy and missional.

For me, I am convinced it begins with a much deeper commitment to the Word and to prayer. It is about more than spending a few minutes in Scripture and a few minute in prayer each day, or most days, or some days, or when I have a few minutes to spare. It is about immersing myself in the Word; reading big chunks of Scripture and chewing on them. It is about committing to a life of prayer. For me, it starts with pursuing Christ, going deeper with him. I am finding as I do that, pursuing his priorities in the world seems to happen more naturally. It is less of a chore and more of an overflowing of my life with Christ.

Neil Cole, in his book Search and Rescue: Becoming a Disciple Who Makes a Difference, talks about Life Transformation Groups; groups of three who meet weekly to do three things: confess their sins to one another; dialogue about the big chunks of Scripture they have been reading; and pray for folks they know who do not yet know Jesus. I think that is what I need, some life transformation.

posted by Dick Lucco

GLC Blogs Coming Soon!

Watch this space for upcoming blogging from voices around the Great Lakes Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.