Ever feel like you need restoration?

Ever have that feeling that things are not right?

That life is harder than it should be?

Ever think about how Jesus said that he came that we might have abundant life?  Life to the full?  And then have you felt like your life is not exactly feeling abundant?

Maybe it’s the stress of our culture.  No doubt it is hard to follow Jesus sacrificially as his disciple in a culture of consumer indulgence.

Maybe it is the difficulty of family life.  Maybe it’s your job.

Maybe you have a broken relationship, or at least one that has been very disappointing.  Maybe you’re frustrated with yourself.

This Sunday we begin teaching a new mini-series called Stories of Restoration.  All of us need restoration.  We are all sinners in need of a savior.  Even after starting the journey of following Jesus as his disciples, we still go through pain.  But these situations are often so personal, so hard that we rarely talk about them.  Like the soldier who experiences the terror of war, we can find it nearly impossible to put words to our pain.  But we need to share our stories.

We felt it important that the teaching team lead by example.  I’ll share the story of the Kime family and some situations in which Michelle and I were individually and together in need of restoration.  Then the following week Phil & Lisa Bartelt will share their story.

We praise God that he desires to make all things new, as that is what restoration is all about.  Redeeming our pain, conforming us to the image of Christ.  May he be glorified as we share our stories of restoration.

 

 

Follow Up to Church Has Left The Building…Again

We did it again!

Instead of having a worship service, we worshipped by serving:

  • Washing the East Lampeter police department’s vehicles
  • Two groups visiting shut-ins, bringing the worship service to them!
  • Planting trees at East Lampeter Community park
  • Cleaning up the entrance to Smoketown elementary school
  • Childcare
  • Helping neighbors with yard work
  • Cleaning up the Leola Home of Hope
  • Food preparation

It was an awesome morning.  So encouraging to see the church being the church!  Feel free to comment and share what the morning meant to you.

We eventually just ripped it out with our bare hands.
We eventually just ripped it out with our bare hands.
Steve and Phil roll a "carpet" weeds off of a garden.
Steve and Phil roll a “carpet” weeds off of a garden.

This Church Will Leave The Building…Again!

One year ago we displayed a phrase on our church sign: “This Church Will Leave The Building, October 7th”.

While we wanted to put a teaser out there to the community, we had no idea that short message would create such a stir.  Neighbors asked us what was happening.  The local police department stopped by concerned.  We even had two offers from other congregations interested in buying our building, assuming we were leaving for good.  Then an article came out in our local newspaper, and people finally got it.  We were leaving our building for a couple hours one Sunday morning.  Instead of having a worship service, we were going to worship by serving the community.  Our first Church Has Left The Building was awesome.  Read all about it here.

This coming Sunday morning, we’re leaving the building again.  We had another article in our local paper, because this time we asked people in our community to let us know how we could help them.  Two people responded!  We’re going to have a work crew worship the Lord by helping these two.  We’ll also have teams washing police cars, cleaning up the school, planting trees at the park, cleaning at Homes of Hope, and taking worship to some of our shut-in members.

Then we’ll return to church at noon for a celebration meal!  I can’t wait.

Maybe in preparation, you might want to comment below what CHLTB meant to you last year or what you are looking forward to, during CHLTB, this year!

Follow up to “Frustrated with Outreach?”

Outreach.

The word itself is a picture, an out-stretched set of arms with a hand ready to help a person in need. In the summer of 2005 we took a group of students and adults to Kingston, Jamaica, where we had previously lived/served in 2000-2001.  It was wonderful to be back, renew friendships, help a local pastor, and eat jerk chicken.  On a day off we traveled to the north coast to climb Dunn’s River Falls, a gorgeous place that should be one of the wonders of the world.

We lapped the lines of cruise-ship tourists holding hands on our dash to the top, fighting rushing water and moss as slick as ice.  I kept an eye on my two oldest boys, one in front, the other next to me.  At a particularly tricky spot, my son next to me lost footing and starting sliding down toward wet rocks below. Instinct shot my arm out to grab his wrist.  I had one chance.  Either my attempt would work, and my watery grip would hold, or he was going down hard.  Thank God it held, and we had one of those heart-pounding moments of fear realizing something bad almost happened.

We see this image in the story of Jesus.  We, his sons and daughters, going down, and in desperate need of a hand.  His hand was actually his entire life. It was an amazing gift of love, that he gave himself for us.

So what should outreach look like now?  How should we give ourselves for the people all around that God desperately loves and wants to experience his abundant life?

Let’s discuss!

Are you frustrated with outreach?

I am VERY frustrated about the topic of outreach. 

Each week at Faith Church we have two sermon discussions groups.  One 10 days before the sermon, with the goal of preparing, and one immediately after the sermon, with the goal of answering questions and making application.

The first one is called sermon roundtable, and I have my seminary professor to thank because it started from a class assignment.  I am deeply grateful for the people who come to sermon roundtable because I always leave with 3-4 pages of notes.  When Monday morning rolls around, the last thing I want to do emotionally is to start studying for another sermon.  Especially when the page on my laptop is blank.  So the roundtable notes are a great motivator, and because they come from a variety of voices, they always enriches my preparation.

Well…almost always.  Last week I came out of sermon roundtable very frustrated.  We were discussing the last sermon in our four part series on the mission of the church, and the topic is outreach.  It goes by many names including, evangelism, witnessing, and sharing our faith.  It sounds straightforward enough, but people have a lot of different ideas about how a church should do outreach.  Don’t get me wrong, people had a lot of great thoughts at roundtable, and I took a bunch of notes.  But there was definitely confusion and disagreement. Times have changed.  What was acceptable 50 years ago might be offensive now.

So let’s hear from you.  Are you frustrated about outreach?  How do you think a church should reach out to its community?  Does the Bible have anything to say about this?

Follow up to “If Jesus had a scorecard…”

We had a great sermon discussion yesterday, with lots of people sharing about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

So let’s continue the discussion.  One of the things that concerns me is that we can get excited discussion things for an hour or so on Sunday, but then the busyness of the life creeps in and we stop thinking about how we want to grow as disciples.

Here’s a great article that might help you think more about discipleship and common misconceptions.

What do you think?

 

PS – If you want to view the video from the sermon, you can do so here.

If Jesus had a scorecard, he wouldn’t be counting the believers

Ed Stetzer recently shared the following story:

Last year, Caroline Inglis was on the verge of an historic feat. No high school golfer, male or female, had ever captured the Oregon state title four consecutive years. Inglis won the class 5A state tournament her freshman, sophomore, and junior years. There seemed very little doubt that she would win the title again as a senior.

On the course, Caroline dominated the rest of the field­—finishing with a 3-under 69, nine shots better than any other golfer. On the last hole, with victory assured, she scored her first bogey of the day. That would not have been an issue, except for the fact that her playing partner wrote down she had made a par. Caroline signed her scorecard and turned it in, believing she had just accomplished an Oregon first. In reality, she had just disqualified herself.

In golf, turning in an incorrect scorecard results in a disqualification. Because she had signed and submitted the wrong score, Caroline forfeited the win even though her actual score was still much better than anyone else. Having the wrong scorecard can make all the difference in the world.

I wonder if we, Faith Church, have been using the wrong scorecard?  What would be on Jesus’ scorecard?

If Jesus had a scorecard, he wouldn’t be counting the believers.  Our bishop, Bruce Hill, recently wrote “Jesus doesn’t want believers, he wants disciples.”  How do you feel about that statement?  What is the big deal?  Are believers and disciples really so different?  Wouldn’t Jesus be feeling pretty good about people believing in him?  What is a disciple?

In our 3rd sermon on the mission of the church, we’re going to dig into this a bit.  Feel free to post your thoughts and questions now though!

Follow up to “Instant Fellowship…in only 15 minutes a week!”

So is it possible to have genuine fellowship in only 15 minutes per week???

As we heard from Phil Bartelt’s sermon this past Sunday, the answer is a resounding NO!

This past June we started an 8am traditional worship service.  In the weeks following, I started hearing from people who go to the 8am service, AND from people who go to the 9:30 service, that they missed seeing each other.  This sentiment was one reason we avoided starting the additional service for many years.  We didn’t need the space; everyone could fit comfortably in our sanctuary in one service.  So we questioned, Wouldn’t a second service divide the church?  Create disunity?  Put a damper on fellowship? 

The simple answer is Yes.  You can attend the 8am service and leave the church building before most of the people arrive for the 9:30am service.  And you can come to worship at 9:30am, by which time most of the worshippers from 8am have left or are in their Sunday School class.  The two may never meet.

But does that mean fellowship has been dealt a death blow?

Not at all.  The fact that we miss people from the other service has made us realize that we need to be intentional about building relationships.  We should have had that attitude of intentionality in the first place.  We have found that having 15 minutes of fellowship gave us the false impression that we were actually connecting with one another.  It was like a shot of fellowship that inoculated us from the real thing.  Our mission statement says the fellowship is about building authentic, accountable, healthy relationships.  That’s not possible in 15 minutes per week!  Our mission statement describes relationships where people delight in being together.  If we truly miss people from the other service, then we need to be intentional about building a deep relationship with them.  Call them on the phone.  Get together for lunch or coffee.  Visit them.  Encourage them and pray for them.  Then do it again and again.  Turn that 15 minutes into an hour or two each week and watch the relationship blossom!

I urge you to ask yourself how you can apply that teaching to a relationship!

Instant Fellowship…in only 15 minutes a week!

At Faith Church you can get fellowship real easy and quick.  All it takes is 15 minutes a week!  Just walk into the fellowship hall on Sunday mornings after worship, and from 10:45 to 11am, you have fellowship.  There are snacks and beverages too!   Sounds great, right?

Or is there more to fellowship?

Does what happens on Sunday morning in the fellowship hall satisfy the biblical picture of fellowship?

What is fellowship?  What does it look like?

Spend a little time on Google Image search, and you’ll see images like this:

Or church names.  Or people at a meal.  Or scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring!  But what is the picture of fellowship that we should learn and practice?

In our strategic planning process we came up with this description:

Fellowship – We delight in being with one another, building authentic, accountable, healthy relationships. (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:11-24; James 5:16)

As you get ready for our sermon and discussion on Sunday, would you take time to read these passages and think about whether or not you have fellowship in your life?

Follow up to “Do we need to stop singing in worship?”

This Sunday we did stop singing in worship! 

While our worship leader, Becka, didn’t lead us in singing songs, she did lead us in worship.

The reason is that when we hired her, we did not hire a piano player.  If all we wanted was a piano player, it would be clear that all we wanted Becka to focus on was music.  But we didn’t hire a piano player, we hired a worship leader.  We want her to focus on leading us in worship.  And there is a lot more to that than playing songs.

With that in mind, on Sunday, after the sermon, which was about worship, she led us in a great time of worship.  Very creative, practical, relational worship of God.  What did we learn from this?

Worship is not defined by music.  But it should often include music.

Worship is not the domain of paid professionals.  But paid professionals can join with the entire congregation in worship.

Worship is not just what happens in a church building for an hour on Sunday.  But that time of gathered, organized worship can launch into a life of worship throughout the rest of the week.

Worship is not a set form.  But it can be experimental, including many forms, practices, and even rituals from a variety of God-glorifying traditions, if done from a heart that says I want love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

Worship is not about getting filled, feeling good, and loving the show.  But it can be inspiring, encouraging, and should be very celebratory, as we come to worship with the foundational attitude of giving, serving, and sacrifice.

So what did you learn about worship?