Effective Congregations - Radical Hospitality

Notes from Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase and Topeka District Leadership Event: Five Conversations about Fruitful Practices presentation by Adam Hamilton

Effective Congregations

• Have a practical and personal mission
  • Becomes memorable and achievable
• Change, improve, learn and adapt to fulfill mission

Fulfilling Great Commission

• Requires intentional focus on those outside the community of faith
• Involves seeing ourselves as sent out by Christ
• Involves going out of our way
• Changes and expands church ministry as those new to community of faith are received
• Requires willingness to share faith journey

Reflective Questions for Effective Congregations (from Leading Beyond the Walls by Adam Hamilton)

• Why do people need Christ?
• Why do people need the church?
• Why do people need this congregation?

What is Radical Hospitality?

• Basing practices of life on Christ
• Radiating Christ into the lives of others
• Praying, Planning, Preparing and Working toward purpose of helping others receive Christ
• Working to anticipate others’ needs
• Supporting others in their faith journey
• Striving (without ceasing) to exceed expectations to accommodate and include others
• Entrusting that the facilities communicate maximum hospitality, an unmistakable sense of welcome and complete accessibility
• Searching for new ways to make the church look fresh, appealing, inviting, easy to navigate, safe, clean and attractive
• Communicating strategically, intentionally and frequently to the public
• Learning from other churches

Becoming an Effective Congregation

• Do not fear failure
• Be willing to change attitudes, practices and/or values
• Be willing to take risk — discernment by nausea — If it doesn’t make you sick thinking about doing it, then it may not be from God

Lord, mold your churches into

effective congregations practicing

radical hospitality that they will be

effective disciples in your name.

Is Our Congregation Healthy?

Are we transforming lives? Are we reproducing new Christians? Or, are we just maintaining those already in the fold and thus starting to die? If so, how can we tell and more importantly how do we change?

The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church has an online resource about the 8 characteristics of a healthy congregation. The emphasis of this powerpoint is to train pastors and lay leaders to transform congregations. The foundation for this transformation is 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” To accomplish this transformation, we must embrace the mission Christ gave the church (Matthew 28:19), “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations.”

According to this presentation, congregations can be placed in one of five categories: Beginning, Transforming, Reproducing, Maintaining and Dying. Churches in the maintaining category either move to the dying category or start anew as a beginning congregation.

To be a healthy, disciple-making congregation, there are 8 essential characteristics.

1. Empowering leadership
2. Gift oriented ministry
3. Passionate spirituality
4. Functional structures
5. Inspiring worship
6. Holistic small groups
7. Need-oriented evangelism
8. Loving relationships

How can we improve on what we already have established to be a vibrant transforming congregation?

Living the Great Commission

In Matthew 19, Christ issued the Great Commission to the disciples saying, “Therefore, go and make diciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” 

Based on this “Great Commission,” the United Methodist Church has stated its purpose: “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” (http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2295473/)

Having listened to sermons preached at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas for a couple of years, I know that they have incorporated that concept in the purpose and vision of their church since they incorporate these statements into the sermons on a very regular basis.

• Purpose: To build a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians.
• Vision: To transform lives, to transform our community and to renew the mainline church.

With 7500 members, the Church of the Resurrection is considered a megachurch. Curious about whether other megachurches are intentional in incorporating the Great Commission into their mission and vision statements, I decided to investigate a few - particularly Methodist churches. 

Custer Road United Methodist Church (Plano, TX — 6411 members)

• Mission: God has called Custer Road United Methodist Church into being to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Custer Road UMC seeks to fulfill its calling by helping any and all people grow in their experience and commitment to Jesus Christ through providing opportunities for worship, nurture, fellowship and service.
• Vision: Custer Road United Methodist Church, where God is offering hope through Jesus Christ and transforming lives through the Holy Spirit.

Christ United Methodist Church (Jackson, MS — 2250 members)

• Mission Statement: A Community Experiencing the Transforming Grace of Jesus Christ

St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (Lincoln, NE — 2000 members)

• Mission: The mission of St. Mark’s Church is to help persons become deeply committed Christians.
• Vision: We will accomplish our mission through:
  • Gather — Gathering…to worship Christ
  • Grow — Growing…in faith, hope and love
  • Go — Going…and making disciples
  • Give — Giving…to the glory of God

Granger Community Church (Granger, IN — 7000 members)

• Vision:
  • G - Growing with intent
  • R - Reaching all generations
  • A - Advancing our mission through the arts
  • N - Nurturing spiritual growth
  • G - Gathering in groups
  • E - Encouraging effective ministry
  • R - Resourcing the church

Knowing that First Light United Methodist Church in Gardner, Kansas is a growing church, I’ve included them in my research.

• Vision: A new kind of church transforming lives and reforming Christianity.
• Mission:
  • INVITE - people seeking meaning in everyday life
  • BUILD - healthier relationships with God, self, and others
  • CHANGE - the world through Christian discipleship and service

For comparison, I included the New Spring Community Church in Anderson, SC since from listening to some of their services, I know they are intentional about fulfilling the Great Commission. 

• Vision:
  • Engage - Engage the culture
  • Enlarge - Enlarge the kingdom
  • Endure - Endure together
  • Enable - Enable to serve

Based on this limited research, I have to conclude that since Christ intends us, his disciples, to grow his church, we must incorporate the Great Commission in our local churches.

• By incorporating the concept of evangelism in the purpose, mission or vision of the church
• By intentionally teaching disciple making from the pulpit
• By asking the Holy Spirit to use us to reach others
• By expecting everyone to be a kingdom builder

If our local churches are not willing to reach out and seek others for Christ, then our churches will not survive. This will require changes within the church but also within our own hearts, myself included.

Lord, change my heart and help me to be your disciple.

Building God’s Church

Journal notes from various sources (Primarily sermons by Adam Hamilton and Perry Noble)

1 Sam 14: 1-15 — God got involved after Jonathan took a step of faith

• Don’t be satisfied
• Get active — take a step of faith
• Prodigals will come home
• Christians will come out of hiding
• God will get the glory for it all

What brings the Holy Spirit?

• Hunger — for deepening experience of God’s power
• Thirst — for God and his living water

In order to achieve what God has put in front of us, we must get uncomfortable.

If the church decides to be generous and go all out for God, what will the next generation say about the church?

God has given us a unique opportunity to do something big.

It’s the time and place to step up and watch God do great things.

Six churches per day shutting doors — Need to change focus from us to God, Christ and the Bible.

Reasons we exist as a church

• Declare praises of Christ
• To take the light to a dark world

The more alive a church is the more she will cost — a dead church is not expensive.

1 Peter 2:12 — Church should do such great things that people on outside will look in and say, “I don’t know what’s going on at that church, but man, God’s there.”

There’s nothing the church isn’t capable of as long as God is leading it. (Perry Noble)

Do things that are daring in answer to call of Christ.

Live boldly, courageously to spread Gospel.

Presence Based Church

• People hear God
• Teach how to do lifestyle worship
• Build service around worship
• Ask God to attend worship
• God is source for everyone and everything
• Issue is discipleship

If church finds God, people will find church

Not my way, Not your way, but Yahway’s church.

God wants us to take risks.

God does not move in the world in predictable ways.

The kingdom of God upends our world and challenges us to change our minds, our hearts and our lives to do God’s will.

True movement of God

• Always centered around the Gospel.
• Cannot get sidetracked by issues
• Unstoppable
• Need to stay focused on Gospel — it is our anchor

Movement of God is about transformation.

Holy Spirit is asking

• Willingness to be inconvenienced
• Willingness to move for God

Focus on Christ — God is bigger

• All God working thru people who believe He is as big as the Bible says He is and  that He can do what the Bible says he can do.
• We have to believe for God to move.

Church doing God’s work

• Intentional invitation — inviting others to church
• Connect to community
• Strategic service — we are too valuable to God to not be involved
• Generous giving
• Passionate prayer
  • Bond together thru prayer and ask God to work thru us — we’ll see God do amazing things
  • Pray for pastor
  • Pray when entering service for God to work thru church

Church environment

• Evangelistic — Reaching out
• Community builder — Getting to know each other
• Need to be both

The Lord’s Prayer

Worship at Church of the Resurrection by Adam Hamilton (3/16/2008)

Lord’s Prayer

• Meant to shape our spiritual life 

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

 Doxology

• short word of praise
• gives glory to God
• Based on 1 Chronicles 29:10-11

Thine Is

• giving up reliance on self

The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory

• Recognize sovereignty of God - God is King
• Recognize that all things belong to God
• Recognize that we are powerless if we don’t call on God
• Acknowledge realm of God

Forever

• Nothing in our earthly lives lasts forever
• God promises that his kingdom will last forever

Amen — So be it

Success of Church

Worship at Newspring by Clayton King (3/16/2008)

• Vision — Winning people to Christ
• Key to Ministry — Preaching the Word

Mark 2: 1-12

1. The stakes have never been higher
   • People’s souls have value
   • Someone has to bring people to the place they can experience the Gospel
   • World is crippled by sin & selfishness; by the effects of sin
2. Must regain sense of urgency
   • Do we really believe that the Gospel can heal and save?
   • Be willing to do whatever it takes: i.e. coaxing with food
   • If don’t have a sense of urgency then you might as well quit because you are just a spectator. One can spectate for a while but have to catch onto vision — winning people to Christ
   • Are we too content on our own salvation that we forget about others?
3. God honors our faith and blesses our effort
   • God is sovereign & in complete control BUT
   • God demands action from us (outcome always good whenever someone was brought to Jesus in Gospel)
   • What efforts do we make to get people to God?
   • Until we are so desperate to see our friends come to Christ we’ll never take our hands and get them dirty to bring our friends to Christ — we may have to carry our friends to Jesus
   • We may have to destroy established structures to get our friends to Christ — are we willing to give up our traditions, our customs or our mindset?

Whatever It Takes

Where God can take a church

To end 2007, Perry Noble, preached on the great things God did for the Jews as they left Egypt (Exodus) and the great things God has done thru New Spring Church. The primary point of the message was that God is BIG and that God is capable of doing amazing things and did accomplish amazing things thru New Spring Church in 2007. However, Perry points out that it wasn’t all God’s doing. As Perry stated, “If it’s all God, then why isn’t every church accomplishing the same?” Perry goes on to state that it is “all God working thru people who believe God is as big as the Bible says He is and that God can do what the Bible says He can do.” All we have to do is to believe — then God will move.

Perry issues a challenge to the New Spring Church community that each one of us should take on as a challenge to our own church community.

• Intentional invitation — invite people to church
• Connect to community — cares for others in church community and contact them when they miss church
• Strategic service — since we were created to do good works, we are too valuable to God for us not to be involved in our church
• Generous giving – thru generous giving, the resources are available to care for others
• Passionate prayer — bond together thru prayer for the pastor and for the church and ask God to work thru us to see God do amazing things 

My prayer is that my church community will turn to God and ask him to do big things thru our church and to believe that he will.

Confronted by Rudy

I watched Rev. Rudy Rasmus’ sermon on Church of the Resurrection’s website today. He confronted my faith prior to beginning his talk when he pointed out that I was being judgemental. I let myself judge Rudy by his goatee. Fortunately for myself, I realized that I was wrong and willingly listened to his message.

During his message, Rudy claimed that millions are reporting that Jesus (and Paul and Peter) are walking amongst us. These reporters are claiming that by “worshiping” media stars, they have become our gods. I’m not sure that I “worship” a person, but I may be worshiping the Internet.

Speaking about Jesus’ miraculous healing of the man near the Bethzatha pool (John 5:1-15), Rudy associated the pool of water with truth — the Living Word. Rudy said that by letting the “crutches” of our lives keep us from getting into the Word, we couldn’t be healed. His message hit a nerve with me since I haven’t been very diligent in my Bible study lately.

Rudy pointed out that I can experience well-being right where I am, IF i recognize the power of God in Jesus. His challenge was to let go of our crutches and get up and move and to help others do the same. So, what is my crutch? Am Iwilling to let it go?

Lessons from Child Kings

Adam Hamilton’s sermon on “The Three Child-Kings” really touched me today. Having read about Joash, Manasseh and Josiah in the Old Testament, I wasn’t prepared for the spiritual applications contained in their story.

Like Joash, I fell away from God as a young adult. Even though I’ve returned, I will have to be careful to apply the lessons from his story to prevent falling away again by

• Keeping my faith in God and not in a particular person or church
• Go to church to love the Lord — no matter who is preaching
• Listen no matter what and try to learn one spiritual truth from sermon
• Enjoy having been in God’s presence just by being there
• Tune out negative comments / people so that they don’t detract from God and his message

Like Manesseh, I’m seeking God’s forgiveness for my sins. Hopefully, I can be like Manesseh and humble myself before God and receive his forgiveness (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). This story teaches that

• God is rich in mercy
• God welcomed me back
• God forgives no matter what I’ve done
• God is a God of Second Chances

As I walk in Faith, I hope that I can become like Josiah who worshipped the Lord all of his life. To remain in God’s light I will need to

• Boldly and couragesly live for God
• Listen for God’s Word
• Read and study God’s Word and apply it to  my life
• Recomit my life to Jesus Christ and God

Week 3: Way of Life

Follow along with Christ as he begins his ministry. Jesus’ first stop on his mission was the town of Capernaum. Here Jesus confronted the demonic world. Ezekial 28:11-17 gives a portrait of Satan, stating that he was “anointed as a guardian cherub.” As a guardian cherub, Satan was adorned with 9 of the stones found on the breastpiece of the high priest (Exodus 28:17-21).

When Jesus cast out the demons, he commanded them not to speak. Gill’s commentary (from eSword) states that Christ did not need their testimony and that he did not wish to be made known by them. Geneva’s commentary goes on to state that “Satan, who is a continual enemy of the truth, ought not to be heard, not even when he speaks truth.”

Peter, his brother Andrew, along with James and John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee was filled with a wide variety of fish in great abundance. Because of the abundance of fish, fish became a staple of the local diet. The area attracted a larger and more varied population than other areas of Palestine. The article, “Cast Your Nets: Fishing at the Time of Christ,” describes the lifestyle of these men prior to being chosen as disciples of Christ. For an understanding of the affect of the weather on the sea, the Sea of Galilee webcam provides a live image of the sea.

Jesus’ healing of the leper was a clear sign to the Jews that he was doing something more miraculous than healing a disease — he was forgiving sins. For a better understanding of the correlation between leprosy and sin, read Gill’s commentary (eSword) where he describes the disease in great detail concluding:

“Between this disease and sin, there is a very great likeness. This disease is a very filthy one, and of a defiling nature, by the ceremonial law; under which it was considered rather as an uncleanness, than as a disease”

In the time of Christ a leper was not treated by a physician but by a priest. By curing the leper, Christ established his role as a priest, a high priest, and proved his Messiaship. The two birds offered by the leper at the temple for his cleansing are also symbolic of Christ. The killing of the first bird symbolizes Christ dying for our sins. The release of the second bird symbolizes Christ’s resurrection. (see Gill on eSword)

While teaching, Jesus again demonstrated that he had the power of the Lord God by forgiving sins, miraculously healing and discerning the thoughts of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were teachers in the synagogues, religious examples in the eyes of the people and self-appointed guardians of the law and its proper observance. They considred the interpretations and regulations handed down by tradition to be virtually as authoritative as Scripture. (p. 1579 NIV Study Bible)

What the Pharisees viewed as blasphemy, others viewed as a demonstration of the divine power of Jesus.

As keepers of the law, the Pharisees believed Jesus was breaking the Sabbath law when he healed on the Sabbath. As a sign of the covenant between man and God, the Sabbath was to be a period of rest after finished works. By healing on the Sabbath, Christ demonstrated that the power of God present in grace did not allow misery to exist because it was the day of grace. In so doing, Jesus established himself as the Lord of the Sabbath.

That you may know that the Son of Mat has authority on earth to forgive sins.
Luke 5:24