Finding Our Way...

Well, summer is here and our group will not be meeting again until September. We will do our best to post some thoughts and musings, but invite you to begin a dialogue by posting your responses.

I think we felt energized, hopeful and focused by our study of the Five Practices. The study brought us to a conscious understanding of the underlying purpose of the church and laid out what Schnase believes will allow us accomplish that purpose. But the question now is what do we do with it? Our pastor did attempt to bring the information to us and even did a sermon series on the Five Practices, but we didn't do a very good job of supporting those efforts. Our congregation will be welcoming a new pastor in July, so some see that as an opportunity to introduce change. If history is any indicator then change because of a new pastor is doubtful. Any way, the big question remains, what do we do with what we have learned? What do members of a congregation do when they feel they have found something vitally important to the spiritual life and work of the congregation? How do we bring it forward?

Extravagant Generosity - Creating a Culture of Giving

Today is our last meeting for the summer, and we finished the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. We took a little time to discuss Extravagant Generosity some more, and agreed that financial giving is the most difficult spiritual discipline for us to deal with. we worked through some ideas for taking baby steps to get us from here to there, it is such a long way but if we start small... if we create a culture of giving it will grow from there...

"When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored." (John 15:8 Contemporary English Version)

I think we would all agree that while this study has been difficult at times, it has been well worth the time. We have all felt energized and inspired by thinking differently about church. But we have also felt overwhelmed by the prospect of what it will take to get from where we are to where we should or could be. One of us shared a vision of the whole church using the book to guide and define the work of all our committees and groups, leading us to a clear and common vision of our mission. In the summary Schnase talks of fruitfulness, and we were drawn back by one of our members to the original purpose of the church - to change the lives of people for Jesus Christ. If we are not doing that, if we are not fruitful, then what is the point of going on? If we are fruitful and successful in changing lives for Christ then all will want to be engaged in the Five Practices. it is a bit of a chicken and egg discussion, but it seems to be a discussion that inspires excellence...

Extravagant Generosity - How Do We Get There?

Early on in our discussions we decided that there was a very purposeful reason behind the order in which Schnase listed the Five Practices. A church can work on all of them at once, but they really do follow sequentially. We invite people in with Radical Hospitality. Our first opportunity within the church to seek and encounter God occurs in Passionate Worship. Once we encounter God we want to learn more through Intentional Faith Development. When we understand the gifts and grace of God we can mature our faith by helping others through Risk-Taking Mission and Service. And finally, as Christians we recognize our need to give and practice Extravagant Generosity because of the abundant gifts we have received. Sounds great in theory, but the $64,000 question is How Do We Get There? We agreed that our church is in its infancy in understanding giving as a spiritual discipline. We understand the church's need for money, but don't get the other side of it, the joy of supporting ministries that will touch the lives of others and transform them as our own lives have been touched and transformed by God. We have become prisoners of the scarcity mentality, focusing on income, survival, and maintenance while neglecting our call to offer significant ministry. We are confronted time and time again in scripture with the gifts and provisions of an Extravagantly Generous God, and yet we still lack the faith to trust that if we give he will provide for us. Remember the parable of the talents? Is our church one of the faithful servants who used the gifts they were given, or are we going to be rebuked as the evil servant who buried his talents in order to keep them safe? It seems to us that it is so much easier to keep control and power over that money by making sure the budget is balanced and the mandatory expenses are covered, but really isn't the money controlling us? How much more blessed could we be if we gave our gift, even if it meant eating oatmeal for a week, and trusted God to provide? How would that act affect your faith? Where does that put God in your life? Can you see the road in front of you, and what role does your pledge to your church play? Clearly we were not ready to answer these hard question very well, but we are up to asking them. All we can do is move forward, mature in our faith through giving not only our time and talents through Risk-Taking Mission and Service, but also through financially Extravagant Generosity.

Next week our discussion will focus on summarizing and final comments. We will take the summer off, but if anyone has any suggestions for continuing throughout the summer post them in a comment!

Risk-Taking Mission and Service

We looked at what Salem UMC is offering in the area of mission and service both within the church and out in the community and world. While we agree that for a church our size, we are doing well in this area, we see that we can do some things to enhance participation by a larger segment of the congregation. Only humans have an inborn sense of altruism. We need to feel that we are making a difference.

The Mozambique Covenant is a financial mission that Salem has supported for many years. We discussed the little known fact that Vital Ministries like Epworth, Kingdom House, and Shalom House are no longer covered by apportionments. The congregation should be made aware of this to encourage more individual support. Circle of Concern is the strongest outreach program with the Thanksgiving Dinner being a real chance for members to interact with Circle families. Hearts and Hands have a very active ministry.

We know that UMM and UMW support a number of charities, but none of our group knew exactly which ones. VBS also is a very real presence in the community.

How do you measure mission and service success? Is it the number of “offerings” or in the “doing”? Are numbers the key measurement? A variety of offerings both inside the church and beyond it's walls and people willing to take on these projects are the true measure of success. Numbers are not a major factor.

“Mission” outside the church needs to be valued and recognized.

Suggestions for this area:

1. Publicize opportunities in the church bulletin and have a Recognition Moment during the service on occasion.

2. Use the display case to highlight projects.

3. Use the Sending Work Area to see that specific mission needs are presented to the congregation with all needed information and a contact person.

4. Continue to develop the Acts of Kindness and Service form for recording our individual gifts of faith and thanksgiving.