Hi all,

I have been reading Mark Batterson’s blog evotional for a good while now and want to highly recommend that you check it out!

He is doing some great stuff and has lots to offer us!

On Sunday, we made a shift that, in my experience is one of the hardest shifts for “brethren” to make… and that is to go from one worship gathering to two!  What an amazing group of leaders I work with… they were afraid and left to their own, would not have made the shift, but they allowed me to do what I thought best and WOW!  We went from a 10:30 mix with a heavy lean toward contemporary to a 9 a.m. traditional and a 10:30 contemporary gathering.  The first week we jumped in attendance by a little more than 50%!  I think that is HUGE!

Can’t wait to see what next week brings! 

 Yes, this shift means we have to adapt and sacrifice some valued things for gaining other things of value… we will have to do carry-in meals differently and we will have to work at community building, and we will have to depend on leaders to lead all the more… but all those things are doable especially when growth happens.  The value of growing the kingdom usurps all other values in my mind!

 Just wanted to share an exciting moment in the history of Community of Joy Church of the Brethren!

 For more info check out my blog.

Every once in a while I hear or read a question that really makes me stop and reflect on something worth considering. That happened recently when I was watching a You-tube video. In it the person asked the question, “Do we have a church that has a mission or a mission that has a church?” 

On first glance or hearing, that question may not seem to make much sense… BUT ponder it a while… read it aloud a couple of times… and I hope you will agree with me that it is a question worth asking and not only that, but it is a question worth answering! 

My desire for the congregation I lead– Community of Joy Church of the Brethren– is to be a mission that has a church! This is particularly a challenge right now for us because we just bought and moved into our very first building… it is what you might call a church building, but we are choosing to call it a ministry center because we (the people) are the church, not the building! 

All of this and the many other things we have yet to plan or think about, will help us be on mission for Jesus! Being a mission with a church will keep us from doing only things that we like or want or meet our needs. Being a mission with a church means that we realize that our mission is not about us… but about Jesus… helping others experience Jesus’ love, hospitality, hope, healing, and peace (the key components of our mission statement)! 

What will the church of the future look like?  There is only one answer to that question! It depends on US! I pray that we will ALWAYS be a mission with a church! Thoughts???

How many of you subscribe to e-zines? Do you have the time to read them? I, for one, have subscribed to several, yet don’t find much time to keep up with them. However, sometimes when I do read them, I find some real nuggets of information. For example today, I discovered two items that may also be of interest to you:

From Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Page 1

In Europe, God Is (Not) Dead

Christian groups are growing, faith is more public.
Is supply-side economics the explanation?

By ANDREW HIGGINS
July 14, 2007; Page A1

Stockholm

Late last year, a Swedish hotel guest named Stefan Jansson grew upset when he found a Bible in his room. He fired off an email to the hotel chain, saying the presence of the Christian scriptures was “boring and stupefying.” This spring, the Scandic chain, Scandinavia’s biggest, ordered the New Testaments removed.

In a country where barely 3% of the population goes to church each week, the affair seemed just another step in Christian Europe’s long march toward secularism. Then something odd happened: A national furor erupted. . .

To read the whole article, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118434936941966055.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone.

I find the above article to be quite intriquing. For those of you who have gone to Europe to visit the emerging church, you’ll especially enjoy the article.

Another article that I found very interesting is on understanding how to introduce change in your congregation. Those of you with the gift of being a “prophet” may not always be received very well when you tell your church leaders what you “see”. The following article gives some very helpful tips for motivating people to change.

Leader’s Insight: Your Church’s DNA
Each church has unique make-up that’s essential to its life, health, and future.
by Kevin G. Ford, guest columnist

Aurora Advent Christian Church, located just outside of Chicago, was stuck. The church was dynamic in many ways. The leaders were talented and highly motivated, but as a unit, something was wrong.

The first things I noticed were the signs—in the office, in the gymnasium, on the doors to the bathroom. The place was plastered with “do not’s.”

• Do not bounce balls on the wall.
• Do not wear black-soled shoes.
• Do not leave the lights on.
• Do not sit here.

Each notice was signed: “The Trustees.”

The meetings I attended were formal, focused on procedure and rules. Yet everyone seemed so friendly, warm, and passionate about ministry. When I took a direct, left-brain approach and told leaders they were overly focused on the business of the church, it did not go well. . .

To read more of this article, go to:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2007/cln70723.html

I hope you enjoy these!

Jeff Glass

As our churches are making fewer disciples and seeing further decline congregationally, we’re very interested in the question of how to revitalize the Church in the Emergent Era. While this means incorporating emergent elements into our services, it is much more than that. It’s understanding what God is about during the greatest cultural shift in the past 500 years. It’s about understanding the significant changes in worldview. It’s about cooperating with what God is doing in this place and this time.

We’re looking for a few good pastors who want to study the issue of church revitalization in the Emergent Era through the Brethren Academy Lilly Grant for Sustaining Pastoral Excellence. We’re putting together a distance group (you can live anywhere) for Vital Pastors in the next month or so. The group launches with an emersion trip (probably to the United Kingdom) and meets for two years. Everything is paid for through the grant.

If you are interested, please reply here or email us at gly@embarqmail.com.

Blessings,
Gary & Lisa Yoder
South Central Indiana District