By living and sharing the gospel, we are participating in what Jesus is doing through the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Father’s mission to the world. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus defined the fruit of his ministry as the multiplication of his disciples (followers) throughout the world. Indeed, it is our calling and privilege to make disciples with Jesus.
click on the diagram to enlarge it
Sadly, churches sometimes lose sight of this calling by focusing on merely gathering people, instead of helping them become active disciples of Jesus. Tony Morgan makes this point in “Avoid the Funnel of Doom,” an article in which he urges churches to move away from an “event mentality” to focus on providing three things that help people become and then mature as followers of Jesus, who is the Truth:
Solid biblical teaching by which people hear the truth.
Mentors that help people catch the truth.
Systems that facilitate spiritual disciplines and mission engagement so people practice the truth.
Note the progression–what we in GCI refer to as a discipleship pathway (see the diagram above). Effective churches help people travel this pathway–progressing from being blind to the truth (Jesus calls such people “lost”); to eyes-opened believers; to actively engaged workers (with some workers becoming leaders who multiply ministries and churches). To download this diagram as a PowerPoint presentation, click here, and note the information at http://mindev.gci.org/strategy.htm.
GCI’s Church Administration and Development (CAD) team offers Transformational Church consulting services that help congregations develop a discipleship pathway fitted to their circumstances. To learn more about these services, see http://www.gci.org/CAD_Services.
In GCI, our vision is for “all kinds of churches, for all kinds of people, in all kinds of places.” In a rapidly changing world, “all kinds of churches” will, no doubt, include new expressions of church.
As a GCI ministry developer I keep my eyes open for churches experimenting with new expressions. Sometimes these experiments work and sometimes they don’t–either way, I appreciate it when folks are willing to “think outside the box,” trying new ways to “do church” for the sake of the gospel mission.
Recently my wife Donna and I visited an innovative worship service conducted by a United Methodist church in western Florida. They call it Flora-Bama Worship @ the Water. It is designed to reach out and connect with the community (including its many transient visitors) along the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico in the area that spans the Florida-Alabama border.
The service is held on Sunday mornings in a tent on the beach that is part of an iconic honky-tonk bar named Flora-Bama Lounge, Package and Oyster Bar. Like the bar itself, the worship service is quite an experience (it’s not your mother’s church!). Click here for their FaceBook and here for a Huffington Post article.
The Flora-Bama service reminded me that we need new expressions of church of our own–not to be trendy, but to reach new people, many of who will not step inside a traditional church.
I wonder if anyone reading this feels called of God to start such a church in GCI. If so, your friends in Church Administration and Development (CAD) are here to help–feel free to email Randy.Bloom@gci.org. Randy leads CAD’s Church Multiplication Ministries, which helps individuals, congregations and district networks start new kinds of churches, for all kinds of people, in all kinds of places.
A good place to start, is to launch a FaithTalkgroup. This is a special type of small group designed to connect with un-churched people. We resource such groups online at FaithTalk equipper.
Some congregations include a short children’s sermon as part of their worship service. Listed below are links to five-minute long discussion-based sermons for children (PDF format). They were written by Sarah Strub who ministers to children in GCI’s congregation in Big Sandy, Texas. These and other resources for discipling children, teens, young adults and older adults are available on the Youth and Family Ministry resources page of GCI’s Generations Ministries website.
CrossRoads Christian Fellowship (CCF), GCI’s congregation in Tipp City, Ohio, has for the last several years emphasized outreach to unchurched people living in the nearby community. As a result, many new relationships have begun, and the new friends have been invited to the congregation’s various discipleship gatherings, which include the Alpha program and classes using The Hope of Jesus, a small-group curriculum based in Trinitarian theology written by CCF’s pastor Jim Valekis. One of the wonderful results of these cultivating, planting and reaping activities was a special CCF service held last Sunday at which 12 people were baptized! Here are pictures:
Left to right: John Boone (ministry leader), Jim Valekis (pastor), Chris Sayson (pastoral intern), Becky Valekis (discipleship coordinator)
Here is a comment about this service from Pastor Jim’s wife Becky Valekis, who coordinates CCF’s discipleship programs:
What a blessed and powerful day we had last Sunday! We are all still “glowing.” We baptized 12 people; some have been journeying with us for a few years and others are new to our fellowship. These baptisms are a result of much prayer and teaching over the last few months. Our next step is to help these people become “grounded in faith” – please pray for them.
Here is a letter to Pastor Jim from one of the women who was baptized:
What a wonderful day, Sunday! I just wanted to thank you again for yesterday’s baptisms, a day filled with such great joy that is difficult for me to express in words. What a great church service you provided for us in preparation for the baptisms. And to have so many attend and participate in the baptisms at the river was truly a unique and a very spiritual experience. You conducted everything in such an inspiring and spiritually moving way. Praise God for He, you and Becky made it happen! I thank Him for you two, for our little church, and for all the people He has put into our lives and continues to do so. I feel God’s grace is upon us all.
Deborah Glenister, whose husband Gary pastors a GCI congregation in Wales, recently released a worship album titled Stepping Out in Faith.
Deborah was interviewed on August 26 on Radio Cardiff, where she talked about the album and her background, both musically and spiritually. This was a great opportunity to share the message of hope that we as a denomination have for the world.
Deborah’s album is a mixture of musical styles, written in the context of GCI’s Trinitarian theology. Deborah wrote all the songs and they are sung by professional singer Amy Sinha.
This update is from Eric Shaw, pastor of Community Life Fellowship (CLF), the GCI congregation in Altadena, California. CLF recently merged with New Hope Christian Fellowship, one of GCI’s congregations in nearby Los Angeles. This update tells the story.
Pastors working together in a district church planting network. Left to right: Bermie Dizon, Glen Weber, Heber Ticas and Eric Shaw.
As a congregation, we were experiencing the decline of our resources. We had not been able to draw new people and it became evident that our reserves would be depleted in a couple of years and our members would disperse or we would need to reconfigure into a small-group format.
As we considered our options, we began holding discussion forums after our worship service about once each month. We shared meals together and searched for ideas and vision. As we did so, it became clear that our best option was to merge with New Hope Christian Fellowship, a nearby GCI congregation, and place our remaining cash reserves in the GCI Southwest District church planting fund.
Although merging with another GCI congregation is not often an option for other GCI congregations in similar circumstances, we learned that open communication is vital. Even though people may not say much, it gives them time to process their thoughts and go through the grieving process that typically comes when a congregation faces closing. Indeed, the closing of a congregation is typically experienced as a great loss by those remaining to the end. However, we came to see ours as an opportunity to further our experience and maturity as disciples of Jesus and to leave a legacy toward our denomination’s future.
As we discussed these matters, we realized that our ministry is not over just because the doors of our congregation shut. We believed that God will open new doors. We focused on this concept at our final worship service, where we watched the movie, The Road to Emmaus. The movie emphasized the vital lesson that as long as we have Jesus, we have everything.
We also learned that it is important that communication continue following the closing. I still write my monthly letter to stay in touch with our members. We plan to continue to have gatherings (“reunions”) on a somewhat regular basis. We were a family and we don’t want to lose that. Many who had left before the closing still want to stay in touch and get together.
With the moving of our financial reserves to the GCI Southwest Districts church planting fund (which is coordinated by the GCI pastors pictured above), we are already able to provide support for the Filipino missionary couple planting a church in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles. We hope to see another new church develop soon. My hope and prayer is that this fund will not be depleted as we continuously replenish it through appropriate fundraising so that when God calls someone to our district vision for church planting, we will be able to offer them our support. By investing in this new opportunity, our congregation and its legacy live on and continue to impact the lives of others.
Rather than looking at the close of our congregation as a death, we look upon it as giving birth to new life. And rather than looking at it as failure, we see it as completion of an important aspect of the mission that God had, and continues to have, for us. Indeed, the journey is not over. The book is not completed. We have merely finished one chapter and now it’s time to begin another.
Here is an update from Michael Wyatt-Paige concerning his wife LaVerne (click here for the last update).
Thank you for praying for my wife and family. Knowing that so many brothers and sisters in Christ are doing so is encouraging.
LaVerne has begun chemotherapy. So far, she is tolerating the process well. She attended church services this past Sunday, for the first time in two months. Praise God.
Surgay’s wife Jan tells us that he is being moved to a smaller facility in Mandan, North Dakota that is equipped to do the rehab he needs. He’s somewhat improved but has lost lots of weight.
As to long term, the current thinking is that Surgay will need most of the winter to recover but may be able to resume farm work by spring.
Please continue to remember the Kalamaha family in your prayers.
Becky Deuel, co-pastor of the Appleton, Wisconsin congregation, is a long-time GCI member. “I started attending the Radio Church of God in 1959 in the little white church on 8th Street in Eugene, Oregon. Raymond Cole was the pastor.” Becky and her family lived out in the country and she says it was not unusual that the only time she wore shoes during the summer was when she went to church.
By the time Becky was six years old, she determined to go to Ambassador College, which she did in 1971. After graduation from Ambassador, Becky moved to Georgia and got married. “Fifteen years and three children later, we moved to Wisconsin for a better job opportunity for my husband.” Becky is now employed at Point Beach Nuclear Plant as a Human Resources Consultant. She said her job in personnel development has proved to be a good fit for her responsibility as a pastor.
Becky has been married to Steve for eight years and between them they have four adult children, but no grandchildren – yet! She and Steve love to travel and to scuba dive. They make a special trip each year on their anniversary, often to a place where they can dive. They’ve been to Hawaii, California, Bonaire, the Caymans, Spain, Australia, and most recently, on an Alaskan cruise.
Becky became a member of the Appleton pastoral team in January 2002 (she serves as co-pastor with Steve Cole). “I have felt so welcomed as a female pastor and have been given incredible opportunities.” In addition to pastoring, Becky serves on the chaplain teams at GCI’s Northern Light camp in Minnesota and Heartland SEP camp in Illinois.
When asked about her passion, Becky said pastoring is a fulfillment of her passion of “sharing the love that the Father, Son and Spirit have for all of their beloved creation,”… sharing “how much he wants to have a relationship with all of us.” Becky also loves putting sermons together and presenting the message. One of her most memorable moments as a pastor was performing her oldest son’s wedding ceremony.
Becky gives credit to her mentoring and training from GCI district superintendent Dave Fiedler (now retired) and current district pastoral leader Doug Johannsen. “He and his wife Betty are amazing at modeling how to share the love of the Father, Son and Spirit.”
Becky, who is finishing her master’s degree at Grace Communion Seminary, is excited about the future of GCI. “I love the inclusion factor of Trinitarian theology… I am so looking forward to where we are going in the future… Being part of this denomination gives lots of opportunity for networking and travel – whether it is to a pastor conference, a GenMin Summit, a Church Multiplication Summit or training… It is great fun.”
As we post this issue of GCI Weekly Update, hurricane Isaac has made landfall in southeastern Louisiana. The cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where GCI has congregations, and in the path of Isaac. Fortunately, its severity is less than predicted. However, Isaac is still quite powerful and many people are in harm’s way, with flooding a major concern.
Please pray for all those being impacted by Isaac, including GCI pastors Mike Horchak (Hammond, LA); Anthony Rice (Baton Rouge, LA); Richard Young (Lake Charles, LA); John Novick (Hattiesburg, MS); Leonard Tillotson (Natchez, MS); Andrew Britton (Mobile, AL); Phil Nichols (Monroeville, AL); and GCI ministry developer Ted Johnston (Foley, AL).
Despite these concerns, there is some good news. Over the next several days, it appears that as Isaac travels north, it will bring badly needed rain to the drought-stricken areas in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys (see the map above). Please pray about this situation as well.
