I have two small children, and I find it fascinating how easily kids can make friends. When I head to busy church meetings, to neighborhood socials, or even to the park, my elder son (3 years old) will often be tossed into a situation with other children he has never met. At first, he is often cautious and shy, sizing up the situation (unless of course there is a bounce house). But inevitably it seems that his parallel play turns into giggles and races with children that are sometimes much older or younger and certainly who are different from him.
It seems as though often adults lose this capacity. It is as if we remain in the cautious, shy stage for longer... we worry more that we will offend someone by our mere friendliness. We have to have excuses to strike up conversations or reasons to justify the establishment of new friendships. There is this bizarre awkwardness that surrounds a lot of our interactions. For kids, it is accepted that they are desperate to know and play together... for adults, we no longer accept that there is that same truth about us: that we are also desperate to know one another, to revel in relationship, to build new friendships. But, I think that we are...
We have now been handing out free coffee and muffins to TCC students on the corner of Peach and Mills Street every Tuesday and Wednesday for three weeks. We had close to 20 folks stop and enjoy a snack with us this week, and still the most common question among those who stop is, "So, why is this coffee free?" Our agreed upon answer is: we want to be good neighbors, and you, TCC students are our neighbors. Basically, we want to make friends.
It is shocking how many people are even more uncomfortable when we explain we just want to be friends or get to know you better. One woman, asking for directions to parking, was told she could park in our lot and we could also give her free coffee and muffins. She immediately put up her window and screeched away.
I think as adults we generally assume that someone who wants to get to know me must be up to something, and something not good. They our out to manipulate me or take advantage of me. And perhaps, unfortunately, that is what we have been trained to do as adults. After decades of living with our primary form of communication with the world being advertisements, we are wary of contact with new groups. We need to know what they are up to first.
And perhaps that is the joy of this coffee ministry. We have absolutely no agenda. None at all. This has been a horribly planned out ministry. It came out of a side conversation with a couple of members with little to no goal at all... we just wanted to be friendly and get to know the students that are in our neighborhood. I have been asked by church folk what our plan is. What are we going to do with the students we meet? How long are we doing this for? How will we know if we have succeeded? Are we trying to draw in new members/plan a college fellowship/set up tutoring?
We have no idea. We're just doing it... and we are having fun... and we are loving it. Like children who meet awkwardly on a playground or in the daycare center of a presbytery meeting, we have no plan... we just know that we are there and they are there and then we have fun together.
And God has blessed that. Sure we do certain "ministry program" type things. We try to keep track of names, and we write down one or two prayer requests. We have started praying for everyone we have met by name each Tuesday and Wednesday hoping we will see them again. And at the end of the cleanup I send out an email to a bunch of church folk asking them to be praying for the folk we've met.
But mostly, we are re-gaining the ability to make friends, to bless people whom we don't know for no reason at all, other than the greatest reason: we are made to love others, so we are making friends.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sometimes ministry is that simple
So, we've been learning over the past 3-4 years at Gethsemane that evangelism is not about forcing your faith on people, preaching from a pulpit... it is mostly about building relationships with people, and genuinely sharing who Jesus is in your life with people you love. The first step though is just loving people.
In Engage, a PCUSA evangelism resource our session and evening and now Sunday school classes have been using, one chapter talks about how God began the work of sharing the good news through Abraham... and Abraham was sent as a blessing. Through him all nations would be blessed. So, part of our job as evangelists is to bless people, not so that they will join our church... just to bless them. It's a journey of trusting that God will reach people, and we need to be willing to go out first and love, without strings attached.
So, last week, over a couple of casual conversations, we decided to do just that.
Tarrant County College is across the street from the church, and often we have 20 or so cars park in our lot during the week as the students seek extra parking that isn't so far away as the overflow lot. Many churches might view this as either a nuisance, a threat, or a way to make money. We wanted to view it as a blessing, so we have let students park, no strings attached.
But, we weren't building relationships, and if we are called to love our neighbor, we certainly need to get to know our neighbor. And what does a student need or want in the morning on their way to class? Coffee.
So, George, Vickie, Susie, Vincent, Travis and I set up shop with coffee thermoses and muffins made from our very own Robin O. Most people were suspicious and walked on by. How could you be giving away coffee for free?
But we had a few takers. We learned a few names. We shot the breeze with a couple folk. We fellowshipped with one another... and we felt we had great success. At the end of the day, we blessed some folk who were already trying to better their lives. We broke bread/muffins together. We learned names, and we have been faithful in praying for them since we saw them.
Often we think that evangelism needs to be this overwhelmingly well planned program, but the best evangelism is building a relationship and loving someone.
Matthew 10:42
And if you give even a cup of cold water [or hot coffee] to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
In Engage, a PCUSA evangelism resource our session and evening and now Sunday school classes have been using, one chapter talks about how God began the work of sharing the good news through Abraham... and Abraham was sent as a blessing. Through him all nations would be blessed. So, part of our job as evangelists is to bless people, not so that they will join our church... just to bless them. It's a journey of trusting that God will reach people, and we need to be willing to go out first and love, without strings attached.
So, last week, over a couple of casual conversations, we decided to do just that.
Tarrant County College is across the street from the church, and often we have 20 or so cars park in our lot during the week as the students seek extra parking that isn't so far away as the overflow lot. Many churches might view this as either a nuisance, a threat, or a way to make money. We wanted to view it as a blessing, so we have let students park, no strings attached.
But, we weren't building relationships, and if we are called to love our neighbor, we certainly need to get to know our neighbor. And what does a student need or want in the morning on their way to class? Coffee.
So, George, Vickie, Susie, Vincent, Travis and I set up shop with coffee thermoses and muffins made from our very own Robin O. Most people were suspicious and walked on by. How could you be giving away coffee for free?
But we had a few takers. We learned a few names. We shot the breeze with a couple folk. We fellowshipped with one another... and we felt we had great success. At the end of the day, we blessed some folk who were already trying to better their lives. We broke bread/muffins together. We learned names, and we have been faithful in praying for them since we saw them.
Often we think that evangelism needs to be this overwhelmingly well planned program, but the best evangelism is building a relationship and loving someone.
Matthew 10:42
And if you give even a cup of cold water [or hot coffee] to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Newsletter articles - October 2012
Pastora
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21
Dear All,
One of the books I read on continuing education was about how to establish churches that make disciples, not just church members. It was a book that made me appropriately uncomfortable about what I have done or need to still do as a pastor in my church because too often we are interested only in getting attendance up, offerings up, and the building in its best shape... and that we think THAT is the measurement of our ministry.
Discipleship is different.
Jesus called us to make disciples, not church members. Disciples are students, followers, and friends of Jesus. It is placing all of our trust and obedience to him and not in our own will. It is letting go of what we desire, and our security, and placing our hearts in what Jesus desires for us.
For how many of us is Jesus Lord? For how many of us is Jesus our best friend? How many of us would be willing to give up anything for Jesus? For how many of us are we unwilling to do anything without checking with Him first?
To call Jesus Lord in his time, was akin to rejecting the Roman Emperor. To call Jesus Lord in Jesus’ time meant that you were willing to give up your citizenship. In this tense time of elections, how many of us would be willing to do that? In this tense time of immigration challenges, how many of us would be willing to give up a legal right to live in the US if we have it?
In one of the books I read, Glen McDonald claimed that American culture is one where we place our priorities clearly on possessions, pleasures, and power. Those are our gods. Those are our lords. We live in a society that longs for security... and we find it in certain places, and Jesus is most often secondary.
So in this time of patriotism with the elections at hand, and in this time of stewardship when we decide what our offering pledges will be to the church, and in this time of planning for ministries for 2013, and making choices about school year commitments, I ask, who is your Lord? What are you willing to give up for Jesus?
And if you are daringly honest enough to admit that many days Jesus isn’t your Lord, that many days you do seek out certain “stuff” (<cough iphone 5>), certain “pleasures” (<I just want to be happy>), or certain “power” (<my side is right and the other side is... >)... are you willing to start to reorganize your life into one of a disciple?
Jesus is Lord. It’s a bold statement... let’s make sure we mean it.
Blessings,
Rev. Lindsay
The session
The session will be meeting at their October meeting with Josephine Lopez Paul, community organizer with ACT to be trained in one on one relational meetings and small group meetings. This training is incredibly practical in 1 - evangelism, 2 - strengthening our congregation so that we can do ministry better together and make sure all ideas and voices are heard (especially God’s), 3 - building relationships and identifying issues important to us and our ESL students and our communities so that we can seek God’s justice together. We hope that you will attend with us. October 15, 7:15 pm.
Nominating Committee
The nominating committee: George Rodrigues, Arturo Peña, Rebecca Williams, Paula Rodriguez, and Doug Williamson will be meetin October 21st following the 11 am service to begin discernment about nominating ruling elders to serve on session starting in January 2013. Please begin praying now for their discernment of God’s will for our congregation.
Buildings and Grounds
We are busy bees working on all kinds of research to help keep our building up and running to support our ministries. As we receive the budget, keep in mind that the building expenses are necessary to support our ministries... without a good building, we cannot worship, have Sunday School, have VBS, teach others in the Academia. But, without doing all of those ministries well, our building is just that... a building. Help us be good stewards of what we have, by using our facilities to further God’s kingdom, and by maintaining those facilities so that we can do the ministries we do well.
Christian Education
We give thanks to Oakhurst Presbyterian Church for their donations to our children’s room: a set of shelves, two sets of bible book blocks, and a Noah’s Ark.
We also want to remind the congregation of our Child Protective Policy. We have the rule of 3 in this congregation... that at any time there should be either two children (of speaking age) and one adult, or two non-married adults and one child in any classroom. Kids cannot be allowed to play in the “blue” room unattended because it is unsafe. We encourage as many of our adults as possible to have a current background check on file. Please speak with Rev. Lindsay to have this done. It is free and allows new parents to feel more comfortable having their children participate in our programs. Thanks.
Evangelism and Mission
We continue to work on the garden. We will be having another weeding day this month, to be announced in worship.
We continue to seek out 2 volunteers for childcare for the Academia. Currently, we have had to stop the children’s program because of lack of volunteers.
Fellowship and Care
Our Fall Festival is scheduled for October 26th, from 6:30-9 pm. Please bring cupcakes, candy, decorations for trunk or treat, and other dinner food to share. We will be using some of our VBS materials for this festival and hope to have another wonderful time. More details to come.
We also give thanks that the ladies (and some gentlemen) of the church had such a wonderful time in MoRanch.
Stewardship, Administration, and Personnel
We give thanks to God for another successful year in financial stewardship! We finished our fiscal year with another surplus, the 7th year in a row. This new fiscal year marks our first year with Rev. Lindsay where we will not be receiving any outside support from the denomination in the form of a grant. That means 2012-2013 will hopefully be our first year in a very long time with a balanced budget and a full-time pastor, without any outside support. This speaks volumes to how we as a congregation have grown in our understanding of tithing and ministry together.
We are working on upgrading a lot of our computer systems and projector systems. Please be patient as there will be weeks where we are working out the kinks. This does mean that eventually we will be better able to make sure everyone can see what is being projected, that we can do better video and sound clips on our computers, and we can continue to share creative ideas on how to improve our worship and Sunday school and fellowship experiences.
Finally, we will start working on an annual report this year to celebrate the stewardship of our time and talents. Please send in pictures and memories from all of the ministry we have done in 2012... this may be Women’s Group, Men’s group, Academia, VBS, Sunday School, Garden, etc. Tell your story so we can celebrate and discern together how to do even greater ministry in 2013.
Worship
We give thanks for Polly Williams preaching last month, and for the special help in our creative sermon/worship for World Communion Sunday this month. We are already looking forward to Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas festivities. If you have creative ideas for this special season, please speak with Margot Williamson or Rev. Lindsay ASAP.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21
Dear All,
One of the books I read on continuing education was about how to establish churches that make disciples, not just church members. It was a book that made me appropriately uncomfortable about what I have done or need to still do as a pastor in my church because too often we are interested only in getting attendance up, offerings up, and the building in its best shape... and that we think THAT is the measurement of our ministry.
Discipleship is different.
Jesus called us to make disciples, not church members. Disciples are students, followers, and friends of Jesus. It is placing all of our trust and obedience to him and not in our own will. It is letting go of what we desire, and our security, and placing our hearts in what Jesus desires for us.
For how many of us is Jesus Lord? For how many of us is Jesus our best friend? How many of us would be willing to give up anything for Jesus? For how many of us are we unwilling to do anything without checking with Him first?
To call Jesus Lord in his time, was akin to rejecting the Roman Emperor. To call Jesus Lord in Jesus’ time meant that you were willing to give up your citizenship. In this tense time of elections, how many of us would be willing to do that? In this tense time of immigration challenges, how many of us would be willing to give up a legal right to live in the US if we have it?
In one of the books I read, Glen McDonald claimed that American culture is one where we place our priorities clearly on possessions, pleasures, and power. Those are our gods. Those are our lords. We live in a society that longs for security... and we find it in certain places, and Jesus is most often secondary.
So in this time of patriotism with the elections at hand, and in this time of stewardship when we decide what our offering pledges will be to the church, and in this time of planning for ministries for 2013, and making choices about school year commitments, I ask, who is your Lord? What are you willing to give up for Jesus?
And if you are daringly honest enough to admit that many days Jesus isn’t your Lord, that many days you do seek out certain “stuff” (<cough iphone 5>), certain “pleasures” (<I just want to be happy>), or certain “power” (<my side is right and the other side is... >)... are you willing to start to reorganize your life into one of a disciple?
Jesus is Lord. It’s a bold statement... let’s make sure we mean it.
Blessings,
Rev. Lindsay
The session
The session will be meeting at their October meeting with Josephine Lopez Paul, community organizer with ACT to be trained in one on one relational meetings and small group meetings. This training is incredibly practical in 1 - evangelism, 2 - strengthening our congregation so that we can do ministry better together and make sure all ideas and voices are heard (especially God’s), 3 - building relationships and identifying issues important to us and our ESL students and our communities so that we can seek God’s justice together. We hope that you will attend with us. October 15, 7:15 pm.
Nominating Committee
The nominating committee: George Rodrigues, Arturo Peña, Rebecca Williams, Paula Rodriguez, and Doug Williamson will be meetin October 21st following the 11 am service to begin discernment about nominating ruling elders to serve on session starting in January 2013. Please begin praying now for their discernment of God’s will for our congregation.
Buildings and Grounds
We are busy bees working on all kinds of research to help keep our building up and running to support our ministries. As we receive the budget, keep in mind that the building expenses are necessary to support our ministries... without a good building, we cannot worship, have Sunday School, have VBS, teach others in the Academia. But, without doing all of those ministries well, our building is just that... a building. Help us be good stewards of what we have, by using our facilities to further God’s kingdom, and by maintaining those facilities so that we can do the ministries we do well.
Christian Education
We give thanks to Oakhurst Presbyterian Church for their donations to our children’s room: a set of shelves, two sets of bible book blocks, and a Noah’s Ark.
We also want to remind the congregation of our Child Protective Policy. We have the rule of 3 in this congregation... that at any time there should be either two children (of speaking age) and one adult, or two non-married adults and one child in any classroom. Kids cannot be allowed to play in the “blue” room unattended because it is unsafe. We encourage as many of our adults as possible to have a current background check on file. Please speak with Rev. Lindsay to have this done. It is free and allows new parents to feel more comfortable having their children participate in our programs. Thanks.
Evangelism and Mission
We continue to work on the garden. We will be having another weeding day this month, to be announced in worship.
We continue to seek out 2 volunteers for childcare for the Academia. Currently, we have had to stop the children’s program because of lack of volunteers.
Fellowship and Care
Our Fall Festival is scheduled for October 26th, from 6:30-9 pm. Please bring cupcakes, candy, decorations for trunk or treat, and other dinner food to share. We will be using some of our VBS materials for this festival and hope to have another wonderful time. More details to come.
We also give thanks that the ladies (and some gentlemen) of the church had such a wonderful time in MoRanch.
Stewardship, Administration, and Personnel
We give thanks to God for another successful year in financial stewardship! We finished our fiscal year with another surplus, the 7th year in a row. This new fiscal year marks our first year with Rev. Lindsay where we will not be receiving any outside support from the denomination in the form of a grant. That means 2012-2013 will hopefully be our first year in a very long time with a balanced budget and a full-time pastor, without any outside support. This speaks volumes to how we as a congregation have grown in our understanding of tithing and ministry together.
We are working on upgrading a lot of our computer systems and projector systems. Please be patient as there will be weeks where we are working out the kinks. This does mean that eventually we will be better able to make sure everyone can see what is being projected, that we can do better video and sound clips on our computers, and we can continue to share creative ideas on how to improve our worship and Sunday school and fellowship experiences.
Finally, we will start working on an annual report this year to celebrate the stewardship of our time and talents. Please send in pictures and memories from all of the ministry we have done in 2012... this may be Women’s Group, Men’s group, Academia, VBS, Sunday School, Garden, etc. Tell your story so we can celebrate and discern together how to do even greater ministry in 2013.
Worship
We give thanks for Polly Williams preaching last month, and for the special help in our creative sermon/worship for World Communion Sunday this month. We are already looking forward to Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas festivities. If you have creative ideas for this special season, please speak with Margot Williamson or Rev. Lindsay ASAP.
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