One of the major issues that we are dealing with at Glenwood Presbyterian Church recently is the influx of a large number of middle and high school youth from the neighborhood and surrounding area. This is a great problem to have, but it is putting a strain on our youth leaders, who have suddenly seen their numbers increase exponentially. On top of that, these are young people who have very different backgrounds than what our church is used to (that’s not a value judgment, just the truth). One of our teens recently got out of jail, and almost all of them come from broken homes, have gang issues, and no real church background.
We have recently begun to ask for outside help to supplement the ministry that we have in place for young people, which I think is a very “grown-up” thing for our church to do. I believe it shows very clearly that we are not running scared from this blessing/opportunity/challenge that God has given us, and our number one concern is the spiritual needs of these particular youth. So please pray for our youth program and for the youth of our church individually, that we might be able to meet their needs for Christ. And if you feel called to help us out in this area, please email the church at glenwoodpresbyte [at] bellsouth {dot} net.
Since our youth have been on my mind recently, I’ve run across several items online dealing with youth and their place in the church. Jeana found some of these sites while looking for ways in which we could better minister to the youth as well…
February 26th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Young People |
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SHINE Lesson for February 24, 2008 - delivered by Brian Beasley
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February 25th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
SHINE |
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Sunday Morning Sermon for February 24, 2008 - delivered by Rev. Charles Howell
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February 24th, 2008
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Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church, Rev. Charles Howell |
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SHINE Lesson for February 17, 2008 - delivered by Brian Beasley
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February 18th, 2008
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Brian Beasley |
SHINE |
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My wife and I are always, it seems, kicking around new ideas about where God is leading us and our church in particular. We have a few very good friends who are a big part of that “brainstorming” process as well. We will write each other ridiculously long emails about what our church might do in ministry and outreach. Since our church is in transition between pastors now, its a good time to really dream big and this week, we’ve been swapping ideas fast and furious. Some of the highlights….
- “Vision Club 2008:” This would be a vision committee for our church which would brainstorm and introduce ideas like this for future projects, or activities, or ministries. Maybe even travel around and visit other churches to see what’s working effectively there. Many churches have long-range planning teams like this, and I think it would be a good idea to have one at Glenwood (although swapping emails is great, too)
- Drop-in Times: Just having some scheduled times during the week, say after school, where folks could just come in and “hang out” at the church. Having a nice place to lounge, free sodas or coffee, ping-pong, video games, wireless internet, some structured activities from time to time.
- Workshops for youth and children: My wife saw a webpage where a church opened up a recording studio for teens to use. We could use the talents of members of the church and have a “workshop” day where different activities are available. A group piano lesson, or self-defense classes, or sports classes, etc. I know that some big churches offer things like this on a regular basis, but for our small church, this would be a major undertaking. Perhaps its a way to see what generates interest for folks outside the church. And I’m also a firm believer that helping a kid discovering a talent goes a big way in building up that kid’s self-esteem and giving him or her something to work at to avoid all of the pitfalls there seem to be nowadays.
- Modernizing the Facilities: This is something that has been mentioned several times lately. We need to upgrade our facilities if we are going to attract new people.
This is just the tip of the iceberg - we have bandied about many bigger and smaller ideas in our discussions, but I wanted to post a few of them to share that God is working here. I’m excited about where he leads us in the coming years!
Unfortunately, I just read that God Returns In One Week. Check out this blog post from Trey Morgan for an interesting question: What would you do differently if you knew God was coming back in one week?
February 12th, 2008
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Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
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SHINE Lesson for February 10, 2008 - delivered by Brian Beasley
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February 11th, 2008
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Brian Beasley |
SHINE |
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It took longer than I hoped, but I finally found time to finish up my thoughts on my dreams for Glenwood Presbyterian in the future. Again, these are in no particular order of importance except for the first one in my last post – being a church that glorifies Christ above all else. Here are the other four…
A Church That Saves Souls
Okay, I know it is God that saves souls and not the church, but the vision I have is a church that is focused on bringing the lost to Christ. Or, put a familiar way, a church of hungry sinners telling others where they found bread. For as long as I can remember, our church has stressed service over evangelism. Not that Christian service is bad, but often we were more concerned with meeting physical needs than spiritual ones. I’d like to reprioritize that. Jesus would always meet both physical and spiritual needs when he met people in his ministry.
A Church That Grows Disciples
I envision a church where the members are hungry to learn more about God and Christ. I would love our church to be about moving people along their spiritual journey into stronger and stronger disciples. This means good classes taught by good teachers on relevant topics. Our Sunday School should generate excitement just like our worship services.
A Church That Focuses On Families And Children
This is more a dream of mine because it is so important that we draw these groups into the church. But I also think that the church has so much work to do in the area of the family and in building strong foundations in children. Probably no institution is in more dire circumstances in today’s world as the family unit and statistics overwhelmingly show that most people come to Christ before the age of 25 or not at all. We need to really grab these folks while we can.
A Church That Is Welcoming
With this one, I mean more than simply having the right greeters at the door. I want a church that feels loving and safe when you walk in. This is caused less by greeters than by the general attitude that permeates the congregation. Have you ever walked in to a place or someone’s home and “felt” the love in the room? That’s how our churches should be. We would fill up the pews easily with that kind of attitude.
All right, I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there. I do want to say again that those of you who attend Glenwood Presbyterian should really think seriously during this transition time about the kind of church you would like to see us become.
February 9th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
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As most of you know, Glenwood Presbyterian is in a time of transition as we look for a new pastor. Part of the process of finding this new leader is a time of self-evaluation as a church (which you can read about here.) A fellow member and I exchanged several lengthy emails recently about what our church could look like and be in the future. Some of our ideas were way out there, but it was a good exercise to really think seriously about what I would like to see in the future for my church. Here are my particular thoughts, which are in no particular order except for the first one, which I believe is crucial and the starting point for everything else…
A Church That Glorifies Christ Above All Else
I believe that Jesus’ words to the crowd in John 12:32, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,”(NIV) are still relevant to the church’s purposes today. If we are a congregation that truly glorifies Christ and lifts Him up above all else, then people will be drawn to that. It is this glorification, or worship, which distinguishes us from the rotary club or other service organizations and makes us something that people want to be a part of. I want that to be the cornerstone of our church.
A Church That Is Unified
A while back I posted a couple of links to a series on church politics. I don’t think you ever get rid of this kind of thing entirely, but wouldn’t it be a great thing if we could simply do those things that everybody agrees with and can get behind? I have been told that Glenwood had at least one pastor in the past that did not let the church take any action that was not agreed upon by everyone on the Session, our governing body. That would be a scary system for me, knowing that one person could halt all progress by not agreeing with the majority, but there seems to be a lot of plus side to this idea, especially in a small church like ours. If you only do those things which everyone agrees with, you never have portions of the church that feel like they are on the outside looking in. Coming back to this principle would, I believe, make us a more unified body in the future, although we would also need to address those areas that have caused hurt in the past so that we might all be reconciled to one another.
A “Neighborhood” Church
The Glenwood Neighborhood, as you have seen a little from articles I have linked to on this blog, is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. I believe that Glenwood Presbyterian Church has stood on the sidelines of this effort for far too long. We have a vested interest in the betterment of our community, but since most of our members live outside the neighborhood, we can too easily drive into Glenwood, attend church, and drive back out again with our heads down. I would love for our church to do everything we can to support the revitalization efforts currently underway. I envision a large number of our members attending a neighborhood association meeting and saying, “Okay – we’re here. Where do you need us to help?” We need to be a church that serves this community so that we can minister to the community so that we can reach people in the community for Christ.
A Church That Dreams Big
Being a small church sometimes causes us to fall into the trap of saying, “Well, we don’t have the resources or the people to do that.” Or, even worse, we stop dreaming at all and become a congregation that simply “survives” week to week, doing the very same things in the same way, until the building crumbles around us or the money dries up. I want to be part of a church that dreams of Christ doing things through us that are much, much bigger than we are capable of alone. Challenges generate excitement and demand faith. Success in the face of long odds glorifies God and builds faith. We need more dreamers in our church. Part of these dreams for Glenwood is going to have to include a “modernization” of our church facilities. But that’s a hot button topic that I won’t go into right now.
I’ll save the rest for later, but for those of you at Glenwood Presbyterian that read this blog, I invite you to really sit down and write out some of the dreams and ideas you have about our church looking into the future. You may even want to post them here as comments, but the main thing is to dream big!
February 6th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
one comment
Our visiting preacher this coming Sunday morning will be Bill Newnam, a former long-time member of Glenwood Presbyterian. We are looking forward to his message and are happy to have him visit us again.
February 5th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
Glenwood Presbyterian Church |
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SHINE Lesson for February 3, 2008 - delivered by Brian Beasley
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February 4th, 2008
Posted by
Brian Beasley |
SHINE |
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