My Wishes For My Church, Part One of Two
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!
Written by Brian Beasley.
"But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Matt. 6:33
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As I think about the possibilities for our church I can’t help but look at the new youth that have attended faithfully for many weeks now. I wonder what kind of church they would like or need. We are in the Glenwood Neighborhood and there is no changing that so we should try to respond to their needs.
I went on the internet and searched inner city youth churches and found some very interesting website which I will post at the end. One developed a musical recording studio in their church for youth to use. This seemed so cool and something that would attract youth.
Another ideas I have had for quite a while is holding some kind of workshop for youth and/or children to foster their talents. TAG: Talents at Glenwood or GO: Glenwood Opportunities. Basically I see a lot of potential that our church members have already: a basketball coach, gymnastic teacher, school teachers, football coach, piano teacher, drummer, etc. .. I envision one Saturday having classes for free for any interested youth to expose them to different things or improve upon their skills. I could hold a group piano lesson, while Dave shows some tips on Basketball and Dennise helps teach some gymnastic moves. I think knowing you have a gift or talent is key to giving some of these kids hope for a future.
Another crazy idea I had is to have a dance with Christian/other appropriate think Disney music. We could play at this event and even have a devotion.
I also want to have another outdoor event with a blow up jumping house to attract families. Invite the GGNA to talk, have the band play, fix some hotdogs, have fun! I feel like the best chance we have at getting some neighborhood families at our church is to reach out to them and form relationships. Spring Fling!
It would be great to have an event lined up so we can advertise it at the Easter Egg Hunt. Hot dog supper in 2 weeks or something close to Easter to get people back.
Now some of this is very scary to me but I don’t want to hide our light just because I am uncomfortable. I could come up with a 100 reasons these ideas won’t work or might be a problem but we need to do some new things. Some different things to get people in the door. I want people in the Glenwood Neighborhood to know we care about them and want to make a difference.
Here are some of the website that interested me.
http://www.yesamerica.org/
http://www.hlic.org/index.htm
Comment by Jeana | February 11, 2008