God Is Moving…
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?
