The following eight quality characteristics make up the Natural Church Development model outlined in the book by Christian A. Schwarz, Natural Church Development. After completing a series of surveys, a church is evaluated on each of these characteristics in order to provide a portrait of church health.
Empowering Leadership
"¢ Leaders of growing churches invest the majority of their time in discipleship, delegation, and multiplication.
Gift-oriented Ministry
"¢ The role of church leadership is to help its members to identify their gifts and to integrate them into appropriate ministries.
As an executive presbyter I am very aware of how much parish pastors do for others on a daily basis. I was in the parish myself for 22 years, so I understand the stress and strain on both pastors and their families. What I also know all too well is how often many are under-valued, taken for granted, or at the worst, devalued as doing little more than preaching on Sundays. Those of us in ministry have encountered a few colleagues who are lazy and slide by with doing as little as possible, but as a whole, ministers in the parish are oftentimes under-appreciated, underpaid, and forgotten until there is a crisis and they are desperately needed. I don't mean to imply that no one ever says "thank you," or shows some form of kind affection.
The confirmation of recently sworn in Attorney General Michael Mukasey gathered opposition at one point because he refused to condemn waterboarding as a form of torture. His refusal is curious, because to acknowledge that waterboarding is torture is like conceding that the sun rises in the east. After World War II, Japanese soldiers who practiced it were prosecuted as war criminals.
The primary issue of purity before the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at this time is how we are to be faithful Christians now and into the future. Three points: (1) The purity of the Church comes from Jesus Christ. (2) The dilemma we are in comes from a clash of epochs as well as a clash of poles, right and left. (3) PC(USA) identity, resources, and actions point us to a third way out of our dilemma.
Preparing a sermon for peers and other preachers has been a nerve-wracking experience. I couldn't help remembering the advice we gave each other in seminary: "Keep it short, make it good, and watch your pronouns." Choosing the text, however, wasn't particularly difficult. I ran across this text several years ago and it hooked me. Since then it's been a favorite and I preach it whenever I get the chance.
(PNS) "I wish I could send them home with some small thing, even a piece of soap." These were the words of a pastor in the Cameroon, West Africa. He was telling our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation visiting Cameroon about the support group his congregation sponsors for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The support group is a lifeline for people who are often ostracized because of their disease. The pastor reminds them often that they are loved by God. However, it hurts his soul to have to send these people away with nothing in their hands to remind them of God's love and the church's care.
As you contemplate tomorrow, you need to keep in mind two cultural phenomena that will shape your future: time and gasoline prices.
Sunday ministries tend to be time-insensitive because people will travel an hour to church. That hour isn't available on weekdays, however. With every adult in the household working long hours, travel-to-church time tends to shrink to 30 minutes or less.
I am a veteran of all four New Wineskins Convocations. As a representative of the Office of Theology and Worship I attended the Visionary meeting in Minneapolis, the Angry meeting in Tulsa, the Legal meeting in Orlando, and the Moving On meeting in Sacramento. Dealing with New Wineskins Association of Churches (NWAC) puts me in an awkward place. I count some of the leaders and participants in New Wineskins as friends, but I work for the General Assembly Council and have a strong personal commitment to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The past three years have taught me that the New Wineskins Association of Churches is right about many fundamental issues in the PC(USA), tragically wrong about others.
I can see that little building in my mind's eye. It had been a modest residence, but our fledgling congregation had converted it into a place of worship. We knocked out walls to make a worship space, and various remaining rooms served for classrooms. We were a small group, but things looked promising, as World War II was bringing new people into the area all the time. For a kid who had spent the first nine years of his life in a small country congregation, the bustle was exciting.
We knew that when the fighting ended the congregation was going to move to a much larger place, just a few blocks from our small suburban home. This place was our tabernacle for a time.
Worship should reflect the questions people are asking.
For example: After a national or local tragedy, it would be artificial to present worship that ignored the trauma that people are feeling. After a spate of deaths, or some high-profile bouts of illness, a healthy church will want to respond publicly, not just go about "business as usual."
A congregation with many young families will want to address issues common to young families, such as life-purpose, concern about public schools, time and money management.
If ever there were a year about which we might say, "Nothing's changed," 2007 at least comes close.
Kevin Eckstrom, editor of Religion News Service, has provided us a great lead story regarding the religious news of the year (p. 6). He says that 2007 may well be remembered as the year that set the stage for big news to follow. The powerful Religious Right grew ragged around the edges this year, although the big headlines await the election year to follow. Stay tuned.
Pastor Susan Quinn Bryan first encountered the Church of the Saviour fifteen years ago. She was pastor of a small, struggling Presbyterian church in Houston, Texas. She was searching.
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He came a most unlikely guest
on night when air was cool and still
and people sought to hide from dark
amidst the shelter of an inn.
At one level, faith communities are no different from other human assembly.
Opinions differ, interests collide, feelings get hurt, leaders fail, constituents renege on commitments, money has undue sway, and we store up grievances like currency for later use.
Moreover, churches tend to get as stuck as any other institution. Historic grievances are passed down from generation to generation, from old-timer to newcomer. Like a dysfunctional family that molds every new member to its self-defeating ways, we make sure that newness has the sour taste of oldness.
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
This classic Christmas carol, written 140 years ago by one of America's greatest preachers, Phillips Brooks, captures so much thought in such few words.
When Brook visited there, Bethlehem nights did quiet as its agrarian residents slept off the day's hard work.
For Harry Horne the satisfaction of being a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) co-mission worker in Peru is watching those he ministers to achieve a deeper understanding of the Word of God -- in Hebrew and Greek. The Colorado-born former pastor teaches Hebrew and Greek language courses at a branch of the Latin American Biblical University located in Lima.
"Nobody becomes an expert on Greek or Hebrew in a course or two, but they get enough to start using it," said Horne, who also teaches other Bible courses at the school. "It's fun watching people reach a level where they feel confident enough to use those tools. When it becomes useful it's really good to see when folks find new things in text because they have those tools."
Hunter Farrell, former missionary to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Peru began service as director of global missions for the General Assembly Council this past summer. Outlook editor, Jack Haberer, recently discussed with him his take on missions.
JH: You spent the first third of your career serving in African missions, both on site in the Congo and here in the General Assembly as an area coordinator. Peru must have been quite a change for you. Tell me that transition.
HF: I had lived as a foreign exchange student in high school in Chile and spent a year of my time at the University of Texas at Austin abroad at the Catholic University in Peru. I spoke Spanish and had a love for Latin-American culture, so I was looking to get back there when I applied to what was then the Division of International Mission in Atlanta. John Pritchard got hold of my application and said, "Come to Zaire." ... I went at age 24, did a year as a volunteer in mission in Zaire, and fell in love with Zaire, the people, and with the way Presbyterians do mission.
Paul Revere might have gotten away with one ride through "every Middlesex village and farm." But in modern church life, we aren't likely to have such impact.
Two basic rules of communications are:
1. People aren't likely to hear something the first time you tell them. To hear your message, people need to hear it multiple times -- some say as many as seven times.
2. People don't like surprises. If you want their acceptance, especially of a change, you need to "telegraph your moves."
Here's what I mean.
A single announcement, even of an important event, is unlikely to be heard. People tend to be overloaded with information. They are distracted. Rather than spend time and money on designing the perfect one-time announcement, plan a series of announcements that, eventually, will catch your audience's attention.
Text: Matthew 11:2-11
Whenever expectations meet reality, questions are sure to follow.
Years ago my wife told my son that they were going to do something very special to get ready for Christmas. She pumped up his excitement. She told him they were going to have fun. As a consequence, he couldn't wait until the day came -- to make a gingerbread house. I walked in just as the project was being completed. He was sitting there with his head in his heads, bored to tears and asking his mother if they were having fun yet.
Our expectations build a road leading us somewhere until we come to that stop along the way called reality. It happens even to the best of us!
Stay away from the foreign mission field if you're not ready to face the unexpected. My recent trip to Peru -- arranged to explore mission work being done by fellow Presbyterians there -- packed the regular surprises: children whose effervescence belies their poverty, spotless homes set in the midst of barrios, mission programs being led by visionary and strategic-thinking Peruvian leaders. Those and many other joyous discoveries humbled this American Presbyterian, exposing his shallow sophistication and hollow materialism.
Know some folks who like to travel? How about traveling as a group? How about traveling to the land of Israel-Palestine and Jordan? How about tracing the steps of Paul? How about visiting those places that still reverberate the voices of Athanasius and Patrick, Luther and Calvin, Zwingli and Knox?
What if you visit all those places and still hunger for more?
A sonnet by Stephen Rehrig.
Are you in the holiday spirit yet? Have you enjoyed/ will you enjoy gatherings of family and friends?
Intent as we Christians are at keeping Christ at the center of the holidays, we also pour a lot of effort into making it a season for reunions with our loved ones. Whether that entails toting a warm pumpkin pie to the neighbors' or flying home from the eastern hemisphere, we love to gather together to enjoy the Lord's blessing.
As adopted daughters and sons of God, we count one another as our extended Christian family. For some that spreads icing on an already tasty cake. For others, it provides the only family they know. Hence, part of our mission as believers is to build up and promote authentic koinonia throughout the body of Christ in both its immediate expression, the local church community, and its catholic expression, the universal Church.
The board of directors at the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation, Inc., at its September 2006 meeting, stumbled upon a big "aha" regarding our role in the church family. Like so many fellowships and organizations, we were discussing our mission and vision. In the midst of stating the obvious -- reporting accurate news of the church, presenting insightful commentary on the news, and providing helpful resources for ministry -- board chair, Stacy Johnson, said, "I don't think that's the essence of the Outlook's mission."
He caught our attention.
Last week in Indianapolis, I spoke at Christian Theological Seminary -- "Church Outside the Box," was the title they chose -- and engaged in dialog with three panelists.
We had a grand time up front. I spoke with passion and the panelists responded in spirited debate. But then the moderator invited the audience to ask their questions. Surprise! Their questions went directions we hadn't anticipated.
Go deeper, said one person. We're already beyond denominational woes. What lies ahead?
How do we address a dangerous world situation? asked another.
What specifically should we be doing? Asked one of several people who arrived ready to move on and now wanted guidance.
My husband and I recently celebrated our 25th anniversary. At a small and packed popular restaurant in New York City, they brought out our dessert with Proseco on the house and a chocolate inscription around the plate that gave away our celebration to all the tables around us, opening the door of conversation. Because the couple right next to us was from Oklahoma, my husband felt compelled to tell them that I was from Iran, figuring they probably didn't run into many Iranians in their circle. He apologized later in the cab but I knew instantly why he did this. I have spent my 29 years in America playing the role of ambassador from Iran. And it has been a rocky three decades beginning with the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis in my college freshman year in D.C. to the present day of Iran as the face of evil.
The couple from Oklahoma nodded their heads approvingly at my story and the man declared very proudly that I am "living the American Dream." This did not sit well with me. Like most Iranians who ended up as what I like to call "accidental immigrants," I came to America from a life of privilege. I told our new friends that I grew up in boarding school in England. And I told them something that everyone is always shocked to hear: My parents still live in Iran. Really? How is it for them? Why don't they leave?
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