SCD Ideas

by Mary Beth Coudal*

Grand Rapids, MI, August 4, 2008–The Rev. Jim Walker is on a journey to shake the “churchy-ness” out of church and make it about fellowship and the kingdom of God– based on the example of Jesus Christ.

He details his journey in a new book, Dirty Word: The Vulgar, Offensive Language of the Kingdom of God (Discipleship Resources), and he shared it in a ministry track at the Grand Rapids site of the 2008 United Methodist School of Congregational Development. He dramatized it during a service of Holy Communion shared via satellite with another section of the school in Orlando, Florida.

“Do we really need church?” asked the co-pastor of the Pittsburgh faith community Hot Metal Bridge, which has United Methodist and Presbyterian sponsorship. “Need” is the wrong verb for Walker. His advice: “Be the church! Instead of go to church!”

Walker, who is the United Methodist co-pastor, derived his community of faith concept from the Greek word “koinonia,” which means to share in fellowship. His ministry track was entitled “Headwounds: Koinonia in a Fractured World.”

“We need to practice koinonia everywhere but the church building,” Walker says in his book. “We need to flee, run screaming out of our safe and comfortable churchy surroundings, and slam as hard as we can into the mosh pits of this dark and lonely world.”

“The Kingdom of God is about the dirty, the losers, the misfits of our culture,” according to Walker, but they are “rarely welcome through the doors of our churches–because we like things sterile, to cover over our dirt. We like to reject people… But Jesus went to the smelly places.”

Jesus associated with unsavory people, and Walker had an opportunity to demonstrate that component of the New Testament Gospels in a communion service on the night of August 4. The service originated in Grand Rapids, but parts of it were shared via satellite with the congregational development group in Orlando. The school met from July 31 to August 5.

He did a one-person dramatization of the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus, the tax collector, from Luke 19:1-13. He likened Zacchaeus to a man with only one chair, although he was rich. He had no friends as a result of his shameful profession–collecting taxes from his own people, the Jews, for the Roman overlords.

In the Lukan story and Walker’s interpretation, the townspeople of Jericho are horrified that Jesus would invite himself to the home of a sinner such as Zacchaeus. “Ahaaaaa, we want Jesus, but not this Jesus,” the storyteller imagines the people saying as they wandered off. He wondered if we could hear echoes of contemporary church members in the reactions of the people of Jericho.

Walker introduced both the passion of Jesus and the origins of Holy Communion as the Zacchaeus narrative moved toward the transformation of Zacchaeus, the big-time sinner. The tax man with only one chair promised to give away half his belongings and restore four-fold what he had stolen after his encounter with Jesus. The monologue ended with the empty-chair man invited to a place at the table.

Walker officiated at the service of Holy Communion in Grand Rapids; in Orlando, Bishop Hee Soo Jung of Chicago and Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor of South Carolina presided at the Lord’s Table.

Jim Walker is totally serious about the church turning its attention, as did Jesus, to people on the margins of respectable society. The cover of his book features a photo of a skinny, tattooed, chain-wearing, and pierced man, Doug, who is part of Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh. (The fellowship is named for a real bridge, or maybe a restaurant near the bridge.).

Hot Metal Bridge fellowship is identified as an “emerging church,” Walker notes. “We’re just trying to reach the last, the least, and the lost,” he said, “And I guess when you do that, you’re labeled emerging,” Walker said.

Walker hopes that The United Methodist Church will stop “planting churches” and spend more time and effort building “faith communities.”

“We create these churches and expect people to come to us,” he says. “It’s really a people movement.” His fellowship meets in a bar, a tattoo parlor, and around a table.

For more on Jim Walker’s ministry, visit the website of Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community at www.hotmetalbridge.com.

The School of Congregational Development is an annual event co-sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship and Global Ministries. For more info go to www.scdumc.org.

*Mary Beth Coudal is a staff writer for the General Board of Global Ministries. (Elliott Wright contributed to this article from Orlando.)

http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5093
 

Jorge Acevedo, Lead Pastor
Grace Church — Cape Coral, Olga-Fort Myers Shores and North Fort Myers, Florida
www.egracechurch.com

Grace Church DNA:

In the final presentation at this year’s School of Congregational Development, Jorge Acevedo shared the core principles that has turn-around his congregation.  Here are the notes from his presentation: 
1. We are unashamedly Jesus-centered!  Jesus is the Savior, Healer, Transformer and Friend that every human being needs. 

2. We strive for healthy relationships!  Maintaining genuine and authentic relationships are of supreme value.  Repairing our relational messes is essential.

3. We are passionate to reach people!  This means loving people where they are and helping them grow into who God wants them to be.  Everyone is a “child of God and person of worth.”

4. We hunger for transcendent, culturally relevant, meaningful and experiential worship!  The human heart desires to regularly connect with God.  Music, drama, creative arts, and video are some of the ways this happens.

5. We engage people in biblical, relevant and creative teaching!  God’s Word addresses the most fundament issues of life.  Children, youth and adults need to be taught from the Bible.

6. We endeavor to be a radically diverse church.  This includes a mosaic of persons joined together as one community of faith.

7. We value hospitality as an expression of God’s “welcome.”  The kindness of God is expressed intentionally through things like warm greeting, clean bathrooms, and good food.

8. We are a center for healing and recovery!  God has asked us to assist Him in rescuing people from the hell they are living in as well as the hell they are heading to.  We recognize that healing takes time therefore we strive to very patient with people in their healing and recovery.

9. We strive to unleash God’s love, power, and people in ministries to meet the needs of our communities.  These compassion ministries include both aid (meeting basic needs) and advocacy (being a voice for the voiceless).

10. We have a passion and commitment to fulfill for the Great Commission!  This is expressed locally, nationally and internationally.

11. We understand that spiritual growth is a lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus!  Growing in our discipleship includes spiritual habits like self-feeding through daily devotions, using time, talents and treasures for God, engaging in Christian community and serving in the church and world.

12.  We are a multi-site congregation.  We believe strategically located, multiple campuses enable us to more effectively reach our community while being wise and efficient stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us.

13. We believe ministry is best accomplished in teams of people with diverse gifts and abilities who are bound together with common purpose and covenants of trust. 

by Elliott Wright*Orlando, FL, August 2, 2008–What kind of music is best for worship in a new church start? That question was explored in a seminar for church developers, but there was no single and simple answer.“There are many options,” said Marcia McFee, a specialist in church music and worship. New music that appeals to contemporary groups is often a good choice, or new uses of older music. “We need to remember that the contemporary movement in worship is 35 years old, and there are also other options today. One size does not fit all.”

She reminded the seminar that music is the “glue” of worship services, often determining the flow and setting the tone.

The seminar was part of the 2008 School of Congregational Development, held annually to assist pastors and other church leaders in understanding better how to start new congregations and to revitalize existing ones.

McFee has a broad experience in many forms of church music and styles of worship. She was co-director of music at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference, the legislature of the denomination that meets once every four years.

Her central point was that music is what connects the verbal, visual, and visceral aspects of worship: “what we hear, what we see, and what we do.”

McFee presented the variety of musical forms and idioms that can be appropriate to new church starts, depending on locations, interests, and instruments available. These include:

hymns old and newcontemporary songs old and newblues and spirituals

popular music

global music

music from contemplative religious communities, such as Taizé in France and

Iona, an international ecumenical movement that began in Britain.

Both McFee and another speaker, the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, stressed that many young adults today are strongly attracted by contemplative, meditative music and worship. “Don’t make the mistake of assuming that contemporary praise songs are the only option when trying to reach young adults,” McFee said. She also noted that young adults today have no problem combining the joyful praise of God with a concern for justice.The approach to music when starting a new church or revitalizing an older one should be that of “intentional design,” McFee explained. Emphases should fall on:

“Music that inspires us to action”Music that connects us to the timeless, ageless foundations of faith”Music that creates community, celebration, and intimacy

“Music that draws us close to the immanent God and the deep wells of our souls.”

McFee proposed that planners of worship learn to think like filmmakers, who use music to move along the story and its action.

Some seminar members asked if it would take a great deal of time and talent to follow McFee’s suggestions.

She agreed that it did take planning and rehearsal time, and perhaps the recruitment of students and others who might want to donate their musical talents, for example, to form a small band for a church just getting started.

The effort is worth it because the music helps to create an “environment in which to express the holy,” McFee said.

The School of Congregational Development met in two locations this year: St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida, and Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Some plenary sessions and worship were shared by satellite links. Three hundred people took part in Orlando and 150 in Grand Rapids.

*Elliott Wright is the information officer of the General Board of Global Ministries.

by Mary Beth Coudal

Grand Rapids, MI, Aug. 1, 2008–In the video, the face of the pastor is pasted onto the dancing body of Napoleon Dynamite, the title character in a cult comedy movie of 2004.

People under 30 would appreciate the image; those over 40 might not, said the Rev. Mark Beeson, who used the clip to introduce his address to the 2008 United Methodist School of Congregational Development. His topic: “Innovate or Die.”

The point throughout his animated presentation was that the church should not be afraid of change regarding ministries to reach young generations. If the church does not reach the young people of today, it will not have much of a future. “Change is good,” he said.

The pastor of Granger Community United Methodist Church in Granger, Indiana (near South Bend), spoke to two audiences: one gathered in person in Cornerstone United Methodist Church, South Bend, and the other by satellite link from St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Orlando, Florida.

“It’s unbelievable the changes in technology and what it has done to us,” Beeson said. “We no longer learn in a linear fashion…. Everything is story and image.”

The gospel and the mission of the church never change, he said, but the church must find strategies that will engage “postmodern” people, to help them take the next steps toward Christian discipleship.

Punctuating his point that change is good, Beeson said that the church expects people to change when they accept Christ. “The whole world doesn’t go to church,” he said. “You have to give them a reason [to come]. Give them a why…help people take their next steps towards Christ.… Is your cause worth the price of change? Because you’re asking people to change.”

  
The School of Congregational Development is an annual opportunity for United Methodist pastors, administrators, and laypeople to become catalysts for church renewal and growth. The six-day event is sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship and the General Board of Global Ministries. This year it met in two venues linked for some plenary sessions and worship by satellite connection.

Ministry tracks at the school focus on new church starts, church renewal, and outreach to ethnic and minority populations.

In speaking both of new church development or older church revitalization, Beeson put heavy emphasis on the vision, the “So what?”, and the mission. “Mission is why you exist,” he said.

Beeson, who founded Grange Church 22 years ago and is senior pastor, encouraged other pastors to challenge members to use their best talents in the cause of the gospel.

“Most of the people in our churches are under-challenged,” he said, recalling the example of a woman who led a multi-million dollar company but was asked only to usher once a month. “We do not challenge high-capacity people enough,” the speaker said. “Most people would rather be swallowed by a whale than bitten to death by small fish.”

Granger Community United Methodist Church has a membership of some 5,000 and a weekly worship attendance of around 6,000 in multiple services.

*Mary Beth Coudal is a staff writer for the General Board of Global Ministries.

http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5088

Grand Rapids, MI, July 31, 2008–Worship attendance at the Living Water United Methodist Church, a new congregation in Pearland, Texas, peaked at 225 in the fall of 2006.

Then it dropped the next week to under 200, and kept dropping week by week until it reached 70.

That was not the way it was suppose to happen! The new church start on the south side of Houston had been widely publicized and praised in the Texas Annual (regional) Conference of the denomination.

“I felt like a failure,” the pastor, the Rev. Ed Jones, told the 2008 United Methodist School of Congregational Development, meeting at two sites, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Orlando, Florida, with satellite links for some plenary addresses and worship.

Mr. Jones, speaking from Grand Rapids, said: “We took six months to sort things out and now we are in a new day. I realized I was listening to words on church-growth charts but not listening daily to the word of God. We were too caught up in building the church and not enough in connecting the disconnected.”

“We were taking our values from charts when we needed to place our values in human hearts,” said Jones, an African American clergyman.

The United Methodist Church as a denomination in the United States is not unlike Living Water congregation in the fall of 2006: it is losing participants, and has been since its membership peaked in the 1960s at around 11 million.

Starting new congregations in the US is a current United Methodist priority. As a global denomination, however, its membership is growing in Africa and Asia.

The annual School of Congregational Development, focused on the US, is jointly sponsored by the General Boards of Discipleship and Global Ministries. Five of the ministry study tracks this year deal with starting new congregations.

Living Water Church developed what it calls GAUGE, which lists five values:

Grow spiritually.
Authentic relationships must be developed.
Use gifts for ministry.
Give cheerfully.
Extend a hand.

It also has a strategy taken from chapter 5 of the Gospel of Luke. The passage tells the story of how Jesus noticed two empty boats and fishermen washing their nets on the lakeshore of Gennesaret. Jesus boarded Simon’s boat and eventually asked him to put out into deeper water for a large catch of fish.

The Living Water strategy understands that we begin at the shoreline in our faith venture and gradually move out, until we are “living deep” in the Spirit, empowered “to serve living water to a thirsty world as we grow toward our full potential to share the love of Christ with others.”

Jones advised persons who want to start new churches to engage the disconnected, especially disconnected families, and to “preach Jesus.”

He said that Living Water Church uses cultural resources, including popular movies, to engage people, to get their attention, and move them out from the shoreline to deeper waters.

“If you trust God, God can trust you,” said the pastor, and that relationship with God makes it possible to share the love of God with the broken, wounded people of the world.
Jones, a former firefighter, did his theological studies at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri, and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He credits his wife, Sylvia, a dentist, and his three children, with providing a domestic connectedness that permits the stability needed for ministry.

http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5085