Karl Westerhof

I love this "try stuff together and learn as we go" approach.   Being intentional, and purposeful, and prayerful, about our continuing effort to be Jesus' body is rarely about following a package or kit.  It's about lively interaction, dialog, experimentation and evaluation, and learning to delight in listening for and following the Spirit.  Thanks to you, Mike, for your help with congregational health and renewal!

Thanks to you and the team for working constantly to make this better and better.  I

Appreciate your work!!

To my own surprise, I've revisited what I wrote about Sarah several times, rereading it, and pondering this experience in my heart.  Thank you to those of you who've responded in writing; your response to our experience is a  blessing and a comfort.  Oh how much I would have loved to get to know Annie and Dylan and Holly, and all the rest of the saints --children of  fellow believers who went before us - to greater glory as Brother John says.   Yes, I shed a lot of  tears for all the loss, and I still do, and I guess I'll go on shedding tears in my life too.  We all will, and we'll hold on to the promises together too.  And we'll comfort each other, and by God's grace and Spirit we'll live lives that are empowered and joyful now with the power of the resurrection. 

Hey, Keith, while I do share some of your concerns, I think the language and tone of your post is unnecessarily inflammatory.  Are you intentionally inviting (or inciting) alarm and dismay? Is it true that Calvin is in "serious financial trouble"?  i don't have inside information , but what I read and hear suggests to me that people HAVE been let go, that Calvin and especially its new president have handled this situation with candor and transparency, and I know of at least one major donor whose giving has INCREASED in the light of the way Calvin and its president are handling the challenge.  In any case, I think your rhetoric is overblown, and therefore contributes less than it could to a healthy community response to the problem Calvin is facing.

Tithing has always been a difficult concept for me to be at peace with - for many reasons, most of which turn up in the discussion here. I really like how this discussion is shaping up, the themes of communal caring, taking seriously the different phases and passages in a family's life, and stressing the joy of giving instead of the % guidelines. I wish that my family had modeled for me a way to think about generosity that was NOT shaped by our constraints and our needs, but rather by Spirit shaped generosity. My parents were mostly worried about how to make ends meet, but the "tithe envelope" in the drawer in the dining room was always attended to first. More problematic was the attitude of scarcity that pervaded our house and my own attitude toward generosity. The envelope was a great example. The feeling and attitude of scarcity not so much. It has taken me a lot of years to get beyond that, and I'm still working on it. Thanks to all of you who shared wisdom here!

At our church we regularly have two offerings in the morning service, the first for our congregational budget, the second for a cause selected by the deacons.   Occasionally the second offering is for a particular ministry of our own church, but usually it's for a special cause, denominational agency, or the like.

I'm thinking about how my local church could integrate several interests into  one educational missional outreach program.  We are setting a very high priority on youth, and we have the usual programs for neighborhood kids.  In addition we are going to begin involvement with a city-wide initiative to increase the number of kids who graduate from high school.  In addition an evangelical para church organization wants to partner with us to relate to kids in the community.   In addition we have a daughter of the congregation involved in starting a Christian education program overseas.    

Here's what I'm wondering - could these all be somehow inter-related in the strategy and learning of our congregation, so that we are seeing the commonalities among all the "glocal" efforts, providing a theme that is motivational and educational for families, develoipng a cadre of volunteers all of whom can share some common experiences as well as some distinctly different ones....   and together we can learn about how to be involved in God's world at multiple levels using multiple gifts and skills, and end up with our congregation engaged in some kind of "unified" glocal mission.....

Anybody out there got any ideas or experience to share?

THANKS

One of the best  classis meetings I ever went to began with an informal gathering over a meal at a near-by restaurant the evening before.  Enjoying each other as brothers and sisters first around the table helped us be a healthy community as we did our work the next day.  The ritual reminds us that we are family, that we are blessed to be together, that we are more than "delegates" - we are sons and daughters of the King of the Church.

1.  To begin the day,  I'm thinking of a worship time at classis that "sets the table" for the day's work.  What parts of "liturgy" are appropriate at classis in the worship service?  What prayers and songs fit the day's agenda?  How is the work of the classis brought into the worship time in specific ways that lead the gathered delegates into the kind of community that is prepared to do the work of the day?

2.  A "transition step" between worship and work that helps to make the connections between the work of worship and the worshipfulness that can pervade work?  For example, might there be particular reports that are to come before classis that are prayed over before the formal session begins?  Are there situations in the lives of congregations, leaders, communities, that need prayer because they are on  everyone's mind and heart?   Are there people who simply need to "talk out" their fears or hurts or concerns who might be given the place to do that in small groups before the formal session of classis begins?

3.  Times of silence, for worship and for prayer, but especially for listening, could be built into the agenda, particularly to set the stage for difficult issues or votes.   Sometimes an issues is up for a vote which causes a great deal of tension in the assembly.  Consider a multi-stage discussion -- first a discussion for the purpose of simply clarifying, or getting into the right wording, the decision that is to be taken.  (Sometimes that's been done by a committee.)   Just suppose that the chair gave the assembly a time of discussion just for clarifying the issue, not for arguing any pros or cons.   Then suppose there was a time of silence, while delegates simply listened for what the Holy Spirit wanted to say to them.  THEN comes the time for discussion of the issue itself, followed by another time of silence, then the vote.

4.  Another tool for making the process healthy is for the chair (or a delegate) to ask the question: are there delegates here who have strong feelings but have not spoken yet?   or, is there anyone who is hesitating to speak because of fear of not saying it well....  we want to be a safe and encouraging community for speaking the truth in love.  This is a way to help guide the conversation along lines of kindness, safety, calmness, and Spirit-led wisdom.

I feel a longing in myself for this kind of environment for decision making, it's peaceful, unhurried, and "tuned in".  Some agenda items can be dealt with in a "stream-lined" way.  Others need gentle handling.  All need Spirit-awareness.   Whatever we can do to help each other be Spirit-aware, including the way we organize our classis meetings, well, that seems like wisdom to me.   What do you think?

Sherry, You are probably finished with this book, and have moved on to something else by now!   It was only today that someone called my attention to your note, posted way back in July.   I was SO taken by this book!  My church, Grace in Grand RApids, is near downtown in an old neighborhood, characterized by many of the things that happen to old urban neighborhoods as they age.  We are trying things as we experiement with ways to engage our neighbors and be truly WITH them, and FOR them, and this book is an excellent resource.  I won't repeat here all the things I said here.  I hope you were aware of the blog.

For Grace the trick is to get a small congregation of very busy people to focus on one new thing.  We've been deeply involved for the past 8 months or more in a city-wide program to boost the graduation rate in our public school system.  One small piece of this effort has been a series of ten-week programs for ten selected families from our immediate neighborhood.  Grace ran ours this fall.  Sustainability and followup is now our big challenge and opportunity.

I'd love to hear more of your group's experience with your community!

Let's see if we can get someone from CRWRC to respond to this, ok?

The previous post on the operationsharing foodbank was by John KleinGeltink.    I posted it for him, but I neglected to include his name.  Very sorry, John!