I would also like to encourage people to attend the online study of When Helping Hurts. It's important that people don't just read it and become paralyzed. Rather, to jump in and start implementing what's learned. We hope the study will do that. http://network.crcna.org/deacons/when-helping-hurts-small-group-experience-online
There was an article about this recently in Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/june/3-reasons-people-are-not-involved-in-your-church.html
The comments were actually more interesting than the article. Some of the people who might be made to feel shamed for appearing inactive are very involved in parachurch organizations or have work schedules that do not allow them to serve traditionally (I'm one of those - my travel schedule makes it impossible to serve well on any committees). Traditionally organized churches need to adapt their expectations and opportunities to adapt to today's realities, especially if young people are going to get involved. A classic example is the women's Bible study group that meets during the day, when many women are working.
I heard of a church in Indianapolis that suspended all committees and activities other than Sunday morning worship. After a month, people were invited to come together and decide what things they felt were important for their church to do. They created and joined teams according to their interests and skills. The church is much more vibrant now and they do not have any trouble with not getting people to volunteer. Some programs no longer exist; some look different; but the church is growing.
I find that signs that try to be funny rather than uplifting make me roll my eyes and not want to go to that church. Examples: "Our church is prayer conditioned." "What's missing in our chrch?"
There is a long history of working in the countries where we currently are. In 2009 we had to reduce the number of countries in which we worked because of budget considerations. It was a painful process, because we had to leave partners with whom we had been working for many years. In addition, we are always being asked to come into new countries. There are processes in place to help prioritize countries based on needs and opportunities. One of the considerations is whether or not there are other CRCNA agencies working there. The decisions are made by our codirectors, regional team leaders, and board.
As for the overlap question, I made a similar list a few years ago although it is now out of date. However, every country has an annual plan that includes a section on how they will work with the other CRCNA agencies that are in the country. I personally am more familiar with how CRWM and World Renew work together and less so with BTGMI. Perhaps that would make a good topic for a future Network post!
I hope that answers your questions, if not let me know and I will be happy to go into further detail.
Yes! This is something that we had proposed for some of the new churches we were helping to plant in Cambodia, but there was little interest on the part of U.S. church planters. Of course this was some time ago, and perhaps it just wasn't promoted well. I would love to continue the conversation.
There are two things that I suspect might be going on here, to use your terminology. One, there is a distinction between disaster response and community development. I believe that the staff who are working on long term community development are indeed missionaries, as they are working with churches and doing outreach. It is important to note that disaster response funds are NOT used for supporting long term development, which is what was described in this post. Secondly, depending on the country context, we avoid using the term missionary online (and sometimes avoid mentioning the country altogether).
These two things would also make great blog posts as they deserve more in-depth discussion.
There are a couple of thoughts I have after reading your post and the original that you referenced.
First, I don't agree with equating nonwhites with underprivileged. So that leaves us with two questions to answer as to why more ethnic minorities are not engaging with the denomination. #1, in our multiethnic congregations, is everyone given equal opportunity to join the short term missions teams? I would argue that yes, they are, because most of the churches I work with do fundraising as a congregation to support whoever wants to go, as long as they work on the fundraising too (make the pies, wash the cars, work at the dinners, etc.) #2, in our ethnic churches, are they uninterested in missions or just uninterested in going through our denomination? Is money really a factor? I tend to think not, because I have seen some incredible donations come through our ethnic churches after a disaster. So what is the real reason?
Setting aside the STM issue, let's talk about funding missions. This is actually something that affected World Renew's decision to move towards a country support approach rather than a missionary-centered approach. Many of our overseas staff are not from North America, or if they are, are not Christian Reformed. So they don't have their own church, Grandma and Grandpa's church, and their aunt and uncle's churches to get support. Nor do they have the social connections mentioned in the article you referenced. Yet, their stories are just as powerful, if not more so. One of our staff actually had someone come up to her after church and say, "this is the first time in my life I have heard an African woman talk about Africa." Of course, as the article mentioned, it is this pooling of resources that is possible in nonprofit organizations and denominations, not so much parachurch organizations. I suspect, though, that if the parachurch organizations were able to shift their fundraising strategies they could have a similar approach.
Posted in: Where Are the Women 35 to 55?
My guess is they are at work - a quick search of the coffee breaks in Grand Rapids lists the meeting times as weekday mornings.
Posted in: Right Here and to the Ends of the Earth
Thank you, Abby! We have enjoyed having you in our office and look forward to your continuing service.
Posted in: What if When Helping Hurts Hurts Helping?
I would also like to encourage people to attend the online study of When Helping Hurts. It's important that people don't just read it and become paralyzed. Rather, to jump in and start implementing what's learned. We hope the study will do that. http://network.crcna.org/deacons/when-helping-hurts-small-group-experience-online
Posted in: Activating the Inactive
There was an article about this recently in Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/june/3-reasons-people-are-not-involved-in-your-church.html
The comments were actually more interesting than the article. Some of the people who might be made to feel shamed for appearing inactive are very involved in parachurch organizations or have work schedules that do not allow them to serve traditionally (I'm one of those - my travel schedule makes it impossible to serve well on any committees). Traditionally organized churches need to adapt their expectations and opportunities to adapt to today's realities, especially if young people are going to get involved. A classic example is the women's Bible study group that meets during the day, when many women are working.
I heard of a church in Indianapolis that suspended all committees and activities other than Sunday morning worship. After a month, people were invited to come together and decide what things they felt were important for their church to do. They created and joined teams according to their interests and skills. The church is much more vibrant now and they do not have any trouble with not getting people to volunteer. Some programs no longer exist; some look different; but the church is growing.
Posted in: All of Life is Worship - Really?
Could you expand a bit on point #6? Are you saying that life is ubiquitous and meaningless? I don't remember learning that in my catechism classes ;-)
Posted in: All of Life is Worship - Really?
yes, thank you!
Posted in: Church Signs: Who’s Your Audience?
I find that signs that try to be funny rather than uplifting make me roll my eyes and not want to go to that church. Examples: "Our church is prayer conditioned." "What's missing in our chrch?"
Posted in: A New Network Site
I was also wondering if there is a way to see recent comments? (like in the previous Top 10 tab)
Posted in: World Renew's Approach to Funding Missions
There is a long history of working in the countries where we currently are. In 2009 we had to reduce the number of countries in which we worked because of budget considerations. It was a painful process, because we had to leave partners with whom we had been working for many years. In addition, we are always being asked to come into new countries. There are processes in place to help prioritize countries based on needs and opportunities. One of the considerations is whether or not there are other CRCNA agencies working there. The decisions are made by our codirectors, regional team leaders, and board.
As for the overlap question, I made a similar list a few years ago although it is now out of date. However, every country has an annual plan that includes a section on how they will work with the other CRCNA agencies that are in the country. I personally am more familiar with how CRWM and World Renew work together and less so with BTGMI. Perhaps that would make a good topic for a future Network post!
I hope that answers your questions, if not let me know and I will be happy to go into further detail.
Posted in: World Renew's Approach to Funding Missions
Yes! This is something that we had proposed for some of the new churches we were helping to plant in Cambodia, but there was little interest on the part of U.S. church planters. Of course this was some time ago, and perhaps it just wasn't promoted well. I would love to continue the conversation.
Posted in: World Renew's Approach to Funding Missions
There are two things that I suspect might be going on here, to use your terminology. One, there is a distinction between disaster response and community development. I believe that the staff who are working on long term community development are indeed missionaries, as they are working with churches and doing outreach. It is important to note that disaster response funds are NOT used for supporting long term development, which is what was described in this post. Secondly, depending on the country context, we avoid using the term missionary online (and sometimes avoid mentioning the country altogether).
These two things would also make great blog posts as they deserve more in-depth discussion.
Posted in: How Can We Change Support-Raising Models That "Keep Missions White"?
There are a couple of thoughts I have after reading your post and the original that you referenced.
First, I don't agree with equating nonwhites with underprivileged. So that leaves us with two questions to answer as to why more ethnic minorities are not engaging with the denomination. #1, in our multiethnic congregations, is everyone given equal opportunity to join the short term missions teams? I would argue that yes, they are, because most of the churches I work with do fundraising as a congregation to support whoever wants to go, as long as they work on the fundraising too (make the pies, wash the cars, work at the dinners, etc.) #2, in our ethnic churches, are they uninterested in missions or just uninterested in going through our denomination? Is money really a factor? I tend to think not, because I have seen some incredible donations come through our ethnic churches after a disaster. So what is the real reason?
Setting aside the STM issue, let's talk about funding missions. This is actually something that affected World Renew's decision to move towards a country support approach rather than a missionary-centered approach. Many of our overseas staff are not from North America, or if they are, are not Christian Reformed. So they don't have their own church, Grandma and Grandpa's church, and their aunt and uncle's churches to get support. Nor do they have the social connections mentioned in the article you referenced. Yet, their stories are just as powerful, if not more so. One of our staff actually had someone come up to her after church and say, "this is the first time in my life I have heard an African woman talk about Africa." Of course, as the article mentioned, it is this pooling of resources that is possible in nonprofit organizations and denominations, not so much parachurch organizations. I suspect, though, that if the parachurch organizations were able to shift their fundraising strategies they could have a similar approach.