Joy Engelsman
I serve as co-Pastor of First CRC in Denver. I grew up in Nigeria as an MK, met my husband at Calvin, moved to Denver to escape God's calling into ministry . . but the eyes of the Lord followed! After trying to quiet the Spirit's voice by working in Christian ministry as a teacher and in work with Youth for Christ/USA, I finally enrolled at Denver Seminary. I graduated in 2004 with an MDiv, completed the EPMC program at Calvin Sem and was ordained in the CRC in 2007.
I have been married to Bob for 24 years. We love our girls, Ana (2000) and Mia (2002) who were gifts from God through the privilege of adoption.
The instructions for this "about me" section asks who I am, where I came from and where I'm going . . . and I don't know what to say since most days I have no idea where I'm going!
Posted in: Why Your Pastor Hates Classis
I don't get it. I love my Classis of Rocky Mountain. For seven years, they invited me to share with them what they were involved in through Christian Reformed World Missions. During my years at Denver Seminary, someone "in the know" pointed me to Classis to approve me for preaching in CR congregations and when my training was over, this same Classis properly grilled me and then approved me for ordination. I am servinging in ministry in this denomination partly because Classis Rocky Mountain meetings showed me that ministry can change lives and that it can even be fun.
I look forward to our meetings (knowing that they are meetings--don't expect them to be what they are not meant to be!) because of the friendship, learning, renewal and propulsion into ministry that they can give.
the writer above (vanderlugt) is also correct. We pastors must be far more intentional in hospitality toward the Elders who attend. And we should start by saying something positive about the experience rather than "I really hate these meetings but we have to go . . ." Thanks for poisoning the well. Say something appropriately positive and offer to help them understand the proceedings or catch them up on long-standing issues.
If you don't live in Rocky Mountain, sorry! Be the change in your own classis!
Posted in: Why Your Pastor Hates Classis
Interesting suggestion re: appointing 2 Elders per church. Definitely something to chew on. You note that churches could send a pastor as one of those Elders--a good reminder that pastors function in the office of Elder, but you also suggest having pastors attend as advisors, not voters. That sets up a false dichotomy between pastors and elders. I prefer your push toward unified and cooperative leadership, not a system that pits one against the other.
I'm sad that you feel that pastors have a sense of entitlement toward Classis. I hope that impression is not as pervasive as you fear, and I hope that this conversation will contribute to renewed awareness and humility on the part of those of us (myself included) who are embedded in the system and think of Classis as our special club or conference. To that point, let's also be aware that there are "professional elders" in some of our Classes who are the regular and somewhat permanent delegates of their churches. They too should make room for other voices from their churches.
And that's what I meant by hospitality. I don't mean any sense of patronizing or condescending. I don't mean just "inviting into what you think is your place . . . " but, stealing Plantinga's definition, hospitality means "making room for others AND helping them flourish in the room you have made." Can we all do that for each other at Classis?
Posted in: The Geek in the Pew
Who doesn't love Jar Jar Binks?!?!
Posted in: The Geek in the Pew
Read Jonah 4:1 and 4:6 from Hebrew and it sounds like Yoda. . .
Displeased was Jonah with great displeasure
Happy was Jonah with great happiness
Posted in: The Geek in the Pew
Star Wars and other geeky things are great intergenerational communication tools. My 6th grade daughter and a few others (the rest are all guys) in her class know all the Episodes by heart. We geeks are in every generation!
Posted in: Can We Be Friends?
And the top 10 questions are . . . ?? Please share. Thank you.
Posted in: The Elder, Worship and the Church Order
Thanks, Neil for this thoughtful post. I hope Elders are encouraged to engage in the conversation about worship as they "regulate" it. In the past, I've heard from some Elders who feel out of their element, especially when talented musicians or artists lead the services, so they don't enter into conversation that might help to shape the theology and hospitality of the worship. Thanks also for directing us away from the "I like, I don't like" conversations. A great resource for developing conversations about worship is the book Discerning the Spirits by Neal Plantinga and Sue Rozeboom.
Posted in: Ordination and Installation Services
Dear Stan,
Thanks for noticing those strange lyrics. I had forgotten that we struggled with them also, so we wrote lyrics that made more sense. Here's what we did to adjust the text for the delightful service ordaining husband and wife pastors Nate and Sam DeJong-McCarron. (You can see how well your idea of changing to plural works out!)
To answer your question, I don't know for sure what Brian Wren, the lyricist, had in mind with the "flag of faith" and "powers of death," but the context seemed to be a prayer for protection from the Evil One coupled with a prayer for courage to proclaim the gospel to a hurting world.
Unfortunately, we lost the allusion to Frederick Buechner's famous quote, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." But we felt it made more sense to the congregation.
Come, celebrate the call of God that wakens and renews,
And chooses from us, for our good, the bringers of good news.
The Spirit’s blessing all ordains to show what God has done,
Yet brings to focus and contains the many in the one.
Two chosen ones today reply, and fit and ready stand.
Their callings now we recognize with prayer and loving hands.
These servant leaders, truthful friends, are committed to your word,
Proclaiming forth in Jesus name the Gospel to the world.
Great Spirit, give them word and breath in Christ to live and speak,
And shield them from the deadly powers that seek to make them weak,
Grant them true faith, and courage strong to stand against the foe
Pour out your grace and truth and light through them where’re they go.
Posted in: Stories from Experience with Schizophrenia
Two women of our congregation started a ministry to offer support for families caring for a person with mental illness. They received training from NAMI and now gather a small group once a month to share information, prayer and encouragement. They call themselves Circle of Hope.
Posted in: Worship for Whom?
Thanks for your comments, Rich. Appreciate your thoughts and experience in this area of missional worship.
Joy
Posted in: Technology That Redeems Downtime
Mavis, Thanks! These are some great ideas--both for personal worship and for building community by seeing and hearing other worshipers from other parts of the world.
In our congregation I see people starting to use their Ipads for taking notes on the sermon. A while ago, someone ahead of me was googling pictures or articles related to the sermon topic. Not sure how I feel about that . . . nice to have access to so much information, but Google isn't connecting God's word to their lives.
Like so much else in this world--technology is a great gift, but we can choose to use it for good or bad purposes. I'd love to hear how others are using technology in helpful ways in worship.