I am the Great Lakes Regional Mission Leader for Home Missions, and currently serving as the interim Operations Director as we prepare to become a new mission agency with World Missions! My husband, Henry, and I had the joy of planting and pastoring a church plant from birth to adulthood, and so I have a special passion for church planting. I also find joy in Adventure Races, triathlons, National Parks, and doing anything with our two children.
We may wish we could magically create a mission-shaped congregation with one event, one sermon, or one service-project. However, like our new year’s resolutions, becoming a mission-shaped congregation takes many small steps, all headed in the right direction.
An exciting opportunity to develop a holistic mission network in a neighborhood of Columbus with a small, mission-minded congregation.
I have conducted a number of job interviews in which I noticed that I could tell within ten minutes if the candidate has participated in FaithWalking. How? These candidates are well differentiated, they handle conflict in healthy ways, they listen carefully, and they know themselves well.
The mission God invites us to is one of urgency. Creating that sense of urgency in the congregations we serve is more effective and deeply-rooted when we realize where that call comes from.
The attendance and membership of some CRC churches grew by more than 20% in a recent five year period. But, if we dig a little bit deeper into the statistics, maybe we’ll find that we’re missing something important.
The conversations with these small, yet growing, church pastors offer us some reassurance and some challenges for us as a denomination.
Today’s entry continues with the factors that led to growth in CRC and RCA churches.The church was at a point where it was ready to take risks and to make changes.
Though this five-year span has not been easy in North America, with the downturn of the economy directly affecting our churches and their members, there were 42 CRC churches and over 30 RCA churches who showed significant growth.
Here is a basic question for you: What do people call you? Reverend? Pastor? Ministry Associate?
Scott,
Thanks for taking the time to share about this ministry opportunity with this audience. I've heard of other organized initiatives to be a 'ministry of presence' in a particular...
Thanks for this story, Mary!
I think we can all learn a lot from children about not letting inhibitions get in the way of simply being present with the community around us. I'm sure your...
Thanks for these insights, Wendy, as all of us who seek to support our CRC missionaries, both locally and globally, are searching for new paradigms to help the churches steward their resources...
I'd be more than happy to provide the full report to anyone who emails me: aschenkel@crcna.org
Thanks for engaging the issue, James.
Since you speak of recognizing the 'facts fo each organization,' I wonder why we count certain facts and not others? We currently count how many...
Aaron,
I would email Jerry Hollemans (Home Missions Regional Leader)- he was the one who gave us the presentation about this church with multiple missional communities. He'd love to...
Good point, Martin.
One article I was reading by a church growth specialist lately said that the average regular church attender in the USA today only attends church twice a month. He...
Hmm...that would be a great follow up question. Maybe the new Worship Collaborative Work Group should follow up on this?
The conversations I had mostly pointed to the fact that they did...
If there was a "like" button here, I would use it. :)
Harry,
I can see your point about the tenderness with which we have to address the role of the pastor in a growing or a declining church situation. This research was done not in the spirit...