A Three Fold Model of Dynamic Congregations

I often find myself smiling as I experience the Holy Spirit bringing people and ideas together. As one of the co-pastors of Scarborough Congregation, I’ve been trying to help give some focus or direction to our membership. To that end, I’ve spent a great deal of this church school year talking about how we can grow in comfort with the ministry of invitation. Invitation is often overlooked, but I have come to appreciate of late, just how vitally important it is, along with two other concepts.


About once every month or so, I participate in a meeting of all the pastors of the GTA. And I’ve noticed that Alfredo Zelaya, pastor of GTA West, keeps talking about communities. Church communities. Building sacred communities.

I’ve also noticed that Matthew Swain, co-pastor of Barrie, keeps talking about relationships. The importance of, and basic need to form real, meaningful relationships with people.


Now, as I heard both of them talk about these things, which occurred on different occasions, and not at the same time, I heard them, as is so often the case, in isolation.

However, one day, I was thinking about the thing I’ve been talking about in Scarborough: the ministry and blessing of invitation. And then the Holy Spirit brought it all together. I suddenly recalled what Alfredo and Matt had mentioned, often just in passing, so many times at our meetings. And I realized that the three things that we have each been talking about separately form a three fold model. They go together.


Invitation will of course result in relationships being formed. Relationships, as they develop and multiply, will ensure that community building takes place. And as the community grows, the more potential there will be to have things to invite people to.


Which means of course, that there will be opportunities for new relationships to be formed; new connections between people being forged, in common desire to understand God; which then results in the community growing even larger (or new communities forming), as we grow in our shared desire to be united together on our spiritual journeys. Which means more opportunities for invitation… which means….which means… which means.

It is my belief that if we keep this three fold model in mind, and give it some focus in our congregations, we can truly become dynamic in what we offer our members, friends, seekers, and visitors. This I hope will also enable our congregations to be more sustainable.


Posted by guest blogger David Donoghue, co-pastor, Scarborough, Ontario

Want...a Meditation on Psalm 23:1

 (I have not yet read Gladys Nutsack's novel but the cover and title so seemed to fit the post in an antithetical kind of way that I decided to include it here.  If you are a Kobo or Kindle reader, you might want to look it up.)

Psalm 23:1  The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

I am thankful for this day and this quiet time.  It is a lovely privilege to dwell in the word of Psalm 23 and be blessed by the oil of peace, hope, love and perhaps even joy.

I look back through my journal and recognize the ever present tendency to be “self”-ish, to think that I am the centre of something, to make everything personal, and dwell on my own decisions, but the world and the universe are so much greater than that.  

I do look at the world from my little piece of consciousness, but the world is not about me, it is about the world!  The green hills of Honduras are about the green hills of Honduras and the people who live there, and that must also be true for the snow covered fields of Eastern Canada.  It is all best understood when seen from a perspective of God’s love and peace, God’s generous grace.  

 The full meaning of the universe around us is so beyond our understanding.  Holy One, help us remember to see in love and be generous, remembering Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, and believe that.

As a statement, it is difficult enough to really believe and trust, but what if that statement is understood as a promise?  What if it were my promise, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want?  Is it possible to keep such a promise?  Don’t we/I want all the time?  Even in our/my better, less selfish moments, we/I want peace, harmony, love, and security, we/I want...(selfishly), we/I want...God! 

We are so “self”-ish, self-centred...self!

What if I/we were Godly?  What if I were "other"-centred?  What if I truly trusted, not just in this moment but all day long that The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want?  What if that were my promise?  Could I keep it?  For even one day?  Would it change the world?  No, but it might change me and how I look at the world.  It might be a starting place; a beginning.

To not be selfish for even one day, to be a presence of Holiness and Generosity would be a small gift to the world and to others.  It is what Jesus did all the time.

May I/we be grace today.

Posted by Carman

Potty Training

One of my favorite blogs, and one that many of you will be familiar with, Achurchforstarvingartists recently had an intriguing post called The Teachable Church.  In it, author Jan Edmiston points out that sometimes leaders schedule classes that are not of great interest to people.  "Maybe" she muses, "[people] don’t want to learn how to re-write the church by-laws but they’d love to know what to do when a friend is diagnosed with cancer.  Maybe they don’t need a theological lecture on predestination, but they’d like to know how to pray out loud with somebody."

That got me thinking.  For years I have been intrigued by congregations that offer classes/services/ministries to the larger community.  When I served in OYSC (Older Youth Service Corps) in Dallas, TX in 1969, the church there offered a  series of "Family Living" classes.  They recruited teachers from the community, e.g. from the local Community College and Family and Children's services.  They offered classes on a variety of subjects families deal with and sent flyers around to every house in the neighbourhood. Classes were offered one night a week for six or seven weeks and interestingly, people came. 

I recall hearing of one church that offered classes on Potty training.  This may seem odd at first, but it seems they had done a poll of the neighbourhood, learned that there were many toddlers in the area, and parents were struggling with getting these children out of the diaper stage.  They decided that if that's what people need help with, the church could help, so help they did.  It may seem to have little to do with the gospel, but that was a church that was at least trying to reach out to the community in a relevant way.  This may be important as churches in our part of the world seem to be increasingly viewed as having little relevance for people in their daily lives.

So here is my question: What kind of services would be of help to the larger community?  Any ideas?  If not, what subject matter would be of interest to you?

Posted by Carman

Unthinkable

How does one think about the unthinkable?
How does one speak to the unspeakable...to terror...to horror?
How does one help hearts that have been broken, torn out, kicked and stomped upon, yet must still beat on?

Will words help?

Perhaps, but words must not be unthinking platitudes or they will be like trying to paper over a wall with gaping holes caused by earthquakes or missiles.

Will prayers help?  Yes, and sometimes prayers are all we have to give.
Still, prayers alone often do not seem to be enough, do they?
In the words of Jewell's song that changed my life,

There are millions of people who pray for peace
But if praying were enough it would have come to be.

Will acts of loving kindness help?

Yes, but like words, actions can be at risk of becoming condescending charity or pity.  Prayers, words and actions must be from pure, unselfish hearts of grace that are solely for others with nothing asked or expected in return; not gratitude or even acknowledgement.

Are we capable of that kind of generosity?  Am I?


The unthinkable has happened.

The unthinkable has happened again.

The unthinkable demands that we think about what it really means to be


...human

...followers of Jesus

...the hands of Jesus

...the word of Jesus

...to each other

...and to others.


God grant us the miracle of grace to be the Presence to each other and to ALL others.

It is the only way.

A Post-dated Remembrance Day Prayer

Remembrance Day Prayer 

Dear God,

As adults in this world, as keepers of the littlest of Your children, we are charged with the task of explaining how the world we live in actually works. Not least of which, I might add, is the insurmountable, alpine task of explaining to these innocent, wide-eyed children why wars happen, why people feel the need to kill one another, why hatred exists, the reason why their big brother or sister is never coming home again. I feel so unequipped for this task, O God. I can’t even begin to understand why these things happen for myself, Lord, let alone explain it to our most precious of cargo, and to be frank, oh Lord, I’m not sure that I ever want to understand that kind of hatred.
 

What I do know, O God, is that for all the evil man has created in Your world, for all the atrocities we see, and that we attempt to prepare our young to go out into, Lord, You are the good, You alone are the way, the truth, the light and the life. Despite all the bad in our world, or perhaps because of it, You have planted a mustard seed of talent within each and every one of us, a gift to be used for the establishment of Your Kingdom. 

I pray to You, O God, on this Remembrance Day, I beg of You, to help us remember the power which each of us has inside, the power to affect change, to be a pillar of light and of all that is good in this world, a pillar of Your love, help us to be Your hands, on earth, God, doing Your will, spreading Your message of love and salvation to everyone we meet, Lord, not through proselytizing, but in the way in which we live our lives, Lord, may we always seek to glorify You. 

For although we are fortunate to live in an area of the world that remains relatively untouched by armed combat, and although the war-torn areas of the world often seem so far away, Lord, the same blood that runs through their veins, runs through ours, and the same blood that runs through our veins runs through theirs, we are one. And if the peace that we seek, that we pray for each day, shall come to pass, the kind of all-encompassing world peace that will bring an end to war, hatred, and suffering, if that peace is ever to come and reign over all of Your children, Lord, it must begin with us. It is in our day-to-day interactions with other people, Lord, that we create that peace that can change the world. Please help us to use the power You have instilled in all of us, Lord, for good. Help us feel Your love for us, Lord, that we may forgive ourselves for our own missteps. Help us to share the love and to treat each person we encounter with respect and understanding, bearing in mind that the wars we send our young men and women off to fight, end with us, and our actions and how we choose to treat each other, with Your love. 

In Christ’s most holy name we pray,
Amen

Posted with permission from Aarika Black, Hamilton Congregation, Nov 11, 2012

Toilet Paper

It was not because it was American Thanksgiving yesterday that I started thinking about this, although it is something to be thankful for, and I am.  Nor is it the fact that today is so called Black Friday and several million people are out frantically shopping for great bargains on things they mostly don't really need, (Just saying).  This reflection started simply because the toilet paper roll was empty. I opened the cupboard to get some more and there they were, several rolls all lined up just waiting until they were needed.

 At the risk of sounding really, really, really old, when I was a child we did not have toilet paper.  We didn't have a bathroom for that matter.  What we had was a well ventilated outhouse, especially in the wintertime!  I know some of you will have similar memories, while others are probably appalled.  To my childhood mind, the lack of indoor plumbing and toilet paper did not make us poor since all our neighbours had the same.  My grandmother told us that when she was a child they had to go to the bush!  We really had nothing to complain about. Of course toilet paper was not unknown to us, but it was beyond our family budget.  Instead we had last year's Eaton's or Simpson's catalogue.  It was the 1950s form of recycling paper I guess.

At S.S. # 2 Eastnor school, toilet paper was provided but students were always cautioned to use it sparingly.  I can still here the teacher saying to use "just one square!"  We didn't.

In preparation for a trip to Honduras for a World Accord build last January, one of the things we were told to take with us was toilet paper.  In that not-so-far-away part of the world, T-paper is still a luxury item for many people and not readily available, so we should bring our own.  We did.

How many people in our world today still do not have toilet paper, I wonder?  How many people use an old catalogue or newspaper, or magazine or whatever they can find?  Probably millions.  How many people must go beyond the treeline to relieve themselves, then use leaves or long grass? 

Some readers may find this a weird post and wonder what on earth I was thinking, but I am grateful for a heated, indoor washroom with hot and cold running water and flush toilets, especially on nights like tonight when there is a cold wind blowing with snow in the air,.  And I am thankful for a cupboard well stocked with toilet paper.  I do not want to forget the disparity in which we live or take this simple item for granted. 

Do we realize the myriad ways in which we are fortunate? 

Posted by Carman

Sources

Friends, I am aware that I have not been blogging very frequently on What's the Good Word? and that is a disappointment to some of you, however I am determined to only post when I have something to say that I think (or hope) matters.  I am also watching for inspired or thought provoking work by others that can be shared here.  Sometimes permission to put that work on the blog comes easily, and sometimes it takes a while or is not forthcoming.

For the next three weeks I will be away, and hopefully not near a computer.  Let me take this opportunity to remind you that there are many excellent sources of inspiration that are readily available.  Several can be found to the lower left of this blog under the heading, "My Blog List."  I hope you are following some of those.

One such source is The Daily Bread, which you can have sent to your email inbox every day.  It features some excellent writers, and occasionally a sparkling gem or two.  If you are not subscribed to this short, daily, inspirational piece, let me recommend it.  You can start by reading Carolyn Brock's post Ikebana, then if you wish to subscribe, you can do so by clicking on "Subscribe".

In the meantime, if you have sources of inspiration you are finding enjoyable, would you be willing to click on the comments button and share those with the rest of us?

Blessings today,

Carman