Let's do stuff! - Redux

Hey guys. I'll go ahead and warn you now that this is a long post. And it is very Edgemont UMC centric. Consider yourself warned.

Last summer I posted a list of some service projects I thought Edgemont might undertake. This weekend I got an email from a church member regarding our focus for 2011. That email inspired me to respond with that same list. Below you will find the original email, my response, and a re-post of the blog entry from 6-30-2010. (Which I've also linked.) Eric asked that I post this info here and invite comments (inorder to save gumming up everyone's email inbox. If/when you comment, please include your name.
Thanks!

Original Email (name removed):

At our prior meeting of the Administrative Council, Eric suggested that we should consider emphasizing one aspect of our 3D church for 2011 as a theme to build our programming around.

I want to suggest that we emphasize the 3rd aspect, "serving others as disciples."

My first reason for selecting this aspect for our first emphasis is that it most closely reflects our church's identity.  Our church has long been "mission/outreach" minded, and even our more recent members acknowledge that one of the drawing cards of Edgemont was its active outreach ministry.

My second reason for selecting this aspect for our emphasis is that we already have a major focus for our mission activity for 2011, sending the team to Haiti this summer. This focus lends itself to any number of possibilities for each of our programming teams.  We should be studying Haiti as part of the Discipleship program.  We should be raising funds for Haiti through our Mission program.  We should be finding ways to emphasize our mission to Haiti and the people of Haiti in our worship. 

My third reason for selecting this aspect for our emphasis is to provide a framework to help our church understand the many different ways we serve as disciples and the many different opportunities we have for service as disciples.  I'm not telling you anything you don't already know when I say that each of our 3Ds connects and intertwines with the others.  As a congregation we need to be reminded, and as programming leaders all of us need to identify ways to help the congregation be reminded, that every action can be an act of service.  We can't all go to Haiti--most of us don't want to.  But serving as acolyte, teaching Sunday School, washing windows during a work day, even attending worship, is an act of service as a disciple that we need to encourage, acknowledge and celebrate.  We need to thank ourselves more for the work that we do; we need to celebrate smaller, less emphasized acts of service that too often go unnoticed.  We need to educate our congregation that not only is it a privilege to serve others, but we have a responsibility to serve others as an expression of our faith  (maybe we should have a study of the Book of James, too).   We need to remind ourselves regularly that volunteering in the nursery is an opportunity to serve others, not a job that just has to be done by somebody.

I think the possibilities for programming around this idea of service are plentiful.  One theme I am hearing regularly from our programming committees is that it is difficult to plan programming when we don't have any resources ($$$).  But we have the greatest resource of all--ourselves.  By focusing on what each of us can do, and celebrate the doing, we will foster more discipleship than we would by budgeting to send $5000 to the Red Bird Mission.

T

ps:  Just in case you are wondering, my proposed theme for 2012 is the middle of our 3Ds--becoming more deeply committed disciples.  I would like to think that our Discipleship team could begin now to plan for a revival event early in 2011, January or February at the latest.  And we need to try again to develop one or more long-term bible study opportunities.  Well organized churches are already publishing calendars for 2012.  We probably will never get there, but it would be nice to have some plans in the works for 2012 before summer 2011.

pps:  And it won't surprise you that 2013's theme would be making disciples.  Evangelism is probably our weakest area at Edgemont, at least in the sense of inviting people to be a part, and especially in the sense of telling our personal faith story.   If 2011 is successful in helping us experience the joy of serving, and if 2012 can be successful in helping us become more deeply committed, by 2013 we should have any number of faith stories to share with those we encounter daily.

Doing--2011

Learning--2012

Sharing--2013.

My response:

T (and all),

I think this sounds like a wonderful area of focus for 2011. I hope, though, that we will not get sidetracked by the Haiti trip. I see that as a centerpiece for the year. I think it could also be a great evangelism/outreach tool (something I learned from Adam Hamilton at Annual Conference last year). Haiti is a cause that is important to many people. 

OK, my strep throat influenced brain is not functioning at full capacity. I'll leave you with this. I've attached something from my blog that I wrote in June of last year. After the long lead-in/exposition I included a list of outreach/mission ideas I have for Edgemont. As the summer wore on, I lost focus and the list died. I would love to see some of these things take hold in 2011.

Thanks T for your wonderful suggestions!

sc

The original post:

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010

Let's do stuff!

I have not, in fact, fallen off of the face of the (blogging) earth. I am still here. Apparently, I’ve just had nothing to say over the last few days. I’m OK with that. Today I have a few things to say… well, to write… actually to type. You get my point.

I attend Edgemont United Methodist Church in Florence. I help lead worship in the alternative service. Recently we adopted a new mission statement. I like it a lot. That mission statement reads as follows:

Our purpose is to make more disciples of Jesus
to become deeply committed disciples
and to be disciples serving others

After adopting the new mission statement we began to discuss the how. “How do we get there?” “How do we accomplish our mission?” That discussion soon centered on our worship times. Our current Sunday morning schedule looks like this: 9:00 am – Alternative Worship; 10:07 – Sunday School; 11:15 – Traditional Worship. Our discussion will culminate in a special Ad Council meeting at which we will vote on a proposed new schedule for Sunday mornings.

That’s not what I want to discuss. It’s just the lead in. The lead in continues:

A couple of weeks ago we met to hear feedback from the congregation on the issue. A few days later a few of us were to meet to begin digesting the feedback. I could not make it to the meeting. Instead I sent my thoughts to a few of the attendees in email form. Here is an excerpt from that email:

First of all, I think we need to keep our mission/vision first in our minds as we come to a decision. (It's a no-brainer, I know, but the little bit of discussion I heard Monday did not once veer toward "making more disciples." Or either of the other "Ds" for that matter.) I'm going to focus on the "Making more disciples" part of our mission for now. One of the things Adam Hamilton talked about at Annual Conference was a new, 21st Century model of evangelism. This model starts with getting people involved in missions. Get people doing something. I think that needs to be our focus. Doing stuff and getting others to come along with us.

I know this does not address the issue of service times, and that's kind of my point. I think we're asking the wrong question. Instead of, "Which service is more likely to attract unchurched people?" I think we need to ask, "What causes are unchurched people passionate about? And how can we get involved in that cause?" If we get people invested in doing ministry it won't matter what time the services start, they will be there.

I want Edgemont to be known as a church that is doing things. I want people to hear Edgemont and think “Service, Missions, Ministry.” I want people to know that Edgemont is a place where you can go to do real ministry. I want Edgemont to be the first thing community service organizations think of when they need volunteers or supplies. I want the community to know that if they need help Edgemont United Methodist Church can help them.

That being said; a few days ago I listed several ideas for new ministries at Edgemont. Many of them are “pie in the sky” ideas. Most of them are not only doable they are easily doable.

Below is the list with a brief description of most of them. Some do not have a description, because I’m not sure what that ministry might look like. (Here’s where the discussion I mentioned earlier comes into play.) Look at the list with an open mind. I know that many of these seem impossible. Use them as a springboard. What ideas spring forth from these ideas? Something similar? Something completely different? What else can Edgemont do? (Some of these ideas are borrowed from churches I attended previously. The best ideas are mostly already taken. Don’t be afraid to borrow them.)

These ideas all focus on our community. That does not mean that I don’t think we should do regional, national, or international missions projects. We should. But I think our focus needs to start locally.

Here’s the list:

Sunday Lunch ministry – We could provide lunch each Sunday for anyone and everyone who wants to come. (Borrowed.) I really think the Brandon Center (in the heart of East Florence) would be an ideal location for this.

Christmas party/gift donations – Throw a Christmas party for underprivileged kids and their families. While the kids are distracted by the games, crafts, etc. at the party the parents go to another part of the building to pick up gifts for the kids. (We did this in Birmingham in conjunction with 4-5 other churches. Each church took a certain number of kids and bought no more than $75 worth of gifts for each.)

After school program for at risk kids – Tutoring, homework help, mentoring, etc. (Another borrowed idea.)

Activities for mentally challenged adults. – Another ministry borrowed from our church in Paducah (3^rd so far). Here’s a link to what they do.

Neighborhood food drive – We’re already doing this one. Coming in August look for flyers from Edgemont regarding canned food donations. Or you can bring canned goods to our booth at First Friday in July and probably August as well.

AIDS/HIV support group – I have no idea if something like this already exists in the Shoals area. If not, it should. If it does exist, I wonder if they need a place to meet. I think Edgemont needs to host something like this.

Clothing closet – Left home because of abuse and left everything? Lost everything in a house fire? Have a job interview and need a suit? We could provide clothes to fit your need. Ha! “Fit” your need!

Short term housing – Apartments available for, well, some of the same people mentioned in the clothing closet idea. People transitioning from homelessness. Families in crisis with no housing options.

Host a 5k for some exciting/worthy cause – Another idea stolen from COR in Kansas City (along with the neighborhood food drive).

Food Pantry – There are lots of these out there already. Does the Shoals need another?

Prayer hotline – Advertise a number to call if you need prayer. Have people “on call” 24 hours. They answer the calls and pray with whomever calls. Forwarding calls to whoever is “on call” does this fairly easily.

Jail release program – Have info packets and useful items (Clothes? Toiletries? Counseling?) available for inmates released from local jails. Especially first-time and young offenders.

Open gym for community kids – This one is not my idea. It has been batted around a little. There may be some liability issues with our insurance.

Which of these do you Edgemont folks think we could do? Which do you think are the most needed in our community? What else could we do? For you non-Edgemont folks, do you know of any similar ministries in this or your own community? What are some others?

Let’s do stuff!

Making, Becoming, Serving!