jumpingjersey

Life · Ministry · Faith

Tag: community

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

June 4, 2020 /

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

Is it when they are nominated to the position by the President and confirmed by the Senate?
Is it when they were appointed to a lifetime appointment on the Federal Bench?
Is it when they went to work for a prestigious law firm?
Is it when they served as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice?
Is it when they were admitted to a top law school?
Is it when they were admitted to their undergraduate institution?
Is it when they graduated from high school?
Is it when they attended a well funded and supplied elementary school?
Is it when they had access to health care and food on the table as a child?
Is it when their parent was paid a livable wage?
Is it when their mother had access to prenatal care?

The answer is, YES, to all of these. And the break in any one link the chain can close the door for a person sitting on the bench. When we speak of systemic racism, it is a recognition all of life is a connected system, and injustice in one link can have dramatic implications on another.

I am not a fan of affirmative action. I think that a person should be selected based solely on their skills and ability to perform the job. I think that colleges should not be required to admit certain students but should be allowed to choose the best and brightest regardless of skin color or gender. I think that employers should be allowed to have workforces that are made up of the best for the job and not be required to consider race or gender in their hiring practices. I think that the color of a person’s skin or whether they are male or female should not matter. We should base these opinions solely on who is the best for the job.

So what do we do when we see a lack of diversity in the workforce, on our college campuses, in government jobs, in the pulpits of our churches? We say the reason a woman, a Hispanic or an African American, was not hired for the job is that none applied, or there were none qualified who applied. And it is true. But it also hides another truth. The reason none were qualified is that none were given a chance to be qualified.

I wish I could say that left to themselves, employers, healthcare, church, and education systems will choose to do what is right. But we know better. Left to ourselves, we will all choose the path of greatest comfort and familiarity. A way that will not open the door.  A path that will draw red lines around who is in and who is outside of our community. It is for these reasons these programs are put into place. On our own, we will remain blind to what we must do and have been doing.

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice . . . today.

Blessings,
Stephen

Today’s resource is the video Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man shared with me by a friend. The video is produced by Emmanuel Acho who is a former NFL Player and current ESPN analyst. Acho answers many of the questions we have. Watch it HERE.

It’s time to bring back the Stewardship Committee

May 23, 2020 /

Years ago, nearly every church had a Stewardship Committee. The committee’s job was to support the various ministries of the church through raising capital. Translated: Fundraising. Always on the lookout for new and creative ways to increase the income side of the ledger. Hold on! Before you delete this message, give me a few more seconds. This is NOT what I am mean by bringing back the Stewardship Committee.

Stewardship is about the management of another’s resources according to their owner’s wishes and expectations. Christian stewardship recognizes all that we have, our occupations, our resources, even our very lives, belong to God. Therefore, we are stewards charged with managing God’s resources according to his wishes and expectations.

So why bring back the Stewardship Committee? To flip the committee on its head. Rather than looking for more ways to bring resources into the church. Let’s bring back the committee to look at the resources we have and use them well. To give rather than to receive.

In this time of social distancing and restricted gatherings, many of us are tempted to focus on the things we do not have. In my church, we long for the time when we might return to in-person worship. We are frustrated by the inability to have children’s programming. We wonder when we will be able to gather without face masks and social distancing. There are many things we have lost. While we are focused on the things we do not have, we can too easily miss the things we do have. The things God has given to us to manage, to steward, well.

What are some of the resources we have? I have debated whether to list actual ideas here. I want this post to be about giving people permission to dream and do rather than to do the ideas I have heard. Still in hopes that it might help us think about what I mean. Here are some things we have:

  • We have a large field. Community Garden? Outdoor movie?
  • We have property. Make and install a Blessing Box?
  • We have a building. Food distribution point?
  • We have wi-fi. Access point for online learning?
  • We have a Transmogrifier, several of them.
  • We have paper, markers, crayons. What could be done with them?
  • We have ____________. What could be used?

Someone once said, “If you want to kill a good idea, form a committee.” After all of that, maybe we don’t need a committee, we just need to look around and dream. What do you see?

It’s not just the church. Look around. What do you have? What have you been given? How are you managing the resources of God?

Blessings,
Stephen

Can we re-imagine church?

April 7, 2020 /

This afternoon I stood alone in our church sanctuary. I looked around me at the musical instruments that have gone silent, the screens that are dark, and the empty chairs. I saw our communion table and anointing oil sitting, waiting, for our return to celebrate and feast together. I wondered what it will be like to come back. Then as I sat in our dark space set aside for worship I began to wonder.

What if we re-imagined church in light of COVID-19?

This virus which is currently raging around the globe is shaking and changing our paradigms for ministry. It is not the first pandemic to ravage our globe, however, it is the first to strike the U.S. with such intensity in our lifetimes. This is causing many of us to question and ponder our sense of what is normal.

What if this is our new reality for the church? Some have postulated the questions and theories that this could be the beginning of seasonal pandemics. What if long periods each year or every few years of being “closed” or unable to meet in our buildings becomes our new reality?

What would be different about the way we do and think about church?

I will go on the record to say that I think the predictions are a little draconian. I believe, however, the questions that come out of them are essential to our future.

What would the church do differently if we met face-to-face nine months out of the year and virtually for three?

What is it that keeps us from doing these things now?

Finally, even as we think about these things, I want to leave you with a message of hope. This comes from the pen of a friend whose wisdom I value greatly:

Corona Virus: Finding a Realistic Hope Amid Hopelessness

“…all of us can find a realistic hope amid hopelessness.”

Stephen

Changing the Paradigm

March 26, 2020 /

love

Dear Friends,

As I practice my social distancing I have been reading and thinking a great deal about what is next for the church. In my reading I came across this quote I want to share with you:

For years, the mission of the church in the United States was largely defined in terms of offering attractive programs to retain its members, building appealing structures and services to draw new members, and participating in some type of benevolent pursuit to appease the conscience of the few individuals looking to make a difference in the world . . . recent developments have contributed to a rediscovery that the mission and purpose of the church do not stem from charting institutional health through traditional quantifiable metrics. Rather, the Church ought to understand its role primarily as a partner and co-participant in the mission of God, whose desire is to redeem humanity, restore creation, heal brokenness, and invite Christians everywhere to embrace their true identity in Christ. (Twibell 82)

Years ago I was at a church event where the host church was celebrating their opening of a children’s play area. They proudly announced how many kids in the community had come onto their turf in the last year. I commend the church for its desire to do something for the community. As I drove around the community I could not help but wonder, “Is this really what the community needed? Did they need it most on the church’s turf? What could the impact have been if they had built in another part of town and resisted the temptation to brand it with the church’s brand? What if it had been about the community rather than the church?”

I know these are hard questions, and some might even say unfair, but as a pastor, I see regularly that people are tired of our efforts to attract them to come to our events. We have lost people’s trust. They are onto our games.

And now we, the Church, have been given a great gift. We have nothing to invite them to. Our buildings are closed, our programs suspended. All we have to offer is ourselves, our love, our compassion, our concern, our generosity. We have nothing to offer but Jesus who, when saying why he came, quoted from the prophet Isaiah and said:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
(Luke 4:18-19, NIV)

I am concerned whether we are learning from the lessons this time is teaching us. What if, when we are finally released to “life as normal” we don’t go back to our old ways? What if, instead of expecting people to come to us on our terms, we went to them on theirs? What if we continued to live outside our walls seeking to find new and ever more ways to love and serve our community joining in the mission of God to “redeem humanity, restore creation, heal brokenness, and invite Christians everywhere to embrace their true identity in Christ?”

What if?

Blessings,
Stephen

SOURCE:
Twibell, Simone Mulieri. “Missional Act in Spiritual Formation: Moving Beyond Mission Trips into the Realm of Missional Living.” Missional Disciple-Making, edited by Michael J. Breen and David M. Gustafson, 3DM Publishing, 2019, pp. 82–104.

We need each other

January 31, 2018 /

Perhaps you saw the recent announcement from Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, of the appointment of a Minister of Loneliness. The announcement was met with significant contorting of faces. Despite a study coming out at the end of last year indicating as many as 14% of Brits battle chronic loneliness the idea of an official government appointment to address it seemed just odd.

empty chair

Even so, some studies indicate as many as 43% of Americans suffer from regular loneliness. The impact of this reality upon us are not hard to miss. Exacerbated depression, premature death, isolation, hopelessness, and so much more. What’s the cure? Really only one thing: face-to-face community. We can send all the birthday greetings on Facebook we want or mail an “I’m thinking of you card,” or even send a quick checking-in text. But nothing is really as effective as sitting across from another person and sharing a cup of coffee (or tea for our British friends).

What happens when we are across from one another? Life is transferred. A parent hears they are not crazy for the incredible frustration they are feeling. A widow senses she is not alone. A child hears they are loved. A man knows he has what it takes. A woman is empowered to speak truth. New skills are gained. Life is lived when we share who we are with those across from us.

Blessings,
Stephen

How do you measure the success of a church?

May 10, 2016 /

fortress church

Dear Friends,

Recently I was listening to a podcasted sermon from College Wesleyan Church out of Marion, Indiana. In the sermon was a quote from the civil rights leader and founder of the Christian Community Development Association, Dr. John Perkins. In the quote, Dr. Perkins challenges how we define a successful church. With a little help from Google, I was able to find the original context of the quote and I share the context here to challenge each of us:

“How do you measure the success of a church?” This penetrating question was posed by Dr. John Perkins . . . Little did I know that this seemingly innocuous question would lead me on a journey that would forever change my life.

I was a pastor’s kid, and it seemed in the moment that a response should be coming to me more quickly than it was. Yet I could not find a cogent answer that seemed complete enough.

Dr. Perkins continued to poke at us. He began to list potential answers to his question. “Is success determined by your Sunday service attendance?” This was always the first item on a pastor’s resume, yet we were pretty sure this was not the answer. “How about the size of the church budget? Maybe success should be measured by how many staff the church employs? Maybe success is determined by how many periodicals write stories on your church. How do you measure the success of a church?

When he was satisfied with the uneasiness in the room, he finally offered his own perspective on what the answer should be. “The success of a local church should be directly tied to the degree that it holistically transforms its immediate neighborhood. Any other success factor is secondary?”

Bill Hybels is known for the saying, “The local church is the hope of the world.” All too often, however, our definitions of success have very little to do with hope for the world but are instead measurements of the size of our own kingdoms. We measure success in the local church by how big of a building we have, how nice the building looks, how great the preaching is, how many people are sitting in the chairs (no successful church could have pews), and how much money is in the offering plate. But what if success is really none of these? What if success is measured not in the size of our kingdom but in the impact of the Kingdom of God in our neighborhoods? What would that change in the ways we do ministry?

Stephen
The quote comes from the book:
Fuder, John, and Noel Castellanos. A heart for the community : new models for urban and suburban ministry. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2013

Praying as a Nation and a Church

May 5, 2015 /

Old Church Sanctuary

This Thursday, May 7th, is the 2015 National Day of Prayer. On this day, Christians in my community, and all across our country will gather together for National Day of Prayer events. In years past, I have intentionally avoided participation in these events. The reason being, in previous communities I served, these events were more of a political rally for a very narrow political ideology than they were about praying of our nation. If I want to go to political rally I will, but I have little time for one shamefully veiled as a prayer meeting.

So it was, when I when I came to our community, I kept my distance from this event. That was until a colleague, whom I respect greatly, asked me to participate in last year’s event. I told him that I would not and gave him my reason. He assured me our community’s event was very different from my past experience. Based on his assurance and my respect for him I said I would still not participate but I would attend the event and observe. And this is what I did last year. I was happy to experience an event centered on prayer rather than political ideologies.

Now here I am a year later and a few days away from this year’s event. Once again, I have been asked to participate in our community’s National Day of Prayer service. This time I have accepted and because I am a pastor I have been asked to lead the group in praying for the church.

So I have been pondering what it means to pray for the church on a day like this. Particularly  in light of what has happened in our nation and world the past year. What kind of prayer should I be praying?

Only one kind of prayer seems appropriate. A prayer of confession of our sin and repentance. It is the only one I can pray, with any integrity, as one who represents the church. Scripture calls the people of God, the church, to welcome the stranger, to care for the poor, to cross racial and ethnic barriers, to be a place where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) Dr. King has much to say about the role of the church in society:

There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

By the church’s example, we can bring and end to the racism and violence in our society. By living the example of scripture, the stranger can find rest in the shelter of the church. By our example the deaf will hear, the lame will walk, the oppressed will be released, the blind will see, the prisoner will go free, and good news will be proclaimed to the poor (Luke 4:18). The poor in money and the poor in spirit. This I truly believe.

That path forward begins with the confession of our sin as a church. So this National Day of Prayer will you join me in a prayer of confession and a commitment, by the power of God’s Spirit, to be a different church?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Finding Life in The Body

February 10, 2015 /

It's the Body

Dear Friends,

Sometimes it feels like being a Christian would be a whole lot easier if it weren’t for all these people. In the book of 1 Corinthians Paul would write to a group of young Christians trying to understand how they fit into the larger scheme of faith:

“The body is a unity, though it is made up of many parts; and though all of its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (12:12-13, NIV).

As a North American Christian I read these words and I picture myself as an independent individual joining with other independents to work together for a common cause. The focus is on what I bring to the Body.

I believe, though, we would do well to not see ourselves as individual wholes but to see ourselves as cells in the body. The function of cells in the human body is fascinating. Cells are the basic building blocks of life. Each cell has a specific function and purpose in the body. But each cell is only able to carry out its purpose in unity with other cells. Cells are unable to live on their own outside the body. The body is unable to live without cells.

There are times when cells attempt to function as independent of the body. We call them parasites and cancers. When they do so, and are allowed to persist, they will ultimately kill the very body from which it is gaining its own life, even though it tries to live as though it does not need the body.

The applications to us as people part of the church we call The Body of Christ are many.

When I say that I can worship God on my own. I am like a cell attempting to live outside of the body. I can survive only for a moment and the body is weaker for my death. Maturing in faith includes learning that life is found in the Body and the life of the Body depends on my serving my function as a cell in the Body.

But this is not just about individual persons. We can easily expand our understanding of the Body further. When one church attacks another, we attack the Body. It is a hand trying to cut off a foot. We fail to realize the cutting off of the foot may result in the death of the hand as well.

When we in North America view our way of doing church as central and treat Christians in other countries and cultures as less important. It is as if the foot is trying to cut out the knee. We miss that our life and health needs and is dependent on the other parts of the Body.

What are your thoughts? Have there been times when you were tempted to try and live separate from the Body? How does seeing yourself as a cell in the Body change the way you participate in your local church? Share your comments below or on Facebook.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

P.S. This week’s Milk Can is part of a series we are undertaking at Hope using the book, Soul Shift: The Measure of a Life Transformed by Steve DeNeff and David Drury. I highly recommend this book. We are drilling down over the next few weeks on the shift from Me to We.

 

How to Find a More Excellent Way

October 21, 2014 /

hands in the shape of a heart

Maybe Paul knew we were not going to get along with each other. Maybe he knew we, as humans, are competitive by nature. No matter what we are doing there always has to be a winner and a loser. Someone has to be on top and be better than someone else. In the church we are certainly no better. In the midst of our competitiveness Paul wades deep into murky waters and attempts to address spiritual gifts. In his letter to the people of the ancient city of Corinth he begins to lay a foundation teaching us four things:

1. Your spiritual gifts are just that gifts.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

The gifts we have, whether they be wisdom, knowledge, prophecy, or healing are not earned by you and I, and therefore we have no reason to be proud of them. We may have a picture on our wall of a state championship earned in high school. This is good, we should be proud of the accomplishments we worked hard for. But spiritual gifts are different, there are no plaques on our walls. No pictures of glory days to look back on. They come from God at his discretion.

2 . . . . but they aren’t for you.

“. . . for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

To be a Christian is to live and share in community. We are spiritual gift Pony Express riders. We have been given the satchel of gifts to carry for our designated time until we can pass it on to the next rider and ultimately see it emptied out for the community to enjoy what is inside.

3. We need each other.

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form on body” (12:12).

As much as we may be tempted to go it alone our gifts are worthless on their own. The gifts God gives to each one of us only have value when they are combined with each other’s. Attempting to go it alone makes us look like a chicken with its head cut off. The show is fun to watch for a little while, people may even chase you around, but eventually inevitable death will come.

4. There is an even better way.

“And now I will show you the most excellent way” (12:31).

The way is love. It is rare to hear 1 Corinthians 13 read outside of the context of a wedding ceremony, but when Paul shares these words he is not standing in a chapel wearing an Elvis costume he is describing the “most excellent way” for the church. This is what the church should look like. This is how we should treat each other. This is what using our spiritual gifts should be. So “follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts” (14:1) because . . .

Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable,
Love keeps no record of being wronged.
Love does not rejoice about injustice
Love rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up
Love never loses faith
Love is always hopeful
Love endures through every circumstance.

Now that is the kind of church I want to be part of!

Pastor Stephen

© 2024 jumpingjersey

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑