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Stephen Ministry

Happy New Year everybody!  Here’s hoping for a great year for everyone.  Speaking of a good year, in hopes of persuading you to approve my salary for 2010, I’d like to speak to you about the three major reasons why…well, not really.  Actually, on this occasion of a new year I’d like to speak with you about “the church in 2010,” a kind of “state of the church” message if you will.  However, I’m not going to focus on “statistics” although there are certainly some celebrations and challenges in them.  One celebration, by the way, is our financial report about which you’ll hear more in the congregational meeting following worship.  Let me just say words are inadequate in expressing my gratitude to God and to you for your faithful support of the ministry and mission of this church.  But, more about that later.  My focus this morning is not on statistics and demographics for Shepherd of the Hills in 2010.  Rather, my focus is more in ideological matters, or perhaps I should say theological matters for the church in 2010.  Taking the opportunity of the reflections of a new year, what are some of the celebrations and challenges we might consider toward continuing to become more and more the church Christ calls us to be?

A few years ago, I attended a conference in Denver that has become an annual event—the Leadership Summit—broadcast live from Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago and picked up via satellite by hundreds of churches throughout the country.  At that particular summit, Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek, spoke of the local church being the hope of the world.  At first, the statement appeared to me to be hyperbole.  The “local” church is the hope of the “world?”  However, upon further reflection, I came to understand and believe that statement to be true.  The local church is the hope of the world.  I believe that to be true, first of all, on a collectively pragmatic basis, because there are literally millions of local churches throughout the world.  The ministry and mission of those churches, taken collectively, certainly contain the hope of the world.  But also, at that summit I came to believe the local church is the hope of the world because of the expanding circle of influence one local church can have.  Imagine, if you will, the impact one person can have in the world if that person is trained by the local church to be a follower of Jesus Christ, is encouraged and equipped by the local church  to live out his or her discipleship wherever he or she lives…and, perhaps, moves to, and, in turn, raises up new believers and followers of Christ wherever they live.  The local church is the hope of the world.

What does that mean for Shepherd of the Hills?

First of all, I need for you to also believe it is true.  Do you believe the local church is the hope of the world?  Really?  Because if you really believe that to be true, imagine the possibilities as we set out to make that happen and our responsibilities in making that happen…bringing the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to whatever piece of the world we live in.  It requires believing that over and above anything else in the world we might believe will bring us hope—our jobs, our hobbies, our families even—over against all others stands the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Believe that and we can begin to live out our calling to be the hope of the world.

Then, second, believing the church to be the hope of the world requires each one of us to respond to our specific role or calling in the life of the church.  One of the great traditions of the Reformation, of which we are a part, is the tenet of the priesthood of all believers.  In other words, everyone in the church has a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, can develop that relationship on their own and has a role in the ministry and mission of the church.  Not just the pastors, or staff, or even the elected leadership alone have a role in the ministry and mission of the church, but all members also have a role.  Today we ordain and install our new elders and deacons.  They have leadership roles in the ministry and mission of the church, they have oversight responsibilities for the ministry and mission of the church, but they are not solely responsible for implementing those ministries and missions.  Every person in the church has a role and responsibility for some part of the ministry and mission that takes place.  So, in order for the church to most effectively fulfill its place in being the hope of the world, we need each member to take up his or her calling in the ministry and mission of the church.  One general challenge then, is to ask the question, what is my ministry in the church? and go about seeking to answer that question.

And the answers will come in two areas in the life of the church—inwardly and outwardly.  One part of the history of Shepherd of the Hills includes a time with a church consultant, Frank Tillipaugh.  How many of you remember that time?  Tillipaugh is an interesting person who had a long career in the Denver area focused on the ministry and mission of the church.  As a part of his work with Shepherd, he wrote a book entitled Calling.  The publishing date is 1997, so sometime around then Tillipaugh worked with Shepherd of the Hills.  The first chapter is written specifically for Shepherd of the Hills.  The book was given to me when I was interviewing for the pastor position here.  I found it interesting not only in that it revealed something about the church, but also because several years before I had read another book by Tillipaugh called The Church Unleashed.  The publishing date on that book is 1983.  So, some 15 years before coming to this church, I was intrigued by the view of Tillipaugh regarding the church—a view he held in consulting with the church I was considering.  That was of interest to me.  And the views expressed in the book about the church are much the same principles in both books.  Tillipaugh’s basic point is that ministry happens in the church—ministries to, with and for members of the church (and visitors), and outside the church, ministries to, with and for non-members and people who may never visit the church.  Churches generally are pretty good at developing ministry within the church, but usually need more work on developing ministry outside the church—that is the church “unleashed.”  One result of Tillipaugh’s work with Shepherd was distinguishing ministries as “D-1” and “D-2” ministries.  Remember that?  “D” stands for “dimension.”  But, I think an easier way to speak of it is as “ministry” and “mission.”  Basically, D-1 ministries are inward focused, ministries that take place inside the church and are for members and visitors, for example Sunday School, worship, music ministries, that type of thing.  D-2 ministries are outward focused and are for non-members…mission activities usually occurring outside the church.  All of that to say that exploring your role in the life of the church will take you to considering ministries that are both inward and outward focused, or, as I like to put it, “ministries” and “missions.”

So, first a word about the church in 2010 and its inward focused ministries.  To begin with, a major caution about inward focused ministries.  Even though an inward focus, that is to say ministries taking place within the church, it is not about us.  The priority is always others.  It is not about me.  In your consideration about your role in the ministries of the church, it is not about you.  It’s about others.

This week a friend who is a pastor in Michigan sent me a video illustrating this point.  It’s a tongue-in-cheek “promo” for a church called MeChurch.  Let’s take a look.  (Play video)

I trust you get the point.  D-1 ministries…or just “ministries” in the life of a church are inward-focused—they are ministries taking place within the membership of the church and usually within the walls of the church, but their focus remains on others.

I like to think of the church as family.  We are, literally, brothers and sisters in faith.  Consequently, our inward focused ministries are designed to take care of each other as family.  We do that in many different ways, as I mentioned earlier—through education, worship, and caregiving, for example.  We minister to and care for each other as family.  Being the church in 2010 requires us to care for each other as family.  I think there are a couple of points worth emphasizing about that.

First of all, we provide genuine care for one another.  I think most members of Shepherd would identify that as a strength in our church.  We can always get better at something, but it regularly comes up in a member’s evaluation of strengths in the church.  Being the church in 2010, a church that is truly the hope of the world requires us to provide caregiving for each other as family.

I think that also means continuing to look for appropriate ways to address the differences that exist among us…just like they exist among families.  I believe we’re getting better at that, but we must continue to grow in this area.  Like all families, there are differences among us.  Within this room there are…Democrats and Republicans; conservative and liberal.  All five of the GodViews are represented in this room—there are Confessionalists and Devotionalists and Ecclesiasts and Altruists and Activists here.  There are, in Paul’s use of the human body as a metaphor for the church, hands and feet here, eyes and ears.  Some of you are elbows in the life of the church!  To appropriately address our differences, we must continually strive to lift up grace and truth.  We don’t abandon truth in order to be gracious, and we don’t abandon grace in order to lift up truth.  Jesus is described by John in his gospel as being “full of grace and truth.”  We must strive for that also.  When confronted with our differences, we must ask ourselves “am I holding up both grace and truth here?”

Also in this room are those who prefer traditional worship and those who prefer contemporary worship.  Being the church in 2010—rather, being the church family in 2010 requires we continue to deal with our different preferences in worship by practicing unified worship, including, when something takes place in worship that isn’t your preferred “style” or “type” of worship, you offer prayers of thanksgiving for those in our midst for whom it is their preferred style or practice…becoming a “pray’er” rather than a critic.  I believe we’ve gotten better in that area as well, but it continues to be an area of needed growth—for both the traditional lover and the contemporary lover.

To be the church family in 2010, we must seek, first of all in our ministries of the church, to lift up both grace and truth, and be praying for each other…especially for those family members with different perspectives than ours.  So, I’ll be praying for you non-baseball fans among us…and, even more difficult, for those of you who are fans of some other team than the Rockies.

Then there are our outward ministries—what Tillipaugh calls D-2 ministries, what I generalize as “missions.”  To be a church that is the hope of the world, we must also look outside ourselves.  I also believe this is something we’re getting better at, but we must grow exponentially better at our outward focus.  That means understanding something about the community around us—in our neighborhoods, our jobs, our schools, etc.—and responding to those needs.  That is a major goal in the “missional process” we are currently in.  Come to the feedback seminar on January 23^rd to learn more about it and to be engaged in it.  If we truly believe the local church is the hope of the world…surely that “world” includes the world outside our doors—both our church doors and our home doors.  And effectively being the hope of that world requires our getting to know our neighbors…truly knowing our neighbors: learning their stories, their likes and dislikes, their celebrations and their challenges; then prayerfully seeking how to appropriately respond.  To effectively be the church in 2010 in outward ministries requires becoming more missional and not just attractional.  We do want to be attractional—we want the ministries we develop in the church to be attractive to any who enters our doors.  But attractional alone is not enough.  We must be meaningfully connecting with those outside our doors, those who would never enter our doors unless we connect with their lives and present the gospel of Jesus Christ to them in a meaningful way.  We must also be missional.  And one additional challenge in being missional is that the community we’re trying to reach is too often not sympathetic to the gospel message.  In fact, it is sometimes hostile to that message.  They don’t know the truth.  They misunderstand the truth and, subsequently, are hostile to the truth of the gospel.  For example—Sam Owen shared with me this letter that appeared in TheOpenForum of the Denver Post.  The letter is apparently in response to a previous story in the Post about Christian organizations being critical of stores eliminating “Christmas” from their Christmas marketing.  Here’s the letter:

  The Sunday Denver Post, on the front page no less, [as if the story didn’t deserve front page notice] reports on Christian organizations criticizing retailers for attempting to be more inclusive during the holiday season. I, for one, am getting sick of their intolerance and want my Christmas back. [One wonders what Christmas the writer is talking about!] All of my life Christmas has been a commercial and social event. We shop and shop and then give all the stuff away to our family and friends. I love it! Families get together and eat and drink and lovers get together in front of the fire. Every year that religious bunch tries to spoil it for us. I could give a hoot less about shepherds and angels and a baby in a trough [Actually, the writer misspeaks. It should be “couldn’t” give a hoot less. Being able to give a hoot less implies that one actually does give a hoot!]. They are just trying to make us feel guilty for having a good time. If they want to make a religious holiday out of it, they are free to do so in their own houses and their own churches. We have freedom from religion in this country [Actually, the writer makes another common mistake here. The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Many, many others make the same mistake.], after all, not freedom from commercialization. I like that; I love to shop! – Sue Hogan, Centennial (underlines and comments mine)

Ms. Hogan’s feelings are not particularly unique.  The current attitude in our society towards Christian faith is very different from what most of us grew up with.  That is the society the church in 2010 exists in…and it presents enormous challenges to our fulfilling our calling to be the hope of the world.  But, Christ never said it would be easy.  In fact, he pointed out some tremendous difficulties in being his ambassadors in the world.  But, it is what we are called to…if we take our discipleship seriously and the fact that the local church is the hope of the world.

So, Happy New Year!  And welcome to the challenge of being the church in 2010.  But it is the most rewarding and fulfilling thing we can do.  Proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ—through our words and our deeds—bringing hope to a world that is often dark and cynical, but so much in need of some hope.

Let’s take a moment for some silent reflection on our roles in helping the church fulfill its calling to serve Jesus in being the hope of the world.