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Are you part of an Expeditionary Force? April 20, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Breaking News, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith, Faith at Work , add a comment

The Missional Challenge has an excellent article about the local church becoming a Expeditionary Force in the city — take a read…..

Dr. Ray Bakke describes the church as an expeditionary force in The Urban Christian (1987). He views Christians as ministers to their worlds of relationships. For example, a banker who is a Christian doesn’t simply serve at his church by teaching Sunday School or being on the Finance Committee. Instead, he would “identify a mission within the bank, perhaps running a Bible Study with his colleagues or even planning resources to help build up neglected neighborhoods.” (p 132)

Bakke sees several advantages to an urban church which sees itself as an Expeditionary Force, emphasizing its role to “go” on mission into the city:

  1. It legitimizes the call to lay mission
  2. It reaches more widely and follows the urban twenty-four-hour clock
  3. It fulfills the need of specialized urban people to affirm their personal vocations as their ministry

“In this model the pastoral task is to help these members identify, plan for and equip themselves for their diverse ministry opportunities.” (p 132)

Where are you in your vocation as a missionary force?

Can you imagine the missionary force that could be released in every town and neighborhood in America if local churches would begin to see themselves as an expeditionary force? <MORE>

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Willow To Eliminate Mid-Week Service April 17, 2008

Posted by Steve in : Chicago, Breaking News, Sunday Services, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Culture and Faith , add a comment

(Christianity Today.com) For three decades Willow has been focused on making the church appealing to seekers. But its detailed and thorough research (summarized in their new book REVEAL) shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism. Greg Hawkins, the Executive Pastor says, “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.” He spoke about the high levels of dissatisfaction mature believer have with churches. Drawing from the 200 churches and the 57,000 people that have taken the survey, he said that most people are leaving the church because they’re not being challenged enough. Because it’s the mature Christians who drive evangelism in the church Hawkins says, “Our strategy to reach seekers is now about focusing on the mature believers. This is a huge shift for Willow.”

One major implementation of this shift will occur in June when Willow ends their mid-week worship services that had been geared toward believers. Instead the church will morph these mid-week events into classes for people at different stages of growth. There will be theological and bible classes full of “hard-hitting stuff.” Hawkins said most people are very enthusiastic about the change.

On the seeker end of the spectrum, Willow is also changing how they produce their weekend services. For years the value people appreciated most about the seeker-oriented weekend services was anonymity. This is what all their research showed. People didn’t want to be identified, approached, confronted, or asked to do anything. But those days are over. “Anonymity is not the driving value for seeker services anymore,” says Hawkins. “We’ve taken anonymity and shot it in the head. It’s dead. Gone.” In the past Willow believed that seekers didn’t want large doses of the Bible or deep worship music. They didn’t want to be challenged. Now their seeker-sensitive services are loaded with worship music, prayer, Scripture readings, and more challenging teaching from the Bible.

Willow has been wrestling with the research from REVEAL since 2004. Hawkins said, “We’ve tried incremental changes for four years, but now we know we have to overhaul our whole strategy.” Small steps are no longer the method; Willow is revamping everything. “It would be malpractice for us to not do something with what we’re learning.”

In the larger REVEAL survey taken by 200 churches, people were asked what they want most from their church. Three of the top four responses were:

1. Help me understand the Bible in greater depth
2. Help me develop a closer personal relationship with Christ
3. Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my faith

Hawkins said that sometimes Willow gets accused of managing the church based on market research; of simply giving people what they want. “Look at what they want!” he said while pointing to the screen. “They want the Bible, they want to be close to Christ, they want to be challenged. Yes, we will give them what they want!”

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DWELL: Driving Urban Church Planters March 2, 2008

Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, Missional, The Cultural Conversation, DifferenceMakers, Culture and Faith , add a comment

At Park Community Church, our vision is to be a Biblical community where the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms lives, renews the city and impacts the world. Being a city center church, we are focused on reaching the city of Chicago and would like to reach 1% (29,000 people) of the city in the years to come. That is why we love conferences that focus on the major global centers like Chicago or New York, and one of those great get-togethers is coming up.

The Dwell Conference is scheduled for April 29-30, 2008 in New York City and involves two of our favorites: Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City will be co-hosting and partnering with Acts 29 Network in a premiere church planting event to create a world-class training for urban church planters. It has a fabulous lineup of some of the most influential church planting leaders as speakers at this event: Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, CJ Mahaney, and Darrin Patrick.

I also love their anchor verse for this movement of planters (as it has been an anchor for our church about urban living for years):

Jeremiah 29:4-7
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and DWELL in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

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They Want What? May 4, 2007

Posted by Steve in : Methods & Strategies , add a comment

The following cartoon cracked me up — we just completed our latest survey so the timing couldn’t have been better.

Copyright 2007 Christianity Today International/BuildingChurchLeaders.com. Used with permission.

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Being Salt and Light April 22, 2007

Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a comment

Our church, Park Commmunity Church, is in the middle of a key series called “Missional Living in the City” and we are learning what it means to be ‘salt and light’ in the city. Here’s another take on it from Tim Keller, Senior Pastor of Reedeemer Presebyterian Church, who gives a 5 minute summary of being salt and light in today’s culture

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What are YOU Expecting this Easter? March 16, 2007

Posted by Steve in : The City, Church, Inside Park , add a comment

We are getting ready for a Big Easter in the city as we do a three part series on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter on “What Are YOU Expecting?” where we will explore expectations: what people expected of Jesus, what God expected of Him and why Jesus came, died and rose from the dead. Here is the Easter graphic this year and the questions we are asking of people as they think about the resurrection at Easter:

Easter 2007

What are you expecting? People come to the city and have many expectations for their lives: job opportunities, a spouse or meaningful relationship, great friends, happiness, comfort, good times, excitement, spiritual growth, fulfillment. What are you expecting?

Many years ago, the people of Israel were looking for a king, a political leader who would lead them out of the bondage and oppression of the Romans. They welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday with fanfare, yet less than a week later, he was hung on a cross to die a lonely death. What were they expecting?

Then on Sunday morning, several of Jesus followers went to the tomb but it was empty. What were they expecting?

We’d love to have you come to Chicago and join us this Easter season:

Park Community Church — Easter Season Services - April 6 and 8

Good Friday Services, Apr 6 — 5:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Francis Parker School - Map

Easter Sunday Services, Apr 8 — 8:30 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m.
Francis Parker School - Map

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