A Couple of Additional Thoughts

1. "Community" must never become more important to the church than reaching newcomers or those far from God.

2. Isn't it wonderful that God is blessing our church with new people when 85% of the congregations is the United States are either plateaued or in decline?

I just posted a pretty disturbing article on my blog regarding trends in church attendance. You can get there by following this link:

By 2050, Only 10% of Americans will be in church on a given sunday…

Losin' that Lovin' Feeling

Ask any group of congregational leaders what the strength of their congregation is, 95% of the time they will say “friendliness.” This holds true regardless of a church’s size. Ask about their number one fear when starting a second service, most will say: we're afraid we'll "lose that lovin' feeling." Well, if they were really cool that's what they'd say. Yet, even as they say that, it is difficult to pin down what they mean.

Sociologist tell us that a human being can only maintain a strong relationship with 40-50 people. We can recognize the faces of more people than that, but when it comes to knowing their names, kids names, pets names. 40 or 50 is about all we can handle. So, if we target our church size to the number of people we can have really close ties with, our churches would never grow above 50 people. But that's not ususally how it works.

I've been in congregations of less than 50 people that were cold as ice. And I've been in congregations with thousands of members that felt like a huge extended family. Friendliness and family feelings have little to do with size. This church was welcoming and relationally warm at 100 and we are welcoming and relationally warm at 200. Even in the midst of new faces, names we can't remember, an ever-increasing crowd, it still feels like family. Newcomers sense it immediately. It is a part of our DNA that we must never lose; whether we are 300 or 3000. It is part of who we are and what God has created us to do best.

We won't lose "it" by going to two services. We may have to be more intentinal about connecting with folks who are attending worship at a different time. Make use of the combined connecting time between the services. Look for opportunities to be together outside of Sunday morning. Serve together during the week.

The truth is the larger we grow, the more important our LIFE Groups will become. It is there we will find a large part of our 40 or 50. We grow our strongest relationships there as we "do life together."

One of the biggest questions growing families faces is "will we make room." It is true in our physical families when Mom and Dad bring home a new brother or sister. It is true in our spiritual family when God "adds to our number" (Acts 2:47). Our willingness to make room doesn't make us any less of a family - it only enlarges the number touched by "that lovin' feeling."

What Will Adding A Second Worship Time Do For Us?

1. It will help us stay on mission.
God is not finished with us yet. We haven't arrived. It's not time for us to coast into retirement or ride off into the sunset. We don't get an extended period of "me-time." God still has an urgent mission for us. We have not completed it. In many ways it feels like we are just getting started. Adding a second worship service is a critical next step toward completing the work God has given us to do.

The goal of our ministry is to connect real people to the real God for real change. It is easy to see God at work among us. When God is at work He attracts a crowd. Jesus wasn't put-off by that. He continually invited any and all to come. That was His invitation, and it must be ours. Yes, crowds cause chaos. There are always adjustments. But every crowd is filled with unique individuals that Jesus gave His life for. He would have us welcome each one. Here's the issue: studies say that when our worship space is over-crowded, 70%-80% full, new people perceive their is no room for them. It would be a tragedy if even one newcomer felt unwelcome because we didn't love them enough to make room.

If there are no new faces, adding a second service doesn't make much sense. Just splitting up our existing crew would be no fun for anybody. The excitement comes as God, through you, brings new families, we extends His welcome and see their lives changed. Remember, the church doesn't exist for us - we are the church and we exist to connect people to God through Jesus Christ. This second service will help keep God's mission first.

2. It will bless our volunteers.
I'm not sure when Melissa Dasher attended adult worship last. Likely over a year ago. No, she hasn't lost her faith - but has chosen to put it into action. You see, she and her Heartland volunteers have made a huge sacrifice. They have bailed on the blessing of attending adult worship, in order to serve our kids and help them connect with God. One of the most exciting prospects of a new service is that volunteers will be able to experience our worship and serve others on the same Sunday morning. More people are already volunteering to work in Heartland, because they know they won't have to sacrifice worshiping with their church family.

Our second service is an intentional effort to make our worship available to more and more people. I pray that you will warmly welcome...and simply invite.

Second Service

It is now officially - 1 month, 4 days, 18 hours, 37 minutes and 30 seconds till the launch of our new worship service.

Upgraded Spaces!!!!

I’m just saying…I need to find some people to work with who won’t frivolously toy with my emotions. Jim Waldo came into my office this morning with a concerned look on his face. He sat down and said: “we got an alert from the bank this morning.” My countenance fell and I said something like “are you kidding me.” Every other time Jim and I have had conversations start that way, it has not been good news. He let me stew a while and then said: “that’s how I felt when I first saw the email…then I remembered I had set the account to send me an alert when our balance went over a specified threshold, so I could set some funds aside for Mission and Building Maintenance.” If he wasn’t a Marine I probably would have hurled myself across the desk and grabbed him around his not-so-scrawny neck. The blessing is that, while many, many churches are struggling financially in these difficult economic times, we continue to grow healthier with each passing week. We are not out-of-the-woods yet, and we're definitely not over-funded - but thanks to better management and your sacrifices - things are improving. Thank you for your partnership in the work God is doing here.

Speaking of what God is doing… let me give you a heads-up on some of the plans we have in place for the weeks leading up to Easter.

As you know, our growth has caused some space issues for our ministries. More debt is not in our future, so we have to begin to utilize the space we already have as creatively as possible. In the coming weeks there will be a few renovations and space reallocations happening in our church.

First, we are going to frame in two new offices on the north end of the Chestnut Room. My office will move into one of those new spaces. This move will have our staff offices located together. This can be done inexpensively utilizing the people and resources we already have in place. The plan is to complete this project before our workday on March 14th.

Second, the nursery will be relocated to my current office. This will allow all of our childrens ministry spac to be self-contained. This will provide greater security and a better connection between different aspects of our childrens ministry.

Third, the Chestnut Room will be decorated to be a more kid-friendly space for Heartland and utilized less as a multi-purpose room. It seems wrong to deprive our kids of a fun and exciting space because we might have two wedding receptions in that room each year. We chose to make that room an investment in our children.

Fourth, the Fellowship Hall will decorated and dedicated to our teens. We are going to upgrade the technology and create a welcoming space relevant to our teens and their friends to gather and learn about God.

Fifth, the our large current nursery will be set aside as a classroom and meeting space for adults. Any adult gatherings too large for that room will use our multi-purpose auditorium.

Sixth, we plan to make short-term improvements to our parking area.

Tons of work ahead, but without a ton of expense. These improvements will locate our office, student, and adult spaces in different sections of the building – allowing us to better utilize the space God has already provided.

If you would like to help with the upgrades in any of these areas, please contact the church office (410.742.5601) or the ministry leader overseeing the project. We really need everybody to pitch on our Work Day, March 14th. These are our plans, our prayer is to have them completed before Easter. Please jump in.

New Office Spaces Thom Keeton bluekeeton@comcast.net
Children’s Ministry Melissa Dasher bizemomx5@comcast.net
Youth Ministry Ken Dasher daddash@netzero.net
Adult Spaces Church Office churchoffice@heart4community.org
Parking Lot Upgrades Dave Pfingst pfinky29@hotmail.com

Growing Pains, Growing Plans

Last Monday morning the peacefulness of my first cup of coffee was shattered as I opened my email program. As I scanned the subject lines of the incoming email, there it was. You know the kind. All you have to do is look at the subject line and you just want to go back to bed and start over. The subject line read “Concern in the Camp.” I was pretty sure the camp in question had nothing to do with holding hands around a campfire and singing Kum By Ya! The email was from one of our elders (there’s some good news). It was not only addressed to me but to all the other elders and to Sean. My first thought was “Ok, what did Sean do now!” Not really. My first thought was #%*@&! They say confession is good for the soul. Yes, you still need to pray for me. I clicked on the email and this is what confronted me...

Gentlemen,

I thought it best to get this info out ASAP. There was a disruption of sorts yesterday morning at the morning worship time. It appears that when Ingrid & I entered the corporate worship area to take our seats, to our surprise, we could not. Why you ask? Because someone we didn't even know had taken ours. Preposterous I say! On top of that, another CCC family of 5 had to relocate to other seating because of the very same thing.

LOL...Praise GOD, that there is "Change" in the wind & this "Change" isn't coming from President O. Thank you Brent & Sean, for the on going face-lift @CCC.

ALL4HIM,

clc

Let me say first that this type of email is just wrong. I’m old and my heart is not as strong as it used to be. Second, you and I both know that Charlie is right. Quite a few folks have seen unfamiliar faces in their sacred spaces recently. And it seems like every Sunday there are more of them than the Sunday before. The only seats available are the ones on the very front row (and the ones next to Ken).

Here’s the issue, we are running out of space. It’s not my fault. You’ve heard my preaching. If you have to blame someone, blame God. He is drawing them. Now that we have assigned blame sufficiently, let’s talk about what to do. (Praying that God would stop sending new people is not an option! Don’t even think about it).

In the short-term, I’d like to ask our regulars to choose seats further toward the front. Yes, I said it. And furthermore, someone is going to have to sit on the front row (i.e., in the spray zone) for this to really do any good. B.Y.O.U. (Bring Your Own Umbrella). This will ensure our guests don’t have to make the “walk of shame” to the front row after the service has already begun.

Our longer term plan, as I mentioned on Vision Sunday, is to begin a second worship service. Our plan is to make the transition on March 29^th. I hope we can wait that long. Why the 29^th. That will give us a couple of weeks to work the kinks out before Easter. The first service will begin @ 9:00 AM the second @ 10:45 AM. There will be a half-hour transition/fellowship time in between. As plans stand right now, Heartland will be offered at the second service only and the first service will have more of a family feel. I’ll be sending out information over the next several weeks to help prepare all of us for this transition. Yet, we believe strongly that God is calling to make more seats available at optimum times, so more and more people can connect with God and experience real change through our ministry at Community. The elders and I welcome your feedback.

Yes, this is another change. Yet, it is a change that moves us more deeply into the mission God has for us. Besides, you might even get your old seat back.

I’m glad to be on this journey with you. I pray that you will continue investing in the lives of those who don’t know Jesus and inviting them to experience God’s grace that flows in this place.

Grace and Peace,

Brent

Heartland Kids Making A Difference!

From A News Blog in Salisbury, MD...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Ringing The Bell For The Salvation Army Has Its Rewards

The other day I was standing in front of the North WalMart ringing the bell and handing out Candy Canes to all the young children.

All of a sudden I leaned over to hand one of the children a Candy Cane and the child said, I have something for you Sir. He then proceeded to thank me for what I was doing and handed me the package above. On one side was a small Snickers Bar taped to a small piece of paper. When I turned it over I got the added bonus of a message thanking ME for serving.

I'm telling you Folks, there aren't that many slots left open and you should jump on board and take one of the most rewarding hours, couple of hours, whatever you like. If you'd like to help out cal the Salvation Army at 410-749-7771 ext. 100 or me at 410-430-5349. You can also e-mail me at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com and let me know which open slot you'd like to take and I'll take it from there.

To the young man who gave me this Snickers Bar, God Bless You. The memory will last me a lifetime.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Community Christian Heartland kids are the AWESOME!!

12:23 PM

Anonymous said...

You're so dramatic and self-serving I'm growing sick

2:34 PM

Brenda Spindler said...

Not sure who the little guy was but that's our church and we are very thankful for our "heartland kids". Thanks Joe for posting this about them!
Brenda Spindler

2:36 PM

Anonymous said...

Since I don't drink any longer ringing that bell is a good way to meet and greet some beautiful smiles from some sweeties.

The thing that impressed me the most was how many people let their very young kids put the money in the kettle, passing on a tradition of giving in this very blessed holiday season.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza and a holiday wish for everyone.

Today's news is the best I can remember since I recieved my James Bond double '00 spy kit with the exploding briefcase for Christmas when I was 8 years old : )

The so called attorney will now have to deal with a very upset throng of city employees that will be willing to stand in line to have their voices finally heard by an interested electorate. The proverbial Poo River will hit the fan then.

Many of these key city employees hold the deepest secrets of the current administration and are more than ready to be able to speak up without retaliation. It's not the city grunt employees that need to worry about their jobs, it will be the multitude of failures among department heads.

I persoanlly think PW director Mr. Caldwell and Joel Hamilton of the Zoo deserve a chance to perform their jobs unobstructed and let them cut their own puppet strings and let truth and reality reign.

6:28 PM

MK said...

Joe,, After all yo do,, You deserved that! I am sure you feel very warm and good inside.. I am sure You sir,,deserve that!

I am getting ready to take off This Tuesday to do a Christmas Show at the MAC Center. I have done a few times and have taken personal days to volunteer my talent, and the feeling is WONDERFUL! Keep Up The Great Work! MK

6:56 PM