Finding the excitement

Dear friends,

Last month I underlined the six great ends of the Church as a frame of reference for finding our mission as a congregation in the years to come.  Again these are 1. The proclamation of the Gospel, 2. The shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God, 3. The maintenance of divine worship, 4. The preservation of the truth, 5. The promotion of social righteousness and  6. The exhibition of the kingdom of God to the world.  On February 7 there will be an exploration group meeting for everyone at 10 am at the Hill’s house (please sign up in the social hall).  This coach’s corner serves as a way of stimulating the imagination for the discussion about our mission there.  Hopefully it is helpful.

I gave myself the tedious task of going back almost two years in reading over my coach’s corners, especially with regards to the exploration process.  One thing I found worth reiterating is that exploration is not about problem solving. It is more about perspective adjustment. Our church is what it is. There is no particular problem that needs fixing.  That would be missing the point.  The process is about finding where the (spiritual) energy is and where the Holy Spirit is doing God’s work.  Visitors to churches are not attracted to churches because it has fixed problems so much as because of the energy they find there.  Now you have said in your exploration groups that you appreciate the energy in our congregation which you find in an attitude of welcoming, diversity and inclusiveness, warmth and friendlessness, in the lack of judgmentalism and ‘guilting,’ to name a few.  Now let’s see where those intersect with the great ends of the Church.  In other words, if we put the great ends of the church on the top of the page across and these things we believe and like about ourselves from top to bottom on the left, what can we put down to fill in the blanks? Now it is important not just to make a tidy list of what we could do, but to note also what you could get excited about.  If there is no excitement possible then it will fall flat. Let me try to translate this into some practical questions:

Great end 1. Are there new ways for us to share the good news of Jesus Christ in our more subdued, low-key, more ‘show’ than ‘tell’ way that neither alienates us nor visitors?

Great end 2. a. Are there ways of helping provide shelter to the homeless that are practically possible for our small congregation?  b. Are there ways to nurture our young better; with all the sharp people in our congregation could we teach young pastors/seminarians what it is like to do ministry in our welcoming, multicultural community through internships so that they in turn could help us nurture our young people? c. could we find innovative ways to foster community, even with people who are  not or less church-inclined?

Great end 3. Even though we keep fine-tuning our worship, are there ways in which it could be made to express Parkview’s uniqueness even more?

Great end 4. Are there ways in which we could be more actively involved in truth-telling/advocacy about world and local issues related to the suffering of people and the threats to the world we inhabit in ways that are consistent with our values as the Church?

Great end 5. In the Parkview tradition of immigrant legal aid work, Redress, our partnership with socially active churches in the Philippines and our work with organizations such as My Sister’s House etc., are there ways we could be more involved in bringing about social justice?

Great end 6. Are there new ways we could show God’s deep compassion for humanity consistent with our strengths as a congregation?

Let’s ask:” where does the excitement lie? May God bless our ministry. Aart