Pastor Lynn has joined the blogging community. If you would like to join the conversation, director your browser to:

Pastor Lynn's Blog

please see the Focus posted each month on the front page. For older issues, see the Focus Newsletter tab on the left.

  In his book, Vital Signs; A Pathway to Congregational Wholeness, Dan Dick lays out a vision of a vital congregation.  He says vitality is measured by two criteria: Growth and Sustainability.  These days we often admire fast growing congregations, but he cautions that growth in mission and ministry must also be sustainable over the long term.
 
Here are samples of some of the characteristics of vitality:
· Vital churches have a compelling vision and a clear identity.
· Success is equated with spiritual transformation—not numbers.
· Programs and activities are aligned with the mission and values of the church.
· Vital churches have high expectations but are always going on to perfection.
 
In 2009, I will be inviting our church leaders to study Dick’s book, to analyze our congregation’s vitality and to outline steps toward both growth and sustainability.  We will begin with questions of vision and identity.
 

May God bless you and our congregation’s ministry in the new year.

Note from Pastor Lynn and Staff Parish Relations Committee

By action of Church Council, all of our staff, including Pastor Lynn, will experience reductions in 2009 compensation and some hours have been cut.  Some staff members have experienced a reduction of benefits in health insurance and/or pension.  In the church office one and one-half positions was reduced to one position which will be shared by Dar and Sib.  This difficult move has been taken with as much care for these faithful workers as possible.
We will need your help—volunteering and picking up some tasks that our paid staff have previously carried.  Please keep us in prayer during this time of transition.
 
 
 

 

  They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? … For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’
  (Exodus 14:11-12)
 
I love this Biblical account of the very human reality that change is a challenge.  By God’s grace, Moses is leading the people of Israel to freedom.  But the way is not easy.  Pharaoh's army is not far behind them and the sea stands before them.  So they complain to Moses: it would be better to return to being slaves than to risk our lives out here in the middle of no where.  But God is with them.  Moses lifts up his hand toward the sea, and the waters recede enough for the people of Israel to pass through safely.  Moses tells them: Do not be afraid, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will accomplish for you today.  (Exodus 14:13)
 
“Churches resist change.”  That was the word from Gil Rendle, a church growth expert who addressed us at the West Michigan Annual Conference.  Like the Israelites of old, we wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to stay the way we are rather than risk new adventures.  Like them, we, too, face death if we do not move and change; a church which is not growing is a church which is dying.  “Churches,” Rendle says, “need to find ways of being comfortable with the discomfort of change.”
Rendle’s lecture and his reflections on the Exodus story brought to mind our church. I believe we are at a pivotal time in our life as a congregation.  If we are to fulfill our purpose “to help all people become ardent disciples of Jesus Christ,” we need intentional focus, strategies and plans for ministry for the next 2, 5 and even 10 years.  If we are to be faithful to God’s call to us, we may not stay the same.  We will need to operate in new ways and develop new ministries.
 
For the rest of this year, several  groups of church leaders will be discerning and developing a clarity of vision for the future of our congregation.  The Church Council is at work on this project, along with a group who is praying about the congregation’s future (see p. 21).  The Worship Team continues to dream and plan towards a new service and the Building and Church Location Committee will be envisioning what space and facilities may be needed to serve future ministries as they develop a Master Plan.
 
What does the future hold for our congregation?  The words of Moses speak in our day as well: Do not be afraid, stand firm and see the deliverance (the new life) the Lord will accomplish today.
 
Grace and Peace,