Church Life: Regional Ministry - May 2008
Canada’s Mobilizing for Mission Fund at Work
It is a relatively small group—40–50 believers—that gathers each week to worship in the town of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The average age of the congregation, Woodgrove Christian Community Church, exceeds 60, but members have a youthful enthusiasm and sense of mission that is a witness to other churches.
As their beloved longtime pastor, Les Clark, is retiring, they have asked me to help them restate their vision and determine action plans to carry out that vision. As a certified Vision Renewal Coach with Outreach Canada, I am coaching them through the Vision Renewal process. Much of the cost of this process is subsidized through the Mobilizing for Mission Fund of the Regional Synod of Canada.
Our 20/20 team consists of coordinators for prayer, the church profile, and the community profile. The process includes assessing community and church, building profiles, casting vision, and developing action plans (ABCD). Everyone in the congregation was invited to complete a ministry fitness check and a purpose and values questionnaire.
We have had three church potlucks already and everyone in the church is invited to be part of the process. Our last session, a dream session, was exciting as everyone shared their dreams and, after all dreams were listed, people chose the five they thought we should pursue.
While we have not yet completed the process, the visioning actually has created even more enthusiasm. The church will be able to have a vision that is owned by everyone and that will give members intentionality in what they are doing. They realize they exist not for themselves but for the building of God’s kingdom, and the action plans will mobilize them for this ministry.
The conclusion of the community profile indicates that the church has a good sense of its purpose and future: …we have much for which to give thanks and feel very blessed as a congregation. In fact, we feel we are “blessed to be a blessing!” We feel that we are a church family and want to continue to be an exciting intergenerational community of committed Christians. We have a very strong spirit of belonging and genuine love for one another as a congregation. There is a general sense that we would like to continue to think of ways and means to reach out to the community in a friendly way as well as seeking a strategy to evangelize and draw the unchurched from greater Nanaimo and Lantzville into our congregation. We would also like to continue our strong emphasis on growing spiritually through worship and prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit. We are prayerfully looking toward the future and seeking the Lord’s guidance as we seek a new pastor who will help to carry us forward into the future and help us to fulfill the Lord’s special plan for us.
—the Rev. John Kapteyn, executive secretary
Regional Synod of Canada
Regional Reports
Albany: West Copake Reformed Church in Copake, New York, organized a ten-day mission trip to Haiti that included work in a clinic, an orphanage, and a church school. Two veterinarians from the church offered continuing education to Haitian doctors who had enrolled for training. Other team members provided teacher in-service training and supplies at a church school near the capital city of Port au Prince and worked in renovations at a local orphanage for eighteen physically and mentally challenged children. According to pastor Robert Charnin, the trip was planned in connection with the church’s 250th anniversary this year. (www.albany.rca.org)
Far West: Mayfair Community Church in Lakewood, California, has a “Band of Brothers” study group for women. After completing the Captivating women’s video series based on a book by authors Stasi and John Eldredge, the women’s group decided to study the eight-session Band of Brothers DVD, a male-oriented series presented by John Eldredge. A church men’s group had just finished the Band of Brothers series before the women started on it. “From my perspective as a woman and seeing other women participate, it is better than I could have ever imagined,” said group coordinator Susan Shramek. (www.rcawest.org)
Great Lakes: The largest church in Zeeland Classis was facing a problem. After completing facility upgrades and building projects, there was no room for further expansion. What remained was a conviction that the gospel is dynamic, changes lives, and naturally leads to church growth. If it couldn’t build, it would birth. Pastor Mike Van Buren joined a pastor’s multiplying network focused on helping senior pastors lead their churches to start new congregations. The result was a decision by Fellowship Reformed to birth a new church during 2008. Van Buren calls it the biggest challenge he’s faced in ministry, but notes the key to success is what he has experienced through his network group. (www.rcagl.org)
Heartland: “Church” for many Christians has been a place for “coming to the building” to worship or meet with fellow believers. But it’s become common to hear, “I’m tired of meetings and just ‘doing’ church. I want to be a part of people coming to Jesus!” House churches meet in homes for prayer, fun, and worship; to discuss God, Jesus, and the Bible; and to plan acts of community service. “House churches don’t replace church as we know it, but intentionally reach out to friends and neighbors who are not ready for a church building setting,” said the Rev. Don DeKok, church multiplication consultant in the Heartland Synod. (www.heartlandsynod.org)
Mid-America: At its March meeting, Florida Classis took a significant step toward obtaining new leadership by approving a position description for an apostolic leader and by authorizing a search for the person to fill the position. “The title ‘apostolic’ is significant,” says Randy Kooy, Mid-America coordinator/administrator and facilitator of the search task force. “We are defining characteristics of apostolic using the words visionary, initiator, prophetic, respected, authority, sent, and godly. This will be an important leader for the life of Florida Classis.” The goal is to choose an individual by October so the new leader can begin in 2009. (www.midamericasynod.org).
Mid-Atlantics: Groups of people left North Church in downtown Newark, New Jersey, and wended their way up Broad Street, stopping every so often to pray. Only a few had ever done a prayer walk and wouldn’t think of doing it in urban Newark. But the prayer walk model was part of last year’s Fulton Street Revival Prayer Conference in New York City. Participants in the Newark prayer walk thought it a very positive experience. Prayers for the church and community are being answered as the pastor of North Church, the Rev. Randy Van Doornik, has made many positive contacts in the area as he practices “MBWA” (Ministry by Walking Around). (www.rsmat.org)
New York: First Reformed Church in College Point, New York, prepared 850 Easter packets for women in the Bedford Hills Correction Facility, the largest women’s prison in New York state. The packets were assembled by church volunteers and Girl Scout troop members. Each packet contained a handwritten letter, a washcloth, an Easter greeting from the pastor, greeting cards, paper and envelopes, a pen, a small pack of jellybeans, and a bookmark with the RCA logo. “Everyone pitched in to write letters, collect the needed items, and keep the women and the ministry in prayer,” said church pastor Linda Burlew Gold. (www.nysynod.org) |
Featured this month:
Regional Synod of Canada
Previous editions of
Regional Ministry
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
A RESOURCE FOR YOUR CHURCH'S MEMBERS
(Click on the image above for more information.)
|
