For The Coming Year…

I had my annual review with the Personnel Committee a week or so ago, and I want to share with you my answer to the question, “What are your goals for the coming year?”.

Here is my response:
- Working to move the vision process from the theoretical to the practical
- Working with the Personnel Committee to restructure staff responsibilities and rewrite job descriptions in light of the vision work.
- Working with Session to begin restructuring the governance of the church in light of the vision work
- Finding a better balance of work/personal time
- Continue the ongoing work of building the staff team
- Work with the Outreach Committee on the membership process – web page, vistor to new member, new member integration and retention

Obviously this list could contain many different things, for the number of possible priorites at Central are almost endless. Here is why I have chosen these particular items:

- I am excited that we have a new Vision & Strategic Plan document, but know that unless we are intentional about turning goals on paper into concrete actions, our new vision will become another piece of paper sitting in a folder gathering dust…and I don’t want that to happen!
- As the work of the church is focused around the goals of the Vision and Strategic Plan new responsibilities for the church staff will emerge and some duties presently addressed by staff will fall away. All of us on the staff are aware that some changes in responsibilities are on the way. Clarifying these changes through updated job descriptions is a must.
- At recent Session meetings, different Elders have suggested that Clusters/Committees for Technology and Every Member in Ministry be added to the current mix. They are correct in their belief that important areas of the church’s ministry should be resourced by congregational leadership. As Central lives into our new vision, it is important that we make the adjustments necessary to have the right governance structure for following God’s call into the future. Such adjusting must be thoughtful and intentional.
- Time is an aspect of being a pastor that is both a blessing and a curse. I have great freedom in how I shape my schedule, but also have a job that requires a lot of time to be done well. Finding a faithful and meaningful balace between work and personal time is a never-ending challenge.
- Central is blessed to have a great staff team serving the vision and ministries and people of the congregation. Teams, however, take work…and I want to do a better job of nurturing the Central staff team.
- Membership is another ongoing need of any congregation. We need to be constantly welcoming new visitors and new members into the Central community. Having a top of the line web page is essential in 2010; as is working to turn visitors into new members, and then integrating those new members into the life and activities of the congregation, while also making sure existing members don’t fall away. Just to maintain Central’s membership from year to year requires about 30 new members annually. Sustainable membership growth will require that we welcome 50-60 new members each year. I want to help the Outreach Cluster in their important work.

I know I will be busy in 2010. I also know that I will be serving alongside many, many dedicated Central members and staff, making a difference in our worship and our caring and our serving in the name of Jesus Christ!

See you in worship this Sunday…

Catching The Vision!

I thought it would be good to share with you what is currently going on with Central’s new Vision & Strategic Plan.

Since Session shared the new vision document with the congregation, and Jeff Cover and I preached the “Disciples Are…Visionaries” series of sermons in September, the Elders who make up the Vision Task Force have been meeting with the Boards (Deacons and Trustees) and Ministry Clusters. At these meetings a Task Force member walks the group through the vision document, and invites them into a process of holding the work of their particular Cluster/Board up to Central’s new vision goals and asking questions – Where do our ministry activities match up with the new goals? Where do they not? In light of the vision goals are there new programs or activities or areas of ministry that our Cluster/Board needs to explore? In light of the vision goals are there things that need to be let go?

The Clusters and Boards are being asked to respond to these questions by mid-January. Members of the Vision Task Force will then use all this information to shape the content of a Session Retreat focused on vision that will take place on Saturday, January 30.

Taking words on a piece of paper about how we believe Central is being called into God’s future, and turning them into specific plans and concrete actions steps is challenging, but necessary work. And engaging each other in conversation about Central’s vision takes time, but it is a vital part of our common calling as disciples. Session is determined that Central’s new vision will be more than just another piece of paper tucked away in some file folder!

I think it is good to remind ourselves of the three primary goals of our new vision; the goals that will help us be about Changing Hearts to Change the World!

Goal 1: Changing Hearts: Strengtheing Connections to God
We strive to grow closer to God through worship, education, and spirituality, with the realization that a close relationship to God leads us to action in the world.

Goal 2: Changing Hearts: Strengthening Connections to Each Other
We strengthen and grow as a community of faith by caring for one another through ministires of care, communication, connection, integration and evangelism.

Goal 3: Changing Hearts: Changing the world
Through thoughful ministries that challenge the people of Central to put our faith into action, we will change our world. Our faith compels us to serve as the hands and feet of Christ as we are called to action, partnership and reflection.

The work of Vision is never-ending for God’s people. I hope and pray that we will catch and use and grow in our new vision here at Central faithfully and joyfully!!

See you in church THIS Sunday…

The Joy of Discipleship!

The German theologian and Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, authored a powerful book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship; in which he outlines some of the challenges of being a disciple of Jesus, and describes the difference between ‘cheap grace’ – the grace we bestow on ourselves, and ‘costly grace’ – the gift of God which we must seek again and again. To be sure, Bonhoeffer is right. Choosing to be a disciple, choosing to follow Jesus, who calls for peace in a world that values war, who lifts up the equality of all in a world that likes to divide and separate, who invites the sharing of money and food and clothing and shelter in a world that encourages us to hoard, who says the focus must be on God in a world that likes to focus on self…choosing to follow Jesus, and choosing Jesus’ priorities, often sets us at odds with the world around us, and with co-workers, and friends and even family. Discipleship does come with a cost.

Without any disrespect to Bonhoeffer, however, I think it is just as important to remember that there is a joyful side to discipleship as well! Participating in the worship that is at the heart of a gathering of disciples brings us joy. The sense of community and fellowship we share when we meet, and eat, and play, and pray together offers us great joy. Reaching out to, and caring for others through service provides joy that is long-lasting and life-giving.

The well of joy that we know as disciples of Jesus Christ is deep. And in those times when life is overwhelming and perplexing; when our brokenness is great; when any hope for a different future has dried up…in all these moments and more, the deep well of joy this is ours in Christ, makes life possible!!

What joy has discipleship brought to you this day? How has the world pushed you around today, leaving you in need of joy?

Jesus invites us to keep God’s commandments and abide in his love, that his joy may be in us, so that our joy may be complete (John 15.11). Quite an invitation, quite a gift for disciples like us!

See you in Worship this Sunday…

For All The Saints

Yesterday I was given the list of names that will be read in each worship service this Sunday, November 1 – All Saints Day…the names of the members of Central who have died since our previous All Saints observance last November. It was a bittersweet read. There are 17 names on the list this year.

As I read through the names, I recalled the faces of those I knew, and some of the memories and stories I associate with them. Some of the names brought a smile to my face, an outloud chuckle, a lump in my throat, a tear to my eye. Because I’ve only been your pastor for a couple of years, there were other names on the list that I did not know. I’ve heard stories about some of these folks from you their friends, and from Session Elders. Every member death is noted by the Session, often with the sharing of stories about the person from the Elders who knew them.

Our worship this All Saints Sunday will include an opportunity for us to remember and celebrate and give thanks to God for the ’saints’ of Central, and for all the other ’saints’ in our lives, who have died in the past year…moving in the great journey of life from the church temporal to the church eternal. Let us gather to worship God with our stories and memories of these saints, with our smiles, with our acknowledgement that they were very human saints (just like us!) and with our tears. I hope there will be lots of story telling before and after the services; recalling how our life together was enriched by the presence of these saints now gone. It will be a holy time.

Also remember that on Sunday afternoon, Central’s organist/choir director, Jeff Stearns will be offering a dedicatory concert to celebrate our newly refurbished organ. The dedication and concert begins at 3:00 p.m., and will be followed by a reception hosted by the Fellowship Cluster. Jeff has been working very hard in preparation for this event, and I’m really looking foward to it! I hope you will come, and I hope you will bring some friends with you. An event like this is a great way to introduce others to the special and faithful community we share at Central!

See you in worship this Sunday…

The Church Is The People

On Sunday mornings at the church I served right out of seminary in Athens, Ohio, I use to help lead the group singing for all of the children and teachers before they headed off to their Sunday School classes. One of our favorite songs was “I Am The Church”. It went like this.

I am the church,
You are the church,
We are the church together.
All who follow Jesus,
All around the world,
Yes we’re the church together.

The church is not a building.
The church is not a steeple.
The church is not a resting place.
The church is the people!

The last line of this little song has it right, in my opinion. The church is the people! Central Presbyterian Church is you and me, all working together, striving to be the disciples of Jesus Christ that God wants us to be.

As we get ready to bring forth our 2010 Stewardship Pledge Commitments and Every Member in Ministry Menus in worship this Sunday, October 25, I hope and pray that we will be led in our commitment-making by the idea that we the people of Central, the members and friends of Central, are the church together; and that our church – with God’s help – is what we the people are willing to support.

The ministries associated with various Ministry Teams can only happen if people (you and me) are willing to sign up and get involved. Our mission spending, and educational and programatic activities, and level of staff support can only be what we the people of Central Presbyterian are willing to support with our stewardship dollars.

In preparation for Commitment Sunday, I invite all of us to look at how we spend our time and how we spend our money, and then pray and consider the spiritual gifts that God has given us, and the financial resources that God has given us, and decide accordingly. What gift has God given you that keeps rising to the surface, just begging to be used? Find the right Ministry Team, or suggest a new Ministry Team, and let that gift be utilized to the Glory of God! How has God been generous with you, and what do you think God expects you to do with this abundance? Is the percentage of your income you are giving to the purposes of God truly reflective of this abundance? Has your rate of giving changed in recent years? Is it time to raise your giving by a half of a percent or a whole percent, again, to the Glory of God?

We all must answer these questions individually, utilizing lots of prayer, but it is our collective effort that makes Central Presbyterian the church God calls and desires us to be.

The church is the people!

See you in worship this Sunday…