We are coming to the end of our eight weeks of advertisements to the community that lead up to Branches Church officially launching on February 14th, 2010. We have tried to create interest and communicate in simple 'teasers' what Branches Church is all about. We started the week of Christmas and chose to run a different 'teaser' each week. Each ad began with, "Branches Church: Real People, Real Lives, Real Jesus" followed by:
Week #1 - "Still Jesus After all These Years"
Week #2 - "Keeping Church Uncomplicated"
Week #3 - "Thinking Outside the Box - Church"
Week #4 - "People Don't DO Church - People ARE Church"
Week #5 - "Because We Shouldn't Do Life Alone"
Week #6 - "A Safe Place to Grow"
Week #7 - "Just Come as You Are"
Week #8 - "Feel the Love"
God has a plan for the me He wants me to be, and the you He wants you to be. He is not a mass producer, but a hand-crafter. His plan for you will not look exactly like His plan for anyone else, which means it will take freedom and a little exploration for us to learn how God wants to grow each of us.
When Theodore Roosevelt Jr. landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944 with the men he was commanding, they realized they had come ashore on the wrong beach. They were not where they had planned on being. They were not where other people thought they should be. The terrain didn't match the maps they had studied. They did not however, head back to the relative safety of the ship. They did not try to get into the 'right spot'. Roosevelt is credited with saying, "Boys, let's start the war from right here!" And they did.
From where we can see it as humans, we do not know exactly where God is working in someone as they start to form the intention of following God's leading in their life. They may not be where they thought they would be at, or where we think they should be at in this point of their life. They may not recognize God at work around them because it doesn't look like what they've been told it would look like. Or maybe they haven't left the comfort of the familiar surroundings they are in even if they are destructive or dangerous.
If the Church will stop trying to get the world to want what we've got (denominational affiliations, church membership, fellowship among ourselves, and member services) and start offering what they need, which is what people have always needed: God in their lives, we'll see transformation in those whose lives we touch. We'll see fruit OF the Spirit in lives being transformed BY the Spirit. Branches Church has been compelled by the Spirit to embark on a journey that will create a church community where people do not have to become 'like us' in order to find God.
We all learn differently, struggle with different sins, and relate to God in different ways. What we at Branches Church value as the measure of your devotion to God is not your religious life, or lack thereof, but simply your life; the trajectory of your heart toward God. We are going to start by saying, "Just come as you are, we'll start the journey from here!"
Showing posts with label Journey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journey. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Monday, November 2, 2009
It's Official!
It's so good to be back home after our two weeks on the road in church planting training and assessment interviews with ARC (Association of Related Churches). Robin and I are wondering how we're ever going to remember all we've taken in so we can pass it on to you guys. As situations arise we'll be better prepared and able to proactively address them. And, there's always the books to open again and again!
ARC has officially invited Branches Church to partner with them in planting in Menomonie! It's an honor and a privilege to have the coaching, mentoring and accountability that comes with a successful organization like this. They will help nurture our strengths and coach us in our weaknesses until the vision of what God has placed in us is launched successfully and beyond.
As we continue the process of laying the foundation of a new work, we will find it is as much work inside each of us as it is putting our hands to work setting up a portable church on a Sunday morning. To help us in that process we are going through the John Burke book, "No Perfect People Allowed". Last week we completed chapter three asking ourselves these four questions as we build this local church:
1. When was the last time you really had a dialogue with a non-Christian person to try to understand why he or she held their particular beliefs?
2. If a spiritual seeker came into your church, would the average person try to convince him/her in one conversation to change, or be willing to dialogue and listen as much as speak?
3. Do you feel comfortable creating a culture where people could hang out, question, and doubt for months or years as they wrestle to find faith? What fears or concerns does it raise for you?
4. What personal mindset shift, vision-casting, story-telling, or organizational changes could be made to better create a culture of dialogue?
Branches Church is a "come as you are" place and although that seems a little simple, it is still a journey...for all of us; come as you are but don't stay that way. For some it is a journey of selflessness, for others a journey into their fears of pain and darkness. Either way, going from A to Z with God starts with A to B...and so on. So come as you are with us and we'll build this local church and journey into faith together!
Mike
ARC has officially invited Branches Church to partner with them in planting in Menomonie! It's an honor and a privilege to have the coaching, mentoring and accountability that comes with a successful organization like this. They will help nurture our strengths and coach us in our weaknesses until the vision of what God has placed in us is launched successfully and beyond.
As we continue the process of laying the foundation of a new work, we will find it is as much work inside each of us as it is putting our hands to work setting up a portable church on a Sunday morning. To help us in that process we are going through the John Burke book, "No Perfect People Allowed". Last week we completed chapter three asking ourselves these four questions as we build this local church:
1. When was the last time you really had a dialogue with a non-Christian person to try to understand why he or she held their particular beliefs?
2. If a spiritual seeker came into your church, would the average person try to convince him/her in one conversation to change, or be willing to dialogue and listen as much as speak?
3. Do you feel comfortable creating a culture where people could hang out, question, and doubt for months or years as they wrestle to find faith? What fears or concerns does it raise for you?
4. What personal mindset shift, vision-casting, story-telling, or organizational changes could be made to better create a culture of dialogue?
Branches Church is a "come as you are" place and although that seems a little simple, it is still a journey...for all of us; come as you are but don't stay that way. For some it is a journey of selflessness, for others a journey into their fears of pain and darkness. Either way, going from A to Z with God starts with A to B...and so on. So come as you are with us and we'll build this local church and journey into faith together!
Mike
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Walkin' in Memphis
Yesterday, as we were passing through on our way to Atlanta, Robin and I got to spend the day in Memphis. You know, Graceland, Sun Studio where Elvis, B.B King, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and many more got their start; as well as those who have recently recorded there like U2, Maroon 5, Bonnie Raitt, and others. And don't forget the best Blues and BBQ down on Beale Street you can find. We did the whole tourist thing - ALL OF IT - food to music to tours. Even the pan-handler who wanted to be the first to welcome us to Memphis...Too fun! It was just what we needed to relax and laugh and eat after last weeks intensive 12-16 hour a day training!
We were reminded as we toured Graceland and the VERY small Sun Studio building that life is a series of choices and investments. Not necessarily in the physical things, but in the eternal things that we eventually get measured by...what we become remembered for, what mattered to us, and that it is not about how or where you get started, but how you finish that matters the most.
Branches Church has the vision of being real people, with real lives and real Jesus; and living this out by accepting people where they are on their spiritual journey and walking that journey with them into a growing relationship with Jesus. (that doesn't mean they will believe like me or you on this or that...that is not the measure of spiritual growth - more on that later)
In order to accomplish that we cannot expect the beginning of our journey to look like the end of it. We cannot start with everything God has for us...it's too much. It's a journey for the church, it's a journey for you and me, and it's a journey for the guest and for the seeker of truth that uses Branches Church to journey together toward what Jesus has for their life. The start is not the end. It's a series of choices and investments in time, prayer, people, each other, our families, our community, and our relationship with Christ as we start looking more and more like what He is doing in the world today as His body. How we finish as Branches Church and the impact we have on people because we are following hard after what God is doing in our communities is what matters the most. Let's never forget that!
Mike
We were reminded as we toured Graceland and the VERY small Sun Studio building that life is a series of choices and investments. Not necessarily in the physical things, but in the eternal things that we eventually get measured by...what we become remembered for, what mattered to us, and that it is not about how or where you get started, but how you finish that matters the most.
Branches Church has the vision of being real people, with real lives and real Jesus; and living this out by accepting people where they are on their spiritual journey and walking that journey with them into a growing relationship with Jesus. (that doesn't mean they will believe like me or you on this or that...that is not the measure of spiritual growth - more on that later)
In order to accomplish that we cannot expect the beginning of our journey to look like the end of it. We cannot start with everything God has for us...it's too much. It's a journey for the church, it's a journey for you and me, and it's a journey for the guest and for the seeker of truth that uses Branches Church to journey together toward what Jesus has for their life. The start is not the end. It's a series of choices and investments in time, prayer, people, each other, our families, our community, and our relationship with Christ as we start looking more and more like what He is doing in the world today as His body. How we finish as Branches Church and the impact we have on people because we are following hard after what God is doing in our communities is what matters the most. Let's never forget that!
Mike
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)