The Power of We
Today is Blog Action Day. This year’s theme is “The Power of We” where bloggers around the world are sharing stories, reflecting on, or whatever they feel about the power of the grassroots movements in their communities and around the world. Very powerful stuff for sure as everyone shares from their own perspective!
Here I want to focus on the needs of the community in which I live and serve.
I live in a town with high levels of unemployment, out-migration, poverty and drug and alcohol abuse. There are families in this town with a long history of being “one of those” families where the name alone will keep you from getting anywhere in life. It’s a vicious cycle for many families… and their kids.
It would be so easy to turn your back on a town like this. It would be so easy to say “God has turned his back on this town” and walk away.
But I’m here to say it’s not true.
The churches in this town are continually looking for ways in which to offer hope and healing to the people of this town. Admittedly we are behind in this action. But not everyone is.
Community C.A.R.E.S. Youth Outreach (CCYO) has been working with the young adults in this town for 12 years. It’s a organization that has never had core funding, meaning it has never been able to hire anyone full-time, it’s all project to project funding. It means that bills often pile up. It means running programs from a run-down school. It means working with young people where you never know where some of them slept last night.
But lives have been changed by the programs offered through CCYO.
And things are changing.
After a year of being unable to run programs due to lack of funding… a year of seriously questioning the future of CCYO and if it can continue to exist… a year of wondering if anyone actually cares for the young adults in our communities… things are changing.
For. The. Better!
CCYO is in the process of purchasing another school building recently vacated by the school board. Various levels of government are taking serious interest in the programs and future direction. Local businesses and organizations are looking for ways in which to partner with CCYO to provide a brighter future for our town.
We are coming together to make it happen. We are coming together as a community to provide for the needs of our families. To help break the cycles of poverty, violence and addiction which threatens the lives of our children.
We need your help too.
Let’s keep the momentum going and growing. Let’s work together to make this town a safe place for all ages, all classes, all genders, all lifestyles.
We can make a difference. When a community comes together strongly to make a difference in the lives of those around us, people can see a way out of the cycle. They know when there is hope they can leave the pain behind. They know the world is a better place, and it will be a better place for their families. We can offer this open hand, this hand of hope, which helps lead someone to a better place.
It’s the Power of We.
7 Truths: Not By Works
“7 Truths: Not By Works”
John 1:10-18; Titus 3:4-7
I have a question for all of you who have ever had a job. Whether it’s a so called “professional” position or working at the corner store, how many of you worked hard in hopes of receiving a raise or a promotion?
We all did it right? Whenever the boss is around, we try to act on our best behaviour, we put a little extra into our effort so when it comes to the time when the boss is looking at our performance we might be considered for an increase. We want to be recognized for the effort we put in.
As I think back to the time I worked for one of the biggest high-tech companies in the world, I think about how hard I worked to gain benefits. I put in a lot of hours. When my boss asked for a report, I dropped everything in order to make sure he had it as soon as possible! I looked for opportunities to make more money, maybe get some stock options, and I had my eyes firmly on moving up the company ladder.
But something changed. The company went through some very difficult times. Our wages were frozen, no more raises. If we were lucky we might get some stock options, that were worth nothing because the value of the company stock had plummeted. People were being laid off all over the place, departments were merged, managers made redundant and even demoted. This bright future I was working towards in the company was gone. My dream of having a nice management office was gone.
I no longer had anything to work towards. I was just filling time, putting in the hours required in order to complete my tasks, and that was it. No extra hours, no extra work on reports or meetings, I fell flat. No drive, no desire, it was all gone.
closures, amalgamations, dire news
I’ve been reflecting on some things lately.
Actually I reflect on a lot of things, part of being a thinker and a bit of a dreamer I suppose.
But lately I’ve been thinking about the state of our churches. I live in a part of the country where by next summer over half our the United Churches in this area will be without a full-time ordained minister. It’s a bit of a sad time as there will be lots of empty pulpits. In the span of 12 months, from July 1 of this year until June 30 of 2013 we are on track to lose 5 full-time ordained clergy (4 to moving to other calls, one to retirement) and one Designated Lay Minister (to retirement).
Despite living on an island that is annually named to one of the most beautiful destinations in the world, we struggle to find clergy who wish to relocate here.
So, we end up talking about closing churches, amalgamating churches, part-time ministry and so on.
Yes we have a lot of churches. This we cannot deny. Almost all of our churches were built in a time of limited mobility. But now when I have to travel a whole day for a couple hours of meetings 500km away, and not really have to think that hard about it, we do have too many churches.
But do we close them all?
No. We close where it makes sense. We amalgamate where it makes sense.
But, we should explore the future of every church we have.
Here’s what I think is missing from 95% of our churches.
A plan.
Many of our churches have no vision, no plan for the future. We all sit in maintenance mode, holding onto what we have.
If we have nothing to work towards, we have no reason for our existence.
Jesus calls us to serve, to go out into the nations and baptize. To preach. To help those in need. To love our neighbours.
We’ve lost that vision, that sense of call. And because of it, we’ve lost people.
So I ask you these simple questions that will tell us a lot about our churches. The answers should be right on the tip of your tongue. I’m going to guess that instead, we need to think long and hard to find something that resembles an answer.
Why does your church exist?
Who does it serve?
Who are you?
Church From Scratch
Yes… the walls are a problem for sure. Walls are barriers to relationships. It’s time to rethink, reshape and restart.
7 Truths: Clear Pointers To God
“7 Truths: Clear Pointers To God”
Colossians 1:15-20
When I was a teenager my family went to visit my grandparents one weekend. As was often the case, one of my cousins was there, and so were one of his friends. It was a nice day so we were outside doing whatever it was we were doing. My grandparents lived on a rural farm surrounded by big, long fields. There was an old road that passed along the edge of the property that led back to a couple of houses and we decided to go exploring. We got to the houses and decided to keep going, we wondered where this road led.
Eventually the road led into some woods, and we kept going. The woods became thicker, the road became narrower and rougher. As we were walking my cousin stopped and asked, “Where’s the road?”
Because of the gradual change in the road, we didn’t notice we had walked past the end of it and were just standing as explorers in the woods. And yes, we were lost.
Much pacing around, looking for the trail which had led us here, I admit, there was some panic, but I was also pretty confident in my sense of direction I could find our way out. I grew up surrounded by woods and had explored the forest many times. My cousin’s friend on the other hand, didn’t exactly remain as calm, he was from town after all.
I often wonder if he found his way out.
I kid of course. After some careful backtracking I located the path, which became a road that led us out of the woods and back into the fields, past the houses and to my grandfather’s farm. read more…