Mission for the church seems to be summed up very well at the end of the gospel of Matthew when we are told to make disciples of all nations. The Book of Order talks about the Great Ends of the Church – 1) proclamation of the gospel for salvation, 2) shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship, 3) maintenance of divine worship, 4) preservation of the truth, 5) promotion of social righteousness and 6) the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is interesting to note that sessions are mandated to keep these great ends before the church always. I think it would be good for sessions, deacons, and church school classes to have discussion about what each of those great ends means for them and their church.
For Reformed Presbyterians the Basic Beliefs are summed up in the Book of Confessions. In our old Book of Order some of those beliefs were defined as – 1) sovereignty of God, 2) election for salvation and service, 3) concern for order according to scripture, 4) faithful stewardship, and 5) our tendency towards idolatry.
Personally, I believe that each church needs to determine its core values. Interestingly each church has core values but they aren’t always stated. They are tacit or lying under the surface. They are the rules we operate by, often without being aware of them. These values are learned by new members (and pastors) most often when they break one of them. More time should be spent in being intentional about determining what we value and then working to live by those values. Some of the values found in the New Form of Government are – unity in diversity, ecumenicity, continually reforming, being grounded in scripture, election of the people and no congregation makes up the whole church.
Perhaps each of our churches would benefit from spending some time determining our core values, learning our basic beliefs, discerning our mission and following God’s vision for us.

Joe Small reminded the presbytery in 2010 that the distinction between clergy and laity is an inappropriate one. Laos means the whole people of God so clergy are also laity. We in the church have created a false distinction. In addition he reminded us that ordination set part of the laity apart for particular functions but it didn’t eliminate them from being the Laos or laity.

Elton Trueblood in “The Validity of the Christian Mission” reminds us that the ministry of the church given by God has been given to the “whole people of God.” This means that we need to look at things differently. We no longer as “laity” come to church to get something. Laity is the church and is called out to serve God by being His witness in the world. Because people have been set aside for particular functions doesn’t mean the rest of the laity is absolved from having to anything more except supervise.

Herb Codington while visiting in the presbytery said that there are two models of being church. One is the “Attraction Model” and the other is the “Deployment Model.” Most churches operate from the Attraction Model trying to dream of programs that will draw people to the church so that the church will grow and be self sustaining. The Deployment Model however, sees every member of the church being in ministry wherever they find themselves in the world. The Attraction Model tends to see the church as the people that are being served. The Deployment Model sees the church as serving the world. This changes the role of those ordained folks we were talking about earlier as well as those people in the pews.

Kelly Fryer suggests there are five strategic behaviors that can effect change and also enable a congregation to become the church God intends it to be. Those behaviors are: get focused, set people free, take action, expect surprises, and be hopeful.

Getting focused is about getting in touch with God’s will for your ministry. I often wonder how much time our church members spend discerning what their spiritual gifting is and being nurtured to use these gifts to build up God’s Kingdom. I also ponder how much time our sessions spend discerning what God’s calling is for the church as compared to doing business as usual.

We set people free by speaking the truth in love. Leaders are to be truth tellers, and should not be afraid to confront people in a loving way, to state the brutal facts, or to name the hard realities. From my seat I see too many pastors and sessions all of the time trying to appease the negative voice all of the time resenting that. Often this appeasement is made because we are afraid we might lose church members while never realizing our behavior might already be causing us to lose members.

Take action. Be bold land courageous in doing so. Yet the hardest thing in the church to do is to try something new or change the way we have been doing things. We are great at making plans but not so great at implementing them.

Expect surprises. As adaptive leaders, you need to be able to respond creatively to surprises when the come, and you can expect surprises. In the midst of surprises, let your imagination explore what God might be wanting to do! Instead, for many of us, surprises knock us off course, cause us to give up. Perhaps what we need to do is when we are ready to give up is spend some time discerning what God wants us to do. Perhaps we need to be less afraid to fail.

Be hopeful. Healthy, Spirit-led leaders learn to listen patiently to all concerns and adapt as necessary. We, however, are prone to avoid feed back so we can move quickly forward to get our way. Healthy, Spirit-led leaders are able to help people focus on God’s mission and their congregation’s purpose (if we have discerned one) and vision while remaining hopeful about the outcome and knowing that God is ultimately in charge.

1. Incarnation: We must have not only the same message as Jesus but the same method. You really reach people when you enter into their world, their hurt and pain. Just as Jesus was God present in the world through his incarnation the church is God present through this incarnational understanding of being church. We need to recognize the church isn’t simply and organization or institution but the being of God in the world.

2. Proclamation: Proclaiming the truth in love, and in the context of incarnation, is not forcing it down people’s throats. Proclamation is also about formation, describing the kind of people God shapes us into. None of us are comfortable with those who stand on the street corner or knock on our door and try to force us to believe the way they do. However, our reaction to that has been to avoid proclaiming at all or delegating that to others to do. Each Christian needs to become comfortable with their faith story so it can be shared. We also need to recognize that proclamation is more than just preaching, it is our lives in action as well. It is important that we recognize – as James said – that it takes both our words and our deeds together to reach the unchurched.

3. Compassion: The Good News is authenticated by our caring (Luke 4). If you meet a person with a need, compassion leads you to do what you can to meet that need. The most startling thing is to recognize that we have become like the Pharisees in that we have come to assume that we are the owners of God’s love, salvation and gifts and we parcel them out to others as they deserve them. Compassion leads us to share God’s love because someone is in need of it. It is often the very people that we determine aren’t deserving that God is trying to reach through us.

4. Restoration/Development: When you live in a neighborhood where the same needs emerge over and over again, then you have to look at the larger picture and begin to fix what’s broken.

5. Confrontation: The best way to do justice work is to be incarnate in a community. As you work to meet people’s needs through compassion and restoration, you eventually come up against systems and institutions that are keeping people in those conditions, beyond their own irresponsibility or sinfulness. This is when you must identify and confront injustice. The Book of Order reminds us that we have always – as Presbyterians – been involved in bringing Christ’s Kingdom to earth. It is one of the Great Ends of the Church found on the first page of the Book of Order. Unfortunately our understanding of the “separation of church and state” confuses our role in bringing justice into the world.

Holiday Inn Sioux Falls City Centre
Sioux Falls, SD

The purpose of this cofnerence is to inspire, equip, motivate, encourage, and provide rest and refreshment for pastors, CLP’s and leaders of Small Presbyterian congregations.

Registration Deadline: April 1st

Register online, visit www.pfrenewal.org

1. Incarnation: We must have not only the same message as Jesus but the same method. You really reach people when you enter into their world, their hurt and pain. Just as Jesus was God present in the world through his incarnation the church is God present through this incarnational understanding of being church. We need to recognize the church isn’t simply and organization or institution but the being of God in the world.

2. Proclamation: Proclaiming the truth in love, and in the context of incarnation, is not forcing it down people’s throats. Proclamation is also about formation, describing the kind of people God shapes us into. None of us are comfortable with those who stand on the street corner or knock on our door and try to force us to believe the way they do. However, our reaction to that has been to avoid proclaiming at all or delegating that to others to do. Each Christian needs to become comfortable with their faith story so it can be shared. We also need to recognize that proclamation is more than just preaching, it is our lives in action as well. It is important that we recognize – as James said – that it takes both our words and our deeds together to reach the unchurched.

3. Compassion: The Good News is authenticated by our caring (Luke 4). If you meet a person with a need, compassion leads you to do what you can to meet that need. The most startling thing is to recognize that we have become like the Pharisees in that we have come to assume that we are the owners of God’s love, salvation and gifts and we parcel them out to others as they deserve them. Compassion leads us to share God’s love because someone is in need of it. It is often the very people that we determine aren’t deserving that God is trying to reach through us.

4. Restoration/Development: When you live in a neighborhood where the same needs emerge over and over again, then you have to look at the larger picture and begin to fix what’s broken.

5. Confrontation: The best way to do justice work is to be incarnate in a community. As you work to meet people’s needs through compassion and restoration, you eventually come up against systems and institutions that are keeping people in those conditions, beyond their own irresponsibility or sinfulness. This is when you must identify and confront injustice. The Book of Order reminds us that we have always – as Presbyterians – been involved in bringing Christ’s Kingdom to earth. It is one of the Great Ends of the Church found on the first page of the Book of Order. Unfortunately our understanding of the “separation of church and state” confuses our role in bringing justice into the world.

1. Criticizing – it seems to be a natural trait for us to look at something and begin to find what is wrong with it. It is much harder to find the good in something and praise people for that good. It also seems to be easier to find what is wrong that it is to suggest ways that it might be improved.
2. Complaining – for some people this seems to be their calling in life. All of us have known someone who never seems to be happy with anything. All of us at some time or another – probably more often than we wish to admit – have been that person.
3. Comparing – I talk about this one in relationship to stewardship often. We live in a culture that always has to determine who the winner is. We compare ourselves to others – usually people that don’t compare well to us – so that we might feel better about ourselves. How much time to we spend, however, comparing ourselves to our lord and savior Jesus Christ – the one we can never measure up to.
4. Competing – this one cuts me to the quick. I was raised in a family that was very competitive. We couldn’t even play cards without keeping score or using the old wooden match sticks to see who the winner was ultimately. I am still tempted today to consider if I am the better preacher, general presbyter or Christian.
5. Contending – this really has to do with getting your own way. Why is it that getting our way is so important but to once again win the game, be better than others, and also fill our selfish needs?

Is it really possible for us to give these up and think first of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the world that does not yet know Jesus Christ. Remember the great commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself”