Yesterday, two brothers stopped by the church saying that they were looking for a new church in the area.  I intentionally didn’t ask a lot of questions as to why, as often that will elicit responses that border on church gossip and I really didn’t want to go down that road.

As I talked with them, one of the guys asked me, “Tell me about Grace Fellowship in a nutshell.”  So I told him about our service times.  Our Small Group ministry.  I told him that we have an awesome band (which we do).  I told him about the kind of songs that we sing.  I told him about our building, and even showed him around.  I told them about our children’s and youth ministries, and how cool (at least in my mind) they are.  I told him all kinds of things that we do here at Grace Fellowship (to be honest, I was feeling a little like a used car salesman).

I went back to my office to work on a few things before going home and it hit me.  I didn’t really tell him who we are, and what we’re trying to be and become.

So here’s what I should have said…

“Grace Fellowship is about Jesus, pure and simple.  We’re about reaching people with that message and seeing people connect with him, fully.  We are about fully connecting people to God, His Church, and His World.  That’s Grace Fellowship in a nut shell.”

Small Groups are awesome, but it they’re not centered around our relationship with Jesus, they’re just a group hanging out and eating snacks.  Our band is awesome and they lead us in some awesome songs, but if those songs aren’t pointing people to Jesus, it’s just a concert.  Our children’s ministry is awesome and a lot of fun, but if it’s not helping a child connect to Jesus, it’s just glorified babysitting.  Our building is really cool, and inviting, but if it’s not filled with people who love Jesus and want to welcome guests into a relationship with Jesus, then we’re no different than any other social club in town.  People say that Tim’s preaching is awesome and really speaks to them (which it is, and does), but if people aren’t taking the next step towards Jesus, what are we accomplishing?

Last week I read an article in the USA Today entitled ‘Forget pizza parties,’ Teens tell Churches.  I read it, and didn’t put any thought into it.  Later that same day, I was reading one of the youth ministry blogs that I try (key word “try”) to keep up on by youth ministry vet, Mark Oestreicher.  And he was writing on that very article, with his post, Youth Ministry in Decline?

Finally my brain began to power up a bit on this article and Oestreicher’s words.  Here’s a snippet of the USA Today article:

“Bye-bye church. We’re busy.” That’s the message teens are giving churches today.

Only about one in four teens now participate in church youth groups, considered the hallmark of involvement; numbers have been flat since 1999. Other measures of religiosity — prayer, Bible reading and going to church — lag as well, according to Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., evangelical research company. This all has churches canceling their summer teen camps and youth pastors looking worriedly toward the fall, when school-year youth groups kick in.

Then, towards the end of the USA Today article:

Sam Atkeson of Falls Church, Va., left his Episcopal church youth group not long after leaving middle school. “I started to question if it was something I always wanted to do or if I just went because my friends did,” says Atkeson, now 18. “It just wasn’t really something I wanted to continue to do. My beliefs changed. I wouldn’t consider myself a Christian anymore.”

Here are Oestreicher’s concluding thoughts on this artcle:

my second thought (the first being how the article names the problem but misses the point): why are we always so dang quick to point our fingers at everyone and everything else? when will we have the humility to point that accusing finger at ourselves?

i sure would have enjoyed seeing a quote from a youth pastor or church leader or ministry expert who said something like, “well, to be honest, we dropped the ball. it’s our fault. culture has changed, and teenagers have changed, and we’ve still been rolling along with our same ol’ lame pizza parties and camps, pretending it’s 1982. i hope this is a ‘better late than never’ situation where our desire to change and find new ways to engage today’s teenagers with the love of jesus will still find purchase. we’ve stumbled, but our calling is unshaken.”

that would have been cool.

This article & blog post couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I gear up for the fall.  Every single generation dealing with the message of the gospel has dealt with the issue of relevancy.

A couple of thoughts going on in my head right now.  1) How do we make the gospel relevant  Answer:  we don’t.  The gospel is relevant.  Jesus’ message is as relevant today, as it was when he spoke it.  The problem then comes with our communication (spoken & unspoken) of the gospel.  How are we living this message?  Are we recklessly abandoned towards living a life of submission and ministry to bring people to the only hope that can save them?  Do I believe it for myself?  Do the students that I get to minister to see it in me?

Am I constantly trying to find ways to expose students to the work of Jesus for them, or am I just trying to convince them that if they’ll just listen to Jesus their life will be better, and they’ll get along with their parents.

2) We were never promised that the gospel, communicated clear and effectively would bring people (or keep people around).  Isaiah was told that he’d preach, but no one would listen.  Paul said that the gospel is foolishness for those who are perishing.  Jesus said that wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many find it.

It’s tough to live and minister in that paradox.  One thing I am sure of, though.  I am called to do everything with the resources that God has given me to point people to him.  And I want nothing more than to give my life to that cause.

A few weeks back I had the privilege to take 6 of our high school students to CIY MOVE in Holland, MI.  If I’m honest, I was looking forward to this trip, but with little hope of there being any change in our group – much less any change in our church.  The year before, we were scheduled to go it was only 2 weeks from my daughter being born and we only had 2 students signed up, so we cancelled.  I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into this year’s trip.

On top of that, I spent very little time praying for the students that were going on this trip.  I would pray from time to time about the trip, but not near what I needed to have spent.  But one thing I did do, and so glad I did, was hand out some prayer sheets that CIY provided for specific ways that the people here could pray for the students going.  Probably the best piece of planning I did going into the trip.  Six different people praying specific things for these girls during their trip, and 5 days after the trip.

Throughout the week at CIY the students were challenged to become a Kingdom Worker.  They were challenged to see needs, and meet needs.  To see where God’s heart was, and MOVE towards it.  They are doing that.

Here’s what that trip did for those students – and I believe is a direct result of the prayers that were prayed for the students during and after their conference experience.  In just a little over week, these 6 teens are hosting a rummage sale here at the church that will go towards Active Water, a non-profit organization that helps to put bio-sand filters in the homes of people dealing with the water crisis going on in Africa.

These 6 students are being the church, and leading our church in an effort to do something about a problem that they know God wants us to do something about.  I’m extremely proud of these students.  I’m also extremely humbled to see what God is doing in their lives. 

If you want details about the Rummage Sale, here they are:  http://www.facebook.com/connectatgrace?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=122178511162434&index=1

Two things before I start.  1) An apology.  I’m going to ramble.  2) A confession.  I’m not that good at prayer.

I’m excited about this fall when we as a church take a long, hard look at the practice of prayer as it pertains to us personally, and I hope as a body as a whole.  I’m excited, because we have the opportunity to learn from God, and learn from others.

In prayer personally, we have the opportunity to, as Philip Yancey describes it in the study, that instead of inviting God into my day, but instead placing myself into His.  God is at work all the time.  Not just when I’m at work.  God is constantly writing the story of His redemption on the world, and I have the opportunity to join that story.  Prayer is my opportunity to hear from God what my part in that story is. 

I’m rethinking a lot of what I’ve always “known” and preconceived about prayer.  I’ve been taught a lot of things about prayer.  Some good…some, not so much.  One thing I’m learning, and it goes back to placing myself God’s day, not the other way around, is that prayer is more my opportunity to understand God’s heart in every situation in my life.  Is it important at all?  Am I making a bigger deal out of it than I should?  Should I be making a bigger deal about it than I am?  Does God heart break for these people?  This situation?  What opportunities is God already at work in, that I just need to join Him?  What opportunities am I seeing, that really aren’t that important to God?  Prayer is simply my chance to see God’s heart on an everyday basis, and how he is already at work, and what he’s at work in.

Another thing I’m excited about is the opportunity to learn from one another.  As we pray with one another – in church, in small groups, with just one or two others – we get the opportunity to see other people’s connection with the Father.  When we pray as a staff each Tuesday, we take turns each week, and get a window into seeing how other people are connecting with the Father.  It’s beautiful to watch what other people are passionate and compassionate about.  It’s awesome to hear Tim thank God for his mercies each day.  It’s moving to hear Jan plead with God to intervene in our planning – whether here at Grace Fellowship, locally in Gary, or globally in India or Africa.  And in hearing others we get an even broader glimpse of what story God is writing throughout his entire creation – not just what my tiny mind can comprehend.

In prayer we are connecting with a God who is massively bigger than ourselves.  We participate in a story that is bigger than we could ever imagine.  In prayer we get a front row seat to the redemptive story that God is writing.

Today I was working on some database stuff for our children’s and youth ministry.  I was moving kids out of junior high into high school; outof 6th grade into junior high; out of pre-k into kindergarten; and new little ones into the pre-k (Maliki Land).  This last one is what caught my attention.  I moved my son into the Maliki Land class. 

I’ve had moments before where I would just sit in awe and watch Caleb do something or something that he would say would catch my attention.  But today there was something about it.  We already read him Bible stories – just last night he asked to read the book about Goliath (to which he said, “we don’t kill people”).  But now we’ll be getting the small talk cards every month with ways that we can begin really teaching Caleb about how God loves him, God made him, and how Jesus wants to be his friend forever.

I’m excited to see what these next few years bring as we attempt to raise our son to love and know Christ.  I’m excited to have moments as he grows to begin teaching him about serving others.  I’m excited to have him helping me in ministry.  And all of this starts right now with simple things like everyday teachable moments that God puts in our lives.  I’m sure this blog post will be the first of many where I update you on moments where I realize that my kids are growing up.

What is it about someone’s face that we need to see, and there’s a distance if we don’t. Television blurs the face of someone that needs to hide their identity. Peek-a-boo is a fun game that makes your kids happy when you show your face. The face of someone reveals something about someone.

Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior (Psalm 27:9 NIV).  If you do a quick search “face” appears 34 times in Psalms alone; most in reference God’s face (“don’t hide your face”, “I seek your face”, “make your face shine upon us”, etc.).  There is something about the face of God that was important for the Psalmists to want to see.

Whenever I watch an interview with someone trying to keep their identitiy hidden and they have their face blurred, it drives me nuts.  I have a tough time even listening to what they’re saying because I’m concentrating so hard on just trying to see their face - I want to see who they are. 

Questions for me and you:  Am I that concentrated on God?  Do I desperately look to find out who God is that nothing else around me even matters, except to find out who God truly is?  Am I humble enough to realize what my sin is like in God’s view that I would be concerned about God hiding his face from me?

-Jonathon Mitchell

Christmas is highly overrated. Not the original reason for the season, but the man made expectations placed on it through our ever growing consumer hoopla and our never ceasing hope for relational bliss. I hope the Christmas holiday was a huge fun event for you and yours. I have to admit, mine was above average this year. But if your Christmas experience went off without a hitch, I suspect you are either in denial or terminally unique!

I got a little kick back yesterday when I suggested that forgiveness be our focus now that the festivities have ended. “Not everyone has dysfunctional families,” was the comment made to me. Ok, point taken. But no one has perfect families either. Relationships are messy both in the home and in the church.

When Jesus told us to forgive 490 times I don’t believe he was giving us the magic number for developing a no-fail grace dispensing mechanism in our bodies. I believe he wanted us to realize how powerless we are to resolve our own resentments. 490 is a big number. It’s an impossible number. It’s a number that tells us we will never be done with forgiving. It’s a number that tells us we can never get it right without God.

The key to resolving the relational messes in our lives is to surrender those messes (and those relationships) to the one who bridged the gap for all of us. I thought this might be helpful for all of us who had the “Wasn’t exactly what I wanted, didn’t turn out as I planned,” Christmas. He’s still God. And He’s still good. tim