We had an awesome time with many of the launch team members yesterday at Justin and JJay’s apartment. They have an incredible apartment with a huge balcony overlooking a castle, an old church and the “bath houses” of Badenweiler.
We talked about the four “core values” of the church.
1) A SAFE PLACE – to discover a relationship with God. We talked about how the style of the church will be one with a totally unchurched person in mind... and without “churchy” language.
2) FAMILY ORIENTED – where kids can feel like they’re the center of attention or the “Superstar” for an hour and a half on Sunday mornings. We want to be a fun, safe place for kids to experience God.
3) MISSIONAL LIVING – we want the entire church to be involved in ministry of some kind. We believe that everywhere we go in our daily lives is our “mission field”. We don’t want to do church... we want to BE the church.
4) AUTHENTIC FAITH – not television evangelist faith... but how to trust God in the daily details of our lives when we need to pay bills, struggle in our relationships, etc. And this faith will be characterized by taking calculated risks for the Kingdom. God is not honored by small-minded, play-it-safe, comfort zone faith.
In Matthew 14 we read the story of Jesus walking on the water. When Peter realized it was Jesus, he asked Jesus to call him to come. Jesus called him; and Peter responded. Although the boat was filled with disciples, Peter was the only one willing to take a huge risk and get out of the boat. And he was also the only human ever to walk on the water besides Jesus. The higher the risk, the higher the reward!
Each of the team members shared their passion for a certain area of the ministry and how they could get involved. Then, we talked about how we can serve the community and how to get the word out about the church in different ways. They had some incredibly creative ideas. What an awesome and diverse team that God is raising up here!
We also talked about meeting every Sunday for a short service and then break off into a few groups to talk about the area of ministry that each is involved in. We are adding people each week that are interested in helping us launch....or that are just checking it out. Everyone is welcome at these meetings!
God is so good! We have found a building that is incredible. We are working on getting city approval to meet there, funding, getting our non-profit status, buying equipment, etc.
Prayer:
- That the city officials approve a “church” in this area and that they will work with us concerning handicap accessibility.
- That a few of the team members would be accepted into the University of Freiburg or the job internship that they desire in the Freiburg area.
- Housing for the interns (and a few others) that are raising support to come help us.
- Provision for those that are now raising support to come join us.
- More team members so that we can start with a bang.
- Talented musicians to join the team because good music is at the heart of what we are doing.
- Direction for all of us because we are “stepping out of the boat” while we try to create a type of church that we have never seen here before!
