Easter Egg Hunt

Official Watermark Easter Egg Hunt Video from Watermark Freiburg on Vimeo.

As a finale to our Servolution, we held a city-wide Easter Egg Hunt.  We had 12,000 American easter eggs (had to be imported), which were filled with toys or candy.  Cornerstone Church in Blue Springs, MO, USA sent a team of willing volunteers that worked with our church to stuff eggs, prepare for the Easter Sunday Carnival and stuff mailboxes with nearly 8000 invitations. We had a lot of fun together!

After we setup for the Egg Hunt we watched as a few people trickled in here and there.  It was a bit disheartening at first... all that work for so little people.  But we knew this was what God wanted us to do.  About 15 minutes before the Egg Hunt was supposed to start people started coming in droves from all directions!  All told, we saw about 1000 people show up... over 500 kids!  It was amazing!!!

And the most significant part of the entire Easter Egg Hunt: at least 6 people came to Christ as a direct result.  And we have now gained a reputation in the community for being a church that gives with no strings attached... just like Jesus did!  A local school has even asked that we help them renovate some of their playground equipment because we've earned such a good reputation through serving.  It pays rich dividends to obey what God tells you to do!

You can see more info on our Servolution by checking out this post.

Don't get derailed!

Last Sunday we started our Servolution at Watermark.  For those that aren't familiar with this term, a Servolution is a church revolution through serving.  It fits perfectly one of our four core values: being missional and serving others with no strings attached.  In that service we gave 40 EUR to every teen and adult that committed to use it to serve someone that wouldn't or couldn't serve them in return.  God put it on our hearts months ago to do this, and we were happy to do so.

In the hopes of getting many people involved, we sought to create some buzz by posting many Facebook messages, and getting our team to do the same.

One of our staff members posted both a picture and a quick thought about it.  One of the guys that lives in her dorm posted a response to it on her Facebook Wall... he said it was a stupid idea and it was just a scam to make money.  She explained in more detail what we were trying to accomplish, and our heart to be a church that serves.  But he then posted a short clip from our initial fundraising video for the church launch (almost two years ago)... one in which I gave the expected budget and asked for people to get involved.  She was so upset that she removed his comment from her Wall and continued the conversation with him privately.

It was really frustrating to us... we took out over 3500 EUR from our personal savings (and some donations from three of our close friends in the USA) to make this happen (including our kids' tuition and next month's rent).  And here was someone with absolutely no clue trashing what we had put our heart and soul into.  Robin made the statement: "We PAY a lot of money just for the privilege of pastoring this church!"

But God reminded me of something my mentor says, "It's the guy with the football that everyone wants to tackle."  We have to understand that if we try to get out of the box and shake things up, there WILL be opposition!  Small people with small dreams will always try to crush the big dreams of others.  That shouldn't ever stop us (or even slow us down) in our pursuit of God's purpose for our lives.

I saw this so clearly a few years ago... in 2 Samuel 5:17 it says that as soon as David saw the realization of his God-given dream of becoming king, their enemies - the Philistines - brought their entire army to wipe him off the face of the planet.  There will always be opposition.  And the bigger the dream, the greater the opposition.


In the end this whole thing only made us more determined to do what God has called us to do.  We don't have time to worry about our critics or what others would say.  We need to stay on task: reaching the unreached of Freiburg and helping them find and fulfill their purpose in God's plan.

My encouragement to you today... don't let the opinions of others or their belittling comments derail you from pursuing God and taking risks for Him.  There is much to be done and little time to do it!
May God strengthen your heart and bless the effort you put into finding and completing His mission for your life!

The mistakes we made...

I met with a prospective church planter today.  As we talked he asked what mistakes I had made... he wanted to learn from them.  What an excellent question!  I'm going to list a few of the mistakes we've made.  Maybe you can learn from them as well.

• I made a decision without seeking God.  Another young church wanted to rent our building on Sunday evenings.  Because they were small they asked if they could have it cheap.  And they wanted it immediately because their lease was up.  It started out okay, but they asked for too much too soon ("Can we use it another couple of nights a week for the same price?  Can we have the key?  Can we use the sound system?  Can we...?")
• I wanted to help them out, so I said yes without taking enough time to really seek God about it.
• I didn't charge them enough to begin with because I wanted to help them.  It was okay at first, but turned out to be difficult when we had to start charging more because of heating costs.
• I allowed them to have a large event there without enough of our staff there to make sure everything was okay.  They ended up using our personal instruments and equipment and allowing children into areas we had clearly said were off-limits (and that without supervision).  The necessary conversation (confrontation) afterwards wasn't pleasant.  I could've saved us all a headache had I just proceeded slowly.
• In the end I felt just like Joshua when he was tricked. (Joshua 9)  He and the elders of Israel didn't seek God about a major decision, and it cost them.
• After some more differences of opinion, raising the rental price and frustration on both sides, we finally came to an understanding.  In the end it turned out to be a good working relationship with them... but not without a high emotional cost up front which coud have been avoided had I taken it slower and prayed the situation out.
• Lesson learned: Take time to seek God about the decisions you have to make.  And if you're uncomfortable about a decision there is probably a reason for it.
• I missed opportunities that came dressed as interruptions or inconveniences.
• One time it was a homeless person that came to our service.  I spent some time talking with him and gave him some money for lunch.  But as we drove away (and he walked away) I knew I was supposed to have given him a ride, taken him out to eat with my family and brought to the train station and bought him a ticket.  I was tired, so I passed up a God-given opportunity to minister to this young man.
• Another time I was at the Freiburg main train station.  I had already missed the train I was supposed to catch to take me home.  Now I was hanging out at McDonalds working through my emails, awaiting the last train out of town for the night.  10 minutes before my train came I packed up my stuff to go. Then I noticed a teenager at the next table that was obviously bored.  He was playing with his phone and with the tray his food had been on.  I felt as if I should talk with him, but I chose instead to make sure I caught my train so I could be back with my family.  It was good to be back with my family, but definitely a bad choice.  I had disobeyed God.
• Lesson learned: Never disobey what God puts in your heart to do.  I'll never know what could have come from each of those opportunities.  But I am determined to obey God the next time!
• I didn't confront as quickly or decisively as I should have.
• We had a very talented team member that was sort of a "diva".  Everything had to always be about this person... whether it was prayer, or it was music, or whatever.  They were happy to serve, but when they were serving, they took the most "high status" serving position.  Because this person was immature, I used "kiddie gloves" with them because I thought they couldn't take it (instead of being brutally honest with them, which would have led to quicker growth in their lives... or possibly to them leaving).  In the end, when they left I realized I had helped them grow, but not as much as I could have.  I partially wasted the time we had with them.
• I realized I was too patient with this person, and with others.  As a leader I am responsible for helping my team grow... at times this means I need to be brutally honest with people and hold them accountable.  That's not always the best thing to do, but in this case, it was definitely the right thing.
• Lesson learned: When I don't confront people, I am not honoring them enough to help them grow.  It shows that I am valuing their gifts or talents more than I value them as a person.  And Jim Collins writes that when we allow a person to remain on the team that is either a low performer, or has a bad attitude, it hurts the team morale.  And you lose credibility with your top performers because they can see that this person either needs to be retrained, repositioned or removed.
• I invested too much time and energy in the wrong people because I saw their potential. 
• We had people on the team that were highly talented, but not very motivated.  When it comes to the church, I am a talent scout... I enjoy finding talented people and encouraging them to develop their gifts and use them to further the Kingdom of God.  The problem is that I sometimes spend too much time trying to motivate unmotivated but gifted people.  I see the potential of their gifts so I work hard to bring it out.  I guess I think that if I can get them using their gifts for God they'll realize how exciting it is to be used by God to help others and jump in with all their heart.  Unfortunately this isn't usually the case.
• When I focus on this kind of person, it ends up wearing me out.  These kinds of people are often like black holes... they consume resources but don't give anything.
• Lesson learned: I should have looked for willingness to apply what they heard rather than ability.  I have a responsbility to invest where I get the most return.  It's the most responsible way to invest the gifts God has given me.  I only have so much energy, time, prayer, finances, etc to give.  I need to spend (invest) them wisely.
• Jesus talks about how people respond to the Gospel in Mark 4 (Parable of the Sower).  Some reject it.  Some receive it with joy immediately, but later walk away when times get tough.  Still others receive the message, but life's care and worries choke out its effectiveness.
• Finally, there are some which He calls "good ground".  They receive the message, take it to heart, apply it and produce fruit.  But even then, some only produce 30% of what they are capable of.  Others produce only 60% of what they are capable of.  And some produce to their full potential.  This last group is where we should be investing the lion's share of our time.
• Some will say this isn't fair.  But even Jesus chose only 12 from among the multitudes.  And only three of them went everywhere with Him.  He didn't concern Himself with what was fair.  He knew what He was doing, and invested the most in His top people.

I hope these thoughts have helped you process some of the struggles you will face.  My prayer is that you as a church planter come to the right place at the right time with the right people to build a thriving, life-giving church.

Launch Brochure

Because we have a number of church planters asking us about how we started, I thought I'd post our pre-launch fundraising brochure. We had this professionally produced. Feel free to use any of the ideas in this brochure... just as we have borrowed ideas from other friends that have successfully planted churches.

Yes, it cost a lot to print this (the initial printing cost was about $2.00 per brochure), but one of the marketing points Robin always makes is that you've got to spend money to make money. We eventually figured out how to get it printed for less than $1.00 per brochure, but it took some research and a lot of favor with a printing company manager.

The point is that serious investors are used to having something professional in their hands to look at and think about (and pray about). The more professionally done it is, the more it captures their attention. And the more it presents us as legitimate church planters that have the ability to succeed... a cause worthy of their consideration.

No one wants to invest in a losing cause. They want a return on their investment, even if that return is souls won into the Kingdom of God and churches planted.

We ended up printing about 350 of these and handing them out to pastors and people that had the ability to give sizable donations.

Please don't misunderstand me... we handed something to everyone that showed interest in supporting our church launch. But our relatives and friends didn't need a fancy brochure to convince them that we were legitimate. They just needed to be able to get to the information, which was already online in the form of a website. We had sharp business cards printed up with the relevant contact information and website address on them.

The brochure below is just a web-friendly version. Click on the link at the bottom to download or see the high-quality version.

Click here to view the high-quality version, or right click here to download this brochure (choose Save as...)

Thoughts on Church Planting and Church Government

When it came time to setup the legal association for Watermark, we followed the ARC (http://relatedchurches.com) model within a European context.  This means we have an internal Council and an external Board. The Council consists of seasoned believers within our church that are "on-board" with the vision and core values, and are able to think out of the box.  They have no voting rights, but are there to help me think through issues we are facing and offer suggestions.

The Board is made up of voting members (from other European cities). They are all seasoned ministers that are well-respected and that I've known for a long time (and that know me and my heart well).  I explained to them at length what we had in our heart to create and how we wanted to proceed to make sure they understood clearly before I asked them to be on our Board.

I learned a long time ago not to have people in your church be your voting members until you've firmly established who you are, both as a team and as a church. You need to have freedom to be able to tweak the vision, core values, etc. As you find what works for you, and you get a better idea of who are your "seed planted in good ground" people (Mark 4:8), you can begin to add people within your church to the "voting membership". 

I've seen good pastors in Germany get voted out because of a manipulator that is power hungry. I believe most church splits are caused by those that are "planted in rocky soil" (Mark 4:5-6), meaning they get involved quickly with a lot of excitement, but when times get tough, they try to steer the church in the direction of what makes them comfortable, or keeps them in the spotlight (or in a position of authority). They are totally with you until you do something they don't like.

People that have a vote need to be people that are mature enough to understand what God is calling you and your church to become, confident enough to challenge you (when necessary), and humble enough to pray it out (rather than fight/manipulate) and make decisions that are in the best interests of the church. 

And if anyone ever tells you they want to be in the voting membership, you DON'T WANT them in the voting membership!  You want people that will make decisions based on those that haven't yet come through the doors.  You want people who vote that understand it's not about them, but about those that are far from God (those that Jesus misses most).

I tell my team and my church that if they have a problem with me they are welcome to contact my Board and take it up with them. I am submitted to my Board, and will adjust, if necessary.

Not traditional enough?

We had a visit a few weeks ago by a German lady that doesn’t attend any church… and hasn’t since she was young.  She and her wife live on our street.  Her wife loves the church and comes when she doesn’t have to work.

After the church service, she talked with Robin about our church.  She asked why we aren’t more “traditional”.  This lady wasn’t offended, but she thinks a church service should be more like what she was used to in the Catholic Church of her childhood.

Which brings up the “why” question… why aren’t we more traditional? 

I believe my wife gave her an amazing answer… 

Robin told her that I grew up in the Catholic Church and she grew up in the Episcopal Church, with all the traditions, liturgical chants, etc.  None of that meant anything to her until she had an encounter with Jesus.  She never encountered Him in the church she grew up in (nor did I).

But once she went back to her old church, she was amazed at all the Scripture they used.  There was so much there that could have led her to a relationship with Christ.  But it never meant anything to her because the church and its style were so far removed from her daily life.

The reason for our style of church services is so that a normal person off the street can completely connect with Jesus without having had a church background.  Our church is designed to be accessible to the common man, woman and child.

We want people to experience God in all His wonder and grace and build relationships with authentic Christians.  We want people to experience a God that is holy, but is absolutely loving… a God that isn’t afraid of fun, and that wants to be involved in our daily lives.

And it’s working!

Avoiding team frustration

We’ve recently realized that one of the most important areas we’ve neglected so far is failing to train our team members in every area where they will be serving.  And it’s caused some frustration for them.

It’s been so long since we first started serving in a church (almost 30 years ago) that we’ve forgotten what it feels like to be new.  We’ve been doing this so long that we automatically see what needs to be done.  We’re so used to seeing the big picture that we’ve failed to always set our team up to succeed in the small areas.

We’ve also noticed that just because someone says they have a level of expertise in an area doesn’t mean they have the level we need… or that their estimation of their abilities is necessarily the same as ours.  Not that they aren’t doing well, but that we need to invest more time/energy in training.

We’ve done a good job at giving the vision, especially the overarching dream of building a church for those that don’t do church.  But we’ve not done a very good job of training in the specific areas.

So we’re going to be focusing on doing more coaching in the individual areas over the coming weeks and months.  We’ll be bringing in some experts and trainers to help raise their level of expertise and their ability to succeed.

I believe this, more than anything else, will help the undercurrent of frustration that we’ve been sensing.  Our encouragement to church planters… setup a plan to train people in EVERY area where they will be serving.  Then those that are doing well can train others to do it.  We can’t afford to just plug our people into an area and hope they figure it out.

Encouraged, yet frustrated…

As with any startup church, one of the biggest issues is finances.  And especially with a church like ours that is focused on reaching the unchurched and the “de-churched” (those that have walked away from traditional churches), we have to fight the typical stereotype that churches only want people’s money.  This has been a frustration for us, but we knew this was a part of church planting.

But in the things that truly count – people committing their life to Christ, changed lives and people getting excited about using their gifts to impact Freiburg – Watermark is doing really well.  Last Sunday we saw one of our church neighbors give her heart to Christ.  She was invited by one of our team the week before.

And the week before that, a man that told me he is NOT a believer came to church because an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him to come visit our church.  He loved it!  He took a bunch of business cards and said he would invite all of his friends.  He came back last week and was just as excited.

Please continue to pray for Watermark… God is doing great things here and we’re excited to be a part of it!

The Purpose of Christmas

I wrote an article entitled The Purpose of Christmas a few years ago... and thought you might enjoy it.  Here's a little teaser...

I gave in. What was I thinking? My wife asked (begged) me to go shopping with her on the day after Thanksgiving.  My answer?  Ok, sure.  What was I thinking?!?!  I hate shopping!  Even worse, I had agreed to go with her on the busiest shopping day of the year.  The only reason I can come up with is that if she went, I would be at home alone with all three kids ALL DAY LONG!  Oh well…

What I experienced last Friday was UGLY!  People were pushing, adults were fighting over toys & parking spaces (we saw two guys almost get in a fist fight over a parking space), and sales people were rude.  Honestly, it wasn’t all bad.  There were some people that seemed to have some perspective, but not many we ran into.

A bright spot in our day was when we were seated in a restaurant next to a new mom & her baby.  It just so happened that since our sitter was kind of young, we had our baby with us too.  She and Robin struck up a conversation and it wasn’t long before our conversation turned to spiritual things.  She was feeling guilty and alone (as an unwed mother).  We were able to share about Christ’s love and we invited her to visit our church.  It was a total God-ordained appointment.

Anyway, the whole consumer-driven, commercialized theme of the holiday shopping rush always seems to frustrate me.  I keep asking myself, “Don’t they get it?”  I mean… do they really think that’s what Christmas is all about?  If we look at the Christmas story from its original source, the Bible, we can determine the true meaning of Christmas.  Let’s look at it.  There are two biblical accounts to look at, Matthew 1:18-2:19 and Luke 1:5-2:40.

To read it online, click here.

Changed little lives

At Watermark we are highly focused on children’s ministry.  They will get high quality resources and leaders. When it comes to a choice between buying something for our kids and buying sound equipment, we always default to purchasing stuff for our kids.  This is paying off richly!!!  In the past six weeks, three kids have come to Christ!

One of them is a high-energy little guy… a happy go lucky, fun little dude named Alex.  But sometimes he is also an EGR child (Extra Grace Required).  He and his little sister live across the street from the church building, and their mom and dad take turns coming with them… sometimes the children even come by themselves.

One afternoon as Robin was praying for Alex, God showed her a glimpse of what his life could look like.  She pictured him as an adult and what he would tell someone about how he came to Christ.  

She pictured him as a young adult telling about this church that started across the street from where he lived.  He said, “I don’t even remember anyone’s name there, but that’s where people loved me and were happy to see me!  I gave my heart to Christ and I’ve never been the same since!”

Actually, last Sunday, Alex did give his heart to Christ!  And his sister did so the week before.

Pictures from last Sunday

We had a lot of fun last Sunday looking at many of the things people think a Christian is.  We used a lot of props to represent these things.  And Daniel made the perfect illustration of what many people think a real Christian should look like!

Be sure to come back this weekend to see part 2 of “What it means to be a Christian”!

Wir hatten letzten Sonntag riesen Spaß, als wir uns angeschaut haben, was viele Menschen denken, was einen Christen ausmacht.

Wir haben das, ohne es respektlos erscheinen zu lassen, veranschaulicht. Daniel hat das perfekt illustriert, was viele Menschen denken, wie ein echter Christ aussehen müsse!

Sei dieses Wochenende wieder dabei um dir Teil 2 von "Was es bedeutet, ein Christ zu sein!" anzuschauen!

Who we’re reaching… (from Robin)

In our opening service we had a large number of visitors.  One lady was forced to go to her mom's Catholic church as a child and, therefore, hated church. 

She lived as a prostitute for a couple of years and was until now an alcoholic and drug addict.  When she got our postcard in her mailbox, she felt like it was a "sign" from God.  She knew that she had to come on Sunday. 

When Jon spoke about the type of people that Jesus hung out with, her heart was overwhelmed.  She thought... maybe this Jesus isn't mad at me after all I've done. 

She feels very unworthy to have anything to do with "church people", or God for that matter.  She was so excited that there is the opportunity for a new start to life that she asked me to pray with her two times... just so she could make sure that she was saved! 

She was just hyper from all that God did on Sunday and said that still on Thursday "something is happening" to me.  She is so excited that she is dragging her boyfriend to church with her this Sunday (and anyone else that she can find). 

I just wanted to share this with you because she is why we do what we do.  Remember back to when you first gave your heart to Christ!  Let's just keep loving Jesus together... it's contagious!

Der Wert der Kinder (Mitarbeitertreffen am 5.September 2010)

Kinder sind von Bedeutung für Gott

In Markus 9,33-37 und 10,13-16 lesen wir, dass obwohl die Jünger Jesu Kinder als Ablenkung ansehen, sie für Jesus wichtig sind. In Markus 10 steht, dass Jesus aufgebracht ist, weil die Jünger sowohl die Kinder als auch die Eltern weggescheucht haben. Denkt mal darüber nach...es muss schon einiges passieren, damit Jesus ärgerlich wird. Was haben sie angestellt? Sie haben versucht die Kindern von Jesus fernzuhalten. Kinder sind Gott nicht nur wichtig, sondern unheimlich wertvoll.  Wenn sie Gott schon so unglaublich wertvoll sind, dann sollten sie uns genau so wertvoll sein!

Die Investition in Kinder ist eine Investition in die Zukunft

Kinder sind eher bereit ihr Herz Jesus Christus zu übergeben mehr als jede andere Altersgruppe. Ihre geistliche Weltsicht entwickelt sich immer noch. Die Arbeit mit Kindern ist vergleichbar mit der Arbeit mit Lehm, die Arbeit mit Erwachsenen vergleichbar mit der Arbeit mit Statuen. Natürlich ist jede Bekehrung ein Fest, egal wer, egal wann. Wenn sich jedoch ein Kind für Jesus entscheidet, dann kann ein ganzes Leben die Welt beeinflussen!

Wir investieren in Kinder

Weil Gott so einen großen Wert auf Kinder legt, wollen auch wir einen Schwerpunkt unserer Gemeindearbeit auf den Kinderdienst legen. Der Kinderdienst soll viele Ressourcen und nur die besten Mitarbeiter bekommen, deshalb stecken wir viel Kraft, Energie und Werbung in unseren Kinderdienst. Mein größtes Gebetsanliegen ist keine Rock´n´Roll Lobpreisband, obwohl ich natürlich eine große Leidenschaft dafür habe, sondern für Menschen, die uns helfen Gottes Liebe den Kindern weiter zu geben.

Eins unser Motto´s wird lauten: Wir dienen Kindern...Punkt!  Und nur nebenbei erwähnt, wir haben auch Gottesdienste für Erwachsene ;)

The Value of Kids (Launch Team Mtg 5-Sept-2010)

Kids matter to God

In Mark 9:33-37 and Mark 10:13-16 we read that although Jesus’ disciples saw children as a distraction, He considered them important.  As a matter of fact, in the account in Mark 10, it says that when the disciples shooed the parents and children away, it made Jesus furious.

Think about this… you have to do a lot in order to make Jesus angry!  What did they do?  They tried to keep the kids from bothering Jesus.  Kids are not just important, but incredibly valuable to God!  If they are this valuable to Him, they MUST be this valuable to us!

Investing in kids is an investment in the future

Kids are much more likely than any other age group to commit their hearts to Christ.  And their spiritual worldview is still being formed.  It’s almost as if working with kids is like working with clay, while working with adults is like working with statues.  And although we celebrate anytime anyone commits their heart to Christ, when a child comes to Christ, you have an entire life that can impact the world!

We invest in kids

Because of the value that God puts on children, we have to make a solid kids ministry a focus at Watermark… they will get plenty of resources, the best people and a lot of our advertising and energy. My greatest prayer isn’t for a rockin’ music team (although I am passionate about this)… it’s for people that will help us love on kids!

One of our mantras will be: We minister to kids... period! Oh, and by the way…we also have services for adults…

Launch Team Meeting – 29-Aug-2010

Here is the mp3 of the Launch Team Meeting from last Sunday’s meeting… “What is a life worth?” (with translation)

Hier ist die mp3 von der Launch Team Meeting der am letzten Sonntag stattfand… “Was ist ein Leben eigentlich Wert?” (mit Übersetzung)

http://watermarkfreiburg.de/upload/LaunchTeamMtgs/Launch_Team_mtg_290810.mp3

19 July 2010 Launch Team Mtg

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!

Gemeinde Stil

Ich habe kürzlich mit einem Pastor über die Art von Gemeinde, die wir in Freiburg gründen wollen, gesprochen. Ich habe ihm erklärt, dass die Gemeinde ein sicherer Platz sein soll, um die eigene Beziehung zu Gott zu erforschen. Das ist einer unserer Grundsätze.

Er meinte, dass das Evangelium an sich eine offensive Botschaft ist. Ich habe ihm zugesichert, dass ich Ihn verstanden habe. Jesus selbst hat sehr deutlich gemacht, dass Er der einzige Weg ist. Viele Gemeinde nutzen aber genau das als Entschuldigung, um zu erklären warum Nichtgläubige ihre Gottesdienste nicht besuchen (oder nicht wiederkommen wenn sie sie besucht haben), wenn es im Grunde vielmehr die Art bzw. der Stil von Dienst ist den sie anbieten.

Ich will keineswegs implizieren, dass wir besser sind als andere Gemeinden, sondern unseren Auftrag, zu dem Gott uns berufen hat, unterstreichen: Die Ungläubigen erreichen!

Wir alle wollen so sein wie Jesus...es gab einen Grund dafür, dass Prostitutierte, Steuersammler (Mafia) und andere "Sünder" sich in seiner Nähe wohlgefühlt haben. Er war gütig, annehmend und authenisch genug um mit ihnen in Kontakt zu kommen. Genau das dürfen wir niemals vergessen!

Wir werden die Botschaft des Evangeliums nicht kompromittieren! Gleichzeitig bin ich aber definitiv nicht mit einem Dienst einverstanden, der eine verlorene Person vergrault. Wir werden keine Ausreden für unseren Art von Gemeinde, zu der Gott uns berufen hat, machen. Wenn jede Gemeinde (Gruppe von Gläubigen) genau das ist, zu dem Gott sie berufen hat, dann können wir Freiburg verändern!

Style issues

I was talking with a pastor recently about the type of church we are planting in Freiburg.  I explained how one of our core values is for our church to be a safe place to investigate a relationship with God.

He said, “Well, the Gospel itself is an offensive message.”  I told him that I understood what He meant.  Jesus was quite clear that He is the only way.  But so many churches use this an excuse to explain why the unchurched aren’t visiting their services (or coming back if they do visit), when it’s really the style of ministry they offer.  I don’t want to imply that we’re better than other churches, it’s just that we’re laser-focused on who God has called us to reach –- the unchurched!

We all want to be like Jesus... well there was a reason that prostitutes, tax collectors (mafia) and other “sinners” felt comfortable around Him.  He was gracious, accepting and authentic enough to connect with them.  We must never forget this!

We will not compromise the message of the Gospel!  But I am absolutely NOT okay with having a ministry style that scares off a lost person.  We will not make excuses for the type of church God has called us to be.  When each church (group of believers) is being what God has called it to be, we can change Freiburg!

Making happy Christians mad

I came across an exceptional article today and thought it was perfect for the church God has put in our hearts to build! As our church grows, we need to remember to make decisions based on who hasn’t yet come to the church, rather than those that are already attending.

Have an awesome day!

Jon

Making Happy Christians Mad

By Tony Morgan

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:37 AM PDT

As I was reading the Bible this morning, I stumbled upon this verse:

“I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved,” (1 Corinthians 10:33, NLT)

Fascinating perspective isn’t it? Typically, we don’t operate like that. We put personal conviction or preferences ahead of what may be best for others. Think about it…

• It isn’t worship if the music is too loud or too fast or the wrong genre.
• It isn’t discipleship if the content is delivered in a home or online instead of in a classroom.
• It isn’t missions if we help a neighbor who has wealth instead of focusing on people who live in poverty.
• The message is good if it calls out the sin of other people, but when it’s our sin, we’re offended.
• Rather than embracing the ministries that are impacting the most people, we want the church to embrace our personal projects and passions.
• We’re more inclined to give when we can direct how the money is used.

Crazy. You’d think we’d be intentional about living out our faith to do what’s best for others. Instead, we make ministry decisions to try to keep people happy. That’s how we end up with churches full of happy Christians. That’s why churches stop growing. We start doing church for us instead of trying to impact the lives of people around us.

The reality is that if we’re going to reach people outside the church and outside the faith, we’re going to have to be uncomfortable. And, once we figure out what’s best for others today, it’ll be different tomorrow. That will involve change. That means we’ll have to get uncomfortable again.

Let’s face it. It’s a lot easier doing ministry when our only goal is to keep people happy. Doing what’s best for others makes life and ministry messy. We have to be willing to rock the boat. We have to be willing to watch people who don’t have a “1 Corinthians 10:33″-mindset leave the church.

When I stop doing what’s best for me and focus on what’s best for others, though, that’s when real life-change happens. It’s worth making “happy Christians” mad so that many may be saved.

The role of media and the arts in the church

In my conversations with church leaders I often get the question about the role of media and the arts in the Church. Most of the time you can boil their objections down to trying to “dress up” the message of the Gospel, as if it couldn’t stand on its own. The typical argument is that some churches are trying to repackage the Gospel to make it “seeker-friendly”, and in doing so they are watering down the message.

While I have seen this done more often than I care to admit, I have also seen some churches that are accessible, yet producing both converts and disciples.

This past week we were checking out a church in Paris. While there we took the kids to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. What a beautiful church! As I was explaining to the girls about the meaning of the different stained glass pictures and the carvings, it hit me. The Early Church (and the Church of the Dark Ages) explained the message of the Gospel to an illiterate people through images and stories. And this is exactly how today’s Church will be able to explain the message of the Gospel to a biblically illiterate, media-saturated culture!