Those who make the journey with you...

I was going through some photos from our Watermark launch team days.  It was fun to look back and see how far we've come.

One thing struck me, though.  As I looked at one of the earliest launch team photos we have on the web I noticed that of the 10 people in the picture, only six of us remain in Watermark... my family and Tabea (one of our staff members).

One went to become a teacher in North Rhine-Westfalen.  A young couple is back in the USA.  Another is serving at her home church back in the Netherlands.  The last one is still in Freiburg and we see her from time to time, but she just isn't involved anymore.

I remember one of my mentors telling me that very few of those that start with you will complete the journey with you.  I knew this going into the church planting process... but today reminded me of just how true this is.

God brings some people into our lives for just a season.  Our job is to encourage them to follow the God's path for their individual lives.  We need to help them get where they're supposed to be... even if that isn't with us or our church.

Although not pictured here, one couple that helped us for the first year told us that their kids had made friendships with kids in another church through an after-school program, and they wanted to start attending that church.  I know that pastor - he's a good guy.  They'll be involved in a good church where their kids are happy.  I was happy to give them our blessing.  Actually, this couple expected us to tell them they were missing God's will, but we instead encouraged them to get involved in their new church

Another couple was "on loan" from their church for a year.  They were an immense help, but felt that when their year was up they needed to get involved again with their home church.  Others have moved for jobs or school, etc.

Some won't complete the journey because it's too tough, or because of disappointment or disillusionment, and that's okay too.  As individuals from our launch team told us they weren't happy at Watermark anymore, or that "things just don't feel the same as they used to," we weren't surprised.  Of course not... our church is growing!  It's supposed to change, just like a baby is expected to grow.

As my mentor says, "People will view the church in light of the size it was when they first came."  If they joined the church or the team when we started (42 was our first month's average), they expected to have the same amount of access to us and to the other team members.  We were one big happy family.  We met at the church and at my office (Starbucks) on a regular basis.  But as the church started to grow and more people got involved, this became more difficult.

Let me put it this way: as we've grown, so has the number of relationships... actually, the number of relationships increases exponentially for each new person involved.  When you go from five people to six the number of relationships increases from 10 to 15  And the more people you add, the more complex this becomes.

With this in mind, it's easy to see why people become frustrated.  It's harder and harder to have the close knit relationships we used to have... especially when our mission is to continually expand our relational circles.  We have to be prepared for the fact that most of the people we start with won't complete the journey with us.

God asks us, though, to develop each person He sends to us, and to have them develop others.  We have to trust that when good people leave - especially those we've invested heavily in - He will send us others that are even better.

Remember... whatever we sow (plant) we will reap (harvest). (Galatians 6:7)  If we want the right people to come to us, we need to be willing to release people to fulfill their destiny.  In other words, we need to pastor with open hands... hands that welcome people when they come.  And hands that release people (with a blessing) when they go.

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.

Servolution Challenge

Over the past month Watermark did a Servolution Challenge.  Robin and I had in our hearts to take personal finances (and that of a few of our friends) and give every adult that wanted to participate €40.  Their mission was to multiply it and go creatively serve our city.  We had 60 people accept the challenge!

We even got some positive press coverage from the regional newspaper (which is not normal for independent churches).  And at least two other churches (in other parts of Germany) and one nation-wide campus ministry are going to do their own version of our Servolution Challenge!

Here is a quick synopsis of SOME (not all) of the things they did:

• Gave Christmas presents, school supplies, books, clothes and house shoes to needy children.
• Gave an after school program craft supplies .
• Served volunteer firefighters breakfast.
• Presented nursing home residents with roses.
• Served staff NICU nurses breakfast.
• Baked goodies for local school teachers.
• Baked homemade cookies & muffins for a halfway house (last phase before their final release from prison) and then left flowers and 10 envelopes with IKEA gift certificates.
• Handed out chocolate to the homeless guys in the city.
• Took chocolate bars to the cleaning staff of the trains.
• Delivered toys, games, Hula hoops and sidewalk chalk for a program that works with children.
• Homeless people were given diapers, food and toiletries.
• Helped a single unemployed mother of 3 with train cards for her kids, household items and helped her find a job!
• Bought people at a homeless shelter groceries and household items.
• Bought cooking utensils and a vent for a youth home so the youth can cook without a smoke-filled room.
• Bought groceries for a known beggar who has 7 children to care for.
• Handed out free train tickets at the station.
• Put a case of Starbucks coffee in the fridge for hospital staff with encouraging sayings attached.
• One team went around the city and gave flower bouquets and Cokes to all of the toilet cleaning staff at the businesses and restaurants.
• Served a crowded refugee home by playing games with their children. They caught soap bubbles, drew w/sidewalk chalk, and painted. They talked with all of the parents and gave them coffee, chocolate, toys, pens and food.
• Gave out board games to non-profit group that volunteers to watch intercultural children after school.
• Gave a bag with bread, drink, eggs and flowers to a begging woman.
• Gave a man with a big hole in his leg a bag with food, antiseptic compresses and a train ticket home.
• Gave an unemployed shepherd a bag with dog food, some muffins and a drink.
• Served some “punks” soft drinks and cinnamon rolls.
• Gave workers of a special bus with a coke and some pretzels.
• Delivered a bag of dog food to another group of “punks” sitting with a dog.

Thanks to all those that gave and those that prayed!  Keep up the good work... you ARE making a HUGE difference!

A special thanks to Phil Burton and City Mission Kaiserslautern for helping birth this vision in us and for being cheerleaders along the way!

PS. As a grand finale we did a city-wide American Easter Egg Hunt for Freiburg.  More info & a video in our next post.

Organic small groups

We have been looking at our small group program lately.  Honestly, it's not much of a program.  Programs require work, organization, finances and publicity.  We decided from the beginning that at Watermark small groups would be encouraged, but not managed.  Actually, we've even challenged our people to start their own groups.  I told them that if they need "official permission", they now have it!

We believe that being a part of a group of people that love you, pray for you and that keep you accountable is very important.  This is where authentic relationships exist, which is our first core value.

We have one group of young German University students (girls) that meet in a pub. A bilingual, co-ed group meets in a dorm.  A group of guys meets at different places (with the motto "What is said in this room stays this room").  And we have groups that just get together every now and then, like our worship team.  They like to jam together and perform publicly as a group, as well as watching each others' gigs.  The only group that we initiated is a teaching-style Bible study.

Yes, this is giving away control.  And it could potentially allow a group of people to head off in the wrong direction.  But is leadership really all about control?  Or is it more about equipping, imparting into and releasing people to do what God has called THEM to do?

By allowing leaders to lead naturally, instead of us creating a structure and putting them over a group, we allow their leadership gifts and talents to be developed.  We don't have to provide the direction, energy or structure to keep things going.  And never forget if the true leaders that God sends you aren't given a chance to lead within your church, they will go somewhere else.

Besides, if we'll just keep the team focused on our core values and our mission, those that want to hijack the vision won't gain the influence necessary to do so.

This church is really a lifeline and a family for our people. We don’t really have a lot of rules or organization, but we have a team that is so amazing... they take initiative and just make things happen. As the team grows, our people are taking others under their wings and “mentoring” them in a very natural and organic way. It is exciting to see something working very well that was only a dream 18 months ago.

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.

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.

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!

Miraculous week at Watermark!

This past week was amazing!  A week ago Sunday one of our newest team members asked us to pray for her knee.  She had torn her ACL through a bicycle crash and was told she needed surgery.  She was hobbling around with a stiff brace.

Well, we prayed for her and then she went to a specialist.  He told her he couldn’t find the tear.  He saw the other doctor’s report, with precise description of the damage, but couldn’t find any damage on the newer MRI.  He basically said, “Have a great life… you don’t need me!”

And then some of our team prayed for a lady that had such bad arthritis pain in her arm that it had become unusable.  This is especially bad because she needs to be able to use her arm for the retirement home where she volunteers. So she asked us to pray for her Wednesday night at our Bible study.

She awoke Thursday morning with no pain in that arm whatsoever!

And on Sunday morning, one of our team members was having a lot of headache pain and concentration problems because of a concussion he’d received the week before.  When we prayed for him, he said the pain was instantly gone!

But the wildest thing was that a visitor came on Sunday that had been invited by one of our team.  I had the strangest conversation with this man.

He told me that he didn’t believe Jesus was “the way”.  He instead believed in “the truth”… a universal truth that is overarching, whatever you want to call it.  He felt that Jesus was someone who showed us how to know “the truth”.

Anyway, on Saturday night he had a dream where an angel appeared to him.  The angel revealed to him that he should go to Watermark on Sunday.

He told me he LOVED the service.  Since he’s a musician, he really connected with our worship team (all professional musicians!).  And apparently my message on what love REALLY is connected with what he’s been “feeling” lately.  As he said, “Love is just another expression of the truth.”  God is so creative in reaching people far from Him!

And then he told me he had grabbed a bunch of business cards and was bringing all of his friends!

Keep praying… you’re helping us change the spiritual landscape here in Freiburg, where less than 1% of the population has a personal relationship with Christ, or attend a life-giving church.

Baby dedication

A few weeks ago I was privileged to have our first Watermark baby dedication.  Noah and Malin’s parents committed to raise them to know and love God.

In dedicating a baby, it’s important to note that we are not determining their salvation. We are celebrating with the parents as they commit to raising their children to love God.

And we as a church committed to praying for them as well.  As all parents know, raising kids is hard.. and they NEED our prayers.

What a cool day this was!

PS. At Watermark kids are incredibly important!  God has called us to not only be a safe place for kids, He’s called us to be a place where they are valued and treasured.  Thank God for the incredible kids ministry team God has given us!

We did it!

I just wanted to give you a quick update on yesterday’s opening service.

In the last month our team distributed 5000 invitations (flyers) in both the city center (with a piece of chocolate) and in our neighborhood mailboxes.  With our limited budget, we could only afford 5000, and we distributed them by hand.  We had 104 people in attendance… about 60% students.  And not counting the 35 that were helping us, that gives us a success rate on the flyers of 1.4% (5 times the normal success rate of direct mail in America).  We also used a lot of Facebook marketing.  To see some of the artwork we used & pics of the launch service, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jandrperrin/WatermarkFreiburg#

Another thing that was very successful was to invite the church neighbors to a free grill party at our building two weeks before the launch.  We told them we wanted to introduce ourselves and let them know that we were here to give, not take from the community.  It opened some great opportunities for conversation.  One guy and I had a long conversation about what a church should look like.  I explained that if it is to represent the biblical Jesus, it should be “ridiculously generous”.  He said that was an interesting thought… he also brought his family to the opening service and said he loved it!

There were a few minor technical glitches, but the service was a huge success!  Afterward we had some amazing conversations with both neighbors and other visitors.  As a matter of fact, when asked what she thought, one young lady told one of our team members, “There is not one thing I can think of that I would change about this church!” 

The best part is that one lady gave her heart to Christ!!!  (There could have been more, but we haven’t heard back from our team members yet.)  When she received our postcard, she said to herself: “This is a sign from God that He hasn’t forgotten about me!”  She is fighting an addiction to alcohol and drugs.  And she cried the entire service.

I want to thank those of you that have prayed, given and supported what God has asked us to do.  It is humbling to be a part of what God is doing here in Freiburg, Germany.  We were told what we accomplished couldn’t be done: “You can’t expect that many people to show up.” “No one will come to Christ for a long time.”  “This city is full of empty churches… what makes you think you can fill yours?”

It has been an exhausting journey, but totally worth it.  And as I told our team, it is an awesome privilege to be able to introduce Christ to people that are far from Him.  I can’t say enough how proud I am of our team.  I would unashamedly put our team up against any church planting team in the world!

Our first baptism!!!

Here’s the video of Stefy’s baptism (see the previous post for the story)…

Stefy's baptism (on her 20th birthday!)

This never gets old!

Today was awesome!  First we had our mini-service/Launch Team meeting, which was attended by 8 visitors.  Then we had a great lunch, followed by a baptism.

Stefy is one of our Launch Team members from Ecuador (Freiburg University Student).  She told of how she grew up in church and in a Christian school, but walked away from God.  When her cousin died she realized what she had been missing… her relationship with God.  So she recommitted her life to Him.

And today I was able to baptize her… on her 20th birthday!

What is amazing about this is that we haven’t even officially launched our church and already we’re functioning like one!  Soon we’ll post the video from today.

If you’re in the Freiburg area, be sure to check out our website: http://watermarkfreiburg.de.  There’s always room on our team for more people that have a heart to bring Christ’s love to the Freiburg area.

Eine To-Do-Liste für Gemeindegründer

Viele Gemeinden sind dafür bekannt, gegen was sie sind und nicht wofür sie stehen. Heute möchte ich euch eine "To-Do"-Liste für Gemeindegründer mit auf den Weg geben. Diese Dinge müssen wir berücksichtigen, wenn wir eine Gemeinde gründen wollen, die Freiburg zum Guten verändern soll.

1. Sei ein Träumer - Träumen lässt uns wie Gott werden. Vergleich 1.Mose 1:3. Gott sieht Dinge, die noch gar nicht existieren und spricht sie dann in Existenz.

- die größte Angst ein Gemeindegründer zu sein ist die Tatsache, dass man eine leere Seite vor sich hat...es ist noch überhaupt nichts festgelegt, außer Gottes Traum einer Gemeinde. Das Risiko zu Versagen ist ein natürlicher Bestandteil dieses Vorhabens. Aber die möglichen Gewinne sind unglaublich groß!

- das beste ist die leere Seite...es ist noch überhaupt nichts festgelegt, außer Gottes Traum einer Gemeinde. Das ist sozusagen eine Einladung für große Träume!

- Was könnte man erreichen, wenn Geld, Helfer und Räumlichkeiten überhaupt kein Problem wären?

- Was träumst du? Wenn du nicht jetzt schon davon träumst, wirst du es nie haben! Als ich für Watermark gebetet habe, sprach Gott folgendes zu meinem Herz: "Einer muss den ersten Schritt machen, einer muss die Sache ins Rollen bringen!"

2. Sei flexibel - Wir versuchen natürlich für alle möglichen Probleme gewappnet zu sein, aber die Dinge verlaufen oft ganz anders wie geplant. Deshalb müssen wir flexibel bleiben.

- Apostelgeschichte 16:25-28 - Die Bekehrung des Kerkermeisters passierte, weil Paulus und sein Team total flexibel waren, als Gott ihnen nicht erlaubte in bestimmten Gebieten zu evangelisieren (vgl. Apostelgeschichte 16, 6-10)

- Was, wenn wir mehr als 200 Mitarbeiter wären? (Natürlich kommen sie nicht ohne Einladung!)

- Was, wenn der Ton nicht funktioniert?

- Was, wenn die Kaffemaschine ihren Geist aufgibt?

- Wir müssen diese "Was, wenn"-Situationen so gut wie möglich durchdenken. Die Umstände berücksichtigen und uns dann, wenn nötig ggf. neu platzieren bzw. anpassen.

3. Sei ein Erfinder - Das passiert ganz automatisch, wenn du flexibel bleibst. Hör nie auf nach besseren Wegen zu suchen, für das was du odere andere tuen.

- Offenbarung 13:8 Jesus war das Lamm, dass geofpert wurde bevor der Weltgründung. Gott hatte die kreative Lösung bevor das Problem überhaupt auftrat.

- Wir sollten ständig nach besseren, schnelleren und billigeren Möglichkeiten für das was wir tun Ausschau halten.

- Wenn wir aufhören Sachen zu erfinden, dann bleiben wir stehen und sind nichts weiter als eine Arbeitsbiene.

- Leiter denken, Arbeiter tuen

Gott hat mir einmal gezeigt, dass Gemeindegründer ihm sehr ähnlich sind...sie bauen etwas aus dem Nichts. Wir sollten beten, dass Gottes Kreativität, die durch den Heiligen Geist in uns ist, sich entfaltet und lebendig wird. 

A To-Do List For Church Planters

So often churches are known for what they’re against, rather than what they’re for. Today I’m going to give you a “To-Do” list for church planters (and launch teams). Here are things that we must do if we’re going to successfully plant a church that impacts the Freiburg area.

1. Be a dreamer – Dreaming makes us like God! Genesis 1:3 He sees things that aren’t even there and speaks them into existence.

• The scariest thing about being a church planter is that you’ve got a blank page… there’s absolutely nothing written on it but God’s dream for your church. The risk of failure is a very real part of the game. But the potential rewards are huge!
• The exciting thing is that you’ve got a blank page… there’s absolutely nothing written on it but God’s dream for your church. This is God’s invitation to dream BIG!
• What could we do if money, people, and facilities were no object?
• What do you dream about? If you can’t see it you’ll never have it! As I was praying about Watermark God spoke to my heart. He said, “Somebody’s got to be the first one. Someone has to start the ball rolling.”

2. Be flexible – We are attempting to prepare for any problems that may arise, but things rarely turn out like you plan. We MUST be flexible.

• Acts 16:25-28 happened because Paul and his team were flexible when God wouldn’t allow them to go into certain areas with the Gospel (Acts 16:6-10).
• What if we have 200+ people at our launch? (They won’t come if we don’t invite them!)
• What if the sound doesn’t work?
• What if we have too many kids?
• What if the coffee pots don’t work?
• We need to think through the “what ifs” as much as possible. But we need to be able to “read the defense” and adjust as necessary.

3. Be an innovator – This is a natural result of being flexible. Never stop looking for better ways to do what you’re doing… and even what others are doing.

• Revelation 13:8 Jesus was “the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.” God came up with a creative solution before the problem even existed.
• We have to constantly look for a better, faster, cheaper alternative to what we’re doing now.
• When you stop innovating, you start declining. And you become nothing more than a worker bee.
• Leaders think; workers do.

God once told me that church planters are like Him… they create something out of nothing. We need to pray that God’s creativity which is resident in us (through the Holy Spirit) would come alive in us.

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

Feeling stuck?

New Perrin Ministries Blog: Feeling Stuck - http://bit.ly/bPxRRS

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!

Ein sicherer Ort

Super Neuigkeiten: Gott hat ein Wunder für Camila getan. Die Freiburger Uni hatte ihr eigentlich gesagt, dass es überhaupt keine Möglichkeit gibt dieses Jahr ihr Studium anzufangen, da sie noch weitere Credits in einem Kurs in Heidelberg sammeln müsse, um zugangsberechtigt zu sein. Camila hat jedoch eine Email erhalten in der steht, dass sie doch akzeptiert wird. Das heißt, dass Camila hier in Freiburg bleiben kann und uns weiterhin bei der Gemeindegründung helfen wird. Gibt es einen besseren Weg die Gemeinde anzufangen als mit der Macht Gottes?

Unser Team besteht zur Zeit aus 15 Leuten, außerdem sind 8 weitere Personen am überlegen entweder sich selbst zu engagieren oder sammeln Geld, um sich uns hier in Deutschland anzuschließen. 

Was das Gebäude betrifft...wir treffen uns mit einem Architekten, um zu sehen inwieweit das Gebäude für unsere Zwecke umgebaut werden muss, so dass wir es als Gemeinde benutzen können. Soweit sieht es ganz gut aus. Es scheint so als ob uns der Baumeister wohlgesonnen ist. Er hat uns ein paar Vorschläge gegeben, die uns helfen, die Erlaubnis für das Gebäude zu bekommen. Trotzdem müssen wir noch viele Spenden sammeln, aber Gott schenkt uns Gunst überall wohin wir uns wenden!

Zum Schluss hier noch ein kleines Protokoll vom letzten Treffen, für jene, die es nicht geschafft haben zu kommen.

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Eph. 4:11-12, 16 (Hoffnung für Alle)

11 Einige hat er zu Aposteln gemacht, einige reden in Gottes Auftrag prophetisch, und andere gewinnen Menschen für Christus. Wieder andere leiten die Gemeinde oder unterweisen sie im Glauben. 12 Sie alle sollen die Christen für ihren Dienst ausrüsten, damit die Gemeinde Jesu aufgebaut und vollendet wird…… 16 Er versorgt den Leib und verbindet die Körperteile miteinander. Jedes Einzelne leistet seinen Beitrag. So wächst der Leib und wird aufgebaut in Liebe.

• Gemeinden wachsen und erfüllen ihre Berufung, wenn alle Personen involviert sind. Beachte: "Jedes Einzelne leistet seinen Beitrag..."
• Viele Gemeinden haben ihren Schwerpunkt auf dem Pastor und seinen/ihren Gaben. Watermarks Fokus liegt auf den Menschen, es geht nicht um Robin und mich!
  • Denn unsere Aufgabe ist es, euch zu helfen euren Platz zu finden und euch dabei zu helfen, eure Gaben für Gottes Ehre einzusetzen.
  • Wir werden mit euch Hand in Hand arbeiten, unser Fokus liegt aber auf unserer Vision und unseren Werten, Menschen zu befähigen und ihnen zu helfen ihre Gaben für das Königreich Gottes zu gebrauchen.
• Wir wollen Leben verändern. Deshalb fragen wir uns nicht, was wir von ihnen bekommen, sondern was wir ihnen geben können.
• Mit diesem Gedanken im Hinterkopf wollen wir nun über unsere Werte/Grundsätze sprechen...wir wollen, dass die Gemeinde ein sicherer Ort ist, um die Beziehung zu Gott zu erforschen.
  • Wir müssen uns vorstellen, wie es sich anfühlt als Besucher in eine Gemeinde zu kommen, insbesondere, wenn man normalerweise in keine Gemeinde geht oder an traditionelle Gottesdienste gewöhnt ist. Wie fühlen sich die Menschen wenn sie in die Gemeinde kommen, was denken sie? Welche Ängste und Hoffnungen haben sie?
  • Wir wollen "Benutzer-freundlich" sein. Das alte MS DOS Programm war schwer bedienbar, es sei denn man war ein Programmierer. Seit Windows und MAC Programmen kann nun wirklich jeder einen Computer benutzen...das meinen wir, wenn wir sagen die Gemeinde soll "Benutzer-freundlich" sein. Wir wollen das Watermark eine Gemeinde ist, mit der jeder - unabhängig vom Hintergrund oder Erfahrung- gerne in Kontakt kommt und jeder eine Beziehung zu Gott finden kann. Deshalb müssen wir folgende Punkte neu überdenken:
    • Sprache
    • Image (Aussehen, Atmosphäre, etc.)
    • Schilder („Toiletten“, „Kinderkirche“, „Krabbelstube“, etc.)
    • Einstellung - das Leben von vielen ist ein einziges Durcheinander, besonders von denen die keine Beziehung zu Christus haben. Wir müssen barmherzig und gnädig sein. Wir müssen uns daran erinnern, dass wir alle eine Entwicklung machen und alle Probleme haben.
  • Wir wollen die freundlichste Gemeinde der Stadt sein. Das hilft uns "klebend" zu bleiben, denn wegen Beziehungen bleiben Menschen "kleben"!