Collaborate

Carey Nieuwhof: The Change You Need to Embrace

First Things First

Carey Nieuwhof seems to be a pretty great guy.

Next week at the Orange Conference, he’s going to be explaining to Senior Pastors from across the country why they need to take on the mission of reaching families in their communities.  I’d imagine that anyone attending his breakout would have a foot up on everyone else in the room if they read this chapter.

I’m just saying.

Quick Take-Away

So, I’ve loved some chapters of this book, and I’ve wanted to scream at others… this chapter did a little bit of both for me.  It would be easy for me to miss the chance to explain why this chapter is awesome… so I’ll first speak to what spoke to me and our church’s current context.

Our church is a church that cares more about those who are not attending our church than those who are.  So, reasons #1 for why Carey embraced family ministry is one that I think would resonate with our staff: Family Ministry Might Be The Greatest Outreach Opportunity The Church Has Today.  That is huge.  Parents in our community aren’t staying awake at night, wondering what our senior pastor is going to be preaching on Sunday morning… they’re worrying about their kids.  The crazy thing is – I’m staying up at night worrying about their kids too.  I think we can leverage that.

Okay… the thing that drove me crazy…

Carey talks about different kinds of changes a Senior Pastor has to face in leadership.  He talks about how it’s important for someone in leadership to be able to overhaul entire systems for the hope of a better tomorrow.  Then, Carey shares his own story… a story in which he realized that a massive restructuring would have to happen in order for his church’s ministries to align.  Then, after realizing his system needed a huge overhaul, he left his denomination and started a new church.

If I’m being totally honest, this made me scream a little bit in my head.

I understand that someone’s story is someone’s story.  Carey can’t change the way in which God led him to embracing family ministry.  But, the last thing I want to do is have my Senior Pastor read this chapter and get some crazy idea about leaving our church to plant one with a clean slate.  I want to know that a church which thrived in the 70′s and 80′s can reinvent itself as a church that exists to serve and equip families in the year 2010.  If I pass this chapter on to our pastor, I may actually white-out these two sentences:

Ironically, two years later, in late 2007, a few of us left the denomination we were serving to start Connexus Community Church.  When we had a chance to plant a church for the first time, we built it around a family ministry model.

Seriously, I am a big fan of Carey.  I’m stoked for the way that he’s reaching uncommitted families in his community with the Gospel of Jesus.  And, if I seriously cut out those two sentences, then I’m going to pass this chapter on to our senior leadership team.

This post is 1 of many in a series.  I’m assuming that the contributing authors of Collaborate want to have a conversation with me.  You can read my open letter to them here.

Collaborate

Anna J. Light: Parent Liasons

First Things First

Anna is an awesome woman with an amazing passion for youth and connecting with families.  I had the privilege of meeting Anna last year at the Orange Conference in Atlanta… though, at the time, she was going by her maiden name – Anna Meadows.

I truly appreciate Anna’s call to us in ministry – we need to build a bridge between those of us with an agenda (read as: church staff) and those we hope to equip and connect with (parents and students).  This might be a novel concept for some… but it’s an essential for all of us.

Quick Take-Away

I love this concept… but (and I’m sure I’m not the only one), I struggle putting it into practice.  I can cast vision for small group leaders.  I have a harder time asking a parent to put one more thing on their plate by asking them to help me greet and welcome other parents when they could be in church or a parenting class.  Again, I TOTALLY get why I need to do this.  We need to bridge the gap between ministry leaders and the parents we’re trying to engage.  Maybe if I knew who my target was… the perfect recruit for this sort of a team… maybe then I could begin to dream about who I know that could fill that roll.  Until then, I’m loving the concept and struggling with my next step.

This post is 1 of many in a series.  I’m assuming that the contributing authors of Collaborate want to have a conversation with me.  You can read my open letter to them here.

Collaborate

Michael Chanley: Rising Tide

First Things First

I love Chanley’s story.  Every time I hear church services on the AM dial, I think of him.  Even though I’ve heard the story first hand, I love the fact that so many others in ministry are getting to read it for the first time.  Very cool.

Chanley’s chapter was the big set-up.  His words launch the thoughts that follow.  When I heard the buzz that Chanley was spear-heading this project… I knew it would be awesome.  Once he sets his mind to something, it happens.  I’m convinced that this guy can accomplish any goal he sets his eyes on.  Jesus is doing something special in and through Michael Chanley.  I’m stoked to get to watch what happens with his ministry and adventures like cmconnect.org over the next few years.

Quick Take-Away

I’m digging the way that Chanley has refined his goal in the context of his ministry: to connect parents and families to Jesus and one another.

A current challenge of mine is to refine what we’re trying to accomplish in ministering to and partnering with children and families in our ministry context.  Chanley can communicate his goal in 10 words.  I take closer to 10 sentences.  I’m also loving his idea of helping parents move from being responders (what did you learn? did you have fun?) toward initiating faith conversations.

This post is 1 of many in a series.  I’m assuming that the contributing authors of Collaborate want to have a conversation with me.  You can read my open letter to them here.