Another Busy Week

I finally got over to Richard and Lisa's to check out their new place.  I helped them move last week and had seen this place, but this was the first chance I had to really check it out.  This week the weather was great and they were all outside enjoying the spring.  As I expected, they are the neighborhood hang out.

The New Crib

These were some of my best hook-ups by the church and they moved.  The new place is really nice and I got the grand tour.  Darryl has like a bachelor pad upstairs.  Pete said the only thing he needs now is a woman.  These are really good people and care about their neighborhood.  A good resource.

The awesome garden crew

We got the garden beds done.  The crew showed up and did the work-impressive.  It was a good afternoon to do all this.   Fortunately, Valerie brought her guy, Max.  The good thing was that Max had a grinder to cut the rebar.  I had a jig saw, but it just didn't have enough guts to cut the rebar.  We had to hand saw some of the timbers and Patrick was amazing!  Patrick sawed through those timbers like they were butter.  Anyway, we got the beds done.  We're a little short on rebar, but I picked it up this week and there's some dirt piles that I think we can use to fill a small bed.

I had a meeting with Josiah this week and he told me about how he had a handle on a dump truck.  Thank God.  I checked out dirt prices and I didn't know how we were going to fill the beds.  Now we have a truck and can get the free compost from the city.  God is so good!

I am really loving doing this community ministry and the challenge is figuring out how I can keep doing it.  I might be able to get something out of the presbytery and I have been talking with a guy who would like me to do a program thing.  I pray God works this so I can keep doing what I'm doing for the next several years.

Community Garden Party

 The garden gang

 Saturday was the organizational meeting of the community garden initiative.  Pat wasn't optimistic, but he was proven wrong.  We had a good turnout and there is hope to add even more to this venture.

This is the group!  I was really excited by our meeting on Saturday.  We have a good group of highly invested people from the neighborhood.  Even more than that, these folks want to meet again next month because they know of several more people who would like to be involved in the garden effort.  Many of those present have experience with gardening and LaRena, the woman behind the big book, is a master gardener.  This is gonna be great.

We surveyed the site and talked about next steps, of which there are many.  We hope to get some roto-tilling done before the freeze and even talked about building some beds so we're ready for summer.  Valerie stepped up to be the secretary and Sydney is willing to be one of the storytellers.  Gene had said that he would be another story teller, but he couldn't be at this meeting.

We discussed the future plans for this group and talked about creating a neighborhood association.  I thought there would be a lot of resistance to that idea, but people were on-board.  I believe God has blessed this group and our purpose.  There's a lot to do and we pray for ongoing good weather in which we can complete those activities.

Big visions and little dreams

I was talking to a Lutheran pastor last week who told me about a Methodist church in Indianapolis that had a person they called a "roving listener".  That's a pretty cool title for what I feel like I am doing in the far northwest side of South Bend.  I just go and listen.  It's more fulfilling when our conversations can touch on God, but that only happens about half the time.  A lot of people have trouble doing what I do, which is amazing to me because talking to people comes so natural to me.

I have been working on developing a vision for my ministry and talking to all these people is a help.  It occurred to me the other day, though, that I am at a point where I need to decide if this is a little dream or if it's a place for a big vision.  So much depends upon the willingness of the churches to invest in me and this ministry because I can do a bunch of little things in the community here and there that meet some needs, but to create a lasting and powerful ministry is going to require time. 

I've started by submitting an initiative to the South Bend Housing Authority which has been favorably received.  I'm waiting to hear from them about some of their requirements before I can start teaching some elementary computer skills classes.  I have a vision of expanding that program to the point where it can be self-replicating in other housing projects throughout the city, but, again, that is a vision that requires investment.

I met with a woman today who told me how to start up a soup kitchen and it sounds like something I could do.  That's part of my huge vision for the area-a soup kitchen, food co-op and clothing.  Putting something like this in place will require a lot of work, time, effort and volunteers.  This is something that I could do.

Part of the issue is having the faith to step out and do this.  It worries me to think about the funding (particularly my salary), but I also know that I need to have faith in the venture.  If this is God's will nothing can stand in its way.  I preach about having faith and God's everpresent support so I suppose this is the time for me to live out my words and stand on my faith.  I believe this is what disciples are charged to do so I need to just do it.

church versus ministry

I didn't publish a post last week as I usually do because we had two missionaries from Nicaragua staying at our house.  I was doing translation work all week and was simply too tired to post. 

The last couple weeks were spent meeting up with people including other pastors.  These experiences have been weird to say the least.  I met with one committee and was describing my ministry to them when one individual asked me what I wanted from them.  Apparently, this church, which is wealthy, is used to being asked to fund mission and ministry.  I was taken aback and told them I didn't want their money-what I was asking for was their prayers and I wanted them to prepare themselves for when I asked them to participate in my ministry.  I'm thinking I didn't make a good impression because we had such different ideas of doing ministry.  Financial support is essential to a community ministry, but those supporters need to buy into the vision and I guess I didn't cast a good vision.

Another pastor I met with is a very faithful guy.  He is pushing the church he serves to do more Bible study and to become serious about inviting others to church.  He told me about some of the outreach things they had done and how many people they had served.  The down-side to the mission work was that not one of those people were grateful for the assistance nor did they attend worship at that church.  For this pastor, mission meant growing the church and he felt that was his calling as well as the Biblical mandate.  He went on to say that it was his thought that doing ministry to the community without directing them to a church was sort of a waste of time.

These were some pretty crazy conversations.  My understanding of mission and ministry is so very different. Helping people with their relationship with God is one thing, but church membership is another entirely.  When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him he said "Feed my sheep", not go to church.  Jesus didn't even say to go buy sheep food, but to feed the flock.  Mission and ministry are about making relationships.  To love people, care for them and feed them we have to know them.  This is the model of the Christ; Jesus became fully human to know us.

I did have some fun last week at a conference with Pat Meagly, Delray Brooks and Kevin Bacon.  I was at a session meeting and got funded to go to a conference with Alan Hirsch presenting.

Best of all I'm beginning to get some vision of where this ministry should go.  I feel resource poor, but I fe
el like God's gonna make it work.  It is really hard getting my ego out of the picture so that God can work.  I started getting scared, too.  I'm asking for a Damascus Road experience but I don't want to be struck blind.  Before you laugh, I'm praying hard for God to give me a vision and that's how God worked in the past.

Please pray for me, follow my blog, give comments and offer direction!

Making Contacts

The last week of community ministry has been pretty inspiring.  I met with a couple of pastors who have hearts for community ministry.  It was a pleasure talking with guys who are so missional but grounded in the Word as well.  Some doors are opening and I continue to pray for discernment.

I met today with a guy who would like to do a bi-racial church plant.  This man has connections in the neighborhood and this seems to be a beneficial relationship for both of us.  A difficulty is that the churches I'm working with are not so excited to share their worship space with another congregation.  I am enthused to consider preaching and teaching with this guy and starting something new that isn't being done in South Bend.  However, I have been a pastor long enough to realize how attached congregations can become to their buildings.  I pray that God will make God's will known so that this gets worked out.

In conversation with one of these ministers it was pointed out to me that I might be overextending.  I am concerned that the two churches feel a part of this ministry and I feel as if I have been focusing primarily on the more southern part of the area.  The area to the north is more affluent and I think there is less need, but I am making that assumption without speaking to folks.  My intention is to begin to invest some more time in the northern part of the territory.

I made multiple phone calls today and I'm trying to get together with the area pastors.  I don't know who would be interested in partnering up, but we will see.  I've made some appointments, but I've also left a lot of messages.

It seems to me that God is active in this ministry.  God is moving things in such a way that ministry opportunities are present.  I think this brings folks up to date and so I'm going to slow the frequency of posts to weekly now.

Oh, I got a call to discuss and interim position.  The position would be 2/3rds time in a church about an hour from Niles.  It was a temptation to accept this call, but I ended up saying no.  I don't know this sort of temptation is happening at this time.  Depending on your pneumatology, one could see this as the intervention of evil to frustrate the work of the Spirit.

First Steps

The last post was about this huge undertaking that I'm grappling with in South Bend.  I touched on some of the challenges I faced jumping into this and my friend, Rev. Steve in CO, emailed to ask how I dealt with these.  I had actually meant to write about this in the first blog, but was too tired Friday night to write more.

The first thing I did was to go to the Chamber of Commerce and get a map.  The next thing I did was to get some business cards made.  With map in hand, I set about getting to know the area around the two churches who were supporting the ministry.  I prayed as a I rode in a hap-hazard fashion through the area; I tried to allow God to guide me in my travels.  If I felt moved I stopped and talked to people about the neighborhood and so on.  Sometimes we pray and sometimes we don't, but they all know I'm a pastor and that's a possibility.

I am looking for partners in this ministry and so I turned to the internet to research churches, social service providers and neighborhood associations in the area.  I developed a small list from this study and set about visiting those organizations.  There are not too many in the area targeted, which is an indication of need.  The people I did talk to emphasized the need to better define the area I wanted to serve, as well as creating more tangible goals.  The idea of being minister to a neighborhood simply did not make sense to most people and it made even less sense when I told them that I was praying for discernment and that they were part of the process. 

Part of my research involved visiting the denomination's web site.  The PC(USA) is not well equipped to deal with community ministry, despite our spoken support of emergent communities.  If one's goal is to plant or develop a new church, the PC(USA) has a wealth of resources, but that is not my overt goal.  The denomination did recommend a book by David Bos and I was anxious to read that as his wife was my adviser in seminary. 

I went to Better World Books (awesome place) and got the Bos book along with several books on community ministry.  I apologize to Johanna, but the book by David Bos just did not meet my needs.  What I did find was a tremendous book by Carl Dudley.  Basic Steps is an awesome primer for the community minister.  The volume outlines steps to take and offers some direction on how to evaluate information about the community.  I was reassured as I read this to find that my ideas were all right on target with the process recommended by Dudley.  I was also interested to read his small section on the hidden people in the community as well as the intangible rewards and obstacles.  While I had thought about those items that can't be quantified, Dudley made sure that I didn't forget those elements.

Along with all the research I continue to go through the neighborhood and talk to people.  I pray as I go and stop and chat with most people.  Through the process of conversation I have begun to limit the area in which I hope to do ministry.  It has also occurred to me that I am able to begin several small to medium initiatives rather than focusing on one big programmatic thing.  I have also looked at the area and decided that there are three adjoining neighborhoods in which I plan on ministering.  The composition, needs and resources available in those areas are all different so there is a need for different ministry.

I found that in chatting with people I am directed to others in the community or other resources.  These "secondary" contacts have proven to be the most helpful.  These contacts are people who are active in the community and have a good idea of what needs to be done as well as how it might be accomplished.  What I keep finding out is that I need to know more.  It seems like every conversation sheds light on another facet of an issue in the community.

I am ready to begin planning some action, so I am now getting ready to deal with the supporting churches.  I don't know how they will react to my requests to use their facilities and what hoops I will have to go through to make these things happen.  I also know I have access to some funds, but I don't know how that process is going to work, either. 

Please follow this blog as together we can explore this incredible community ministry.

Warming up to South Bend

I knew it wouldn't be too long until something like this happened.  Fortunately, I didn't get banged up too badly, just some scrapes.  You see, I've been biking around the Far Northwest area of South Bend doing community ministry for the last three weeks. I hope this chronicle will provide people with a better understanding of community ministry, the growth it brings to the churches involved and a glimpse into the world of ministry.

I began this ministry three weeks ago with the mandate to go and do ministry.  Two Presbyterian churches, Memorial and Westminster, put their money together and got a little bit more from the Presbytery of Wabash Valley to finance this ministry.  I am amazed that two churches could agree and work together like this.  In my years of ministry I have never experienced two churches working together like this without animosity-props to Rev. Ted Lester who laid the groundwork.  For such a partnership to exist it must be of God!  I have said and written for years that the church must change how it interacts with the world and this initiative is proof that others have the same perspective.  This awesome opportunity to do church differently became mine August 1, 2011.

No limits, no guidance, just go and do.  It is often said be careful what you pray for and so it goes.  As my wife reminds me, this is something that I have asked for since I became a minister some 10 years ago, but this is just huge. Imagine-I was sent out into South Bend, Indiana, a city I didn't know all that well, and told to do ministry.  Scary, exciting, challenging...I think I have an idea how those first disciples felt when they started the first churches.

The most overwhelming part of the ministry was all that needed to be done.  There was no boundary regarding the area I was expected to serve, but I reckoned that I should look at areas around the two churches that were funding the ministry.  I also knew that a resource was the church building.  Even with that in mind, it was a challenge to define the area of ministry.  Stakeholders, providers, possible partners and the very people being served had to be identified.  A lot to be done!