Filed under: Christianity
Tonight my wife and I got a little bit dressed up (I wore my best Hawaiian shirt and tennis shoes with some new jeans) and went over to the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur. This is kind of like an earring in a sow’s ear in a lot of ways and my being there is probably like finding a piece of coal in a bag of diamonds. But my mom had a piece on exhibit there. She is a porcelain painter (or china painter) and I wanted to support what she’s doing.
I don’t know a lot about art. I had some Led Zeppelin posters when I was a teenager – if that counts. Anyway, we roll up to the art center and go inside. I’ve never been before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were probably 50 people in the place (it might be 1500 square feet – in an old historic house). They were serving drinks and Hors D’oeurves and people were chatting up a storm. It was deafeningly loud. And there was art everywhere.
It seemed like everyone knew someone and the conversation was lively. No one acknowledged our presence, welcomed us, offered to give us a tour or any refreshments. I guess they assumed we knew what to do. We really didn’t know the layout of the place but it was small and I quickly started moving from room to room hoping to find my family somewhere. We looked in each room where people were milling around and chatting – every time we entered a different room I felt like I was being stared at. It seemed obvious that I was an outsider – at least to me.
We never found mom or dad – but we did find her painting (above) and my Nephew’s pastel of George Washington.
After we located the paintings, and determined we did not know anyone – we went to the area where they were serving refreshments. Several people were grazing some nice looking stuff but when I tried to get a plate no one moved and I sort of felt in the way. All the people simply stood there chomping on fancy finger food like cows chewing cud and talking about whatever art people talk about at these gatherings.
Finally we had enough of feeling out of place and made our way to the door. Outside several people had gathered on the steps and were blocking our exit – but we navigated our way down awkwardly as they glanced at us. Perhaps they were wondering – weren’t those the people who just came? Or maybe they noticed my shirt didn’t really go with my shoes.
We were there a total of 5 minutes and it was the most uncomfortable 5 minutes I have spent in a long time.
This is the way most guests at your church feel. They feel like the outsider, like they don’t speak the lingo, and like they don’t know anybody or understand what is expected of them or what is supposed to happen. It is our job as Christians to make sure that guests are welcomed in a way that makes them feel comfortable. That might look different in different churches but it never includes making them feel like outsiders, or like they don’t belong, or ignoring them assuming they will find a place to fit in.
Whatever your church and cultural context, remember that you have ONE shot to make an impression on your next first time guest – and you WANT them to come back. Whatever it takes – you as a church member, pastor, whatever have to have that in mind EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY!
I have to admit…I am a sports fan. I love baseball, football, and will on occasion watch basketball, (when the Rockets are winning).
I have my favorite sports commentators like, Dan Patrick, Mark Vandermeer, Gene Peterson, John Madden, and of course, the great Milo Hamilton. I will have to admit also that I have watched Keith Olbermann on ESPN’s Sports Center and liked his commentary. He’s no Stuart Scott…but then…who is.
But today….ah today…I ran across a video of Keith Olbermann spouting his venemous attack at President Bush and he made me angry. Not at the President…but at Keith Olbermann.
In his attack of the president, Mr. Olbermann had the audacity to attack President Bush’s character while pulling things out of context that President Bush had said. While spouting his ‘out of context near hatred’ for the President, he demanded that President Bush apologize to the American public for keeping us in this, as Mr. Olbermann called it, ‘War Of Lies’.
Now I can’t say that I agree 100% with everything that President Bush has done or the reasons why we are at war in Iraq. But how can one man demand the apology of another while pulling statements out of context. Sounds alot like hate-mongering to me.
One of my favorite shows on ESPN Radio is a show called ‘Mike and Mike in the Morning‘. I love those guys. One of my favorite segments they do is called ‘Just Shut Up’. In this segment they have different people who have said outlandish or absurd things in the sports community, and they vote on who should ‘Just Shut Up’. It is sometimes very funny.
My nominee for this week is….drum roll please…Keith Olbermann.
Hearing Mr. Olbermann spout off about the President is like hearing me rant about the effects of global warming. I have no clue what that means.:)
I think Mr. Olbermann should stick to sports commentary. I liked him better then.
p.s. I think you owe the President and apology Mr. Olbermann. But then…that’s just my opinion.
Filed under: Christian, Christianity, General, Real Life, Relevant Christian, Relevant Life, Revolutionary
I ran across this article in Outreach Magazine a few days ago, and thought it appropriate as a follow up piece for “eBay Your Religion”. – Jimmy
Across the country, churches are closing their doors on Sunday mornings to serve their communities through the new four-week churchwide campaign called Faith in Action. Will you join them?
By Heather Johnson
Curtis Lake thought the flood of 1996—when eight inches of water filled his suburban home—was disastrous. But what the first week of November 2006 brought him and the other residents of Sumner, Wash., turned out to be much worse. Nearly 10 inches of rain fell on the town of 10,000 just south of Seattle. Seven rivers flooded. Streets filled with mud and silt. And this time, Lake’s belongings sat under 18 inches of water. Also destroyed were 33 of the 41 mobile homes of River Park Estates, the senior living park he manages.
“We lost everything,” Lake says. “And most of the residents just left.”
But, to his surprise and relief, help arrived. Nearby Calvary Community Church (cccsumner.org) had cancelled that weekend’s services to head out and serve the community as part of a new four-week churchwide campaign called Faith in Action. Little did the congregation know their service weekend would be so well-timed; Sumner had never needed so much help.
Early on that Saturday morning, a forlorn Lake stood surveying the damage at the River Park Estates’ front gate, when more than 250 volunteers “just started showing up,” he recalls. Volunteers set out to save salvageable items by removing mud and sifting through personal belongings. Clean-up crews from the church eventually emptied 49 trash dumpsters of debris collected at the mobile home park.
“You know, Calvary was just an absolute God-send,” says Lake, who now chats with the church’s associate pastor on a regular basis. “I saw those people there to help, and it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”
Demonstrating Christian service is the heart of the Faith in Action campaign created by leading Christian publisher Zondervan (zondervan.com), Christian relief organization World Vision (worldvision.org) and church communications firm Outreach Inc. (outreach.com) [parent company of Outreach magazine]. The three organizations have put together a name and program to a movement that has been gaining momentum for more than a decade, starting with pioneers like Vineyard Cincinnati founder Steve Sjogren’s servant evangelism ministry (servantevangelism.com) and Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Ark. (fbclr.org), with Pastor Robert Lewis. Eighteen years ago, Lewis led a focused, churchwide reorganization to make serving the community a core value of the church.
Faith in Action focuses a congregation’s attention on local, national and global needs, as well as God’s heart for service. For a full month, sermons and worship services, small group discussions and daily devotional readings, all lay the foundation for the campaign’s culminating event—“Faith in Action Sunday” community service project(s) and the corresponding cancellation of regular worship services. Moreover, the campaign also has an intentional outreach focus, where unchurched friends and community members are invited to join in the volunteer efforts, serving alongside church members.
It has been said that the unchurched don’t care about what Christians know until they know that Christians care. And to that, Calvary Community and many other U.S. churches are saying OK, we’ll show you by putting our faith into action.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE.
-EXCERPTED from Outreach magazine, “Features,” May/June 2007
Copyright © by Outreach magazine. All rights reserved. Used by permission
