The Glory Has Departed
Friday, February 4, 2011
How To Be a Successful Church Planter -
Do Not Sip Drinks While Watching
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Joel Lillo (Fox Valley) has left a new comment on your post "How To Be a Successful Church Planter - Do Not Sip...":
Wow, you can almost cut the envy with a knife here!
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(W)ELS Church Planting
My name is Jared Oldenburg and I am the church planting pastor for the Castle Rock Mission (name TBD), a mission of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. I have had a chance to work with congregations in urban and suburban Milwaukee, Santa Maria, California and Thornton, Colorado (vicar). After graduation from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2002, I was assigned to start a church in Maple Valley, Washington near Seattle.
Before we get into too many details, some general church planting principles ought to be laid out.
First, it is generally good to start a church in the fall because many people are settling down into some routines after a busy/distracted summer.
Second, if you are going to write about planting your church, make sure you use exaggerated blog titles that make it sound like you are about to send something to Mars.
Third, in this day and age, it makes some sense to get to know/serve a community first and launch second.
Up until this point, our primary goal has been to locate mission-minded WELS members who would like to help our effort. It is not that we don’t care about the unchurched, but instead we figure we can best serve and reach the unchurched in the future if we strengthen our core group. To help us align, we chose to go through the book Essential Church. The book is not gospel truth, but it did provide some great points for discussion
Planning
If you think of the launch meetings as casting a vision for the new church, the planning meetings will focus on the business end of launching a church. Couples and individuals will be encouraged to focus on either worship, outreach, education, or service as we get ready to have our first preview service in May.
Prelaunch II (May-August)
During this time we will be holding worship once each month. The weeks between preview services will allow us time to follow-up on guests and make any necessary changes (location, timing, equipment, etc.). This is also a time when we will start to emphasize outreach and service to the community. Not only will we have something to invite people to (worship), but we will also be mobilized to do some things in the community.
Launch (September 2011)
Sometime after Labor Day we will launch our weekly services. The idea is that by this service date and with the help of the preview services, we will have the location, signage, welcome, timing, equipment, etc, ready so we can focus our greatest efforts on reaching those who are far from God.
http://jaredoldenburg.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/houston-prepare-for-launch/
http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/search?q=oldenburg
Dotted eighth delay...ha ha ha ha
The video should have also said something about proper pronunciation of words. I remember one WELS pastor who said Gaaawd instead of God. Similarly, today I attended a Catholic funeral for a guy who was WELS from 1972 to 2001, but only because his second wife was WELS and the Catholic church refused to give him communion due to a prior divorce. When he had outlived both his wives, he went back to the Catholic church and received "full absolution"--for the divorce--not for being WELS for nearly three decades. Ironically whenever the priest said "heaven," it sounded remarkable like "hell"! Maybe he was a secret Satanist :) That kind of ruins the idea of preaching some deceased person into heaven when it sounds like you're saying he'll be in hell forever. I envy the deceased guy though because he had high paying union jobs, drank beer and smoked a lot, and hunted and fished much of the year, and still lived longer than most. Not that I'd want to live that life of leisure and do those things, but wouldn't it be great if that were even an option for the rest of us?! Just think of what one could do for the church if one had that much leisure time, health and money.
With respect to Bruce Church's comment...a lot of people who have a lot of money, long lives, and are in relatively good health in their old age do NOT do that much for the church.
Whenever there is work to do at church they are usually out socializing during the week nights, or traveling on weekends or during holiday times.
Sure, they have a lot of money but they spend a lot on late model cars, nice homes, trips, kids and grand kids. Plus the want to keep a wad to pass on to the next generation.
A number of those older couples/families at our church who had good paying union jobs had second homes...well, they call them "cabins", in nice lake areas.
And when they pass on, the church often receives just a few hundred dollars or no legacy at all.
I have found that there is little correlation between health, wealth, and perceived available time and the subsequent donation of talent, treasure and time to the church.
You are as likely to find an 80 year old arthritic woman cleaning the church as a 55 year old, pretty good health early retiree, wealthy man or woman doing the same thing.
And when the money is counted each week, it is often the struggling family with 3 or 4 kids that are giving as much, or more, and more regularly than the "wealthy" worker or retiree....
Now I really am....Grumpy
Grumpy, I agree. I attended an LCMS congregation for a while where the pastor told me that nearly every family in the congregation had a second home out in the country, and yet the parochial school had budgetary problems. So it doesn't surprise me that the LCMS seminaries are underfunded.
I'm sure the deceased guy didn't give much to church. I knew him well enough to be obligated to attend his funeral. I wish the priest would have harangued about his lack of giving money, time, etc. Of course, the fact that the priest didn't mention one thing he ever did for the church is telling since they are into work righteousness, and would have mentioned it if he had lifted a finger at some point.
I know that (not many, but) MOST rich don't do squat for church, relatively speaking. Perhaps one could say that NEARLY ALL rich don't do squat, relatively speaking. I heard that during his lifetime, Marvin Schwan didn't even give one percent of his income to church even if you count all the buildings with his name on the plaque. I'm not sure what percentage ended up going to the foundation after his death, however, just one trustee for that money gets a $400,000 per year salary. It's the typical NPO where their favorite charity is themselves.
What I meant was it would be great for everyone to have that much time, health and money, AND use it to do some good for the Church. It was an AND, not an either-or, proposition.
Wow, you can almost cut the envy with a knife here!
Joel, We don't envy the rich in the afterlife, and that's biblical, too, since Jesus said its nigh unto impossible for the rich to enter heaven.
Here's a church planter for you:
Cowboy Church John Paul's Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CowboyChurchJohnPaul#p/a
Joel, I guess that's one reason the rich don't make it to heaven as often because if anyone criticizes them for their lack of spirituality, they dismiss it as envy.
Pretty in pink...oops I mean handsome in salmon....totally envious.
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