Stats: 16 Adults (14 children)
Today we visited Reality Church in Carpinteria, CA. We went to the 8:30am service. Drove all over to find parking, because it was so jammed. We ended up parking 3 blocks away. I don't know how many people the auditorium held, but it appeared there were over 500 people at the morning service.
Just an Observation: Over 500 people bypassed the beach (located only a block or so away from Reality) to attend church at 8:30am today. Not a bunch of old-folks--but twenty to thirty-somethings. This happened in a beach community, on a day when the surf was great--at 8:30 in the morning. This was one service--there were two more services. Everything else aside: that's a win.
For those of you who missed our first launch team meeting, here is the inside scoop.
We want church to be irresistible. We want church to be the first option on Sunday morning. We want children to shake their parents out of bed on Sunday mornings to go to church. We want outsiders, people who don't consider themselves religious, to attend church this Sunday and look forward to next Sunday. We think church should be irresistible.
When I read the New Testament, Jesus was irresistible. People loved Him or hated Him, but they couldn't ignore Him. He couldn't be marginalized. People didn't pass Him by on the way to the beach or the mall. They either found Him to be irresistible or irritating--irritating enough to have Him killed. He wasn't boring.
In Ephesians 1:22, 23 the church is called the body of Christ. As a gathering we represent Jesus Christ. It actually says we are the fullness of Him. We can talk about all of the many ways that we should be like Christ as an organization, but we don't often talk about being "irresistible" like Christ. I am all for embodying Christ in all Biblical dimensions; somehow, though, we miss this one. When we miss this one we lose the attention of the community--but most of all the people we are trying to reach.
The mission of River Park Community Church is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe that a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is not a certain amount of Bible classes or knowledge, but three life-long pursuits: Intimacy with God, Community with other believers and Influence with those outside the faith. We believe that when a person is pursuing these three things, wherever they are on the road, they are maturing--they are leading a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
They are Biblical pursuits, they are the right pursuits. These are relational pursuits. Because they are relational pursuits they are impossible to execute as a church. I can't force anyone to be in community, much less force anyone to have a relationship with God. So, as a church, we realize the mission to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is an impossible mission. We can't make it happen. It is the unique office of the Holy Spirit to make such relational pursuits happen. It is the Holy Spirit that initiates our relationship with God. It is the Holy Spirit that brings unity to the followers of Christ. It is by the power the Holy Spirit that we speak boldly. And . . . it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that a person is saved. So . . . we admit that we cannot engineer relationships and we cannot engineer life-transformation.
However, when I look back on what God used to transform my life, I realize that life-transformation happened in an environment. Whether it was a small group Bible study or missions trip, life-transformation happened in an environment. Most often it was an environment that fostered close personal relationships with other believers. It was a life on life environment where there was care, accountability and a sense of belonging. As a church we have concluded life-transformation happens best in close personal relationships. We are in the business of creating environments where that can happen.
If we get down to what churches really are, they are a cluster of environments. Hopefully they are environments designed to partner with the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Hopefully they partner with the Holy Spirit rather than place obstacles in the way of those trying to get to know God (Acts 15).
We believe that leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is an impossible mission. But . . . we can create environments that encourage and equip people to develop an intimate relationship with God, community with other believers, and influence with people outside the church. We believe this happens best in a small group environment where close personal relationships can be fostered and people can experience care, accountability and belonging--that is community. We call small groups our destination. We want everyone to arrive at this destination. Everything else we do as a church leads to this destination. Everything else is a step along the path toward small groups.
However, we know that people don't just want to jump in and get naked. If the person across the counter at the dry cleaner started divulging all of his marital problems while you were trying to pick up your wool sweater, that would just be weird. We believe there has to be a place where people can enter as guests and become friends before they become family.
In fact we believe that most people think church is for church people not for them. So . . . they are most likely not interested in joining a small group in your church. So we create an environment that is designed specifically for guests: it's called Sunday morning. It is designed to change people's minds about church. The next step might be an environment designed to introduce people to small groups; a place designed to change a person's mind about community. This is where a person moves from a guest to a friend. Once they have connected in a small group they are family. Our job is simple:
Our job is to create irresistible environments that lead to small groups.
Our task for the next five months:
1. to build a launch team of 75 members by September 14th
2. to build a resource pool of $250,000 by September 14th
We have 26 launch team members and have raised $153,000 (one time gifts, monthly commitments, staff tithes and GHC matching funds.)
Take-away: Invite people you know to become members of the River Park Community Church launch team.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5
I had been telling people that the decision to plant a church had been a two year process. Some thought that we had been making plans to plant for two years. That was slightly problematic in that I was on staff as a children's pastor at the time. Such was not the case. We didn't actually make plans until mid-September of 2007.
When the calling to plant a church came in September of 2007 it was really the destination on a path that God had marked out for me long before. How long before? Who can tell? Ultimately--before the foundation of the world. At that moment in September I could trace that path back two years.
Like the Psalmist--"the things you planned for us no one can recount to you . . ." While looking back over two or three years, I see traces of this call. I see the gathering of the wave. I see the gathering swell of September. At other times I see large waves breaking. Like the favor with which we were received at Rio Vista Middle School by the principal. (cf. James' blog). Or the person in Atlanta, Georgia who has been praying for a church plant like ours for the Ventura/Oxnard community for the last two years. John, the fantastic friend and world-class coach for River Park Community Church. The invitation to be part of the Growing Healthy Churches Network. That we are even talking strategic partnership with North Point Community Church. When I see these waves break I know that their beginning was not on the shore, but somewhere in the ocean far from land.
At these times, I begin to understand "who can recount?" While my call came in September of last year, and while I could trace it back two years . . . before that was God. God was aligning people along the path long before the call . . . for such a time as this. So . . . "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done."
I had been telling people that the decision to plant a church had been a two year process. Some thought that we had been making plans to plant for two years. That was slightly problematic in that I was on staff as a children's pastor at the time. Such was not the case. We didn't actually make plans until mid-September of 2007.
When the calling to plant a church came in September of 2007 it was really the destination on a path that God had marked out for me long before. How long before? Who can tell? Ultimately--before the foundation of the world. At that moment in September I could trace that path back two years.
Like the Psalmist--"the things you planned for us no one can recount to you . . ." While looking back over two or three years, I see traces of this call. I see the gathering of the wave. I see the gathering swell of September. At other times I see large waves breaking. Like the favor with which we were received at Rio Vista Middle School by the principal. (cf. James' blog). Or the person in Atlanta, Georgia who has been praying for a church plant like ours for the Ventura/Oxnard community for the last two years. John, the fantastic friend and world-class coach for River Park Community Church. The invitation to be part of the Growing Healthy Churches Network. That we are even talking strategic partnership with North Point Community Church. When I see these waves break I know that their beginning was not on the shore, but somewhere in the ocean far from land.
At these times, I begin to understand "who can recount?" While my call came in September of last year, and while I could trace it back two years . . . before that was God. God was aligning people along the path long before the call . . . for such a time as this. So . . . "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done."
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