Karl Vaters, a small church pastor from Fountain Valley, CA, has been joining us as a regular contributor to the 200churches Podcast for almost two years, since August of 2013! Karl has some big, bold news about his future in blogging on the subject of small church ministry - you should read it here before you listen to this episode!
Then, enjoy this episode with Karl, who talks with us about taking ministry outside of the four walls of the church, and how to be creative in doing so. We also talk philosophy of ministry throughout much of the conversation. This will inspire you and encourage you to know and believe that your small church ministry can make a HUGE impact for the Kingdom of God, not only in your community, but beyond! Enjoy this episode as our gift to you! Picture Below Karl and his wife spent a week, just a few days ago, vacationing on beautiful Canandaguia Lake, a mere 25 minutes from where I (Jeff) was the entire time - and we never knew it! I have been helping my elderly parents in Avon, NY - and haven't seen his vacation pics on Facebook, when he was a short drive away from me... Oh Karl, my heart grieves for the lunch we missed together... So many times us pastors end up doing ministry alone. We don’t mean to, we’ve just gotten really good at it.
Here are five reasons why we think you should not do ministry alone:
You are facing a new church/school year. You are planning for the fall. You are ramping up for a new ministry year. For the sake of your people and your community, and for the glory of God, don’t do ministry alone! Enjoy the company of the Savior who loves you and wants to live his grace through you – into the lives of your people. Paul said, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) You are a pastor, a servant of the Living and Almighty God – an ambassador of the Savior of the world. Whoever you have to minister to this weekend, do so with all of your heart. And do it with Jesus. Pastor, our prayer for you is “Father, would you use us this weekend, and would you allow each of us to love our people with the love that you have for us? Please encourage each pastor in the way that he or she needs to be encouraged and built up. May they know the confidence that comes from doing ministry with YOU. Amen!” This week we talked with Dave Jacobs about being more outward focused as a church. Easy to talk about, but challenging to actually do! We might need to ruffle some feathers in the pews in order to focus more on people in the streets. As we were reflecting on that conversation, we thought – what could we do, as a church, that would surprise our community? We mean a good surprise now, not the usual, “Well, that’s surprising!” of a scandal or split. Usually organizations and businesses look out for their own members’ needs, desires, or demands. Clubs serve their membership, and service companies try to keep their customers happy and coming back. The police and fireman are looking for donations, the youth organizations want sponsors and volunteers, and the fitness centers want more annual memberships.
What Would They Say? What do churches want, from a community’s perspective? How do people in our town or city view us? What would they say? “They want to be left alone.” “They want a lot of property, tax-free.” “They want more land for parking, or parking privileges from their neighbors.” “They want us in the community to be for what they’re for, and against what they’re against.” Churches are usually against homosexuals and same-sex marriages, gambling establishments, bars and nightclubs, gangs and drug dealers, and the overreach of local government. Churches are normally for more donations and charitable giving, more members, volunteers, and baptisms. They want to add services, parking, staff, facilities, and technology. A New Year! Well, we have a new school/church year upon us. What in the world could YOUR church do that would surprise your community – in a very nice way? What could you do that would be counter-intuitive and that would bless your neighbors/community/community leaders? What Do They Need? What are the greatest needs in your community? What do single-parent families need? What do single parents need? What do the children need? What do the teenagers need? What are the greatest needs of the new people moving into your town or city? What do the business owners in your neighborhood need? What do the elderly need in your community? What do the poor or social outcasts need? What do the people in your hospital, retirement center, or long term care facility need? What do the same-sex couples in your town need? What do the alcoholics, drug addicts, prisoners, or homeless people need? The Answers Might Be Your Opportunity! What are the answers to those questions? The answers might provide you an opportunity to surprise your community in a way that spreads the love of Jesus and the message of the Gospel? What could you do this fall and during the coming school/church year that would surprise your community? Talk to your leaders and the people in your church. Have a brainstorming session. Sit and talk around a dinner or lunch. Here’s a thought – go ask them! Elevate the discussion. Find answers. Make a difference. Happy Friday! Next week: Episode 83 – Two Crucial Steps To Breaking Your Pornography Addiction.
On episode 81, we talk with Angela Riedeman, the voice of the 200churches Podcast! Angela and her husband moved to our town four years ago. They moved here from Wisconsin, and began to look for a church. After about a four-month search, they decided to join our church. In this episode, we ask her why!
As you listen to this episode, ask yourself what you might hear from your own church members. Here are some of the questions we asked Angela...
NEXT WEEK we talk with Dave Jacobs about how to develop an outward focused church! This post is coming out, very uncharacteristically, on a Tuesday. Family needs precluded us from posting on Monday. We try to NEVER miss a post or podcast on 200churches.com, because we want you as our readers and listeners to trust that you will consistently receive encouragement from 200churches. But we have missed a post just a few times in the past eighteen months. Because, well, you know – life happens, right? We have never missed a Wednesday podcast, and tomorrow will be no exception – we’re excited to bring you a conversation we are having with Dave Jacobs, and also our analysis of his content, and some specific words of encouragement to you as a small church pastor.
We never miss a podcast because we absolutely LOVE providing each episode for you – and with all our hearts we want to BUILD YOU UP as a pastor to your people, your sheep. We know that the episodes we produce contain guests and content that not only equip you, but also entertain and encourage you. So, we never want to miss a Wednesday – we are too excited to share this gift with you. By the way, when we finish an episode, produce it, and upload it to the pipeline, fresh and ready for delivery to you – we think of it as a special gift to you – our small church pastor friends – men and women all over the country and the world (well, at least twelve other countries!). We have labored over it, prayed over it, sometimes we’ve even argued over it – and it is our best work for that week to offer to you. We want to affirm you, cheerlead you, and inspire you for the work and service you give to your church family. In fact, there are more guests and more topics than we have time to get to – we don’t think we’ll ever run out of people to talk with or topics to cover. We have 15-20 guests in the bullpen right now, and we are anxious to get to each one of them. A couple of them have been “on hold” for longer than we are comfortable with – and if you are one of them, thank you! Please be patient with us while we keep our day jobs! So, here we are – small church pastors all! We’re living it with you, every single day. We ride the highs and lows of small church ministry. We remember to pray and forget to pray. We love our people and get frustrated with our people. We offend and seek forgiveness, and sometimes are offended and need to forgive. We run out of time, patience, energy, and often wisdom. We see a ball get dropped, in a painfully predictable way, look at each other, laugh so we don’t cry, and just say, “classic.” No one is in the video booth to provide lyrics for the last song after the message. That important announcement doesn’t get in the bulletin, and then – we forget to make the verbal announcement too! A member is in the hospital… “they were?!” Oops. Yup. Here we all are – small church pastors! We love it. We love God and people. We try, fail, try, succeed, and just keep trying. Don’t give up folks – be men and women who serve out of the fullness of Christ in you! Walk in the Spirit – live in the Love. Be. A. Small. Church. Pastor. Later, J&J This week on the podcast we will talk about:
Jonny and Jeff will talk to John Pletcher, Lead Pastor of Manor Church in Lancaster, PA. Jeff met John at that Super-Secret Pastor’s Retreat in the hills of western Pennsylvania.
One of John’s passions is to help church members see how God wants to use them right where they are, in the workplace, marketplace, business, or factory – to do Kingdom ministry with the people all around them. While John pastors a larger than 200church, he cares deeply for pastors of all size churches, and has developed a resource to help them guide their people through the discovery process. John’s book, Henry’s Glory, has a subtitle that says it all: A Story for Discovering Lasting Significance in Your Daily Work. This book combines a fictitious story, with strong theology, and “end of chapter” small group questions that combine to create transformational teaching. As John and Jeff talked in Pennsylvania, it became clear that John could really help us as 200church pastors. He can help us to empower and equip our people to truly discover that lasting significance right there in their place of employment, where they spend so much time, and have so many relationships. We are so excited to have John join us on Wednesday because all of us pastors need the help! We need our people to join us in ministry to our community. We need workplace missionaries all over our towns and communities! We really believe that our people, the church, deployed at their jobs, are the most overlooked resource we have. Finally, it is our calling, our responsibility as pastors, to equip our people to do the work of the ministry not just in our own church family, but throughout our community. What have you been able to do in your church, to equip, empower, and enable your people to be workplace missionaries? Share your ideas with us in the comments section below! We’ll see you on Wednesday for Episode 74, How To Multiply Workplace Missionaries In Your Small Church. |
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