Here are the basics of what I am thinking right now:
We will meet together for roughly 6-7 months as a "closed group" which means we won't invite outsiders to join us or anything like that, and then on Palm Sunday of 2010 we will hold our first "public worship service." So the common question would be what will we do for those first six months. Basically I would like us to focus on five primary roles of the church; Mission (which in most ways encompasses all the rest), Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship and Service (couldn't fit a "-ship" in there). In some ways we will focus on each of those things every week of our core group.
Here is how I see each meeting going:
1. We share a meal together and just relax some (Fellowship)
2. We pray for our church and our hearts together (Worship)
3. We discuss some basic theology together (Discipleship)
4. We discuss current world events and how we can respond (Service)
5. We discuss other world religions and how we can relate to their followers (Mission)
As I'm sure you noticed, these things all overlap to a certain degree. That is good. Now before you get worried, I don't see us spending more than 2 or 3 hours a week on this meeting, which is probably less than you would spend serving at church or going to church. I would like us to visit 4 or 5 churches in the area during this time and discuss what we thought about each, strengths, weaknesses, what can we try that they do, etc.
I am working on a month by month breakdown, but I can give you the basic thoughts so far: Each month we will rotate topics, so for instance, in September I have us discussing Mormonism, Environmentalism and diversity of thought within the congregation (may not sound theological but I think it is). So then in October, we may switch to something like Islam, War and the nature of the Bible.
I don't think we will be able to cover everything, but hopefully this small group setting will prepare us all for the many questions and issues we will face as a body. I think this will give us time to get comfortable with each other and to know where we stand on some very important issues. The reason I am blogging about this 5 months out is so you can give me some thoughts and I can change things around. Also, please share any prayer requests you might have. I am working nights right now, so you can pray that that is a short lived shift. As always, I am so excited to see all your shining faces move up here.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Two months?!
Ouch. Sorry team. Really should have been updating more. I'll just give everyone the quick run down on what has been going on up here in the mile high city, then tell you what I've been contemplating, and then end with a promise to blog more frequently.
As you all know, we got a dog about a month and a half ago. It was not very well-advised, but he is so darn cute. Robin was sold, and I had to take advantage while I could. So a lot of our time has been consumed with crazy old Rufus. He is getting huge, and will only get huger. He is pretty fun though, and we meet a lot of people because of him. Hopefully dog parks will be like Refuge #2. I recently got a pseudo promotion at the mission, instead of driving trucks around all day, I will be watching facilities at night. I am not excited about the hours, but I am excited about the raise (even if it is slight) and the fact that they made it seem temporary until they can find me a position like a chaplain or something. So all that to say, tomorrow night I start working nights. I am bummed, but I know it is temporary so hopefully it will only be a few months.
I also know a guy that will be graduating from the program who really wants to be part of our church. He is a great guy and really getting his life back together. I think he will be a great addition. Further, there are several guys who have offered their expertise if we need to refurbish a building or whatever. I know an electrician, a welder and a carpenter. Plus a stone-worker. I also know of a building that could be a good fit, unless it is condemned. I am going to start asking questions, but rest assured no decisions will be made until we are all together.
I have been working in my head on our "core training" or whatever we are going to call it, and I can't wait for fall to get here. Some things I plan on us walking through include: finding ways to disagree peacefully, other religions, political hot topics (abortion, death penalty, Iraq war, gay marriage, etc), sharing our faith, controversial theological issues (Calvinism v Arminianism v Open Theism, the nature of scripture, prophecy, etc) and I was thinking we could visit other churches together to discuss what we thought. We will have around 6 months of working together before we "go public" as it were, so I think these will really be good things to work on. If you have stuff you want to discuss let me know.
I will blog more frequently. What can we pray for you for? We are excited to have you guys here soon. Pray for us, we are hoping to find a way to move into a rent house of some kind this summer. We would have to find a way out of our lease or whatever, but we want to have a yard for Rufus and more room to have people like you over.
As you all know, we got a dog about a month and a half ago. It was not very well-advised, but he is so darn cute. Robin was sold, and I had to take advantage while I could. So a lot of our time has been consumed with crazy old Rufus. He is getting huge, and will only get huger. He is pretty fun though, and we meet a lot of people because of him. Hopefully dog parks will be like Refuge #2. I recently got a pseudo promotion at the mission, instead of driving trucks around all day, I will be watching facilities at night. I am not excited about the hours, but I am excited about the raise (even if it is slight) and the fact that they made it seem temporary until they can find me a position like a chaplain or something. So all that to say, tomorrow night I start working nights. I am bummed, but I know it is temporary so hopefully it will only be a few months.
I also know a guy that will be graduating from the program who really wants to be part of our church. He is a great guy and really getting his life back together. I think he will be a great addition. Further, there are several guys who have offered their expertise if we need to refurbish a building or whatever. I know an electrician, a welder and a carpenter. Plus a stone-worker. I also know of a building that could be a good fit, unless it is condemned. I am going to start asking questions, but rest assured no decisions will be made until we are all together.
I have been working in my head on our "core training" or whatever we are going to call it, and I can't wait for fall to get here. Some things I plan on us walking through include: finding ways to disagree peacefully, other religions, political hot topics (abortion, death penalty, Iraq war, gay marriage, etc), sharing our faith, controversial theological issues (Calvinism v Arminianism v Open Theism, the nature of scripture, prophecy, etc) and I was thinking we could visit other churches together to discuss what we thought. We will have around 6 months of working together before we "go public" as it were, so I think these will really be good things to work on. If you have stuff you want to discuss let me know.
I will blog more frequently. What can we pray for you for? We are excited to have you guys here soon. Pray for us, we are hoping to find a way to move into a rent house of some kind this summer. We would have to find a way out of our lease or whatever, but we want to have a yard for Rufus and more room to have people like you over.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Vision
Hey guys, I have a guy that I work with who sounded really interested in thinking about being part of our church. I thought it would be a good idea to develop a one-sheet synopsis of who we are and what we want to be about to give to people that are thinking about joining us. I am going to copy and paste it here. I wanted to get some of your feedback before I gave it to him, or to anyone else for that matter, because this is something that you have as much ownership as I do. So, let me know what you think, and if you have any thoughts on the covenant. I can email it to you if you would like also. If I haven't heard from you guys in a couple days, I will go ahead and give him what I have.
**Refuge Community Church** will be a church plant in the Denver metro area. We plan to start as a small home group in the beginning consisting of a committed group of 10 to 20 people who will make up the original “core” of the church. We will begin meeting as a “core” group in the Fall of 2009 and plan on our first “public” service being around Palm Sunday of 2010. This will hopefully allow for our basic group to share a vision and dream for the future of **Refuge Community Church** and to allow us to move forward in a unified way when our public services begin.
So there we go. Let me know if we can pray for you guys, I know it can be stressful thinking about the big move. We are excited to have you guys join us soon.
**Refuge Community Church** will be a church plant in the Denver metro area. We plan to start as a small home group in the beginning consisting of a committed group of 10 to 20 people who will make up the original “core” of the church. We will begin meeting as a “core” group in the Fall of 2009 and plan on our first “public” service being around Palm Sunday of 2010. This will hopefully allow for our basic group to share a vision and dream for the future of **Refuge Community Church** and to allow us to move forward in a unified way when our public services begin.
Why another church? We feel that the current churches are not doing an adequate job of reaching twenty-somethings or the large population of homeless and addicts in our world. We believe that these are groups that are often underrepresented because they do not necessarily tithe very well. However, we also desire to take Jesus seriously when he calls us to care for “the least of these.” We know that God has the strength and resources to take care of us financially. We will certainly not turn away people who are not in those particular groups, but we want to be a church that really seeks to help and reach out to those particular groups.
In addition, we feel that sometimes the best way to get away from problems of previous churches is to start fresh. We want to foster a certain amount of teamwork with other churches in the area, while also helping established ministries. We believe that we are all working to the same goal of sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the world.
We believe that the purpose of a church is to be a community of Christians who make up the “body of Christ” in a very real way. We want to do the work of God in our world. We want to be like family to one another and want to seek in a very natural way to incorporate more people into our group and hopefully expand our influence throughout the city, state, country and world. We believe it is our job to carry out the mission of God in the world. God wants all men and women to know that he loves them and that salvation is available to all.
What denomination will **Refuge** be? We have decided that due to a certain amount of baggage that goes with different denominations that we will be “non-denominational.” We do not want a name to get in the way of a person seeking the salvation of Jesus Christ.
How will **Refuge** be run? At the beginning the church will consist of a very small group of 10 to 20. During that time we will make all decisions based on discussion and vote. However, eventually we will adopt either an elder system or a staff led church. This will be decided during the Fall meetings of 2009.
Why all the crazy *** around **Refuge**? Because this is not our official name yet. We have adopted Refuge as our working name, and if it is ratified by vote early in our meetings, it will be our official name.
So there we go. Let me know if we can pray for you guys, I know it can be stressful thinking about the big move. We are excited to have you guys join us soon.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Random thoughts for today
Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I really look forward to the day when you are all here and I can just post some stuff to think about leading up to our bible studies or whatever.
Anyway, I have been thinking about a lot of things lately, so I am going to throw in most of them out there and just see what you guys think.
First, I am working on drawing up some sort of covenant we can all agree on. Obviously I will send it to you all and you can look it over before, but I think it could be a good way to kind of agree on certain things as a team and a church. Some things I am thinking about including; something about helping the church financially when able, helping physically when able, attending, moderation in things like drinking and smoking cigars or pipes, the refusal to complain and gossip, agree to go to the other person in the church if there is a problem. What do you guys think about those things? The last thing I want is some list of legalistic things for us to stick to, but I also don't want us to pretend like freedom in Christ means we have no responsibility to each other.
Second, there are a lot of guys at the Rescue Mission who I think will really want to help us. Most of them have skills in manual labor, like drywall and painting and stuff like that. This is assuming we have a place to work on, but I know at some point we will hopefully have a building of some sort. I know these guys love to get out of the mission every now and then. They will be happy to help us and we can just give them a little lunch. For those of you who helped at Nexus, I know you will be excited and relieved by this. Some of those guys even have electrical and plumbing skills. There are also guys who are musicians there. One of them is staff, so he might be willing to help with music for awhile.
Third, it may seem like a long ways away, but you will be here before you know it. And we will be meeting as a small group before you know it. And we will have our first service before you know it. Don't put off getting ready to be here. Plan as best you can now, look for jobs online, it might not even hurt to apply for some. And most importantly, be praying that God will provide for us.
Fourth, it is amazing to me how many people Robin and I have met in our jobs that are excited about Refuge. I could guess 20-30 that might come and visit or check out our small groups if they were already started. That number will grow dramatically when you are all here and working. There is a huge group of people that want a church like the one we are preparing for. It will be some work, but I think it will be nothing but rewarding for each of you.
We are excited and anticipate all the great things you will all do when you get here. You are all awesome and I couldn't ask for a better group to do this with. Let me know what we can do to help you guys with the move, and post any prayer requests as usual.
Anyway, I have been thinking about a lot of things lately, so I am going to throw in most of them out there and just see what you guys think.
First, I am working on drawing up some sort of covenant we can all agree on. Obviously I will send it to you all and you can look it over before, but I think it could be a good way to kind of agree on certain things as a team and a church. Some things I am thinking about including; something about helping the church financially when able, helping physically when able, attending, moderation in things like drinking and smoking cigars or pipes, the refusal to complain and gossip, agree to go to the other person in the church if there is a problem. What do you guys think about those things? The last thing I want is some list of legalistic things for us to stick to, but I also don't want us to pretend like freedom in Christ means we have no responsibility to each other.
Second, there are a lot of guys at the Rescue Mission who I think will really want to help us. Most of them have skills in manual labor, like drywall and painting and stuff like that. This is assuming we have a place to work on, but I know at some point we will hopefully have a building of some sort. I know these guys love to get out of the mission every now and then. They will be happy to help us and we can just give them a little lunch. For those of you who helped at Nexus, I know you will be excited and relieved by this. Some of those guys even have electrical and plumbing skills. There are also guys who are musicians there. One of them is staff, so he might be willing to help with music for awhile.
Third, it may seem like a long ways away, but you will be here before you know it. And we will be meeting as a small group before you know it. And we will have our first service before you know it. Don't put off getting ready to be here. Plan as best you can now, look for jobs online, it might not even hurt to apply for some. And most importantly, be praying that God will provide for us.
Fourth, it is amazing to me how many people Robin and I have met in our jobs that are excited about Refuge. I could guess 20-30 that might come and visit or check out our small groups if they were already started. That number will grow dramatically when you are all here and working. There is a huge group of people that want a church like the one we are preparing for. It will be some work, but I think it will be nothing but rewarding for each of you.
We are excited and anticipate all the great things you will all do when you get here. You are all awesome and I couldn't ask for a better group to do this with. Let me know what we can do to help you guys with the move, and post any prayer requests as usual.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
God is with us
Christmas time used to be my favorite season when I was a kid. I mean, not a lot of kids have to wait 362 days between opening presents. But when it finally hit, I had my birthday, then three days later Christmas. It was one of my favorite weeks as a kid. But then getting presents wasn't as big of a deal to me. So for a long time, I didn't really like the holiday season. I had to deal with family for extended periods, some of whom I didn't care much for, and I had to miss out on time with my friends. So for a good amount of time I didn't love the holidays.
But for the past few years I have started to really think about what Christmas means. I've started to appreciate all the cliches about the "reason for the season," and all that. Just the other day on my way home from work I was listening to the song "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and thinking about what it really means that God came and made his dwelling with us. Eugene Peterson translates part of John 1 as "the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood."
So back to the cliche. For the longest time people lived in our world with little or no hope. If there was a God, he wasn't much involved in their lives, or so they thought. For the Israelites, they had lived in disobedience for so long, God had good reason to abandon them. Then in a tiny town in a corner of a Roman province, God was born in the flesh. For me, I believe that this event signaled an actual change in the nature of God. God became something he wasn't before. God was so heartbroken over the condition of humanity that he was willing to become flesh, to learn to talk and walk, to love and to be hurt, to live among the people he so cared for. God knew the only way to reach his prodigal sons and daughters was to journey far from home and live among them. This is the reason for the season.
I was thinking about all of this the other day at work. I work with former drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless men. Sometimes they are a hard group to love. But not so hard when I think about the life of our savior. When I take the time to think about the fact that these are Jesus' precious children and they are the ones he is so passionate about saving.
One of the passages I have been trying to keep in mind as we moved is that short phrase about the word moving into the neighborhood. In the same way that God moved in with us, he is calling us to move in with those in Denver that are hurting. The incarnation is the chief model for ministry and I encourage each of you to ponder that as you begin making plans to move. I believe very strongly that we can make a difference here. I think we can make a difference at Denver Rescue Mission, and in whatever places you all end up working. I am excited to see what happens, and I want to encourage you that God will reward your faithfulness. Its normal and ok to be worried, to be scared and to think it won't be easy. It won't. It hasn't been for us. But, as Dumbledore tells Harry on many occasions "there is a difference between what is easy and what is right."
We are praying that the Kinsers will have enough money while Desiree is finishing her masters. We are praying that God would help provide for Bethany so she can save some for a little pad when she gets here, what else do you guys need? Pray for us, we are hoping Robin can get back into hospice sometime soon. Pray for me, I am thinking I will be a chaplain for the Air National Guard, its a good deal, part time and good ministry opportunities, but I will need to lose 10 to 15 pounds and hope my physical goes well. Pray that God will provide us with a place. I loved what we were able to do with our place at Nexus, and hope we can do something like that here in Denver. Pray that God would provide a musician. Anything else?
But for the past few years I have started to really think about what Christmas means. I've started to appreciate all the cliches about the "reason for the season," and all that. Just the other day on my way home from work I was listening to the song "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and thinking about what it really means that God came and made his dwelling with us. Eugene Peterson translates part of John 1 as "the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood."
So back to the cliche. For the longest time people lived in our world with little or no hope. If there was a God, he wasn't much involved in their lives, or so they thought. For the Israelites, they had lived in disobedience for so long, God had good reason to abandon them. Then in a tiny town in a corner of a Roman province, God was born in the flesh. For me, I believe that this event signaled an actual change in the nature of God. God became something he wasn't before. God was so heartbroken over the condition of humanity that he was willing to become flesh, to learn to talk and walk, to love and to be hurt, to live among the people he so cared for. God knew the only way to reach his prodigal sons and daughters was to journey far from home and live among them. This is the reason for the season.
I was thinking about all of this the other day at work. I work with former drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless men. Sometimes they are a hard group to love. But not so hard when I think about the life of our savior. When I take the time to think about the fact that these are Jesus' precious children and they are the ones he is so passionate about saving.
One of the passages I have been trying to keep in mind as we moved is that short phrase about the word moving into the neighborhood. In the same way that God moved in with us, he is calling us to move in with those in Denver that are hurting. The incarnation is the chief model for ministry and I encourage each of you to ponder that as you begin making plans to move. I believe very strongly that we can make a difference here. I think we can make a difference at Denver Rescue Mission, and in whatever places you all end up working. I am excited to see what happens, and I want to encourage you that God will reward your faithfulness. Its normal and ok to be worried, to be scared and to think it won't be easy. It won't. It hasn't been for us. But, as Dumbledore tells Harry on many occasions "there is a difference between what is easy and what is right."
We are praying that the Kinsers will have enough money while Desiree is finishing her masters. We are praying that God would help provide for Bethany so she can save some for a little pad when she gets here, what else do you guys need? Pray for us, we are hoping Robin can get back into hospice sometime soon. Pray for me, I am thinking I will be a chaplain for the Air National Guard, its a good deal, part time and good ministry opportunities, but I will need to lose 10 to 15 pounds and hope my physical goes well. Pray that God will provide us with a place. I loved what we were able to do with our place at Nexus, and hope we can do something like that here in Denver. Pray that God would provide a musician. Anything else?
Sunday, December 14, 2008
The weather outside is frightful
It is currently 4 degrees here in Denver. So, for those of you moving before long, buy coats and scarves and sweaters. I'm sure you can get some great deals early summer right before moving. I love the cold, so I enjoy it, but Robin, not so much. For those of you who don't keep up with college football, Boomer Sooner, my Sooners are going to the National Championship game and the QB just won the Heisman.
Anyway, I just finished my first few days of work, and I really hated it the first two days, but I really like it Friday. I basically drive a truck around town for Denver Rescue Mission. The best thing about it is one of the guys who is in recovery goes with me. We had a great time talking and getting to know one another. I think the best thing for all this is that hopefully some of these guys from the Rescue Mission will come to our church. I would really love us to be in close contact with this group. The guys are of course pretty rough, but I would bet Peter was too.
The other great thing is Robin is meeting a ton of people that could be part of our church. There are a lot of people here that are hungry for a different kind of church. They want a place where they can be themselves and not feel like they are judged. So, I can only imagine how many people we will touch when you all get here and we are all working at different places.
Thanks for sharing those prayer requests, we will keep you guys in our prayers. For us this week, pray that I will learn my route quickly, that I will get in shape quickly (I have to make weight for the Air Guard gig), that I will get all my stuff in soon and that Robin will find a job that she likes better. I am praying that you guys will all get here soon, I can't wait to get started! I am looking around everywhere for ideas about where we can meet, so pray for that too.
Also, I was thinking about doing up a little covenant for the core of our church. Just something we can all agree that we will do certain things and support one another in certain ways. What do you guys think about that? What would you put in it if you could?
Anyway, I just finished my first few days of work, and I really hated it the first two days, but I really like it Friday. I basically drive a truck around town for Denver Rescue Mission. The best thing about it is one of the guys who is in recovery goes with me. We had a great time talking and getting to know one another. I think the best thing for all this is that hopefully some of these guys from the Rescue Mission will come to our church. I would really love us to be in close contact with this group. The guys are of course pretty rough, but I would bet Peter was too.
The other great thing is Robin is meeting a ton of people that could be part of our church. There are a lot of people here that are hungry for a different kind of church. They want a place where they can be themselves and not feel like they are judged. So, I can only imagine how many people we will touch when you all get here and we are all working at different places.
Thanks for sharing those prayer requests, we will keep you guys in our prayers. For us this week, pray that I will learn my route quickly, that I will get in shape quickly (I have to make weight for the Air Guard gig), that I will get all my stuff in soon and that Robin will find a job that she likes better. I am praying that you guys will all get here soon, I can't wait to get started! I am looking around everywhere for ideas about where we can meet, so pray for that too.
Also, I was thinking about doing up a little covenant for the core of our church. Just something we can all agree that we will do certain things and support one another in certain ways. What do you guys think about that? What would you put in it if you could?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thanksgiving
Sorry for the long delay in posts, the truth is I have been a bit beat down by not having a job. I just didn't want to constantly blog about being beat down. So all that to say, I finally got a job! I will be working for Denver Rescue Mission. It is anything but glamorous, but I will be helping people and working full time. We will have enough to pay our bills and to live well, and that is all I can really ask for. In addition, I think I will try to serve as chaplain for the local Air National Guard. This would be part time, and I can do it in conjunction to the church. It will be a great place to meet and minister and I'm pretty excited about it. So, really, thank you for your prayers, it was a tough couple months, but no one said it would be easy.
Also, we had our first Thanksgiving here. Our friends Chad and Mary came, and some family and friends of theirs, and Robin's sister. It was laid back and we had a really great time. We are so excited about celebrating with all of you next year. We want to also start a tradition of helping at a local shelter or something like that for lunch or breakfast and then getting together to eat dinner together. You are all invited. I don't have much more to say, but one of the things I was really grateful for (and still am) is all of you. Its a big deal to say that you are going to spend your life doing things of eternal significance instead of things that will make your rich or comfortable.
So, please just pray that the Air Guard thing will work out, pray that there will be no scheduling conflicts and that all the little things with it work out well. What can we pray for you for?
Also, we had our first Thanksgiving here. Our friends Chad and Mary came, and some family and friends of theirs, and Robin's sister. It was laid back and we had a really great time. We are so excited about celebrating with all of you next year. We want to also start a tradition of helping at a local shelter or something like that for lunch or breakfast and then getting together to eat dinner together. You are all invited. I don't have much more to say, but one of the things I was really grateful for (and still am) is all of you. Its a big deal to say that you are going to spend your life doing things of eternal significance instead of things that will make your rich or comfortable.
So, please just pray that the Air Guard thing will work out, pray that there will be no scheduling conflicts and that all the little things with it work out well. What can we pray for you for?
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