Living Church

 

The Living Church, 9-30-2020

             “Tell the older women to be reverent in behavior … so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, … to be good managers of their households. … Urge the younger men to be self-controlled.  Show yourself in all respects a model of good works” (Titus 2:3-6).  In this short New Testament letter, Paul instructs Titus how to lead the church in Crete.  Paul wants to see a church that is called by Christ, loyal to Christ, and functions in an organized, ordered way.  

            Is the church organized?  Does the church have direction, and a sense of mission?  We must be discerning in reading Titus!  We do not abide by 2:9, “tell slaves to be submissive to their masters,” because we have read Philemon.  We know Paul himself subverted the institution of slavery when he commanded Philemon to receive the runaway slave Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother (Philemon 1:15-16).  We know Paul’s sense that in the church of Jesus, no one is a slave (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11).  Thus, we take Titus 2:9 as a word set in first century Crete, but not applicable to us today.  The overarching spirit of Titus, though, most definitely speaks authoritatively to how we, as a 21^st church, must function if we are to be the body of Christ.

            We must be a living church.  In a living church, ministries happen.  People meet Jesus.  The good news is proclaimed by the pastor in sermons and by the members and worshipers in everyday life. 

            Are you a woman in the church?  Are you mentoring younger women, as Paul prescribes (Titus 2:4)?  It’s not as if Paul says, ‘go ahead and do this if it fits your calling and is in your comfort zone and is aligned with your gifting.’  This word from Paul is for all women in the church.  Are you mentoring a teenaged girl or a college-aged girl, or a young woman?  If not, why not?  Are you contributing your time, experience, and knowledge to the church’s children’s, youth, or young adult ministries?

            Men, there’s a word here for us too.  “Show yourself a model of good works,” Paul tells Titus (2:7).  Are you doing that?  If so how?  Would you respond, “Well, I am not a role model or mentor, because I don’t know how to do that”?  Fine.  What are you doing to learn how to do that?  Men, how are you pouring your faith and your life into boys, teenaged young men and college-aged young men? 

            We, and by “we” I mean the people of the church, have to want this.  We cannot say, “Oh that’s not a priority for me.”  The Bible doesn’t give any space for saying we don’t value active ministry.  God’s word doesn’t give the option of not passing our faith onto the next generation.  We have to value an active, difference-making approach to living our faith, and this includes discipling each other and especially our younger members.  We all have to be part of ministry.  In a living church, there is no sideline nor are there any wallflowers.  Everyone is dancing.  Everyone is in the game.  Every worshiper, member, and attendee are involved in some way. 

            The only exception might be newcomers, visitors, and seekers.  Part of being involved in ministry is recognizing who the newcomers are and gently inviting them to become involved.  We want those who come for the first time to be loved, to see Jesus, and then to get active in church life.

            Not knowing how to mentor or disciple is not a reason to avoid mentoring and discipling.  The follower of Jesus learns how. 

            The pandemic is not a reason to avoid being involved in ministry.  The church has survived plagues, wars, and severe persecution throughout its history.  In the Roman era, the church met in tombs – the catacombs.  The church, persecuted by the most powerful empire in the world, grew holding worship in mausoleums.  We can grow, even if we stay home to avoid getting sick or wear masks and hold our meetings under “social distancing” protocols.

            In an era of texting, countless forms of social media, and good old-fashioned phone calls, we have constant connection.  We just need to use it to spread the Gospel, encourage each other, and grow in relationships with fellow church members.

            If upon reading this, you want to become more involved in ministry, check in with Dina, or Pastor Rob.  Our college/young adult group has started back up, in-person.  So has our youth group.  We continue to do our food pantry and we continue to need volunteers.  We have a small group (via Zoom call) starting October 8.  You can be involved in any of the ministries.  Women, you can attend Dina’s Tuesday morning women’s Bible study, which is also now meeting in person. 

If you want to be involved in a one-on-one relationship of spiritual mentoring, we can help you do that.  Pastor Rob or Phil Partin can assist you. 

If you read this and don’t feel the need to be involved in ministry in any way, I urge you to read Titus 2, prayerfully and discerningly.  How does this word of God speak into your life?  What does it mean, in your life, to live an active faith?  What, in your sense of things, does an active, mission-directed church look like, and what’s your part in that? 

I know what I’m saying here is direct and challenging.  When we follow Jesus, we find that he’s direct, and he challenges us.  I don’t presume to be Jesus, but I think what I wrote here is something he wants all of us to think about.  Church should be comforting, but not too comfortable.  We need to be prompted and sometimes even prodded by the Holy Spirit.  Read Titus and the other passages referenced here.  Read, pray, and then get involved in living an active faith and helping Hillside be a living church.

Growing Young: Keychain Leadership

“The Importance of Being Fifteen” (Jeremiah 1:4-10)

Sunday, May 12, 2019

            You’re 15, or were 15 at one time, or will be in the future.  Through memory, anticipation, or current lived experience, everyone has a sense of being 15.  You have your learners permit, or hope to get it soon.  You can drive, but only with mom or dad sitting beside you, so is it really that great?  Dad can’t stop himself. 

Slow down.  You’re too close the car in front of you.  Ohh, you’re taking this turn too sharply.  You’re going to run up on the curb.

I know Dad!  OK Dad.  No I am not, Dad.  That last “dad” gets stretched out.  D-A-A-D.  Fifteen. 

Your parents don’t like or understand your music.  You’re probably starting to have crushes, teenaged romances.  Of course the only thing worse than your parents asking about that is your pastor mentioning it Sunday morning.  Fifteen.

You want to be taken seriously, like a grown up.  But sometimes you want to play with your old toys. By the time today is over you will have amazed your parents with your grown up speech, and you will have held tightly to that beloved, needed childhood.  And if your grandparents visit, you’ll have to help them use their smart phones. 

You who remember being 15, whether it was 5 years ago or 60 years ago, hear this: God wants you to help the children, teenagers, and young adults in our church grow as followers of Jesus.  Your will develop as his disciple as you figure your role in helping the young people in our church develop as his disciples. 

You who are young, who will someday be 15, hear this: God wants you to play.  God wants you to enjoy your childhood.  God wants you laugh and be curious and be filled with wonder.  Even at your young age, you can begin knowing God through faith in Jesus.  Don’t rush it; 15 will come to you soon enough.  Today, look for God in your life, love your parents, learn, grow, and play.

And you who are 15; play is for you too, as it is for all of us.  Never stop playing.  But, along with play, think about the wide, vast, wonderful world God has made.  Think about your place in it.  By the time David turned 15, he had already defeated Goliath.  One or two of Jesus’ twelve disciples were not much older than fifteen.  You middle and high schoolers are called by God to be disciples of Jesus and live a life in relationship with God, a life in which God is glorified and enjoyed.  Enjoy God. 

With several other Cooperative Baptist Churches across North Carolina, our church has entered the “Growing Young” process for ministry and church life.  It’s more of philosophy than a program.  Here at HillSong it will be adjusted to awaken the potential for great ministry that beats deeps within the hearts of all of us.  Our church is small, but in the hearts of the people in this room beats the potential for great works done in Jesus’ name.  We love God and God’s spirit empowers us.  We are committed to this church family.  One of the ways we worship the Lord, exist as a family, and proclaim Jesus to our community is the “Growing Young” approach to church. 

This means we will be asking all adults in the church to play a role in the discipleship of young people.  We believe the work of developing the discipleship of young people will spark all of us to grow in Christ.  Promoting teens and young 20-somethings will benefit everyone.  Emphasizing the faith of Millennials and Generation Z will make our church ready to welcome visitors into all areas of church life. 

Our desire is to follow Jesus and as we do to love all those who come into our path.  We have first-time guests just about every week.  If we welcome them with genuine warmth and youthful energy, many who come through May, June, July, and August, will come back.  And our church with grow.

People born between 1928 and 1945 are called “Builders.”  Those born between 1946 and 1964 make up the Baby boom after World War II.  These are the “boomers.”   My generation, “Gen X” are people born roughly between 1965 and 1980.  Millennials, or “Generation Y,” were born between 1981 and 1999: these are the young adults.  They don’t really remember the Cold War or Russia as a Communist threat or the Apartheid in South Africa, or the wall coming down in Berlin.

“Generation Z” was born between 1997 and 2010.  They don’t remember the 9-11 terrorist attacks.  That’s history for them.  They don’t remember a world without cellphones or Facebook or Uber or Netflix.  They don’t remember going to a Blockbuster video store and renting a movie.  The thing to keep in mind is – all of us, every generation – feel the call to help people become disciples of Jesus. 

God is the God of every generation.  God will continue saving this world through the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and God will continue that saving work the same way God always has: working through his church. 

God’s church must always have young people at the heart of what we do and who we are.  In Jeremiah chapter 1 the prophet writes, “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations’” (v.4-5).  Jeremiah wanted no part of this.  “Lord God, truly I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy” (v.6). 

God was in no mood for Jeremiah’s hesitancy.  “Do not say ‘I am only a boy,’” God replied to Jeremiah.  “You shall go to all whom I send you and you shall speak whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them for I am with you” (v.7-8).  I don’t think our teenagers have the call God sent to Jeremiah.  He was a unique prophet at a specific time in Israel’s history.  But I do think God has a work for the teenagers and young people here in HillSong’s family that is every bit as important.  God tells us, do not say they are only kids.  God has called our teenagers and young adults to lead the way in ministry and God has called our entire church to empower our members to answer His calling. 

God wants Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the surrounding communities to know that we are lost in sin, but have salvation in Jesus.  The word of the good news gets out to people who aren’t in church and don’t know the Lord when we share it.  We invite people to church.  We tell people about our own faith.  And our children, teenagers, and young adults will be some of our more powerful witnesses. 

God told Jeremiah, “I knew you, I consecrated you, I appointed you, I am with you, I have put my words in your mouth (v.5, 8, 9).  God knows each one of us.  Young people, God has words for you and God’s Spirit gives you the courage and composure to speak those words.  We, your church family, are here for you, and we all grow as you embrace God’s call on your lives. As a church we have to develop the faith of our young people and we have to listen to our young people. 

The “Growing Young” philosophy is organized around 6 core commitments, the first of which is Keychain leadership.  Too often, churches ask people to be involved in ministry, but don’t share responsibility. A community of key-less leaders is formed.  In setting the church’s direction, they have no voice.

Key-hoarders are the powerbrokers: maybe the pastor, maybe the elders, maybe the church secretary, or maybe a group of people who have been around a long time and donate most of the money.  These leaders hoard leadership and don’t listen to young people and don’t share decision-making. 

There are leaders who loan out keys, but with a tight leash.  In my 20’s, I served as a youth pastor with key-loaning leader.  He let me plan youth programs, but I always had to check in with him and my plans could be changed or canceled without much warning if the lead pastor and deacons deemed it necessary.  It felt good when he trusted me, but my confidence was shaken when he overrode my ideas.

At HillSong, we want to practice keychain leadership.  In keychain leadership, we train younger people to be ministry leaders and then walk with them and encourage them as they learn while doing.  Keychain leaders don’t necessarily have to be young, but they do need to be confident enough to let young people take the wheel on a project and support them whether they succeed or fail.  Keychain leaders do not need to make extra efforts to be relevant, but they need to be genuine.

You have already seen examples of how we share keys in ministry.  Angel, our youth pastor, has the youth group handling the Sunday morning greeting twice a month.  Most statistics show that more people will decide whether or not they are going to return to a church a second time based upon how they are greeted than based upon the music or the sermon.  When we entrust our youth with the responsibility of being front-door greeters, we are entrusting them with our church’s future. 

Another example of sharing the keys?  I am not the head of our “Growing Young team.”  Our team is me, Diane Asbill, Angel Lee, Nooshin Ghazi, and Chris Hollingsworth.  That’s one baby boomer and one Gen-Xer; Angel, Nooshin, and Chris are millennials, and Nooshin, one of the Millennials, is our team leader.   We have had millennials as elders and deacons. 

We don’t want to be like the leaders in Jerusalem who were out-of-touch with God and thus ignored Jeremiah when he was a young prophet.  They fell under God’s judgment.  We know God has something to say in Chapel Hill, and God’s going to say it through churches.  In our church, God speaks through all our members, including our young people.  We want to give them the space to speak and we want to give them our attention because we want to see where God is working and join in that work. 

Pray for Diane, Angel, Nooshin, and Chris.  Go to them, and share your willingness to be part of our church’s growth.  Maybe you’ll work with young people directly.  Maybe your roll will be indirect.  Maybe you’re not yet sure, so pray about it.  Pray about how you can help us be a church that helps people grow as disciples of Jesus.  Pray for our community and especially for young people.  We’ve got middle schools, high schools, and the most prominent university in our state all within a mile or two of our church property.  God’s mission is before us: go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We see clearly the importance of being 15.  It’s the future of the church; it’s the work of God in the present; it’s our calling to walk in faith today. 

AMEN

Hungry Teens, a Good Spirit

I think a youth pastor hopes the following things will happen when his or her church hosts an event that involves other churches.

(1) The youth pastor (YP) wants to see a lot churches bring a lot of kids.
- We are hosting 30-Hour Famine and one group who brought a bunch kids last year couldn't come this year; another which also brought a crowd last year dropped out at the last minute; and, two others brought less kids than they thought they would.

(2) The YP wants everything at the church to work.  
- Our video system, which we were counting on for three videos during the Friday night program, went out.  Not only was it not available, but the people who lead worship on Sundays are going to be mad and take it out on the youth leaders.


Not a great beginning and yet, it has been a great weekend thus far.  The kids are fasting to gain an understanding of hunger.  From Noon Friday to supper time on Saturday, the teenagers are going without eating.  Usually at a Friday night youth event there would be pizza and snacks.  Last night we had juice.  And our kids had a great spirit.

Our speakers did a wonderful job of being engaging.  They did not miss a beat when the video system went down.  They were interesting and kept the attention of the middle school and high school students.  One of the speakers, Tamara Baker, works for an important organization that you should check out - No Kid Hungry NC http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/overview?gclid=CKaB2aLf6rYCFccx4AodwgwAkA.

The other speakers, Randy and Jon, both of First Baptist Hillsboro, were funny and fun and serious all at the same time.  Which is good because this entire weekend is all of that funny and fun (teenagers at church on a Friday night; this should be funny and fun); but we're gathered to pray for the hungry, raise money for the hungry, and appreciate the pain the hungry in the world have to deal with.  Jon shared how researching the experience of hungry people in Haiti changed him.  Randy, a pastor, shared how he was humbled on an experienced preaching in Cuba where his hosts, themselves extremely poor, served him their ration of food for a day.  He didn't realize they were completely giving their meal so he could be treated as a proper guest.  

These stories and others gripped the hearts of the kids from the three churches in attendance.  They were fully into all that was shared.  These teenagers took everything to heart.  They could be out partying, drinking, into self-absorbed, destructive happenings, but no.  They are at church, praying for hungry people.  Today, without having eaten, they will do service projects to help the church and the community.  

One other element that really made the night last night - the band.  Surrounding Jericho is really good http://www.reverbnation.com/surroundingjericho.  Please check them out and book them.  They have great hearts.  They love Jesus and they are talented.  

The 30-Hour Famine (http://www.30hourfamine.org/) is a wonderful event and it thrills me when our church does it and does it with passion.  

We also appreciate Chik-Fil-A (http://www.chick-fil-a.com/) for helping us break the fast by giving us a great deal on food for the kids that we will enjoy this afternoon.  We pray for kids in Orange County and Chapel Hill, across North Carolina and around the world.  Many are not on a 30-hour fast as a youth event.  For many this hunger is a way of life and it affects all areas of life but especially growth and learning.  I hope you will respond to the still small voice of God that is speaking into your heart right now.  I hope you will get involved in fighting hunger wherever you live.

Fasting, or not

My church is doing a program called the 30-hour famine. In order raise awareness and money, teenagers and adult volunteers skip lunch and dinner on Friday and then breakfast on Saturday. The Fast is from 7AM Friday to Noon on Saturday.

The wear "30-hour" famine shirts to school and when asked, they explain the program to teachers and peers. Then, Friday night a group of churches gather. This year, 6 youth groups come together at our church. They play games, have worship (with some pretty loud, rocking music), and they sleep in cardboard boxes to get a sense of the experience of homeless people.

It is a good time of learning for the kids. And the money they raise through pledges and fundraisers goes to fight hunger in our state and around the world. In 2009 and 2010, most of the funds raised were sent to Haiti.

I have participated as a leader and as one who fasted in the past two years. This year, alas, I am just a leader. I will be at the church from 1-3AM Saturday, just monitoring. During those hours, the kids will be asleep in their cardboard cities set up all around the church. I will just be an adult presence watching over things and helping where help is needed.

Why did I decide not to fast this year? Well, I had been doing some fasting already as a part of my Lenten discipline. And this morning I worked out pretty hard at the YMCA. Knowing I was going to have much interrupted sleep tonight (on top of interrupted sleep throughout this week from my precious children), and knowing I have to preach Sunday, I decided to not be over tired and overly hungry. So, I'll just be overly tired.

I don't know how to think about it when I go into a fast, and the fail to keep it. Is that a spiritual failure. Am I failing God? I don't think so, but I think my culture tends toward legalism (both American culture and evangelical culture). So, if the rule is don't eat, and I eat, then I broke the rule and am a failure.

But fasting isn't supposed to earn gold stars next to my name in the lamb's book of life. It is supposed to draw me closer to Jesus. If all I am doing by fasting (on top of not sleeping) is getting cranky and mean, then to me, that is the failure, whether I keep the fast or not. I have had some real positive times of fasting this Lent. So, I am not too worried about the fruit and pizza I ate a while ago. I am just grateful for the blessings I have and grateful that Jesus loves me and allows me to serve Him whether it is as a father, as a citizen, or as a volunteer as a youth event.