BestPractices
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January 28, 2010
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Three Home Runs for Best Practices
First, we convinced Dr. A. Allan Martin from the seminary, and one of our church's best at working with young people, to do a webinar for Best Practices readers on reaching and keeping young adults. I am especially an admirer of Allan's because he is not just a theorizer, but a practitioner. He is one of the creators and authors of GodEncounters. He doesn't just talk about young adults: he works with and worships with them. The date is February 25, 11 AM Eastern. We don't have the registration page up yet, but we do have your reading for the class ready for download.
Second, I just got a call from Milton Adams of SimpleChurch, who is preparing to do a webinar for us about starting house churches. We've tentatively set the date for March 21. Could house churches be our next big paradigm shift?
Finally, Best Practices is launching a new publication. Our new monthly e-newsletter is called Best Practices for Worship Ministry. We've secured the editorial services of Nick Zork, an extraordinarily creative worship leader, and the organizer of the Andrews University Worship Conference. More next issue.
Best Practices is trying to give you the training and support you need to be cutting edge pastors for God's church!
Loren Seibold, Editor, Best Practices for Adventist Ministry.
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Pastor
|  Is Your Church a City of Refuge for Young Adults?
Jeff Boyd, associate at the Center for Youth Evangelism
Researchers estimate between 40 and 70 percent of young people drop out of church. Regardless of the exact figure, we can each look at our local church to see how few young adults attend weekly.
Church of Refuge (COR) is a ministry support network sponsored by the Center for Youth Evangelism that wants to assist you in providing meaningful, Christ-centered ministry that will attract and hold young adults. COR is committed to helping local congregations become places where young people experience a welcoming community, where their needs are met and where they can meet the needs of others.
We invite churches to become certified as COR churches, as measured by the Nine COR Values: Sabbath, Discipleship, Acceptance, Community, Support, Service, Leadership, Budget and Change.
We will help train and resource you for this ministry, starting with a Certification Guide, lists of ministry resources, and the COR Forum for ongoing conversations. All of these can be found on the COR website - http://adventistyouth.org/cor. Additionally, pastors are able to network with other like-minded leaders who are also ministering with young adults. We'll not look for cookie cutter ministries, though. COR expects that
each church will live out these values in their own unique way in their
own unique setting, in ways that are relevant for local young adults.
After a church demonstrates that it is living the Nine COR Values, we'll list it on the COR website and promote it to young adults at key life transitions: to those leaving our secondary schools and universities upon graduation, to those who attend public universities, and to those leaving school for their first jobs. We want to help them find churches that can't wait to get to know them.
The COR Network is now ending its pilot phase and beginning recruitment. Contact COR if you would like to participate in this movement to build churches where young adults can feel at home and where they can find their unique ways to serve others.
For more information please visit our website or follow up with these resources:
· Like Water Between Our Fingers (Jimmy Phillips, Adventist Review, Feb. 19, 2009)
· My Challenge: Be a "Church of Refuge" (Monte Sahlin, Adventist Today Blog, April 24, 2009)
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Ministries
| Enhancing your Digital Reach with the Printed Word
by Dale Galusha
Books and magazines have had a major part in the development of the Adventist church. Dale Galusha of Pacific Press, and his fellow Adventist publishers, are trying to build a bridge between digital media and print media. Here are some thoughts from Dale that you might find useful. LGS
Today many churches are effectively using their church
websites to reach individuals who they might not otherwise ever
contact. This new outreach tool has opened up new ways to touch people
in our communities and around the world. We praise the Lord for this
technology. As publishers of books and magazines, we're searching for ways to take advantage of these new internet-driven witnessing opportunities. We think printed literature could help to make the online contact into a real touch. Here are a few ideas I've heard:
Offering a free booklet on request to any visitor to their website.
Having a "drawing" to give-away a book or set of book once a month among all website visitors who enter.
Offering a free book or booklet to any person who comes to the church service and identifies themselves as a website visitor.
These are just a few of the creative ideas being used by local churches.
Do you have ideas to share? We're compiling a list that I hope might help churches make the most of their digital media. I'd apprecite it if you'd write me about what you've done or have plans to do so that we can know how to serve you better with the printed word. As we share the
gospel, we want to find every way possible to utilize the tools God has
given us. Contact Dale at dalgal@pacificpress.com. |
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Reading For Pastors
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A beautiful and utterly profound article: Christian professor at Harvard talks about the end of his life from cancer. If you read anything, read this! Quote: "I've never been able to bring myself to pray to be healed. I can deal
with hurting all the time. I can deal with terminal cancer. What I
cannot deal with is having the prospect that it will all be taken away
dangling right before me. That, I think, is beyond my capacity."
What is the role of faith in getting God to answer prayer? Can we manipulate God with prayer? Quote: "[Some think that ] If we can make ourselves believe something, then God is obligated to do
it. Prayer, in this sense, becomes a means by which we can exercise
sovereignty over God by our ability to convince ourselves that
something we want is true."
More about Haiti:
- Where is Haiti aid going? According to the AP article referenced here, the fear that it will end up in hands of government officials is unfounded. Quote: "Of each U.S. taxpayer dollar, 42 cents funds US AID's disaster
assistance - everything from $5,000 generators to $35 hygiene kits with
soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste for a family of five. Another
33 cents is going to the U.S. military, paying for security, search and
rescue teams, and the Navy's hospital ship USNS Comfort. ... Just under one penny of each dollar is going straight to the shattered Haitian government, whose president is sleeping in a tent."
- A great discussion article on giving to Haiti Does my little gift matter, when others can give millions?.
Stop going to church. Instead, be the church! Quote: "Some churches are fortresses. Groups of combative soldiers
that enforce their doctrine, hide behind their high and holy walls, and
launch grenades of judgment into the culture. The mission is doctrinal
conformity, not grace. The community is in-grown, not inviting."
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| Featured Media |
Although Adventists have a well developed theology of the
proper day of worship we have not sufficiently explored the theology of
corporate worship. To my knowledge there are no professors at Adventist
institutions of higher education that have earned degrees in the theology of
worship, nor are there any departments of worship at conference union or
division level (with the exception of South Pacific Divis ion). I believe that
if we had a stronger foundation for a theology of worship we would be better
equipped to address corporate worship in our diverse cultures. The NAD Church RESOURCE Center continues to
lift up the agenda of worship by sponsoring music and worship conferences and expands
their support by launching a new worship newsletter. This week's media presentation
features Nick Zork's presentation on the Roots of Worship. Nick is also serving as editor of the
upcoming Best Practices For Worship email newsletter. Subscribe now so you won't miss out on the
very first issue.
-Dave Gemmell |
| To the Point
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You would do well to pursue your causes with vigor, while remembering that you are a servant of God, not a spokesman for God, and remembering that God might well choose to bless an opposing point of view for reasons that have not yet been revealed to you.
- Barbara Jordan
To preach, to really preach, is to die naked a little at a time, and to
know each time you do it that you must do it again.
- Bruce
Thielemann
An ardent supporter of the hometown team should go to a game prepared to take offense, no matter what happens.
- Robert Benchley
You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
- Job 14:15
The Warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought.
- Steps to Christ, p. 27
Not by painful struggles or wearisome toil, not by gift or sacrifice, is righteousness obtained; but it is freely given to every soul who hungers and thirsts to receive it.
- Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 18
None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them.
- Steps to Christ, p. 35
Often our plans fail that God's plans for us may succeed.
- Help in Daily Living, p. 6
God takes men as they are... They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwithstanding their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed into His image.
- Desire of Ages, p. 294
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| Discipleship
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 Discipleship Elements: How to grow in Christ
Dan Day, Director, NAD Church Resource Center
There are three key discipleship challenges around which the upcoming discipleship curriculum from the Adventist Church in North America is constructed: (1) Discovering how to follow Jesus; (2) Learning how to grow in Christ; and (3) Experiencing how to become a nurturing community. In this segment, we'll look specifically at the second one.
Learning how to grow in Christ has to do with establishing the vital components for a vigorous spiritual life. Among them would be the role of key spiritual disciplines, such as Bible study, prayer, the role of stewardship in a balanced approach to Christian living, and the importance of Christian education. Not even all pastors are as well-established in these growth components as we might hope. And without them, there are often points of disconnect for the spiritual community, gaps which hinder our ability for the church to become all that it could be.
For example, many of the critical interpersonal challenges we face in the church, today, such as the breakdown of the family, the loss of our young people, and a lack of true engagement with the broader community, are tied to gaps in these areas. If a member of the church does not know how to grow in Christ, not only is he or she handicapped in developing true spiritual maturity, but the very character of church life itself can be compromised. For example, we may not know how to relate to one another as members of the body of Christ, how to resolve conflict, how to build one another up, how to embrace our young people, or how to carry out true evangelism where we live and work.
A healthy church is a growing church. But growth doesn't "just happen." It is shaped by learned behaviors. The rest is yet to come...
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News, Ideas & Reminders
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- You have been hearing about Real magazine, for unchurched children, for quite awhile. Nick Bejarano just sent me this press release announcing the official roll out. You can put a child's name on the list by going to www.ShareReal.org.
- Just in case you didn't read the intro paragraph at the top, we've got two webinars coming up. The first, by Dr. A. Allan Martin, on ministry to young adults, will happen on February 25. Check out the information here. Note: we don't yet have the registration page set up - we will soon - I'll let you know as soon as it is ready to go.
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Upcoming NAD Events
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- AU Worship Conference, March 25-27, 2010
- InMinistry classes from the Seminary in each union, April 11-22, 2010
- Adventist Community Services Convention, March 28-April 3, 2010, Orlando
- Just Claim It 2010, Adventist Youth Ministries Convention, April 7-11, Columbus, OH
- Webinar: The A, B, C's and D's of Young Adult Relationships: February 25, 11:00 EST
- Webinar: Starting a House Church: March 21, 11:00 AM EST
- K.I.D. University
(Kids In Discipleship Ministry training): March 21-24, 2010 - Collegedale SDA Church
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Best Practices is a Vervent publication of NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER. Editor: Loren Seibold, Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church. E-mail:
Best Practices. You are free to republish pieces from Best Practices in your own
newsletter or blog, with attribution to the Best Practices newsletter and the
author of the piece. |
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