Constructing a New Church Building?

Dear North Central Conference Friends,

Church buildings say a lot about the congregation which assembles and serves from that facility. According to Mark Waltz (First Impressions, Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church, Group Publishing, 2004), people will make a decision about your church within the first 10 minutes of arrival. People with a well-cultivated sense of Christian hospitality and intentionally gracious behavior can make up for a lot of wear and tear on a facility. Still, the facility does matter.

The Emmanuel Free Methodist Church (Pastor Dan Grimes) built a new facility in Janesville, Wisconsin. The large church building is well designed with an attractive entrance, a multi-use sanctuary that features excellent media capabilities and family-style seating and bright spaces for ministry to children and youth. Walking into this new church the first impressions are quite good. Thoughts that come to mind are contemporary, family-oriented, quality and relevant.

Several NCC congregations have recently made significant improvements to their facility, or moved to a new facility. LifePointe Church (Tiffin, IA, Pastor Randy Reed), only two years old, has moved from its meeting place in a local movie theater (a pretty cool venue) into a building that is more suited for its ministry goals. The Fillmore FMC (MN, Pastor Mike Hopper) built a new facility a few years ago that provides without question the finest church building within a 20 mile radius. Fairly new construction can be found at the Free Methodist Church in LaFarge, Wisconsin (Pastor Mark Phillips), including a new community skate park for Kickapoo Valley youth. There are many more.

Kevin Costner dreamed, "If we build it they will come." That was fiction. Often they will. Emmanuel and LifePointe both have seen a significant increase in attendance since making their moves. Yet these congregations were growing, healthy churches with clear vision and plans to reach their community with the gospel and built as part of a clear strategy to fulfill God’s vision for the church. A church which is struggling internally, is not experiencing church growth, lacks a healthy vision or strategic plan should not consider building or making significant renovations. Building projects can create extraordinary stress, and if there is not significant unity over why a new building is necessary such a project will likely do more harm than good.

Consider these questions before building. Is the church really short of space? Multiple services are often a better and much more cost effective solution to space issues. Does the church have the property to accommodate new construction and the necessary additional parking? Is there a true ministry need that cannot be met via existing facilities? Are the facilities so worn or in such disrepair that they are no longer functional? How supportive are the leaders and stakeholders (which include your community) of expansion or new construction? How does the financial health of the congregation allow for the project? Have professional planners, denominational leaders, and appropriate specialists been consulted? Above all is God clearly at work in the midst of your church? How have you seen the Holy Spirit preparing the way, leading to growth and expansive vision for ministry that would necessitate a new building?

As a movement with 150 years of history, it is no surprise that many NCC facilities are very old, often surpassing their centennial mark. Some buildings are donated homes tucked into a neighborhood corner and well out of community site. Some have nurseries or restrooms or children’s ministry space that either still have decor from 1960 or are in poor repair or a poor location that say to families, "this church will not care for the safety or well being of my children." Certainly first impressions are compromised and long term ministry opportunities may be hindered. Jesus made it clear that even the very Temple of Jerusalem, construction which God required, was temporary.

If you believe God is leading you to consider building or expanding, there are some good FMC and NCC resources available. Check out the self-select coaching page (nccfmc.org) and note the availability of coaches who can assist with thinking through building projects. Call one of the pastors mentioned in this article. While the NCC Loan Fund has presently loaned out funds to capacity, we anticipate that more loan funds will be available mid-2010. The Free Methodist Foundation is a good resource for expansion or construction funding. You may wish to check out such web sites as churchsolutionsmag.com, churchconstruction.com, churchbizonline.com, cornerstoneconference.com and buildingforministry.com. Your ministry team considering construction or expansion would benefit from visiting a local congregation that may have recently gone through a building and gaining insight from their perspectives. Visit some of the excellent NCC facilities and learn from the experiences of your peers who have been successful in doing what it takes to make a great first impression.

"You are like livings stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood..." (1Pt.2.5)

Your servant,
Superintendent Mark

Life Long Learning and the NCC

School is back in session. Many churches are launching major initiatives to reach children through Sunday educational initiatives. Teaching Biblical truths is a core function of the great commission, “... and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you...” (Matthew 28:20).

Learning must be a way of life for all us! All of the time! The best educated pastors and church members must be on a quest for lifelong learning or we grow stagnant, dry up, and cease to be of value as salt and light in the world. Benjamin Titus Roberts said:

Years ago we said to the most solid genius we ever knew, “You ought to study more.” What shall I study?” he replied, like a know-it-all. For many years then the church needed his services the most, when his influence might have extended itself broadly, he hid from people and dried up. The ocean stays full by thousands of rivers flowing into it. The richest soil maintains its productiveness by absorbing fertility from the earth, water and air. The mind, even the one most richly endowed by nature, must take in new supplies of mental food, or it will gradually lose its grasp and power.

Many followers of Christ in the modern era believe they are too busy to read or attend seminars or stretch to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many preachers, whose profession involves helping people understand new and complex truths as they intersect with modern realities and daily life, believe they are too busy to read or attend seminars. Yet, it does not take long, as B.T. Roberts suggests, for even the best and brightest to dry up and lose energy and power if they are not filling up with new truths and deeper understanding on a regular basis.

The North Central Conference and Free Methodist Church works hard to invest in providing training and resourcing for pastors and congregations. The following are resources we provide to enrich, equip and train pastors and congregations. It is the sincere hope of NCC leadership that these opportunities to “study, to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not be ashamed” will help congregations grow increasingly healthy and pastors to increasingly become even more so “bold, apostolic leaders.”

Many of these excellent training events are coming up in September and October. Plan now to get re-energized and filled up with equipping that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy!

Monthly District LEAD Meetings for pastors.
NCC Coaching for all new pastors. (see nccfmc.org)
NCC self-select coaching for all pastors who desire growth.
NCC revitalization planning focused upon vision and NCD coaching.
NCC growth resources available on the web at nccfmc.org.
NCC International Bible Institute
NCC Apollos Model Ordination
NCC superintendent blog includes books worth reading.
NCC annual GROW event in each district (check calendar for yours!).
NCC Annual Conference.
NCC Coach Training.
NCC Quarterly Assistant Superintendent Training.
NCC Pastor’s Retreat
NCC camping always includes great equipping for everyone!
FMC Starting Strong pastor’s orientation.
FMC Church Growth Consulting network.
FMC Quarterly Superintendent Training.
FMC Reimagining Church Event with Bishops
(Spring Arbor, MI – Oct 23,24)
(Lawrence, KS – Oct 30, 31)
FMC Light and Life Magazine.
FMC web site (freemethodistchurch.org)
. . . and so much more!

Denominational staff, conference staff, district leaders and each church provide a wealth of resources for learning and it is all accessible to you! Just ask. Be sure to check the conference calendar at nccfmc.org to stay up-to-date on these and many other excellent events and opportunities. When you support the NCC, you support opportunities to better learn how to “plant and grow healthy congregations advanced by boldly apostolic leaders.” This how we are “working synergistically together!” Together – Christ in us – we are “bringing Jesus to the North Central United States.”

Worship and Flow

Here are a few thoughts on worship and flow.

God raised Moses up to liberate the Hebrews from slavery so that they might worship the Lord. “So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: `How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me...” (Ex.10.3)

God meets with his people in worship, and we respond to the presence of the Holy, Holy, Holy Lord. Through worship we focus upon God for who God is, are consumed by the presence of the Spirit, place our lives into the hands the Redeemer. We sacrifice to the Lord and develop a singular Christ-centered focus. As the Bride of Christ, we romance our beloved, as the children of God we revere our Father, as the servants of God we fulfill our duty.

Healthy worship requires flow. Rick Warren in Purpose Driven Church states one of the most important aspects of worship flow. Chunky, disconnected, poorly planned, us-rather-than-God-focused worship is likely to be tedious and merely endured by the saints or repulsive to those seeking a relationship with the Living Lord.

I’ve come to think of improving worship flow as removing barriers between the stream of the Spirit that flows between God and His worshipers. A river may flow well in as a slow, steady stream or Category 4 white-water rapids. The same river can provide a thrill and gentle beauty throughout the same waterway. However, a tree fall, boulders or pollution littered along the way clog the flow of water, create stagnation or distraction. Worship leader Paul Baloche provides a good way to think of flow at http://www.leadworship.com/resources/Flow-1.html.

Free Methodist worship takes many forms, but there are several components that comprise what we refer to as a “worship service.” Worship gives opportunity for: 1) the praise of God through prayer and congregational singing; 2) worshipers to receive insight into the will of God through Scripture reading and preaching; 3) individuals to commit themselves personally to God’s revealed will through calls to commit to Jesus and the sacraments; and 4) to strengthen the dedicated to do the will of God.

We sometimes hinder flow. When a beautiful and moving series of hymns or worship choruses comes to a grinding halt and the pastor immediately announces this week’s pot luck, a tree has fallen into the river. Better to move from worship songs directed to the Lord into prayer or reading of Scripture still directed to the Lord.

When communion is tacked onto a service like an odd appendage without much thought given to the centrality of the cross or the power of community created as people together receive the body and blood of Christ, a boulder has rolled into the stream. Better to intentionally plan how communion either leads to or acts as a response of faith in the gospel (let me challenge my Methodist friends to offer communion at least monthly). When more time is spent getting prayer requests (this focuses on us, not the Lord’s power to answer prayer) than actually praying, blockages in the stream begin to form.

When little care is taken to plan technology or people flow so that screeching microphones distract or visitors are forced to walk to the front seats in the midst of prayer, it is like litter distracting from the beauty of the moment. This may also embarrass the visitor who braved coming to your church this day. A good sound check and well trained ushers help remove such blockages to flow, as does a good crying room or nursery.

Testimonies can be powerful, when coached and planned they work well. On the other hand, when the same person gives the same testimony frequently or a beloved parishioner rambles on about how God helped find the lost cat, or is “led by the Spirit” to denounce the sins of people – flow is significantly disrupted. A planned interview with the pastor, or video testimony can be much more effective. Of course, the Spirit may well interrupt and lead to a healthy Category 5 white-water (rough at times) experience.

If the sermon is an unbiblical rambling about fishing trips or comments on the latest political or pop-psychology controversy it is unlikely that connections between God and the people of God are being made. Just as an athlete is able to carry out the best moves in response to the needs of the game only if she is well practiced, so the preacher will only be able to respond to the prompting of the Spirit with skill and effectiveness if she has studied and prepared for the
moment of preaching.

Take time after the next several worship services to prayerfully reflect with your team or a few folks you trust. Note those moments that seemed to be pregnant with the Spirit, and gave birth to a healthy response from the people. Note those moments that appeared to be pregnant but in which response did not come. When did you sense God was at work, and when did you feel you were going through motions – and why did you feel that way? What aspects of worship drew you into the presence of God, and what things served to distract from that singular focus? If a visitor dropped by, not knowing your church or heart, what would they say was important to your church based upon what they experienced? Would they be drawn closer to God having been with you?

“It is written; ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Luke 4:9

Still Bringing Jesus?

One month after Annual Conference 2009 and we continue to ask, “Are we still bringing Jesus?” The core of the NCC vision is to see all of our Free Methodist congregations working together to “Bring Jesus to the North Central United States.”

Our churches must impact the community God has uniquely situated them to serve. Jesus had significant impact by actually loving his community, the people in it, associating with them, and meeting their temporal needs even as he shared an eternal message. In so doing, he associated with the rich (Mtw.27.57) and poor (Mtw.11.5), the powerful (Jn.3.1; 7.50) and powerless (Jn.4.25-27), but had a preference to minister among those who knew they had the deepest of needs to be healed, accepted, given hope and restored – the poor and disenfranchised (Lk.12.32-34). The Jesus model still works.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (Jms.1.27). Jesus welcomes into His Father’s kingdom those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked and love the
imprisoned (Mtw.25:31-46). The double helix of Free Methodist DNA is personal and social holiness. As B.T. Roberts was stirred to action to oppose slavery and bring positive social solutions to address the systematic denial of rights, education and opportunity to women and
people of color, so must we embody that DNA today. Every church – whether an area of wealth or poverty, rural or urban, ethnically diverse or homogenous – must understand that its call is not first to its members but to the lost, lonely, disenfranchised, spiritually and materially poor that populate their neighborhoods, towns and regions.

To win one more soul, to gain a gospel hearing, our churches must reorient toward loving their communities through meeting real needs in the name of Jesus Christ, and boldly declaring the eternal life provided by the Son of God. W e are the “body of Christ!” W e must embody Jesus’
passion to love and minister to the real needs of those in each of our cities, towns and villages. In each of the six districts of the NCC, congregations regularly “Bring Jesus” to their community.

What are some of the ways that you and your church have decided to share the good news both in word and deed?

GROW Events Coming Your Way

GROW events are designed to celebrate and equip congregations as we bring Jesus to the North Central United States & beyond! We aim to GROW: Gather, Retool for ministry, Outwardly focus and Worship the living Lord.

As I have traveled the seven-state region of the North Central Conference I note that too many congregations feel isolated from other churches in the Free Methodist Connection. Training is provided in local District Meetings on a regular basis for pastors, but little is provided by the conference for developing lay leaders. A common criticism of Annual Conference is that there is little time to connect personally and get to know people. Too few Free Methodists have an opportunity to see and hear what God is doing through their peers, often in their own backyard.

“Conferencing” – getting together to pray and discuss important issues, learn from and equip one another for ministry – was viewed by John Wesley as a means of grace, and continues to be so. GROW events are designed to provide conferencing in its truest sense, and within a geography and time frame that allows for greater connection between congregations and leaders within the NCC district structures.

GROW events are designed to address these needs. Once a year following Annual Conference, congregations within each district will Gather, Retool, Outwardly focus and Worship together. These meetings are not meant for pastors and delegates alone, but for all within the district who would benefit from and enjoy GROWing together.

GROW Events will include Worship led by district worship teams, time to gather and simply fellowship, preaching by the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent, seminars and training led by conference and local leadership, open feedback between conference and congregational participations regarding pressing issues of theology and practice (particularly important during years in which General Conference is held), and opportunities to celebrate significant events and achievements led by the Spirit within each district.

The dates for GROW Events are published as part of the NCC Calendar (see website) and as follows:

Team North: October 3, 2009 Metro Chicago: January 23, 2010
Wisconsin: October 10, 2009 S.MN/SD/N.IA: February 13, 2010
Heartland: December 5, 2009 Upstate IL: February 27, 2010

We look forward to seeing you at the GROW event in your district. GROW Events: Celebrating and equipping congregations as we bring Jesus to the North Central United States & beyond!

150 Years of Bringing Jesus

Dear Friends,

Free Methodists in the North Central United States have celebrated 149 Annual Conferences. In just a few weeks, we are about to celebrate our 150th. For 150 years all of the Free Methodist congregations in the North Central United States gather to celebrate the work of God through the churches, find encouragement and equipping to carry out the mission of the church and to elect leaders for the coming year.

The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, believed that conferencing was a “means of grace” akin to prayer and reading the Scriptures. Our annual conferences have their roots in the first conference between Rev. John Wesley and other Methodist preachers held in London in November 1739 with an agreement to continue meeting annually around Ascension Day (late April or May).

The first “Free Methodist” annual conference of sorts was a Laymen’s Convention held in July 1860 in St. Charles, Illinois. In August, a similar convention would take place in Pekin, NY which marks the official founding of the Free Methodist Church. The conference organized Christians who had either been expelled or willingly withdrew from Methodist Episcopal connections over several key issues. Chief among these concerns were the doctrine of entire sanctification (Free Methodists support this doctrine) and slavery (opposed by the Free Methodists). John Wesley Redfield, a Licensed Preacher from Elgin, Illinois, oversaw the services at this Western Annual Conference, assisted by B.T. Roberts and others. Gathered were churches from what we know today as the North Central Conference – Southern Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois. It would not take long after this for Free Methodist churches to be planted and organized in Minnesota and the Dakotas as well.

The primary action taken at this conference is as follows:

“Resolved, That our attachment to the doctrines, usages, spirit, and discipline of Methodism, is hearty and sincere. It is with the most profound grief that we have witnessed the departure of many of the ministers from the God-honored usages of Methodism. We feel bound to adhere to them, and to labor all we can, and to the best possible advantage, to promote the life and power of godliness. We recommend that those in sympathy with the doctrine of holiness, as taught by Wesley, should labor in harmony with the respective churches to which they belong. But when this cannot be done, without continual strife and contention, we recommend the formation of Free Methodist churches. . .”

I note that the North Central Conference is 150 years old. I am not sure why. That is, the Free Methodist Church was officially founded in 1860 so that it seems not possible for the NCC to celebrate 150 years (but rather 149 at best). However, I suspect this is the result of many of the congregations established by Redfield and friends in the Fox River Region. These churches did meet together in 1859. Congregations from places like St. Louis, MO; Elgin, Marengo, Aurora, Woodstock, Quincy, IL; Appleton and Green Bay, WI formed independently with the intention to form under the Discipline of Methodism, and did so with the formation of the new Free Methodist denomination.

Now, 150 years later, what is the state of ground zero for the Free Methodist movement in the Western United States? Redfield went from town to town organizing new Free Methodist Churches. He was not successful everywhere he went, and often frustrated. His letters reflect frustration at severe losses to congregations that had been formed but then shrank back or fell into disunity. However, just as often a revival would set in, hundreds would be saved, many sanctified, churches formed and communities transformed.

The thrust of the early movement was to “promote the life and power of godliness” and the “formation of Free Methodist Churches.” Proclaim the simple gospel. Call for holiness of heart. Working for a just society setting people free from slavery – literal human bondage and destructive addictions that hinder a holy life. It sounds as if these Free Methodists were “Bringing Jesus to the North Central United States through Planting and Growing Healthy Congregations advanced by Boldly Apostolic Leaders...” The question really is...

Are we? Are we still bringing Jesus? Are we still winning souls? Are we still forming new Free Methodist churches? Are we still advocating for and seeing transformed culture and transformed lives?

Pray for the 150th NCC Annual Conference. Pray for Bishop David Kendall, the ministries of the congregations that comprise the NCC, the social service institutions of the conference, the missions work supported by the NCC and the new churches being planted and those yet to be planted. Celebrate “Still Bringing Jesus” at the 150th Annual Conference.

Sincerely,


Mark Adams, Superintendent

Christ IS Risen!

“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all!” Acts.4.33

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . . In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1Pet.1.3

As we celebrate the event which quaked the cosmos, the resurrection of the Lord of Life, glory in the present reality of Abundant Life! Jesus, crucified and dead, risen for all to see, is not merely an event of history. Resurrection is your present reality!

Christ IS risen.

You are alive in Christ! Resurrection is the reason to wake up each day, a form of resurrection in-and-of-itself, and face your struggles and challenges with overpowering optimism because of the victory of Jesus in your life. You are indestructible. What can anyone do to you that can cause true harm when in Christ you live forever? You are an over-comer! What obstacle can be more difficult to overcome than death itself, and in Christ this last great enemy is defeated.

Pope John Paul said, “We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song!”
Sing that chorus with conviction - “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!”

Allow Christ in you to resurrect your love for God.
Allow Christ in you to resurrect your marriage.
Allow Christ in you to resurrect your relationship with your kids.
Allow Christ in you to resurrect your career.
Allow Christ in you to resurrect your church.
Allow Christ in you to resurrect your community.

Christ IS risen.

Supt. Mark