Black History Month and the NCC

Established in 1925, “Negro History Week” was placed in the first week of February in between the birthday celebrations of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.  Over the years Americans have expanded the communal opportunity to reflect upon, embrace and learn more about the nation’s African heritage - both painful and beautiful. Now we observe Black History Month.  Free Methodists join in!

The first Free Methodists were “thrust out” of the larger Methodist body over their unshakable commitment to a holiness that was not merely private but insistently public. Abolition - fighting to end slavery - was a core issue for our denominational forefathers and mothers.  Underground railroad depots were part of the fabric of the this group of radical Christ-followers.  Our churches intentionally stripped barriers that kept black and white worshipers separate and embraced new ministries that invested in equipping and partnering with the poor, disenfranchised and oppressed.

Not surprisingly, most early Free Methodist churches formed in the North . . . an abolitionist church did not take easy root in the Southern United States. Nonetheless, the first Free Methodist Church organized in Missouri, a slave state at the time. This boldly testified that the church’s foundation would not be compromised by accepting injustice or the disunity of believers based upon skin color or social status. In Christ’s family there are only brothers and sisters loved by their heavenly Father.

Today, the largest NCC church is a black congregation – the Chapel. 500 worshipers gather weekly at the Chapel to praise God and testify of new hope and transformation in Christ. Connected to Olive Branch Mission, the Chapel serves Chicago’s Englewood community and the world.

Black pastors in the NCC are currently leading in churches in Chicago (Joel Smith with the Chapel), Madison (Larry Jackson with True Believers), Iowa City (Tommy Roberts with LifePointe Church), and Elliot Renfroe (Winfield, IL) provides consistent leadership to the Free Methodist Continental Urban Exchange.  Despite a history grounded in actively seeking equality and cross-cultural ministry, North American Free Methodists are a largely white group. Be bold, North Central Conference, in taking continued action today as a movement of embrace for all, seeking justice and engaging in partnership across all the divides which threaten to diminish the united Body of Christ.

END SLAVERY

American criminals advertize jobs for nannies and waitresses in third world countries. Young women, the average age is 14, apply for these jobs, and are excited when they are accepted and provided passage to the United States. Upon arrival, they are greeted by pimps who beat them into submission and threaten to kill their families if they try to escape or tell anyone of their new position.

Whose hands picked the beans for cup of java you enjoyed today? Global Horizons Manpower, Inc. is an international labor company that brings agricultural workers to America from Thailand. GHM came under indictment last year when it was discovered that their practices include giving Thai nationals the "opportunity" to mortgage their land for the fee needed to secure high-paying America jobs, and upon arrival to the U.S., had their passports confiscated and forced to work for minimal or pay, long hours, and with threat of economic, legal or even physical violence if they sought to escape. American companies who used these "employees" include Kaua'i Coffee and Maui Pineapple Farms.

This is modern slavery. It's real. It's pandemic. It's nearby. As we celebrate the life of America's clearest voice for freedom in our time, Martin Luther King, Jr., we need to ask, what are we doing about it?

Over 26 million people are estimated to be enslaved worldwide today. Estimates from the U.S. State Department indicate that this year between 15,000 and 50,000 people will be kidnaped, tricked, or bought from family members in third world countries (sometimes from our own streets) and enslaved for labor or sex in America.

Slavery is a North Central Conference issue.

In November 2010, 29 American Somalians were arrested in Minneapolis (home base for the Somali Outlaws, Somali Mafia and Lady Outlaws gangs). These gangs fulfilled their mission statement for 10 years before being caught. Their mission was to "identify, recruit and obtain girls 14 and under for American prostitution." One of the victims, a high school student found beaten by authorities, reported being frequently raped by her gang member owners and shipped between three states for their profit. Minnesota ranks 10 in the US for incidents of slavery.

A Chinese girl was promised work by a restaurant owner, but when she arrived her passport was confiscated, family threatened, and she lived a life of servitude and abuse in Ames, Iowa. 200 cases of suspected human trafficking were reported in Wisconsin in 2010. Illinois generates the fifth largest amount of calls to the U.S. Human Trafficking hotline (888-3737-888).

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, and currently topped only by drug trade. Slavery is more common - and more lucrative - than illegal arms trading. A slave can be worth $400,000 a year in income to the criminal abusing this human being.

What is a human being worth to you? As Christ-followers and part of a church which began largely as an abolitionist movement, what are we going to do about it?

FREEDOM SUNDAY

End slavery. Start by being a "FREEDOM SUNDAY" Church. If your church has not already registered as a Freedom Sunday Church, I urge you to do so. I believe every one of our churches must participate in some way to end slavery in our day. It’s our DNA. Registering will give you access to many excellent resources for awareness, prayer, advocacy and action that will end slavery in our time.

Freedom Sunday is March 13. But the war has been raging, battles engaged, and the time for action is now. Get started. Your church could be the next stop on a new underground railroad, your living room could be where teams are equipped to identify and aid victims of slavery, your phone call may provide the tip that saves a battered girl's life and family.

One of the largest neo-abolitionist groups today is "notforsalecampaign" - with which the Free Methodist Church is very involved. This organization needs state leaders for almost every state in the North Central Conference. Do you, or someone you know, have a passion to make a real difference in this world and become actively engaged in the struggle? Let Superintendent Mark know (supncc@gmail.com), we want to partner to be a force for good in this dark world!

Join Freedom Sunday via http://www.freedomsunday.org/.
Join "Not For Sale" via http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Resolve to Love

What if in 2011 we focused not on growing churches so much as growing hearts – growing our capacity to love?  The theme this Conference year is “Making Contact,” based upon the idea that at Christmas “the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14).  Love was God’s motivation (John 3:16).

Love fulfills the law (Romans 13:10).  The distinguishing mark of a Christian is love - not merely for family and friends, even unbelievers  share that kind of love - but love for your enemy (Matthew 5:43-48).  Proof that we love God is our love for our neighbor (1 John 4:20).

Free Methodists identify with the holiness movement.  Sometimes this has led us to replace the royal law of love (James 2:8) with a legalism that has done more to hinder the expression of the gospel than to further it (Galatians 5).  John Wesley, our theological forefather, called the first Methodists to pursue perfection, to experience entire sanctification, which he identified as “love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Grow in love.  Grow in love and your church will grow.  Your heart will grow. Your relationships will grow. Your happiness will grow.  Your resources will grow.  Love is expansive, expressive, social and warm.  People are attracted to loving people.  People are attracted to loving churches.  The warmth of love will melt away the icy hardness of self-righteous pseudo holiness that keeps men and women, liberal and conservative, dark brown and light beige, generation Y and the builders from experiencing Christian community together.

Resolved for 2011: North Central Conference Free Methodists will be known as the most radically generous, openly loving, self-sacrificial people anyone will meet this year.  In love let’s shovel our neighbor’s walk, offer a kind word to the harassed grocery clerk, set aside our agendas to listen to the complaints and hurts of others. In love feed the hungry, free slaves, protect aliens and widows.

When people experience God’s love through you, you will be an amazingly attractive and compelling person. When our churches are known in the community as places of radical, uncompromising, extravagant love I suspect growth will come.  Christ in you, the hope of glory, is how God intends the world to know the gospel (Col.1.27). This is “Bringing Jesus to the North Central United States.”

Appreciating Pastors

Sam moved from Texas to Minnesota to serve as pastor of a church that could not afford to pay him because he believed Jesus had laid upon his heart to shepherd in the Free Methodist Church and bring renewal to broken lives in both Anglo and Hispanic communities. In Wisconsin, Mark works full time as a manager to make ends meet for his family while leading a church to growth and impact in the community with major county-wide initiatives. Alma works time and a half every week to keep up the pace necessary to lead a larger Illinois church, and has worked through issues of sexism and racism to provide a solid, healing presence for a congregation rocked by radical shifts and changes. Kevin forsook a promising career as a teacher to take an appointment with virtually no salary in Iowa seeking to turn around the church and bring Jesus to the community. These are real pastors in your North Central Conference.

The stories of sacrifice, of risking careers and asking wives and children to move from comfort to places of extreme discomfort are common among the pastors of the North Central Conference. The only explanation is the call of God. As the Superintendent of the NCC I am often humbled by the huge and sacrificial hearts, bright and creative minds, and obedience to a call that continually keeps these Christian leaders focused. Focused not on the sacrifices they have made but upon the souls God called them to introduce to Jesus, the believers they shepherd toward greater maturity in faith and comfort in times of despair. They focus on God’s love for you. I want to honor the NCC pastors! They are a tremendous blessing and gift to us all!

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. We invite all people everywhere to bestow honor upon their pastors. “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1Tim.5.17). Respect is earned, honor is bestowed - given as a gift. It is an act of grace to honor your pastor. That act of grace can have profound and positive impact on unifying a church, strengthening the health of the Body of Christ, and either blessing your pastor for what you know he
or she has done, or imparting the gift of belief and confidence in your pastor that will blossom into deeper, more impactful and Spirit-filled leadership.

Yeah, he probably has had a few bad days and lost his temper at times. Sure, she probably doesn’t preach a life-transforming sermon every Sunday. He probably had an idea for ministry you didn’t agree with. Your
pastor is every bit as human as are you.

Still, your pastor is called by God and appointed by the body of Christ to lead the church, preach the word faithfully, seek after the lost, teach and encourage spiritual health, correct and rebuke wrongs. This is your pastor, given to you as a gift from God, and the lessons learned as you interact with each other in a spirit of grace, mutual respect, and honor are instrumental in God’s plan to make you a wiser, stronger, better lover of God and others.

FACTOID: What do FUTURE NCC leaders look like? Currently, 33 Conference Ministerial Candidates will likely be ready for ordination over the next three years. Of these, 24% are women, 45% are Hispanic, African- American or Asian. Nearly half serve in metro regions, a little more than half serve in small or mid-sized towns and a few serve rural communities.

Looking ahead. Did you know that 80% of Bible School/Seminary graduates drop out of ministry within five years (Francis Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership & Development, 2007)? What would happen if these 33 CMCs and other young and emerging leaders in our conference were nurtured by Christ followers who spent more time encouraging them, being patient with their growth curves, and praying for them instead of criticizing their rookie errors, trying to control agendas through power plays, and pining for that good ‘ol pastor of yesteryear who seemed to have done everything right (now that’s a false memory!). W e might possibly be a collection of churches that see young leaders attracted to local ministry, groomed for current and future greatness in the kingdom, and bust through the giant hurdle of long-term congregational stagnation and decline!  Grow NCC, with young leaders!

Manhattan Declaration

Dear Co-Laborers in the Lord's Vineyard,

Some time ago I signed the Manhattan Declaration and have been a supporter through prayer and finance of the efforts which arise from this framework to proclaim and advocate for biblical values regarding the family.   Political debates which often surround such issues as same-sex unions and abortion can be reactionary sound bites that are designed to elevate fear and rally around particular political causes and the Jesus way of advocating for pro-life and strong families must permeate the fabric of the church (which it often does not) before church can speak to the world (which it often does with weakened credibility).  

However, the Manhattan Declaration provides a means to commit to these issues that is, I believe, consistent with biblical values, the Free Methodist discipline, and provides some helpful tools that can make a difference.  Beginning with prayer and clarity of understanding.  

For that reason, I recommend people join the Manhattan Declaration team's call to prayer and ACTion.  Discover this at http://manhattandeclaration.org. 

It is not a directive from the superintendent that every pastor or church must agree with every tenant of the declaration, or drop everything and start praying and fasting for the family.  In fact, I pray that God will lead you to firmly commit to those particular biblical causes that the Spirit has laid on your heart and your church which is leading to life-giving, transformative power in your community and world (eradicating hunger, neo-abolotion, missionary expansion, planting and growing healthy congregations, combating addictions, etc.) and to graciously love and support those who are passionate about different aspects of how God is moving to redeem the world.  

But if family matters, the work surrounding the Manhattan Declaration seems solid to me.

Want to reach new people? Start new ministries!

It takes new ministries to reach new people.

Bringing Jesus to our communities – seeing children discover virtue, couples honor marriage, the hungry employed and fed, former victims empowering others to live abundant lives and a new song of hope being sung in the hearts of our neighbors  – requires that Christ followers be in the community and meet the needs of people who have not yet experienced God’s love.  No church can meet every need.  Every church can rediscover and reconnect with the people in its community who are not being reached with the gospel, and develop at least one new ministry to do so.

Start by discovering the people and articulating the needs that exist all around you.   First, to whom are you ministering right now?  What are your current ministries doing to demonstrate the love of Christ to your community?  Second, how effective are the ministries you have created - are they growing and expanding in their ability to touch hearts beyond the walls of your church?  Third, what kind of people live in your community that are not part of your church?  Maybe there are people from an age group, socio-economic, ethnic, or cultural sub-group that is common in your area but not common in your church.  What do they need?  What can you supply?  Fourth, what are people in your area saying they need but not getting?  Maybe it’s safety in the midst of increased violence, or activity for youth in a town where boredom prevails, a place for seniors or mothers with preschoolers to gather and swap stories, singles looking for safe places to meet others and explore faith issues, immigrants needing to feel welcomed or economically equipped by someone, or divorcees needing a place to learn to cope and move beyond the pain, etc.  There’s bound to someone in need, ignored by most, that you can love at least.

You might find that you’re doing great ministry easily expanded to another similar group of people with good impact. For example, an annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament for teens (that includes witnessing opportunities) might be expanded to include a basketball camp for elementary age kids.  You might discover that your VBS has been diminishing over the past few years, a good ministry but growing less effective, and choose to offer half-day soccer camp with prayer opportunities, half-time Bible stories, and literature distribution about soccer, health and spiritual hope in Christ to parents when they visit the last day soccer exhibition.

Noticing the make-up of your church, and the make-up of your community, you might begin to brainstorm new ways to bring Jesus to folks who are near you but not yet in church.  Find a way to converse with people and ask things like “what is your hope for this community?” or “if a church were to be a real help to you, what would that look like?” or “what can we do together to make a difference around here?”  Soon, you might find a group of people with a few needs that just maybe your church could do something about.

Identify a group your church could bless.  Identify multiple ways that your church could bless that group.  Settle on the best means to do so given your church’s mission, passion, strengths, resources and the articulated and real needs of the community you have discovered.  Gary McIntosh in “Here Today, Here Tomorrow” (Wesleyan Publishing House, 2010) suggests making a list something like this...

Name of Group

|

V

Potential Ministry    

Potential Ministry

Potential Ministry   

|

V

Best Ministry Option

Such an list might lead to an idea for a new ministry to reach new people.  There could be singles, or immigrants from Croatia, junior-high youth identified as not in church but all around town.  A church might decide it has best experience in working with youth and teens and want to build on this.

Junior High Kids

|

V

youth sunday school  

skate park

annual soccer camp  

|

V

Soccer Camp

With renewed focus on Junior High youth, the church brainstorms ways to reach this group.  Though many church leaders have taught Sunday School, attendance has been in steady decline and they decide doing the same thing to produce different results is a dead end.  Many youth interviewed talked about being bored, and their parents desired more productive things for the kids to do, especially during the summer.  A skate park came up often but as it needed regular monitoring and major funds to build it right, it was thought to be out of current reach for the congregation.  A couple of motivated college athletes in the church, and connections with the local park district staff gave momentum to the possibility that the church could develop a high quality, time-specific, very participant affordable, soccer camp. The camp would meet a need for the youth and give an opportunity for youth evangelism and family assimilation into the church.

Without new wine skins, there is no new wine.

Start something new!  It takes new ministries to reach new people.  Let’s bring Jesus to our communities!  Let’s make contact!

The Word Became Flesh and Moved into the Neighborhood

“The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, Message).  The Jesus event demonstrates the heart of God – a heart so full of love (God IS love!) that the Creator embodied in order to move into our neighborhoods and make contact with lost humanity. Of course, this is how God operated from the beginning, even strolling through the primal garden seeking a lost and confused Adam and Eve (Gen.3.8).  “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ (Is.65.1).” 

If indeed we are called to follow Christ, then we are called to follow the example set from the beginning.  Make contact.  Aggressively love.  Seek the lost. 

I found Jesus when a humble, patient soul continued to seek time with me, to bear my insults when she would tell me about the Bible.  She persistently invited me to join with her and her Christian friends even when I ridiculed them with language that would embarrass most heavy metal mavens.  When I finally consented to visit church with her she was willing to drive a total of 120 miles (round trip) to get me there.  It takes sacrifices to make contact.  I gave my heart to Jesus on my first trip to church, but it took over one year of persistent, aggressive, patient loving friendship and invitation. 

Most North Central Conference church members know mostly other church members or family and friends that they have often invited to know Christ.  The challenge for many of us is that of making contact with people we do not know who may not have discovered the great joy of peace and purpose, family healing and eternal life that flows from the Holy Spirit upon entering into a vital relationship with God through Christ. 

Looking with the eyes of Christ, however, you discover the people in your community who in fact you may not meet by accident, who will not stumble into your living room for a Bible study, and who will assume your church is not the right place for them.  Prayerfully ask Jesus for eyes to see and ears to hear the needs around you.  It is at the point of meeting a need that we have the best opportunity to communicate the love of God, which is winsome. 

North Central Conference churches – love your community by making contact at a point of a need.  Where are the isolated immigrants? The incorrigible youth? The lonely elderly?  The muddled addicts?  The kids who need somewhere safe to play?  The business leaders looking for real purpose?  The marriages on the rocks?  None of our churches, and none of our individual disciples of Jesus can see or meet all of the needs of everyone.  Start with one need you can meet, and be God’s hand of grace in that instance. Make contact. Persist.  Win a heart. Win your community.  Win the world.