See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? - Isaiah 43:19
Hello Church,
Quiet time is over. We were still and quiet. Leadership did very little to instigate action. We prayed on Tuesdays. We listened and learned on Sundays. We took in Advent with expectation. Now the waiting is over.
January is a month for building momentum. Epiphany is here and just as Jesus built momentum toward His Church, we will also. The leadership of Emmanuel is going to relive church and is inviting you to relive along with them. So save the date:
Relive Church! A church-wide retreat will be held on Saturday, February 9th at Loveland UMC, 9:00-4:00. Lunch will be provided.
You will be invited and invited again. It is time we re-ignite our hearts and pick up our feet and put on our thinking caps. It is time to let God lead us in a strong direction, instilling within us more passion, better intentions and higher hopes.
You will not want to miss this. We will bring together old principles with new ideas and, with God's Holy Spirit, help us to live into a refreshed church together.
Everything I do in January will be leading up to February 9th. How I talk; how I think; how I make decisions; what I preach on; what I teach about; and how I lead.
Relive church! We hope to see you there.
You can RSVP in several ways:
email me at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com
call the church at 732-1400 and leave a message
call or text me at 513-463-7378
fill out an rsvp form on Sunday morning and put it in the offering plate
God is Good,
Pastor Joe
Monday, December 31, 2018
Monday, December 17, 2018
Mega Church VS Horse And Buggies
Hello Church,
As I try to stay ahead of a renewal process for the church, I find myself trapped between two dynamics that want to pull me in opposite directions:
Biblical Principles
God wants us to 'make disciple of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world'. This has been the deciding mission statement of the UMC in West Ohio for years. I don't disagree. Disciple-making is the bedrock upon why we are the Church. We want to empower others to be a better Christian tomorrow than yesterday. It's hard and messy work. It isn't attractive or pretty. It involves the day-to-day grind of missed opportunities, failed actions and misplaced words. There is lots of energy teaching and learning and being transparent and vulnerable. It isn't fun, but it is biblical.
Cultural Relevance
To make disciples we need to attract people. People are attracted to various elements of mainstream culture including the big, bright, expensive, technological, informational, fast-paced, immediate gratification, entertainment-driven communities in which we live. Therefore we must admit the difficulty of 'making disciples' if the church remains separated from the mainstream culture to which people are attracted. It's fun to be relevant, but a church that is relevant is in danger of losing its biblical principles.... right?
So I find myself in a polarizing dichotomy. Stick to biblical principles at all cost and risk losing relevance to would-be disciples..... or be a fun, relevant church at the risk of compromising our bible-based mission to make disciples of Jesus.
I think there might be a balance, but I think it would be a precipitous one. There are churches that stretch the bounds of one extreme or another. The Amish stick to biblical principles and throw cultural relevance away. Current non-denominational mega churches (and some denominational ones) embrace cultural relevance and the random charismatic leader throws away (or ignores) selected biblical principles that he deems too insignificant to follow. I am comfortable with neither.
I believe the key to a healthy and holy church is to strike the balance. Stick to the biblical mandates of what it means to be a church, knowing some will not be interested in being a part....... and be relevant and attractive enough to be given the opportunity to usher others into the Christian
Faith.
But believing it and living into it are two different things. One is much more difficult than the other. Pray for the church and pray for Emmanuel.
God is Good,
Pastor Joe
As I try to stay ahead of a renewal process for the church, I find myself trapped between two dynamics that want to pull me in opposite directions:
Biblical Principles
God wants us to 'make disciple of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world'. This has been the deciding mission statement of the UMC in West Ohio for years. I don't disagree. Disciple-making is the bedrock upon why we are the Church. We want to empower others to be a better Christian tomorrow than yesterday. It's hard and messy work. It isn't attractive or pretty. It involves the day-to-day grind of missed opportunities, failed actions and misplaced words. There is lots of energy teaching and learning and being transparent and vulnerable. It isn't fun, but it is biblical.
Cultural Relevance
To make disciples we need to attract people. People are attracted to various elements of mainstream culture including the big, bright, expensive, technological, informational, fast-paced, immediate gratification, entertainment-driven communities in which we live. Therefore we must admit the difficulty of 'making disciples' if the church remains separated from the mainstream culture to which people are attracted. It's fun to be relevant, but a church that is relevant is in danger of losing its biblical principles.... right?
So I find myself in a polarizing dichotomy. Stick to biblical principles at all cost and risk losing relevance to would-be disciples..... or be a fun, relevant church at the risk of compromising our bible-based mission to make disciples of Jesus.
I think there might be a balance, but I think it would be a precipitous one. There are churches that stretch the bounds of one extreme or another. The Amish stick to biblical principles and throw cultural relevance away. Current non-denominational mega churches (and some denominational ones) embrace cultural relevance and the random charismatic leader throws away (or ignores) selected biblical principles that he deems too insignificant to follow. I am comfortable with neither.
I believe the key to a healthy and holy church is to strike the balance. Stick to the biblical mandates of what it means to be a church, knowing some will not be interested in being a part....... and be relevant and attractive enough to be given the opportunity to usher others into the Christian
Faith.
But believing it and living into it are two different things. One is much more difficult than the other. Pray for the church and pray for Emmanuel.
God is Good,
Pastor Joe
Monday, December 10, 2018
How To Treat Christmas This Year
Hello Church,
Christmas is polarizing. The excited become very excited and the sad become very sad. One might find a few that are apathetic to Christmas, but I doubt that there are even as many as there claim to be. Christmas evokes emotion of one sort or another. For some it recalls that nightmarish day when Dad made one sit on Santa's lap. For others, it recalls that day when one finally got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him everything!
We miss loved ones or we embrace loved ones. We look forward to company or we dread the loneliness of a full room of people. We gladly put up the 47 year-old Christmas ornament or we lament how much better things were 47 years ago.
Christmas is polarizing. I suggest it should be, but not as we typically treat it. Christmas should be polarizing in the divine sense. Jesus is coming. That should be very exciting for some and very sad for others.
For the oppressed and diseased and poor and down-trodden, the revelation of Christ brings an eminent sense of hope out of a life filled with despair. For the powerful and egotists and narcissistic rulers of this world, the revelation of Christ brings them insignificant existences. Jesus levels the playing field for all to see and experience.
I hope you can hold on to the true polarization of Christmas. If you are insistent on making Christmas about you, then you will be surprised to find out that it is not about you. It could make you sad. But if you allow Christmas to be about Christ.... then... well....
....sitting on Santa's lap--be it wonderful or traumatic--isn't nearly as glorious as sitting with a Savior. Missing loved ones isn't as problematic when we discover that Christ re-unites you with them. And 47 years ago.... as good as it may have been... isn't comparable to how good it will be that one day in the future when the angels sing and the heavenly gates open.
Let Christmas be about Jesus this year. Sit still and let Him happen.
Be at Peace,
Pastor Joe
Christmas is polarizing. The excited become very excited and the sad become very sad. One might find a few that are apathetic to Christmas, but I doubt that there are even as many as there claim to be. Christmas evokes emotion of one sort or another. For some it recalls that nightmarish day when Dad made one sit on Santa's lap. For others, it recalls that day when one finally got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him everything!
We miss loved ones or we embrace loved ones. We look forward to company or we dread the loneliness of a full room of people. We gladly put up the 47 year-old Christmas ornament or we lament how much better things were 47 years ago.
Christmas is polarizing. I suggest it should be, but not as we typically treat it. Christmas should be polarizing in the divine sense. Jesus is coming. That should be very exciting for some and very sad for others.
For the oppressed and diseased and poor and down-trodden, the revelation of Christ brings an eminent sense of hope out of a life filled with despair. For the powerful and egotists and narcissistic rulers of this world, the revelation of Christ brings them insignificant existences. Jesus levels the playing field for all to see and experience.
I hope you can hold on to the true polarization of Christmas. If you are insistent on making Christmas about you, then you will be surprised to find out that it is not about you. It could make you sad. But if you allow Christmas to be about Christ.... then... well....
....sitting on Santa's lap--be it wonderful or traumatic--isn't nearly as glorious as sitting with a Savior. Missing loved ones isn't as problematic when we discover that Christ re-unites you with them. And 47 years ago.... as good as it may have been... isn't comparable to how good it will be that one day in the future when the angels sing and the heavenly gates open.
Let Christmas be about Jesus this year. Sit still and let Him happen.
Be at Peace,
Pastor Joe
Monday, December 3, 2018
Finger Pointing, Martyrdom And Somewhere In-Between
Hello Church,
What do you own? Your answer likely includes things you have laying around. Let's forego those answers for now. What do you own that are not physical things?
Do you own your words, actions, and thoughts?
What comes out of my mouth is mine. If I speak unkind words, then I did that. No one else did. I should own it. If I speak kind words, it was me. My brain told my mouth to convey such words. No one else did that. If I speak in the tongues of man or angels but do not have love.... that is my fault. No one else's.
The issues of ownership has been a hot topic in my life lately. What do I own? What don't I own? What does the church own? What doesn't the church own? What shouldn't I own? What is healthy to own? Where do I draw boundaries of ownership?
Issues around personal responsibility can really get my heart pumping. Maybe I am just getting old and crotchety, but it seems that when something goes wrong it is always someone else's fault. There is no sense of accountability. The idea that you can 'face adversity and overcome it' is replaced by 'if so-and-so would just do such-and-such, then I wouldn't have such a difficult time'.
I go a step farther and speak to corporate responsibility as well. The church as a group has a responsibility as well as the individual. God doesn't just call you. God calls you as part of a larger community.
Does the church own their words and actions and thoughts?
As I get more excited about what comes next, I am deeply involved in these questions. What does God want us to own? Are we willing to invest in God's Will? Will we put forth the energy, money and time to invest? Are we willing to let go of what we won't own? What shouldn't we own?
I hope you sit back and listen this Advent. A time is soon coming when we will be asked to speak.
God is Good,
Pastor Joe
What do you own? Your answer likely includes things you have laying around. Let's forego those answers for now. What do you own that are not physical things?
Do you own your words, actions, and thoughts?
What comes out of my mouth is mine. If I speak unkind words, then I did that. No one else did. I should own it. If I speak kind words, it was me. My brain told my mouth to convey such words. No one else did that. If I speak in the tongues of man or angels but do not have love.... that is my fault. No one else's.
The issues of ownership has been a hot topic in my life lately. What do I own? What don't I own? What does the church own? What doesn't the church own? What shouldn't I own? What is healthy to own? Where do I draw boundaries of ownership?
Issues around personal responsibility can really get my heart pumping. Maybe I am just getting old and crotchety, but it seems that when something goes wrong it is always someone else's fault. There is no sense of accountability. The idea that you can 'face adversity and overcome it' is replaced by 'if so-and-so would just do such-and-such, then I wouldn't have such a difficult time'.
I go a step farther and speak to corporate responsibility as well. The church as a group has a responsibility as well as the individual. God doesn't just call you. God calls you as part of a larger community.
Does the church own their words and actions and thoughts?
As I get more excited about what comes next, I am deeply involved in these questions. What does God want us to own? Are we willing to invest in God's Will? Will we put forth the energy, money and time to invest? Are we willing to let go of what we won't own? What shouldn't we own?
I hope you sit back and listen this Advent. A time is soon coming when we will be asked to speak.
God is Good,
Pastor Joe
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