It is always a treat to learn about the history of a church. In fact, it is certainly an essential task of any pastor to be constantly learning about the people and church one serves. What I always find even more awesome as I learn history is how much it teaches you about the "soul" of a place and a people.
Yesterday, I was invited to one of our women's circles to speak about our new worship service, Koinonia. Since we're still in the building phase of that service, we haven't done a thorough job getting the word out about that, especially getting the reasoning behind it out. We need to do better, and these small groups are a great way to have conversation (otherwise, it becomes us talking AT people, and that's never fun, and often leaves important questions unanswered).
So it truly was a treat to fellowship with these women, and get to share some of our vision and passion for continuing to expand Calvary's ministry in new ways. I talked about how starting a new service is not an attempt by us to "fix" anything--indeed all experts agree that a church starting a new service to fix itself is about as good of an idea as a couple who has a child thinking that will fix their relationship. Bad news. Some experts talk about a church as having DNA. You don't want to replicate churches with bad DNA, only those with good DNA. And so for us, starting a new service is precisely because we think we have something great to offer as a congregation, and we want to reach new people in new ways.
I also shared that we will continue to grow ALL our services. Our current services welcome visitors every Sunday, and we are growing! New members are joining each month, and we hope that will continue and even expand! This ministry is a way of reach those people we aren't already reaching.
I could go on and on, and I hope that if you have any questions, you will invite me to your group, or just schedule to meet for coffee sometime! It is important that we get your feedback, and it's also important that you have the full story so you can really make an educated judgment about what we are attempting.
But back to those wonderful ladies I was with yesterday. As I told them that we were seeking to continue the amazing work that Calvary has done throughout the years by reaching people in new ways (a church that has moved so many times? And can you imagine being the pastor who walked into a council meeting and proposed knocking down the church and building a new one on the same spot?!)...I heard more stories about people being on the frontlines of the latest in church "work".
For example, one woman talked about the beginning of Calvary's tape ministry--this conversation had started as a discussion about how much of a gift Ray Stroh is to our congregation and how we (truly) need to celebrate all the behind the scenes work he does with our sound system. Do you know that our tape ministry started long before we could record through our sound system? Yep, they got a tape recorder and the minister's job was to hit "record" as he was beginning his sermon. They used a basic tape machine to make copies, and people hand delivered the copies to shut-ins. Today, we still make recordings to tapes and CDs, and people can also listen to our sermons online through iTunes!
This is just the latest in the long line of amazing stories I have heard at Calvary. Calvary really has been on the forefront of the newest in church stuff...and the next year will certainly push us to continue to do that. There are exciting and challenging opportunities on the horizon, and we will need your prayers and support and guidance as we seek to honor the legacy we have all been given--if a people never scared to do whatever is needed to reach God's people.
That's the path that has been laid for us. May we walk it faithfully.
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