Sometimes I miss really obvious things. I think it is because of familiarity.  You know, you see or hear something over and over again and you miss the significance of something.  For example, most of you would know the name Dick Butkus (pronounced by most people: Dick Buttkiss).  He’s one of the best Chicago Bears of all time and a symbol of the smash mouth style the Bears have tried to have over the years.  Well, about two years ago, after being a Bears fan for my whole life, it finally hit me just how unfortunate this guy’s name is.  I mean, Dick Butkus!?  It doesn’t get much worse that than eh?  How would you have liked to be him in grade school and middle school.  It makes me wonder, was he that tough because of his name? It’s kinda like that Johnny Cash song “The Boy Named Sue?”  Son, we gave you this name so you could grow up to be a really tough football player.

The other day, I had another moment like that.  I was talking with some friends and somehow we got talking about monk’s and that fact that they wear “habits.”  It never really occurred to me that they call them habits because of the fact that monk’s from religious orders pattern their lives after a set of habits or practices.  The garments they wear are a symbol of the kind of life they are trying to lead.

I’m pretty sure we underestimate the kinds of habits we are living.  In fact, I’d say we are fairly unaware of the habits that are forming our lives. We’ve probably even become slaves to habits that are probably more formative to the way of our culture than they are formative to the way of Christ.

This is why I think its vital that we ask hard questions, as individuals and especially as communities of faith, about the habits that are forming our lives.

Alan Roxburgh and Scott Boren write in their super-helpful new book, Introducing the Missional Church,

“A local church is to be an embodiment of what God is calling all creation to be through the Spirit. As a sign, witness, and foretaste, local churches should live as a contrast society right in the middle of their neighborhoods. It does this by inviting its people to transform their lives by developing habits such as those related in the stories told above: practicing hospitality, learning to be present in the community and inviting those in their neighborhoods to taste and see what it means to be shaped by Jesus.”

What sorts of habits do you have in your life? Which ones are forming you in the way of Christ?  Which ones are forming you in the way of the culture?

What sorts of habits are forming your church? Which ones are forming your life together in the way of Christ?  Which ones are forming your life together in the way of the culture?

May 12, 2009

Dear Church Family,

During our worship gathering on Sunday we took a break from our regular sermon series in order to look back at the early dreams and passions of The Well and to celebrate how God is making these dreams a reality. (You can listen to the audio on the church website here: http://church.thewellpa.com/podcast/the-history-next-steps-for-the-well/)

The Well has four foundational values:

• Discipleship (we are a community of people becoming more and more like Jesus)
• Justice/Evangelism (we reach out and share the love of Jesus with others, especially those on the fringes of society)
• Locality (we are locally embedded in our neighborhood, especially through the use of our building)
• Unity (we are connected to the historical and global Church)

On Sunday we focused on three of these four values, and how God continues to bless our desire to serve in these areas. Below is a quick overview:

Discipleship: God has been actively working in the lives of the people in our congregation. It’s clear that his Spirit is present and active among us. We believe that it is now time for us to become even more intentional about allowing God to form all of our lives into the image of Christ. We seek to enrich our environment in a way that will help people discover practices and relationships that foster Christ-likeness. This summer we will begin a very intentional time of searching and seeking in order to more fully understand the next steps before us. If being part of this process interests you, please e-mail Shanna (splatt20@hotmail.com).

Justice/Outreach: Over the last few years God has given us wonderful opportunities to serve our local community in things such as the missions trip to Lower Bucks County, meeting specific local needs, and partnering with local community services organizations. As we continue serving in those ways we are making intentional steps to reach outside ourselves. God has planted a desire among many in The Well to serve our neighboring community of Bristol. From June 7 to August 23, we will meet in Bristol for informal Sunday night worship gatherings. We will meet at Brian and Dorie Morgan’s house (922 Spring St, Bristol, PA) at 6 pm for a potluck dinner, followed by music and discussion from 7 to 8. Once a month, we will also do a service project in the community of Bristol. We pray this will be an awesome opportunity to worship God in an intimate setting, grow close with friends and neighbors, and serve in the most depressed part of Bucks County. For now, this is a summertime program, but we will pray as to how God is leading us in the future. For anyone interested in serving the people of Bristol, there will be a meeting after church on May 24. If you have any questions, please contact Gary Alloway (garya@thewellpa.com).

Locality: Our prayer is that our building would serve as an important means of blessing and partnering with our local community. We have certainly seen God honor our prayers, as he has allowed us to use our building to minister in exciting ways. We now see the need to hire a Building Ministry Coordinator to continue our faithful use of this resource by finding new opportunities for our community to serve others through use of our space. Our goal is to have the Coordinator in place by August in order to prepare for fall programming. We will also be undergoing some renovations to our bathrooms and coffee bar as well as adding another classroom. We are currently in the midst of estimating costs and exploring grants to fund this position and the renovations. If you are interested in helping with the planning process, writing grants, or doing renovations please contact Todd Hiestand (toddh@thewellpa.com).

Our journey the last twelve years has been much like a hike. Our dream was to walk this journey in step with the Spirit. There have been some peaks, some valleys, and some great stories of God working in, among, and through us. For the last year or so we have sensed that God has brought us (organizationally speaking) to a peaceful clearing on the trail. This clearing has been a place of much needed stability and rest. We’ve been able to catch our breath, roast a few marshmallows on the fire, and throw the frisbee around a bit. As nice as it is, we do not desire to stay in the clearing for too long. It’s time to continue on our journey. So we walk forward in faith, believing that God will continue the good work he started in us twelve years ago.

As always, we invite conversation and discussion about these decisions. We also ask you to join in prayer with us as we ask God to lead and direct these goals. As each of these areas proceeds there will be opportunities to participate with your time, ideas and finances. If you have questions, concerns, ideas or just want to hear more, please do not hesitate to ask.

The Ministry Leadership Team at The Well,

Gary Alloway, Shanna Cummings, Todd Hiestand, Patti Pearson, Anna Pelger, Phil Wood

In the next few weeks I’ll be a dad for the third time. This is kind of a strange thing and, despite the size of my beautiful wife’s belly, it hasn’t sank in quite yet. I keep asking her, “are you sure there is a baby in there?” She keeps saying yes. I’ll trust she knows what she is talking about.

We have a number of friends at The Well who have had babies in the last few months and when I look at the size of those kids I realize that it’s been a while since we’ve had an infant in the house. Cole turns 6 this July and Mason came home when he was 10 months (he’s adopted from Guatemala). That whole prospect is a tad overwhelming, to say the least.

Both of our parents live out of town. Her parents are a 4.5 hour drive away in Corning, NY and my parents are a 13 hour drive away in the Chicago area. I am guessing that my parents (or at least my mom) will be flying in to see her new grandchild and I know that Melanie’s parents will come down for a bit to be with us too. That’s one of the beauty’s of a healthy family life. It’s great to have your family be part of these big moments in life. Of course, it’s also nice to have your parents be there when you need some sleep too.

But both sets of parents live so far away and, despite their wishes, they will have to go home. Growing up I had at least one set of grandparents living in the area. This was cool for me because I got to know them well. I am sure this was even cooler for my parents because they had relief when they needed it. It’s nice having family in the area.

Melanie and I used to go home to her house for almost every holiday. Christmas. Easter. July 4th. Mothers Day. Fathers Day. Flag day. Secretary’s day. Any day that we could justify heading home. But, as Cole has started Cole and we’ve started to make some of our own traditions it has not been possible to get home as much. Some holidays were here with just our little family. We love that but it’s nice to have family in the area.

So, over the past few years our church family at The Well has become our family. Almost literally. They have been there for us in the births of our children and when we can’t get home for the holidays we usually celebrate with them. Our kids have some awesome literal aunts and uncles. My brothers and their wives and Melanie’s sister and her husband (in addition to some super close friends of her family that are pretty much brother and sister-in-law except for on paper) are special in our lives. But it’s been awesome to have our kids have a bunch of other “aunts” and “uncles” locally. These close friends serve as our family in the area.

I cannot be sure of how significant it will be for our kids to have other adults that they love, trust and know that they are loved by. But, I know it’s significant and I am pretty sure that we couldn’t place a value on these relationships if we tried. They are, as you say, priceless. Because, somewhere along the way our kids are going to go through something significant enough and, for whatever reason, they’ll need another adult they can talk to. I’m so glad they will have a number of people they can go to.

Its nice to have family in the area.

We’re about to have three boys and I know we’ll need this “family” to navigate the next 20 years (at least).

Of course, these three boys will have two imperfect parents and I know that they will need our church family and our “real” family to navigate these years as well!

(BTW, this is not to devalue our “real” family in anyway. We would be lost without them and we wish they lived closer. But that’s just not the way it is. Rather, this is meant to show just how valuable our church family is. And, if we did have family in the area, I would feel the same about our church family).

I’m becoming convinced that in suburban America one of the things that hinders our ability to respond to God’s call on our lives is money (and the mishandling of it). Too many followers of Jesus are so busy trying to keep their heads above water financially that they don’t have the freedom to live as generously as they really want to.  

We’re enslaved to our debt. This causes us to be over-worked and under generous and pretty even cranky.

Living debt free is more than just the prudent, wise thing to do (though, it is that!).  But living debt free is directly connected to our ability to more freely give our lives to God and to others. I know for certain that there are ways that my wife and I want to live that we just can’t do yet because we’re trying to get out of the burden of our debt.  This, of course isn’t an excuse to not do anything.  We are still doing our best.  But, we do need to be freed from the slavery of our debt.  

My church, The Well and the Renew Community will be co-hosting a financial seminar on November 8th that will be focused on helping us live in financial freedom so that we can more freely respond to God’s call on our lives.

We’re lucky to have Dave Briggs, director of Good Sense at Willow Creek Community Church who has over 27 years of experience in the financial industry, teaching and training financial seminars. 

You can find details and registration information here.

If you live in the area, please spread the word and bring some people along with you.   Considering the current state of our culture, this would be a great thing to bring anyone to (follower of Jesus or not). 

People like to use the metaphor “family” when it come to church.

I think this is one legitimate and valuable way of looking at church.

When people come to The Well they say they experience family.

I believe it’s because there are very few contracts on what it means to belong to our family.

They are welcome as they are.

This does not mean that they aren’t publicly and personally invited to participate further.

This does not mean that they aren’t publicly and personally invited to grow.

This does not mean that they aren’t publicly and personally invited to reorganize their lives around the mission of God.

But it means that they are welcome and part of the family whether they do those things or not.

And this is a powerful thing for people to experience.

It’s called grace.

Grace, in its very definition, does not require actions or change.

Instead.

It calls out actions and change.

It breeds actions and change.

It compels actions and change.

But, its still grace.

And with grace, I can be part of the family.

No matter what.

Even if I am a 30 year old who still lives at home and sits on the sofa all day watching reruns of Knight Rider and I Dream of Jeanie.

Sure, my mom, if she’s cares at all, is going to tell me to get off my butt and get a job.

But.

She’s still my mom.

She still loves me.

She still calls me her son.

I am still part of the family.

Thanks mom.

(postscript: I don’t sit on the sofa and watch reruns of Knight Rider and I Dream of Jeanie. I prefer the A-Team and Fall Guy).