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9-24-06 -- 'Grace-Driven' Ministry
Weekend Service
This summer, The Church of Christ of East Dayton (Ohio) transformed its Sunday night services into Sunday nights of service. "Attendance on Sunday evening had steadily dwindled, and we needed a new approach," says Scott VanDyke, pastor. A small team brainstormed various options and launched the new program in July.
Participants serve one week and receive training and orientation for the next activity on the alternate week. "We find that a small investment of time the week before ensures that the volunteer teams feel prepared and enthusiastic about each particular project," says VanDyke.
After beginning the evening with Communion and prayer, the Sunday night group visits nursing home residents, provides meals and gift baskets for women reentering society after serving time in jail, and a variety of other activities.
"We are a 90-year-old church on the edge of the city limits that tried to be a suburban church," VanDyke says. "In the last few years, we decided to minister as an urban church and start more ‘grace-driven’ ministries. This is one."
(937) 253-7965
Variations on a Theme
Community Christian Church (Naperville, Illinois) developed "The Big Idea" concept after launching her second location in the Chicago area. Today the idea provides consistency among more than half a dozen of Community’s campuses throughout the city and also assists many of the new churches Community helped to plant.
The Big Idea aligns campuses "horizontally" across the miles as well as "vertically" by ensuring that children, teens, and adults study the same concept at the same time. CCC staff members write new elementary curriculum and publish new small group material for every idea and sermon series; the leadership team brainstorms message content more than two months in advance to enable each staff member to plan effectively.
"It’s a lot of work to start the planning cycle, but it’s worth it to know family members can talk about the same idea on the way home from church," says Jon Ferguson, community pastor. After introducing it in weekend worship, the church incorporates The Big Idea into its Tuesday night support and recovery service, and even offers a two-minute weekly message delivered straight to cell phones.
Three Community Christian staff members, including lead pastor Dave Ferguson, cowrote The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact (Zondervan) which debuts in February.
www.communitychristian.org
Another Example
Churches don’t need thousands of members or dozens of campuses to benefit from a weekly unifying theme.
Pathways Church (Mill Creek, Wash-ington), a year-old church plant with 100 in worship, developed its "Rhythm of Pathways" concept to incorporate biblical messages into daily life.
"We didn’t want church to mean only what happens on the weekends," says John Chandler, associate pastor. "We wanted to engage people throughout the week, and help them talk about ideas before they hear the sermon."
To accomplish these goals, the leaders post the text or theme for the upcoming week on the staff blog and invite feedback, comments, and discussion. In addition, the staff prepares study notes and questions based on the theme for small groups to dig into during their weekly meetings.
"Posts on the blog or questions from home groups really impact the sermons," says Chandler. "We meet on Mondays and Thursdays to compare notes, prepare for the weekend, and consider how people are approaching the idea." The weekend concludes the emphasis with a service focused on the theme.
Pathways hopes to expand the vision of "being the church all week, rather than attending the church for a few hours" by building opportunities for service and response into the weekly rhythm. "As we grow, we want to move beyond a few staff-driven elements and help people implement what they learn," Chandler says.
www.findpathways.com
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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