It's not a sin to say "no"

I can remember two distinct segments of my life when I said "no" on a regular basis.

1. When I was young and my parents tried to get me to eat a vegetable.
2. From December 10, 2004 onward.

"No, you can't eat that diaper, Eva Kate."
"No, we can't go to Gattitown AGAIN tonight, Eva Kate."
"No, you may not spend the night at Will's house, Eva Kate."

To be truthful, it seems like 1/2 of parenting, at this point, is simply saying "no". Of course, 99 percent of the time, we're simply looking out for our daughter's best interests. The other 1 percent occurs when we don't feel like eating a pizza buffet AGAIN.

As we celebrate the conception and birth of this new church, we need to remember that there will be(and already have been) many opportunities to say "no". One of the reasons that the institutional church has become so, well, institutional, is because of its inability to say "no" over the course of several years. It has started down the slippery slope of trying to be all things to all people and just keeping the customers busy/happy, and has ended up looking much less like a movement and more like an institution.

Why does this happen? From my vantage point, I see three primary reasons(though I'm sure there are others)...

1. The church never really clarifies its specific vision/calling from the beginning, so there's no parameters by which to measure possible ministries/programs/events. If you don't have a target, you'll hit it every single time.
2. Because of that early vagueness(not sure that's a word, actually), the church allows itself to add program after program because once you tell one person "yes", it's much harder to tell the next person "no", regardless of their idea.
3. Especially in the modern era(the one we left about, say, 10 years ago), PROGRAMS drew people and were a key component of church growth, so churches decided to try and be all things to all people, both in its programming and in its worship style. If things seemed stagnant or plateaued, most of the time, the perceived cure was to slap another program/emphasis on the calendar to fire up the troops.

So what do you end up with? Tired, passionless, consumeristic Christians who LOVE a church as long as it's doing exactly what appeals to them(or as long as the stuff in the church that they don't like doesn't interfere with their own church life), but are ready to raise a ruckus when they don't get their way. They decide to become squeaky wheels, undermine leadership, poison the unity of the church, and attempt power plays in order to get their way, all in the name of "seeing the church grow".

As it says in the Living Bible, "puh-leeze".

I learned at a church planting conference in Atlanta that I have permission to stay true to the calling that God has placed on my life. That means that I say "yes" to those things which comprise that calling, and firmly say "no" to those that don't(including people).

It's time for our church to start saying "no". That might sound harsh, but it's the only way to keep our focus where it should be...God's calling for us.

We run into people often who ask about our progress, and some even hint that they may be interested in being part of it. But then they hint at some of the things they're looking for in a church, and while my smile says "uh-huh, uh-huh, right, right...", my innards are saying "um, no." That's not a knock on them...they need to find a church where they connect with God and others, and are passionate about serving. But they won't be happy at our place...so I feel like if I start saying no, I'll just be saving them some gasoline(and with these prices, that's saying something).

So let me just say "no" to some things right away, and if you read this and are interested in joining up with us(and we'll open things up in a month or so), you can know where we stand.

"No" to:
-Choir
-Ties
-Spending money on flowers
-Committees
-Business meetings
-Hymnals(notice I didn't say "hymns")
-King James Version
-Vacation Bible School
-Any music by Carman or the Gaithers
-Pews
-Programs for the sake of having programs
-Sunday School
-Snake handling(though that one is tentative)
-Organs(the musical instrument)

If you're dead-set on any of the above, and they HAVE to be part of your church experience, then you won't like our church at all. And that's okay. There is a church out there for you. It just won't be ours.

It's time for Christians and churches to stop being scared of saying "no". By saying "no" to these things(and there are some other sacred cows that need to be made into tasty hamburgers), we're making a habit of saying "yes" to our calling, which is what it's all about anyways.

So far....

At this point, halfway through our Reggie McNeal series, it might be helpful to highlight some of the main points that we've heard/discussed so far. Here are the ones that have really stood out to me, and you can add your own two cents:

1. At this point, most everyone who wants to be a churched person(based on what they perceive the church to offer) is a churched person.
2. It won't work anymore to plan a perfect service/program/ministry and expect people to just show up. And adding programs isn't the answer either.
3. We're at a point of unprecedented interest in spirituality.
4. We're at a point of unprecedented lack of interest in organized religion(again, based on people's perception of what "organized religion" stands for).
5. We need to focus on the Kingdom instead of the congregation.

Obviously, I've paraphrased, but these are the points that have stood out to me. Please add your two cents, based on Reggie's teachings or our own discussions.

Timeline for *Insert Church Name Here*

I mentioned on Wednesday night that I had come up with a timeline for how things will(or should) shape up over the next several months. This is by no means exhaustive, so things are tentative(in church planting, EVERYTHING is tentative).

From now until mid-June(or so)...

-Send Prayer Team letters
-Send letters to possible supporting churches
-Develop PowerPoint presentation for interested churches
-Um, pick a name
-Study *legal* issues(non-profit status, tax-exempt status, etc.)
-Finish "Present Future"
-Continue "Basic Training"(this is for Kelly and I only)
-Meet with Elkhorn DOM
-Put onto paper our core values, mission statement, etc.
-Recruit survey workers for community needs survey
-Develop follow-up plan for new believers and guests
-Develop Member Training series

From Mid-June(or so) to whenever we launch....

-Meet interested support churches, establish partnerships
-Survey neighborhoods(us, plus anyone we recruit to help)
-Launch website
-Grow core group through personal invitation, multiply when necessary
-Start with *legal* issues
-Start planning public launch(worship gathering)
-Secure location for launch
-Find musicians to help with music for launch and beyond
-Continue "Basic Training"(Kelly and I)
-Plan and execute Back-to-School Ministry
-Secure sound system and seating for launch and beyond
-Publicity for launch

There's probably much more I could add, but these hit the major points. As you can see, there's a lot to do! It's an overwhelming list, but as with all God-sized tasks, we just need to stay at God's pace and pray for strength, patience, flexibility, and wisdom. If you see something on this list, or think of something not on the list, that you feel strongly about taking on, just let me know. This will definitely have to be a team effort. But I'm excited about the *team* already in place, and those who will step alongside us for the ride.

Exciting times!

This Wednesday....

This Wednesday, we'll be meeting at our Redbud location. Snacks will be provided. We'll try to start the DVD no later than 6:45, so as to allow adequate discussion time afterwards.

In other news...

-Our Coordinator of Prison Ministries has also agreed to be our Coordinator of Wednesday Night Childrens Ministries. We can only pray that her two roles do not intersect at any time.

-Since I haven't learned how to link anything yet, I encourage you to check out www.larknews.com. It's a great website for Christian satire, meaning that none of the articles are true. But great for laughs.