A fellow church member gave me a book that was written by a Bishop within the United Methodist Conference entitled, 5 Practices of Fruitful Congregations. I was intrigued because Bishops usually have really interesting ideas for UM growth.
The book focuses on the new UM philosophy of "opened hearts, opened minds, opened doors."
This slogan is to mean that the people of the United Methodist Church are opened to all peoples, all races, both genders, and more specially, all sexual preferences.
My take on this? Well. I am all for it! Of course a church should be a welcoming place where EVERYONE feels welcomed and at home.
The debate over homosexuality and the like, in my opinion, does not belong in church.
Now, before you stone me, let me explain...
I learned from the very start of my faith walk that a sin, is a sin, is a sin, is a, you guessed it, sin.
No one sin is worse than another to God.
John Wesley, the founder of the United Methodist movement, came out and said that he believes that a sin is anything that does not directly affect God and His kingdom. So, if you are reading a textbook for a class (ok, maybe if your a religion scholar you get a pass) - you are sinning. If you are shopping for yourself and not for the needy, you are sinning. If you sing secular songs, you are sinning!
So, by that standard, I sin ALL the time! Needless to count all the times I think I am actually sinning.
So for people to come out and say that homosexuals have no place in the church, then I say to them, then neither do you!
I can't stand those "Christians" who think that they can pick and choose areas of the Bible to follow. You know, Jesus openly condemned divorce, and yet, people who have gotten divorced, and, gasp, even remarried, are openly welcomed to worship.
Ugh! This frustrates me.
But I digress...back to the book...
The five practices that every congregation should, well, practice to welcome new people into their congregations are (1) show radical hospitality (2) Offer passionate worship (3) Provide intentional faith development (4) Host risk taking mission and service and (5) Be extravagant givers.
What a list, huh?
Ok, first fruit, let's call it the apple.
The apple of any eye is radical hospitality. Hospitality meaning of course to serve others. Radical meaning of course to go all out when serving others. In the book this refers to showing radical hospitality to first-time/new worshippers. How do you make them feel especially welcomed? Good question.
Second fruit.
Offering passionate worship for any church should be a top priority. Worship hour should be like a roller coaster of emotions. You get on the roller coaster ride kind of tired because you have been standing in line for hours, then you get excited because the release bell rings, the ride starts off really fast, then goes through a tunnel, down a curve, up to the highest drop, and then down the shoot, back to the loading zone. Worship should be an experience, something you want to always come back and do. And offering passionate worship will achieve just that.
Third fruit.
A church that has intentional faith development is a healthy church. Understanding that church is suppose to act more like a community instead of a place to go once a week is key. By offering lots Bible studies, faith groups, small groups, play groups, date groups, whatever groups, ensures that your congregation will develop strong relationships outside of Sunday worship and will grow deeper in faith through this process. The most important thing to remember about a healthy church is that is offers relationships, not just programs. And I would argue that relationships cannot be built just on quietly sitting in a pew for an hour a week.
Fourth fruit.
Risk taking mission and service. Well. This stumped me at first. What is this? Going to Iraq to smuggle Bibles to the natives? Is that risky enough? Thankfully, I learned that it isn't just that. Risk taking mission and service in this regard means putting all your faith in Christ Jesus to achieve a goal. For instance, say a church wishes to help build a local Habitat for Humanity house. It costs $80,000 to build a house. They set a goal to raise $3,000. Well, according to this fruit. $3,000 isn't enough. That's a safe number. At my church at RUMC we could easily raise that in just one Sunday if we really tried. So, if we are a risk taking church in mission, then we will set our goal to $80,000 and trust in the Lord that he will supply. (And, actually, this worked! My church set a "God sized" goal to fully fund a Habitat house and only by God's amazing grace did we accomplish it, and ahead of schedule!)
Fifth and final fruit.
Extravagant Generosity. Similar to the fourth fruit, but only if you achieve your fundraising goals! You see, RUMC extravagantly gave to Habitat by donating the funds to build one whole house. Giving one piece of pie is nothing compared to giving the whole pie.
I was pleased by reading this book. Because I knew that yes, indeed, these are the practices that healthy churches need to be doing in order to grow and raise awareness for God's kingdom.
And I can confidently say that my church is currently practicing all five of these fruits. Maybe we could do more, but that's a good thing! More is always a good goal to have.
But, after I closed the book and was proud at my church for our accomplishments, I thought...sure my church is doing this, but am I practicing these in my personal life?
No, I'm not.
But, this wake up call has helped me to start!
