Missional

Mundane Ministry

1 Comment » Written on April 19th, 2013     
Filed under: Current Events, Missional, Vocation and Call, Vocational Excellence
Tags: , , , , ,

mundaneToday’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Worship Pastor at Bethlehem Covenant Church, Minneapolis, MN.

It’s been a crazy week around the Covenant. Weather weirdness throughout the North American continent, one heart-breaking tragedy after another, the deaths of iconic artists, and major life transitions among friends and colleagues make me want to pause – if only just long enough to catch my breath. Emotions run from horror to glee in an instant. Concern for those I love, and for the world God calls me to love, grows into a nagging sense of urgency to do something.

Meanwhile, sermons get written, songs get rehearsed, bulletins get printed, and agendas for meetings get developed. Coffee gets poured and cookies get baked, bandages get rolled and Sunday School lessons get prepped. The work of the church goes on, and we are all called – and blessed – to be part of that work.

As that work continues, however, the nagging sense of urgency to do something continues to tug at the edges of my consciousness. Matters of great impact are happening all around me, and day-to-day ministry seems so … mundane. Just as I become convinced that nothing I do can ever be enough to meet the needs of this hurting world, and everything I do has fallen into a formulaic routine of drudgery,  the Apostle Paul speaks to me through his letter to Thessaloniki:

 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. – I Thessalonians 4:9-12 (ESV)

Then I remember that ministry is both/and, not either/or. More and more, more and more.

How do the scriptures speak to you in the midst of crisis? How do you balance the ongoing ministry of your church with the desire to meet immediate, critical needs when catastrophe strikes? How are you, and your congregation, loving one another more and more?



Posture

Post a Comment » Written on March 22nd, 2013     
Filed under: Culture, Missional, Visual Arts

Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS and originally appeared as companion reading material for C3′s current sermon series.

Divorce. Lust. Politics.

Some things are just really, really hard to talk about. In part, it’s because they affect so many people in so many different ways, and lots of those people are very dear to us and we don’t want to hurt our relationship with them by saying something that could be misinterpreted. But really, when we get right down to it, some things are just not as cut-and-dry as we wish they were. We try to make them black and white and easy to digest, but the discussion goes round and around and around again, one answer feeling trite or shallow, another answer feeling like it’ll require too much from me, still another feeling like it’ll offend too many people. Our culture has a tendency to make certain things awkward to discuss because of unspoken taboos; don’t mess with our individuality, for example, it’ll go very badly for you if you do.

So given that we probably shouldn’t passive-aggressively avoid them, how ought we discuss these difficult issues?

Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard the phrase “acting our way into a new way of thinking” in the sermons at C3. In case you have no idea what this means, I discovered a TED talk by Dr. Amy Cuddy that illustrates this really well. The principle behind what Dr. Cuddy and her colleagues describe has a HUGE range of possibilities for application in all areas of life. But for our purposes, I want to draw your attention to something we did this past week in our worship gatherings because it illustrates so well the answer to this question. For those of you who couldn’t join us, during our prayer time before the sermon, we asked that each half of the sanctuary turned to face each other while standing. We then asked that you raise a hand with open palm towards each other across the room, a posture we called “blessing each other.” In social psychology, this is called an “open posture.”

We wanted to begin our conversation with a posture of grace.

Remember this? This is what I’m talking about

By physically opening ourselves in a posture of vulnerability and openness, we allow the reality of the other to become more tangible to us; we begin to act our way to a new way of thinking. Truth without tears is a dangerous thing; people have been deeply wounded by discussions about divorce, sexuality, and politics. We are to enter discussions of difficulty with hospitality, because hospitality is the act of advocating for the other. We wanted to posture ourselves first and foremost in a way that helps us to care about those around us, to show them – and ourselves – that those with different experiences or those who had made different, often difficult choices are no less human than we. We did not place ourselves in a posture of power, but in a posture of confident humility.

And nobody can cast the first stone.

Question for discussion: what other postures can (or do) you take in your workplace, school, or home to advocate for the other?



Still

1 Comment » Written on January 25th, 2013     
Filed under: Culture, Leadership, Missional, Order of Worship

Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

Over the last few months I’ve been part of a “cohort” (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We’ve been discussing what it means to be “missional,” the sent people of God. The missional church movement, with its roots in the emerging church movement (which was soooo ’90’s) has been a strong critic of Consumer Christianity; we are not here for ourselves, we have been “called out” to be a blessing to the world. It’s all very biblical stuff, it’s a message our churches desperately need to hear, and it’s a message we desperately need to enact because it is a call to return to the roots of our faith.

In and amongst the large questions of “missional,” however, we worship pastors can often feel lost. It’s all very senior-pastory stuff, very big-vision, very theological and in some ways, very abstract. But when the rubber meets the road, it also calls into question one of our fundamental reasons for being worship pastors: the worship gathering. It’s why we were hired in the first place: the (usually) Sunday morning gathering has long been a staple of Christian practice in the West – in one form or another – for more than a thousand years. So long, in fact, that many of us tend to forget why we do this; “we’ve always done it that way”; “we have to gather, that’s when we worship”; “Jesus said to do it that way;” and other such nonsense.

The gathering tends to take the brunt of the critique because, in many minds, the gathering IS church. A whole generation of pastors preached this; we still often call the buildings in which we gather “churches,” as if they can be that apart from the group of people who gather there. I still find myself slipping into that talk when I talk about it with my kids; we have no other word for it!

Now, most of us can agree that worship is first and foremost a way of life; to live oriented towards God is to worship. The two can be equated, I think. Mark Labberton makes a case for this in his book, “Dangerous Worship”, to which I hope he makes reference at Midwinter this year (and everyone going gave a shoutout). In Romans, Paul makes a good case for this too: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God; this is true worship.” There are good reasons to gather together weekly. Scripture DOES say we shouldn’t forsake gathering together. Jesus spent large amounts of time teaching his disciples apart from the crowds.

But Jesus also said, “go.”

Jesus also said “make disciples of ALL nations.”

Jesus said we were to go to the very ends of the earth.

And how we emphasize this in our gatherings is important. It’s not an either/or, but a both/and: we gather, and we are sent, gather, and send. We worship pastors are discipleship pastors too, but for us, it means discipling a whole congregation all at once through our art, through music, and through the liturgy we write. How we choose to lead can emphasize this rhythm of gather and send. A benediction, literally a “good word,” is a time for us to remind ourselves of our sent-ness. The good word is that we do not cease to be this gathered people when the doors swing shut on our way to the parking lot, because being sent is a part of offering ourselves. It means that, when Monday comes, we’re still the Church.

When we’re cut off in traffic, we’re still the Church.

When our coworkers invite us to the suspicious wing joint next door, we’re still the Church.

When our kids do that one thing that always makes us angry, we’re still the Church.

When we know that it’s time to study – but Facebook sits there beckoning – we’re still the Church.

And how we respond is worship too.



Happy Holidays?

6 comments Written on December 7th, 2012     
Filed under: Advent, Culture, Missional

Today’s post is written by Matt Nightingale, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Covenant Church in Tulsa, OK.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the so-called “War on Christmas” lately. Here in Tulsa, it’s kind of a big thing. You see, a few years ago, the decision was made to change the name of our annual Christmas Parade to the “Holiday Parade of Lights,” and when that happened, people were not happy. The unhappiness continued until last year, when an alternative was proposed. Another parade at another venue. At exactly the same time. Peace on Earth. Goodwill to men.

Sides were formed, lines were drawn, senators lobbied, and even FOX news weighed in. And the newly-formed “Christmas Parade at Tulsa Hills” was a resounding success. 20,000 people showed up. My family and I went to the Holiday Parade, and I’m no good at estimating crowds, but… I’m thinking Christmas won. This year the parades are happening at the same time again, tomorrow night at 7:00. And again, many people are “standing up” for Christmas. You can read about it in one of the Tulsa World’s blogs.

Here’s the thing. I don’t think Christmas is going anywhere. I have a friend whose wife is Jewish. She says that every year Christmas seems to get bigger and bigger! Although I strongly disagree with the whole idea of “standing up for Christmas,” I know these people. They are good-hearted, Jesus-loving people who deeply care about helping people, sharing their faith and living lives that please God. This is not a problem of intention. But I really believe that many people have never wrestled with the real issues at stake here. As Sean Palmer writes in a brilliant blog post today, there is a war, and it is about Christmas, but it’s not what we think:

There is a terrible, profound war on Christmas. Since that “O Holy Night” there always has been. But if you believe this war is about a 20-year-old check-out girl at a department store wishing you “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” you’ve simply let loose of your horses. The real war is within you and it is within me.

Read the rest of his post here. It’s well worth your time.

May the true Jesus, the Jesus who came to bring peace to all humankind, who willingly gave up His rights and power, be honored during this season as we celebrate His advent and birth. And may we who are called to bear His name extend His love and grace to all – even those who celebrate Hannukah and Kwanzaa – as we remember that non-Christians are not our enemies.

And even if they were, I think Jesus was pretty clear about how we are to treat our enemies.

What would happen if it were the Christians who were going out of our way to include everyone, to make everyone feel special and loved this holiday season, rather than the Christians fighting for power, demanding our “rights”? What if we were laying down our lives and spreading the message of Jesus in our actions instead of our proclamations? Let’s try it and see.

Happy Holidays.



Our Churches: Community Covenant Church – Lenexa, Kansas

3 comments Written on November 6th, 2012     
Filed under: Better Together, Church History, Intergenerational, Local Church, Missional, Our Churches, Vocation and Call

We continue our series of posts here on the Worship Connect blog profiling individual Covenant churches. Our purpose is to celebrate God’s work in and through us, to demonstrate the diversity of approaches to worship in the ECC, and to prompt prayer for one another. We are better together.

Our latest post comes to us from Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

It’s kind of like trying to pour a concrete foundation in the middle of an earthquake.

Culture in the West is changing; the new realities are that 50% of the congregation attend 50% of the time, 25% attend 25% of the time, and a faithful 25% attend 75% of the time or more. The culture in the Kansas City Metro Area is no different, and it’s a challenge for our community. AsBaby Boomers transition into a new era of taking care of aging parents, as Gen-Xers are confronted with the increasing demands of sports for their kids on Sunday, and as college-aged and young adults migrate away from the Church in droves, we can’t help but notice that the earthquake is not being kind. Given that our entire pastoral staff has changed in the last five years, and given our rather large building, you’d think the deck was stacked against us.

Think again.

The people of Community Covenant Church of Lenexa, KS, are learning how to be cultural architects in these new realities. As the missional conversation has taken ahold of us, we have been well-positioned to become missionaries to our local contexts because we already think of ourselves as a big family: our (rather talented) choir is the biggest small group in our church; our pastoral team, while all new to the Covenant (and all in orientation at the same time this last year), have become good friends with a deep respect for the diverse gifts the others bring to the table; most of our volunteer base is, while busy, very dedicated to each other and the community they serve.

It’s a good place in which to be.

While there are the inevitable cultural conflicts, we recognize that these are what come in the midst of such a diverse community. Ethnically we are fairly homogenous (though this does tend to reflect our context), but in so many other ways we reflect a wide variety of ages, socioeconomic statuses, political affiliations, family backgrounds, and of course, artistic preferences.

We hold two different worship gatherings on Sunday morning that sandwich a Christian Formation hour (the new fancy term for “Sunday School”). The traditional gathering at 8:45 incorporates hymnody (led by voice, choir, organ and piano), liturgy, and tends towards a more conservative, reserved, formal flavor. Many of the regular attenders here reflect the heritage of our church family, families (now grandparents, parents, and children) who have been attending since the very beginning of our charter. The modern gathering at 11:00 is in many ways opposite in flavor; the music is generally upbeat, led by a band (that changes weekly; sometimes by a single guitar and voice, but more often by a full team with electric, acoustic, bass, multiple keyboards, drums, violin, and flute).

The sanctuary itself was built eight years ago with the traditional gathering in mind, incorporating stained glass, pews, and a full choir loft. Modular lighting is very valuable to us, as it gives us the ability to create a more colorful environment for our modern gathering, but maintain the traditional look of the sanctuary for the early gathering. It also gives us more flexibility when the space is used by many outside groups, but also by the preschool we run and by the College Prep school that utilizes our building all five days of the work week.

Through all of this, what has been most valuable has been our processing through Reggie Joiner’s book Think Orange with our staff and many in our council. To sum it up, when the light of the gospel in the Church (yellow) is combined with the loving hearts of families (red) we get an orange partnership. This has led us to retask one of our pastors to Family Ministry, to renovate our children’s wing to better reflect the culture and needs of the children themselves, and to regularly incorporate the full family of Jesus into our worship gatherings (“Orange Sundays”  or “Family Sundays” ) and into events throughout the year such as our “Illuminate” event at Christmas, our “Fall Light Festival” at Halloween, and our Tenebrae and Easter Gatherings. Both incorporate all generations – the full family – in diverse ways, such as fellowship, worship through song, games, artistic presentations, and of course, food.

Lots and lots of food.

We are still learning. Our pastors have weekly meetings to discuss the ongoing project of casting (and re-casting) the compelling vision God is slowly revealing to us; we’re experimenting with meeting schedules, new ministry formats, and church leadership models; we’re reading – a lot – and we’ve joined a cohort of other pastors in the KC Metro area who are in the same boat as we are. I’m often overwhelmed thinking about the enormity of the task before us.

But as I’ve written before, God is doing a mighty work among us.

And I, for one, am thrilled to be a part of it.



Dangerous

3 comments Written on September 28th, 2012     
Filed under: Core Values, Culture, Dangerous Worship, Missional, Music, Vocation and Call

Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I am a third-culture child, born to the daughter of Swiss immigrants and a Californian. In high school I was the one most expected to end up doing research in a biology lab somewhere, despite my second aptitude for music. In college, I changed my major about six times before landing on a degree focusing on the psychology of religious music in the postmodern paradigm (a fancy title for “I like music but don’t want to be a performance major”). Then I got all disillusioned with that dream, but excited about missions, and moved to Australia to help plant a church, where I also started work in the FORGE missions program. Then I went to seminary in Kentucky and got my MA in missiology. I have done mission work in Switzerland, Haiti, Australia, India, and Mexico. I’m an Aquarius.

And I became a worship pastor.

… why?

I get this question a lot, especially when people find out I didn’t do my MA in worship ministry. Why put myself through all that work to study missions and discipleship to then end up planning music sets and service orders? Music and missiology, after all, doesn’t really go together. Right?

This weekend, here in Kansas City, is the second annual FORGE: America national conference called “Sentralized.” In the very first session, Michael Frost, a founding member of FORGE: Australia and author of numerous missional textbooks, talked about being the church in a post-Christian culture. There were four things that he says ought to help us maintain our identity: 1. (re)telling our dangerous story, 2. making dangerous promises to bless our host culture, 3. making dangerous critiques of culture and suggesting the way of Jesus as a solution, and 4. singing dangerous songs.

I am a worship pastor because, as Mike put it, “every revolution was sung into existence.”

As I’ve said before, we are what we sing. And if we sing dangerous songs, songs of freedom, songs of a world in which Jesus reigns, where justice is won, where captives and prisoners are set free, where communities serve each other, where God – not government – gets the last word … songs about the Kingdom of God. As we sing those songs, people catch the vision that is already percolating in the cracks of the pavement. To sing dangerous stories of the Kingdom is to countermand our culture’s drive to stay safe, to take care of themselves only. I am a pastor of worship because it is my honor and responsibility to cast that vision through the medium that gets stuck in your head better than spoken word.

But I have to choose songs that say something worth singing.

So today, be encouraged: you are here for more than just arguments over acoustic panels, drum cages, hymn arrangements, and volume levels. You are here to usher in a revolution through song, to fan into flame the Imago Dei that is already at work in our nation and our communities.

Sing of the world for which we yearn.



Missio Dei

Post a Comment » Written on June 24th, 2012     
Filed under: Better Together, Dangerous Worship, Missional, Vocation and Call

[A Hunter]Today’s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

Once upon a time, a group of men left their village and went out to hunt. They were good at it, and used their gift of hunting to provide lavishly for their families. Each day was spent combing the forest trails for game, and as they were able to fell deer, elk, rabbits, and the like, they treated the meat so it would not spoil on the journey back to their village. Each night after the hunt was spent around a campfire telling stories, enjoying each other’s company, caring for their weapons and tools, and enjoying the fruits of their labors. It was a good life.

One day, one of the hunters fell ill, and stayed behind in camp to get well again. Several weeks went by, and while the other hunters swore he looked fit enough to hunt again, he insisted he was still unable to handle the strain of hunting. Another week, and while he felt better, he insisted he must now hone his tools again, as they had become worn. Another hunter began to stay behind with him, hoping to convince him to hunt again. But after so many weeks out of practice, the one convinced the other it might be best just to let him tend the camp. The second agreed, and decided it might be best that two stayed there, as a camp can easily fall into disrepair.

One by one, the hunters began to find excuses to stay back in camp. After all, they had quite a bit of game already, and decided to live off of what they had already obtained.

Months passed, and one day, a woman stumbled into camp, looking weary and famished. The hunters welcomed her in, and offered her venison, but she refused.

“I come on behalf of the families you left behind,” she said, “while you sit here and enjoy your meat, we sit in our village starving. Why have you not come home with the food you promised to provide?”

The hunters began to give her their reasoning, but after a while, she held up her hand to silence them.

“You do not deserve to be called hunters,” she said, “you say you hunt, but all you do is sit around telling stories of past hunts. You are quite right, a good camp is a necessary thing. But what good is a camp if you do not use it as a place to rest after the hunt? What good is it if you do not prepare to hunt again? And what good is it if you do not leave it each day to do the very thing with which you were tasked?”

*  *  *

Three questions for you all today:

1. What does it mean for the church to be a people of the missio dei?

2. What does it look like to be a community that has a good rhythm of mission and sanctuary, of gathering and sending?

3. What does this mean for those of us that curate worship gatherings in such a community?



Angry

2 comments Written on March 26th, 2012     
Filed under: Arts, Dangerous Worship, Missional

Today’s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

“I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not; and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am.” [Monty Python]

“You can’t rush a miracle, you get rotten miracles.” [The Princess Bride]

[injustice]Wars. Rumors of wars. Tornadoes. Earthquake. Failing economies. Greed. Selfishness. Politicians. Apostasy. Narcicissm. Vanity. Pride. Pedophilia. Infighting. Uganda. Divorce. Cancer. Gang violence. Japan. Global climate change. Football (apparently). Communism. Capitalism. Sweatshops. Murder. Haiti. Factory pollution. Tsunamis. Rape. Plagues. Hunger. Adultery. Thirst. Kony. Sudan. Juarez. Rights. Greece. Apathy. Jihad. Empire. Injustice. Starving children. Sex slaves. Post-Christianity. Poverty.

There are a lot of things to feel angry about. Continue Reading »



Cause for Celebration

3 comments Written on September 23rd, 2011     
Filed under: Culture, Local Church, Missional, Theology

Celebrate!Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Worship Pastor at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

The occasion of several birthdays in our worship arts family this week got me thinking about the importance of celebration. Throughout the scriptures, celebration plays a key role in the life of the Hebrews; Joseph threw his brothers a party, David danced, Ezra read from the scriptures to a multitude with rapt attention, Isaiah saw the angels singing “Holy Holy Holy,” Jesus and the disciples ate together on many occasions. But we’re left with a picture at the end of the second testament that outdoes them all; a new city descending to a new earth, gleaming and brilliant with light, and a spotless bride dressed to match her husband. A wedding, and a banquet. A dawn breaking. A brand new beginning. And then the passage abruptly ends; we don’t get to keep reading the next adventure …

… it leaves us to wonder what’s next. Continue Reading »



Connect with us in Denver

1 Comment » Written on January 4th, 2010     
Filed under: Events, Local Church, Missional, Multicultural, Network, Uncategorized

Need a reason to connect in Denver, January 23-25? Check out this blog post by ECC worship leader/pastor, Matt Nightingale. Here’s a taste:

From time to time I mention how grateful I am for my denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church. Having grown up a little wary of denominations, it’s been a pleasant surprise to discover a group of likeminded people who are making a huge impact for God in this world… together. In fact, we do things together that we could never do on our own as individual churches.

Read it all.



« Older Entries