Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Risky Business, by Mary Hagle

It’s so much easier to "play it safe" isn’t it? And in so many ways, it’s what our parents taught us, out of their love and concern for our happiness and well-being.

Many of us grew up with, and passed on to our children, adages about "being reasonable" "taking precautions", not "going out on a limb".

In many ways, these are practical and wise words. However, it is not the example Jesus demonstrated.

He risked it all, again and again. He spoke the truth in love, and was extremely unpopular, to say the least! And, finally, His words gave fuel to the fire of hatred that put Him on the Cross.

So, why shouldn’t we "be reasonable, take precautions, and avoid the risk"? Because, if we remain in a place that is comfortable, and never risk change, and failure, and having to get back up and try again when we do fail, we’ll never know what amazing and miraculous things God has that He wants to do through us.

If Jesus had shrunk back from what He knew the Father’s will to be for His life, He could have avoided the Cross, and you wouldn’t be reading these words, because there would be no church for you to be a part of, no fellowship of believers, and only darkness in this world.

So, we are at the threshold of a new year, yet again. What one thing is God asking you to take action about, to step out in faith about, or to participate in that is new, scary and risky?

Some possibilities He might ask you to give yourself to:

1. Taking an active role in the church planting EHA is moving toward this year

2. Getting on the EHA volunteer list for Love INC

3. Becoming a part of the worship team

4. Choosing one ministry of EHA as your petitionary prayer focus

5. Talking to Ann about a teacher or helper position in Kidville

6. Becoming a part of a Life Group

7. Seeking out a mentor for listening to your spiritual journey and being a prayer partner with you about it.

Yes, Jesus’ call, and God’s will for His life, was exceptional and unique, but the amazing thing is, that’s true for our lives, too. He has exceptional and unique plans for your life, for changes in your walk of obedience to Him. He is waiting to reveal them to you.

IF you kept a journal, what could you write on December 31, 2012, about how God walked through your life in this year? Would you have an amazing story of having followed in His direction, having taken risks and been on a journey you could never have imagined?

Take a risk. Ask Him where, when, what and how. See what He says.

Matthew 19:26-27

Proverbs 3: 5-7

Ephesians 1: 6, 12, 14

Send your thoughts, questions, ideas, book recommendations and experiences to:

hagle54@gmail.com, or

Mary Hagle c/o EHA, 1405 East Burcham Street, Kelso WA 98626.

We grow as we share . . .

Mary Hagle

Editor, The House

Following Christ, an interview with Noel McRae

Bio Notes: Noel McRae has been a follower of Christ for well over fifty years. His educational background includes an undergraduate degree was from Seattle Pacific in Greek and Biblical studies. Later He taught at Portland Christian High School and in the process got a masters degree in speech pathology.

His favorite "free-time" pastimes includes still "enjoying" cutting and selling about 10 cords of firewood each year and packing into wilderness areas with their llamas with his wife, Georgia.

The House: "Spiritual discipline is hard . . . what draws you back, or keeps you in?"

Answer: I am trying to become consistent in reading the Word, studying books that challenge my understanding of what it means to be a Christian, how to encourage Christian community, and a greater appreciation of Jesus. I think I am becoming better, but it is still easy to have things distract me and intrude into my schedule.

Noel was born in Vancouver, but spent most of his early school years in Coos Bay, OR. When asked what one life lesson stands out from the rest, he responded, "Time is my ‘gold’, and if I am to be of any use to the King, I have to lay it before Him."

Noel found it hard to define in a simple answer what it is that he is most grateful for, but settled on this: "It has to be that Jesus would include me as one of his family and even consider me of any use to his Kingdom. That is pretty amazing." 

The House:  For those of us who might be unfamiliar with the role of an elder at EHA, could you tell us how you see your assignment as one of our elders?

Noel:  I see the role of elder as one of the coaches, or guides, to help the church helping people to reach their potential and develop God’s plan for their lives.  It’s a lot like a sheep rancher:  taking care of the sheep involves feeding, watching over, helping the sick; meeting any needs that arise, just as a rancher takes care of his flock. My desire is to know the flock better.

The church should be a loving community, and elders are to foster that.  For example, we want to help our fellow followers to mature enough to help others achieve their maturity in their faith, passing it on to one another. If we are to have a significant impact on our community and impress then with the love of Christ, we must be living that way with each other. 

The House:  We’re hearing more and more about planting a new church in Longview/Kelso.  As an elder, I assume you support this vision.  Why do you think it’s something we want to do?

Noel: This church planting effort is important because it is the most effective way to meet new people and reach them for Jesus Christ. Our goal is not just another building, but to reach more people for Jesus.

We are almost "maxing out" at Burcham Street.  Planting a new church at a different location makes what we are doing here more accessible for new seekers.

It also helps us to "get out of our comfort zone".  If some of the faces and friends we are used to seeing at EHA begin to go to the new location, that might encourage us to reach out to them sometime other than at a celebration service, and deepen our relationship with them. Kingdom growth is more important than seeing our friends conveniently at EHA, and gives us the opportunity to grow in deepening our Christian relationships and our spiritual walk.

The House: What was your initial response, as an elder, to the idea of church planting?

Noel: I was a little hesitant at first I was concerned that, if we were going to do this, it should be thoughtfully and prayerfully done, not in a haphazard way. I had read that most church plants don’t succeed beyond about two years, but as I listened to our district representative, Randy Shaw, explain that statistic, he said that most churches in that demographic were started with "people with big hearts and no plans".

He went on to explain that Alliance church plants have an 8 out of 10 success rate because of a slower process with a wise mix of "heart for the mission and skills to carry out the task".


The House: We’re also focusing in this month’s newsletter on taking risks in our faith.  How would you define the risks we might be confronted with as we go forward with this effort?


Noel: Sometimes it’s scary to think we’re moving beyond our comfort zone.  We will be bringing new people into positions of leadership.  We will be sharing some of our people with the newly planted church.  Some of us will be asked to take on new responsibilities, and to step up into open positions.


Having a new climate of "I’m needed" instead of being a "comfortable spectator" forces us to grow and take on new roles and gives us more opportunity for everybody to be part of the functioning body of Christ.


We need to be challenged to take a risk, stepping up, and accepting responsibilities and obligations we’re asked to prayerfully consider. This is not a "spectator sport"!


The House: How can we as individuals, and part of the body at EHA, make ourselves available to God’s plan for this effort?


Noel: Pray that God would make each of us open and willing to be a part.  Ask Him to give you enthusiasm for personal growth, and growth at EHA, including this church planting.

Pray for the EHA leadership, that we would not run ahead of God’s timetable.  Ask Him to fuel the vision for lost and new people who need Him, and can find a place to grow in their faith walk through this new church, as well through the changes that will take place at Burcham Street.


As elders, we have the same problems and questions as the rest of the congregation.  We are all sheep.  We all need shepherding, and we are all called to do this together, as His flock.


The House: Is there anything about the church planting experience you would like to add to your comments?


Noel: We have such great unity and spirit here; it is so comfortable. God wants us to get out of our safe boat and test our faith on the water (and there may be some waves to shake us up). We are going to get to see God in action. That is both awesome and scary. 

 

A Time to Plant, by Mike Musser

Why plant a church? Why now? I wrestled with these difficult questions as an Elder. "Is this the RIGHT direction?" I pondered.

I have never been involved in a Church Plant before, nor have I known someone closely who has. I have seen Church Plants open and then close some months later. I have heard about churches that ‘feed’ the sermon in from their ‘parent church’. These things all create for me a stereotype that is not too favorable. So then enters the question above, like an elephant in the room…

As the Elder board began to adapt and re-form with the addition of Jim Venable and myself, we began to learn of East Hills’ historical desire to plant a church. Could that still be the vision for East Hills? We as an elder board pondered that along with other items. We were interested and intrigued by the thought of ‘church planting’ in general. We had someone who oversees church planting in the Northwest, Randy Shaw, come and share with us some of the answers that he and others have found to be significant to the church planting questions ‘what does is look like?’ and ‘why do it?’. It was informative and made sense, but I didn’t get that gut-wrenching sense of urgency for us to rush out and plant a church.

So where are we now? I myself am compelled to pursue it! I feel that my heart has been changed. I have had such a burden for the people of Kelso/Longview, both saved and unsaved. I feel strongly that GROWTH, both corporately and individually is what is on God’s heart for us in the coming or maybe just arriving season. Of course the word, GROWTH, to me just begs the thought of something having to be ‘planted’ first. What does God grow in our lives without first planting a ‘seed’: a thought, a vision, a dream, a word? And what would we ‘plant’ without the same?

The seeds
I feel very strongly about two Bible passages that have pierced my heart when we have discussed ‘church planting’. They are the ‘seeds’ that I feel that God has planted in my heart and mind that he caused to grow and that have changed my thoughts and opinions.
The first passage is the Parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11), in which the ruler entrusted money to his servants with the expectation that they would invest or increase it. How great the deposit, not just in our money in the bank, but in all things God has given to East Hills Alliance. Shall we just hold fast? Shall we just hold tight to what we have now? I yearn to say ‘Let’s make gain for our King from this deposit that he has entrusted us with!’ I would even hope for more than just the one doubling in time.
The other passage is the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1), in which God forced people to build out rather than up. How can that relate to church planting? Our natural tendencies lead us to the idea of building up. God’s intention for us is to foster the idea of building out. Not only did confusing the language stop the upward excess, it made it necessary for us to look outside of those close to us and seek out those who even speak a different language than we do. Let’s choose not to only build up East Hills Alliance… Let’s build out into the neighboring area(s)… If God’s desire is the reaching of all the world, why aren’t we excited to ‘extend our tent’ and take the ground he has for us by planting a church in this soil so near to us?

I heard all the logical reasons, and they ‘made sense’, but I have found what is useful in my head rarely excites a change in my heart. It is now dominant in my heart that GROWTH is the direction that God is leading, and PLANTING is the work I long to be a part of.

Coming "Full Circle" Church Planting

This article is a guest subission by our International Worker partner, Mark Byrom. He and his family serve in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

When I heard that East Hills Alliance is seeking to plant a new church, my mind immediately went to my years growing up in a church plant in Ohio. It was during this time, as a new church meeting in the local YMCA, that God began my call to go overseas. It was so exciting to see new people coming to Christ and joining in with us. During times when international workers visited our church, it was natural to realize a passion to support cross-cultural outreach to the far corners of the world.


It is interesting that the living-out of church planting locally easily focused us on what God was doing overseas. It was natural to put the two sides of the Great Commission together, our local "Jerusalem" in Ohio, and the "ends of the Earth" where our international workers planted new churches.


To reach the ends of the Earth requires that we grow locally. One of the best ways to multiply outreach is in the midst of a healthy local church family. The natural progression in realizing our place in the world, as new Christ followers, is to start realizing how lost the entire world actually is. A few years ago our Alliance Team in Bosnia-Herzegovina was teaching church leaders about the Great Commission and how it is natural as new churches develop, that they work towards a focus on cross cultural missions.


We thought it interesting to find that this year a group of relatively new churches in Bosnia have started to catch the vision. Our Bosnian pastor friend, Sasha Nikolinovic, put feet to the Great Commission. This fall his church in Sarajevo sent their first short-term missions team to the country of Turkey, a place where Bosnians can freely enter without visa requirements. They went and encouraged a Turkish pastor, who leads a congregation in one of the most unreached countries in the world.


One of our goals in the Alliance is to help establish indigenous church planting movements that truly embrace the call of Christ to impact the world. This is a "full circle" vision; establishing new churches in an unreached country, which will one-day send their own church planters to other countries. It’s exciting to see our Bosnian brothers and sisters taking their first steps toward realizing their role in reaching some of the darkest regions. As East Hills Alliance takes steps to multiply, it is natural to envision establishing a church planting church in Longview.


It really is true! We spur each other on, as we work to spread the Gospel. I think it will be easy to find strong encouragement from Bosnian believers for what East Hills is looking to do locally, as you, at the same time, continue to encourage Bosnian pastors to have a similar vision to reach out in their country. May the Lord grow His Church through networking of church families worldwide! This rings true to the relationship between East Hills Alliance Church in Kelso, Washington and churches it is blessing and helping to establish across the globe in Bosnia and Herzegovina!

The Nature of Things By Nick Stumbo

It is the nature of living things to reproduce. The birth of a living organism is the most obvious example, but every tree, flower or shrub has a unique method of creating seeds to propagate more of its own kind. If you think about it, every living thing multiplies itself. Even as you read these words, your body is hard at work to create new cells and tissue. When living things stop reproducing, they have begun the slow process of death.


Interestingly, our faith works in a somewhat similar fashion. Jesus made it clear as he trained his disciples that they were to go out and help create more followers of Christ: He called them to reproduce themselves. From the book of Acts through the letter of Revelation, we see the church devoting itself whole-heartedly to this mission. (And wherever the church throughout history has chosen to stop reproducing itself, death inevitably sets in!)


We have chosen, as a church, to incorporate this idea of multiplication into our mission statement: We exist to glorify God by making fully-devoted followers of Christ who can make fully-devoted followers of Christ. Did you catch that? It’s not enough to simply get ourselves to a place of spiritual maturity or fullness- we are actually seeking to take what God is doing in us and pass it on to others. This resonates perfectly with what we read in Scripture: "So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ." (Colossians 1:28) The apostle Paul’s desire was not to perfect himself, but to thoroughly train and equip others so that they would be walking in a perfect relationship with Christ!


I hope that as you read the two resolutions on the inside of this newsletter, you will see our desire to take this "multiplication mindset" from the individual level to the group level. We are pursuing the idea of launching a new church in Kelso/Longview. Why? Simply put, because we believe that if Christ calls us as individuals to multiply ourselves, he has called us as churches to do the same thing! And I believe that as we pursue this goal as a church, the idea will work its way down into the heart of each individual. We will become people reaching people as we endeavor to be a church planting church.


I know that some of you are very excited about this, and will read these statements with growing passion and conviction. But I am also guessing that some of you, perhaps many, have a great deal of apprehension or concern about church planting. Justifiably so! You might ask, "Are we really ready to do something like this? Isn’t planting a whole new church kind of a big deal?" To you I would say, you are right. This is a big deal. But who is ever truly ‘ready’ to become a parent? If humans were required to truly prove their readiness for a child, none of us would have been born! The fact is, we arrive at a place where we decide that the timing is right and the desire is on our hearts to move forward. That is exactly the place we find ourselves in as a church. Do we have some apprehension? Absolutely. I’d be worried if we didn’t! But we also sense that God has led us here. The time is right. Let’s step forward together and see what God will do in us and through us on this journey. Enjoy the ride! It’s going to be a thrill.