Younger Pastors, Older Congregants, and "GODing"

Younger Pastors, Older Congregants, and "GODing"(yes I just made up that word in hopes you will keep reading because I will answer it soon)

This topic of young and old in the church is what seems like an ongoing conversation, it never seems to go away; will we ever just learn how to get along?

If a pastor focuses on this golden aged congregants and if changes are made that increase vitality do the younger generations that are un-churched or badly churched still need the church? Do we need to focus on them still, or should we wait for them to cycle through the life stages and hope they stick around to the golden ages? Does this evangelism thing require going out of our comfort zones? I mean for surely by now everyone has heard about Jesus, why must I have evangelize to anyone. I would suggest that the answer to all of these questions previously stated is yes.

Yes we need the youth and young adults in our churches--regardless of what age group the pastor is relation to or not

Yes the younger generation needs the church, especially with the world today and the pain that brings.

Yes evangelism requires going out of your comfort zone, do you think Jesus was comfortable when he walked thousands of miles to teach about love and justice? I mean my feet hurt after one day of walking less than a mile.

Yes Jesus the person in the bible is probably known worldwide by now, and if not I'm sure there are some sort of missionaries there right now risking their lives attempting to educate people.

So what is next? I believe it’s time we start doing some "GODing” ah yes you thought i'd never get here. "GODing” This can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. I will attempt to make it simple. Young people, Old People, Black, white, yellow, Red, Pink and purple people need God, need to know that they are loved, that they are precious, that they are good, every. Single. Day. What is 2/3 of the word God? GO! In your search for Starbucks GO spread the love, forgiveness, grace and Mercy that God has shown you to EVERY person you relate with. In your quest to survive the day of classes, work, meetings, appointments, phone calls or whatever, try to GODing someone. More important and maybe even more special when your changing diapers, fixing dinner, helping with homework, at choir practice or bible study GO!! GODing even the people who have GODing to you. Human nature says that when we close our eyes and end the day all of our worries and doubts sail away at least for a few hours, if we decide to pick up those worries and doubts the next day we must also decide to pick up that love, grace, forgiveness, mercy and friendship that God brings us as his children too. Sometimes it is easier to pick up the worries and the doubts than the love, mercy, and Grace each day. Which is why it is important to GODing anyone, everyone, especially those closest to you every day. God is an ultimate being larger than what we can understand. God longs for us to be in relationship with him. Im not sure if there is a better way to remind, nudge, and feel Gods presence than the continual "GODing" from God's other beloved children. If the Church can adopt this "GODing" as a way to evangelize to the younger generation, to the marginalized in the local contextual settings of the church, I imagine a much more peaceful, loving, and church pew filled world. It’s not about condemning sin, that’s Gods responsibility, it’s not about teaching the right ways to do life, that’s our responsibility in response to learning to live right by what scripture, tradition, reason, and experience tells us, it’s not about increasing numbers in the pews, or on the books. It is about "GODing the world, Going, gently, loving, patiently, kindly, mercifully, gracefully, being God, and bringing God to the people today.

Can the church today become a "GODing" church? I don't know. I know I’m first going to focus on myself becoming more of a "GODing" person. Will You? The funny thing about "GODing" I’m pretty sure it doesn't matter how old you are, and I’m also pretty sure God doesn't care how old you are either, if you are "GODing" someone.

Young VS Older which is more vital and why?

Younger Vs Older Which is more vital and why? this is a continuation of my blog from yesterday.

As previously stated in my last blog of which I wrote about younger pastors serving older generational churches, I want to focus on one thing. Age, and its vitality, and how that relates to the church. This idea I am paraphrasing and editing from a theological evangelical writer named Leonard Sweet, he is probably one of the funnest 'old' white theologians i have had the privilege to read while in seminary. I highly check out his books! Any way in one of his sermons he puts forth this idea of age and how that relates to vitality especially in the church. The common thought today from the younger generation is that old people are boring, only keep company with those people of the same age, and who are just outdated to the times and what is hip, and maybe one that is not mentioned but definitely thought, these old people are filling up the pews and making worship or church unimportant or not fun. I agree with Sweet's idea that we have that all backwards today, especially in regards to the church.
Allow me to enlighten you, there are 4 primary stages of aging in life. The first is birth to 18, thats when one is still living at home, and normally still going to church. The second stage is 18-25 is the educational stage, life's biggest questions are where are you going to school and what are you studying. The third age is 25-45 sometimes before, sometimes later one becomes involved with marriage, beginning a family, this is an ambiguous time for the church, some parents want to raise their children in the church so they bring themselves back to church, others just don't find themselves going back to the church. Then there is the third stage of: 45-55, life starts to get stickier there are career changes, aging parents, maybe personal illness' such as cancer or the like where one asses the need to regain and rebuild relationships with the church, when these 45-55 year olds get plugged into a church they usually will stick with it until death. why because they feel more ownership, they have adjusted through lives major turmoils and the tough ones like burying their parents, marrying their children might require the relationships a church family can provide. Then comes the coveted Golden/retirement age 50 plus some adults work up until they die, some get the luxury of retiring and enjoy life in the slow lane again. But what then does a person do in retirement? Where does their time go? yes surely they will spend time relaxing and doing all the fun things they didn't have time to do when they were consumed with career and family. It is also at retirement that you find more people active in the church. They have spare mornings and afternoons to spend at the church going to meetings, preparing sunday school lessons or bible studies, or aiding the pastor in whatever endeavors he or she may be encountering that week. so what I suggest and what Sweet wrote about is that these retired age group of people, these old people are actually the primary people that have and should have the leadership roles in the church. why not?! why not allow someone who has the time to develop evangelistic plans during the week be allowed to be in leadership with out being discriminated on for their age? If we as pastors need something to be done, and done asap, are you going to call on your Mother of three that is a soccer mom who many not get the chance to even listen to her voicemails until midnight? (who knows when she'll get time to return your call) or as a pastor are you more likely to call someone who is enjoying their time in retirement at home, and ask them to help you with your project. I believe that those who are retired and older in our congregations would get great joy out of aiding the church in anyway they can.
So I say all that to propose that maybe, just maybe us young pastors need to refocus our energies on the people we have right before our eyes. Build relationships with the ones who have the time to spend with us, and help us bring our church back to or into more vitality, and maybe with those relationships building the church will radiate vitality into the community and the younger generations won't be able to help themselves from filling the pews, just to check out the cool hip church thats doing so many cool things for the community? thats just a thought, like I said, I want to give credit where its due, these are not original thoughts, I kind of took these thoughts from Mr. Sweet and ran with them in my own direction. I will leave you with one question does this refocusing of energies on our more vital aged members make a difference as the mission of God is portrayed in this world, or do we need to scrap all these ideas and go back to square one of how to get young people into the church?

will be continued tomorrow ;-)

Young Pastor --- Older Congregation

Young Pastor: Old Congregation

As a 29 year old pastor and a full time student at seminary, I have observed two things. One young pastors, or pastors in training such as myself are being sent out or appointed to local churches that are declining in vitality. My second observation being that these declining churches are comprised of individuals whom are increasing in age. Questions I have to follow these observations are: With the obvious generational gaps, language, technology, and social barriers between younger generations and older generations why would the bishop appoint a young pastor to an elderly church? (is it primarily because we work for less money?) My next question would be wouldn't an older or middle aged person be able to relate to that congregation more naturally as they have had more life experience? My last question would be does the bishop think that if they appoint a younger person to a congregation comprised of aged and aging individuals that they can somehow magically increase the amount of young people in worship and on membership roles? I have been in my setting for 5 months; I had a few, very precious, younger generation families in my congregation before my arrival, I surely have not scared them off and I even more surely have not gained any new younger individuals or families. However I have gained at least 3 individuals/guests who are of the older generations.
My next question would be that of relevance, so what’s the point? Why not appoint a young in seminary person at a large church under a successful pastor so that young pastor in training could gain experience church work from a successful pastor? And then my next more deeper question would be are the younger generation age groups the main targets we as a church are looking to catch or evangelize or add to our congregations? Or do we need to reevaluate what vitality means and the age groups that can bring that vitality.
My answers, I cannot really answer on why the Bishop does what he (or she in some cases) does, it is a mystery that I will probably take to the pearly gates with me, I have learned not to complain about the appointment process but to search for the joy it brings and revel in that joy. Would a young pastor be successful in an older congregation, it depends, if that younger person intends to initiate change and drastically effect worship and the social norms of that church before forming relationships I believe that person will fail miserably. Relationship building being the key to this last sentence. Are the younger generations the main target to keeping or making the church vital I would say yes and no. Younger generations can bring a vitally to the church that allows the church to outlive its life, as in, the more younger people a church has the longer the church will survive until the doors close because the younger generations are still active and vital to the church's ministries. Is taking a look at church vitality something that is important and needed, yes without a doubt! Can an congregation comprised of middle aged and older aged individuals make their declining church into a vital church yes without a shadow of a doubt! Does that vitality include evangelizing to the younger generations, possibly but it does not hinge on it.
I will address more of these issues in my next blog, I will end with this. You younger generational pastors/preachers that are reading this, do not lose heart and focus on building relationships before you make changes! You older congregation members that are reading this do no lose heart, I love you, I know you have passions that outlive my life, God has seen the work and time you have put into your church over all these years, your cries have not fallen on deaf ears, now is your time to shine we can come together and become a vital, fruitful, 'young' congregation!

Edumacation

So Ya'll know by now that I am a student at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City MO



I have about 53 credit hours of a 90 hour degree, I'm almost there... I do a lot of writing and reading and other homework assignments for this degree. One of my classes this semester is introduction to Evangelism. For this class we were to write three blog entries about evangelism and the theology behind it. SO I have decided to share my theological evangelism blogs with you my faithful readers.



So this is just a pre-blog warning you all that the next THREE blogs will be purely theological in nature, not to worry tho I haven't gone over the deep edge theologically...yet...:-)

If you feel like it I'd appreciate your comments! :-)

Haloween!

SO WOW its been almost 5 months since ive updated my blog...YIKES! life has been CRAZY!

Here are a few pics from Halloween... I hope to post another blog soon.


PUMPKIN CARVING!


PUMPKIN PATCH


MARIO!


SPIDERMAN!

He had a great time and now I'm looking for creative ways to get rid of all the excess candy! ideas?

a MUCK w/change

3 great things to celebrate

1. Spring 2011 semester is over! AND I maintained my 3.0+ average gpa
2. Summer semester is over and I got an A!!!! my first 4.0 semester!
3. Im starting a new Job July 1st at a church (I cannot make details public at this
moment but I will post about this job as soon as I can. this is THE job Ive been waiting for since I started seminary HUGE deal for me!)


LOTS of wonderful things happening in my life! God truly has heard my prayers and has answered them! I am SO grateful!

2 BIG changes happening soon:
1. Nate and I are moving into a smaller apartment on campus, he sleeps in my room (in his own bed) most nights anyway so, I decided it would be best if we downsized. (its cheaper and less space to worry about cleaning) I would LOVE to make this move organized and orgainze my apartment better than my current one so that when life gets stressfull my place isn't a Muck. Anybody have ideas on how to orgainze a small space and keep it orgainzed??? I'd love your help! I am an utter failure at being a housemaker person so I need all the help I can get.

2. New JOB, I am nervous about how N will react. Im tossing up the idea of finding a babysitter for Sunday's so I can give 100% to my congregation, but that is quite difficult. Any volunteers? (lol!) Does anybody know of a Single Mom and Preacher?? I'd love to meet with you and chat with you and get all your secrets of how you do it ALL???!!!?!!!!

I pray that God gives me the Grace to take this fear of change and these nerves/anxiousness away from me, fill me with faith strength and energy to do it all, and do it well. I also hope that I can move and get 100% settled in the new place before July 1/the new job starts. Your prayers and help is highly welcomed!!!

I hope you all are having a great summer so far. I plan on taking N swimming several times this summer and will hopefully have pictures to post soon.

WAR

Hi Blog fans...if there are any?!

I think its sad that it has been nearly 2 months since I've posted, I apologize to those who check my blog regularly, now you have something new to read, yippee!!!

Well I've finished my spring 2011 term! I am guessing that I'll have B's all the way around, which for me is great! Those who don't have to work two jobs, raise a young child alone, are more sane, can have those A's they're all yours. I will however stick with doing the best I can with the resources and time I have, and praise God for the B's I earn!

SO you may now be wondering what my title of my blog is... yes seminary or grad school is like War because we are all battling the books, papers, sylabi and time, but I read a devotion today and was enlightened and would like to share this with all of you who may be struggling with 'War'.

Truly Human:
In addition to the battle to "get ahead," there is another:
this other war is the war not to conquer but the war to become whole and at peace inside our skins. It is a war not of conquest now but of liberation because the object of this other war is to liberate that dimension of self-hood which involves the capacity to forgive and to will the good not only of the self but of all other selves. This other war is the war to become human being. This is the goal that we are really after and that God is really after. This is the goal that power, success, and security are only forlorn substitutes for. This is the victory that not all our human armory of self-confidence and wisdom and personality can win for us-not simply to be treated as human but to become at last truly human. --Frederick Buechner---

The questions that remain for me are:
How much Longer will this 'War' Last?
Am I truly Human and
Are You Truly Human?


JUST MY THOUGHTS...BE ENCOURAGED...STAY ENCOURAGED!

Tenth Avenue North - You Are More

OK

SO I've gotten on this song kick lately... this SONG ROCKS!... I think about my sisters, all of them blood related and not... we all struggle with past decisions, thank you JESUS for remaking all of us, please allow us to step into this new life you have created for us and thrive in your love, and please God regardless of where our paths take us please please please allow us to remember Who and Whose we are!!!



Thank YOU!

Love,
~B~

Laura Story - Blessings

This SONG rocks my socks off! Read the words, Listen to the song, Apply it to Your Life. I'M bout to SHOUT up in here! waaaa!!! OH but N is asleep I gotta watch myself!



The words:

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise


JESUS! LORD JESUS! YOUR MERCY! WOW!

~Bec

Countdown

It's MARCH! AND ITS FRIDAY!!!

The spring semester is just about half way over all though it doesn't feel that way because of the slow start we had due to snow. I have a few countdowns that you all might think are interesting to know (especially the last one)....

There are 16 days until the first day of spring!




There are only 15 days until SPRING BREAK (or reading week, I prefer the former)




There are only 70 Days until the end of the semester!




And here we go drum roll please... there are only 805 Days until Friday May 17th The projected day of my MDiv Graduation!!



OK so I may have gotten a little out of control with the graduation countdown thing, but HEY at least now I know!!!

Well I'm signing off for now... hope you ALL have a blessed and relaxing weekend!

final post LOVE IS:

dear readers
I apologize for the lack of posts the last 2 weeks or so. Today is the last day of February and so this will be my last post about "LOVE IS..." so I will leave you with a few pictures to look at and ponder.



May you always know that YOU are LOVED!



and I pray you NEVER FORGET:

LOVE is:...

Well I must say that I am impressed with myself. This is the third blog this week. and once again its ALL about LOVE! I think once the semester really hits hard I won't be blogging as much...

Tonight I am reflecting on African American History and how they have played a vital role in my life. My son is black. If it weren't for his father (my ex husband) I would not appreciate black history as much as I do today. I also find it very, very important to keep educating N on his background and history.

So tonight I share a quote from the wonderful, late, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.



It is a very fine line to walk between power and love!



only one thing can drive out hate...love... humph maybe instead of hating our jobs or our laundry or our homework, or the mundaneness of life we should figure out how to put some LOVE in there?!! Lord Knows I NEED to Love more!!



AWW KITTY CATS!!



yea I just had to throw this one in here! I really do love Black People! I love hearing their stories and how each of them are unique and I love, love, love, love, love that Jesus loves us ALL, and that in heaven we're ALL family!!

~B

LOVE is:...

Love is:
Well this is my second blog for the week, and its still ALL ABOUT LOVE!

Here are lyrics to one of my most absolute favorite songs in the whole world! It is by an artist named JJ Heller and if you listen to Christian radio you have most likely heard this song several times in the last six months or so...

He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He's the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, "Dear God won't you please...
Could you send someone here who will love me?"

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
'Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

Her office is shrinking a little each day
She's the woman whose husband has run away
She'll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would've stayed
And she says...

Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
'Cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means

He's waiting to die as he sits all alone
He's a man in a cell who regrets what he's done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
"Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home"

Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
"I know you've murdered and I know you've lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you'll listen, I'll tell you that I..."

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew

WOW those are some powerful words. The words alone do not do it justice. Here is a link to the official music video of the song: Love Me For Me. I encourage you ALL to watch it, even if you have seen it before, and reflect in the awesome, powerful, wonderful, amazing LOVE of our God,Creator, Father/Mother, whatever you call God. God DOES Love ME! God DOES Love YOU! now wipe away the tears and get back to whatever it was you were doing before you stumbled across this blog...! for me I will get back to my homework!

Stay Tuned for more "LOVE is:" this month!!

~B

LOVE is:...

Okay so I've realized that the past few blogs of mine have been kind of downers so I've decided to pump things up a bit. For the month of February I will be posting all about LOVE! I have friends that despise valentines day, and I've been there so I feel 'em! but I've also had very nice valentines days and so I'm kinda 'eh' about the day I really couldn't care less... It's like Christmas WAY over mediatized (and Yes I think I just made up that word)...

So I will start with a quote from one of my favorite authors/theologians:

"Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality--not as we expect it to be but as it is--is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love." --Frederick Buechner--

now instead of thinking of this 'you' he refers to here as your significant other...think of it in the context of "love your neighbor as yourself"



woah wowzer That'll preach baby!!!!

I hope to post at least once a week, keep lookin out for some more love from this big momma!!!!

~B

2 H A R D years!

Well its Jan 9th well into the New Year... welcome 2011... Nate and I didn't do much to celebrate, but we did make cookies and watch Max and Ruby's New Year episode.


The title of my blog tonight is 2 H A R D years.

For the last 2 years I have had a hard time in life! (and yes I know there are people out there who have a harder life) The last weekend of Jan 2009 my little sister and mother bought me and Nate a 1 way ticket from Dallas to Kansas City, I had enough of the emotionally/verbally/spiritually abusive marriage that I was in and finally got up the guts to leave. THAT WAS H A R D! I cried more than I think I have ever cried in my life.

I graciously lived with my dad/step-mom from Feb 2009-Oct 2009 That was HARD I know there are a lot of parents who do not want their adult kids to live with them, but please let me tell you this, it is hard to go from 100% independent for 4+ years to living back with your parents!!!! HARD!!!!

In September 2009 I started Graduate School at Saint Paul School of Theology because I believe with my heart that God who holds perfect power has called me into ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church and with out a seminary degree one (of my age) cannot get ordained. that decision was HARD because I did not know how I was going to provide for myself or my son while going to school full time.



School seemed to be okay, don't get me wrong after almost 5 years out of school it was hard to get my head around all the reading the grammar (which is still horrible). School for me is kind of like a 'normalcy' with all the crazy going on in my life. I can always depend that I have homework to do (mainly reading), classes to take, and a school family who cares...

My divorce was final Aug 30th 2010. Which included me driving 1000+ miles in 48 hours to appear in court in Dallas TX. THAT WAS HARD!! it was HARD to see my TX family and to say goodbye to them they mean SO much to me! I cried a lot on that trip.

I'm not sure what is harder, a broken heart, recovering from emotional abuse OR going to school full time and being a single mom. Or knowing that my son has not seen his father in almost 2 years. Yes his father hurt me, but that does not mean that he should not have a relationship with his son.

I had a successful fall semester with an A- and 2 B's the best semester yet. I face 2011 being laid off from my steady church job at the end 2010... I have been blessed by keeping a part time job on campus where I attend school, I will be able to pick up some extra hours this spring and hopefully 'make it'. It will be HARD!

I tried dating...went on like 6 dates, maybe I thought having a 'man' would make me feel better about myself, would heal my broken heart... well a good friend (if she reads this she knows who she is) recommended a book entitled "On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone" by Florence Falk. I haven't read it all but just the beginning of this book has allowed me to be confident in Who I am, and WHOSE I am. Having a man does not make me complete. Does that mean I am out of the dating game? nope. (So hey if you think you can set me up with someone bring it on)But it does mean that I'm not scared of being alone, and that when I feel lonely is when I need to embrace my first love...God.

What does 2011 hold for me? I do not know. I do know I still have 2.5 years left of school so i'm not leaving Saint Paul School of Theology anytime soon. I also know that my Son needs his Momma to be his mother, his father for a bit longer.

Everyday I face opposition. There are people out there who think I am crazy for doing all 'this'. There are people out there that think I should have reconciled with my ex-husband. (because Christians don't get divorced). I face opposition within my own heart because 'THIS' is SO H A R D! Pray for me, pray for us. Believe in me, believe in us. I am not perfect by any means. I have learned a lot about myself and I know that there is a lot of room for me to improve in my education, spiritual life, and parenting.

I however remain to have HOPE. HOPE in who/what God has called me to become. I have hope that this calling/career will give the stability that I long to provide for my Son. So when you pray for us, pray that the HOPE will ring LOUD in my ears when this year gets hard, as the past 2 years have...

some Christmas pics

if you haven't already seen them on Facebook, here are a few Christmas pictures. N had a great Christmas. now on the 3rd of Jan. as I write this I am grateful that I've had the time to rest, read, clean, and do a little bit of playing on my Christmas break... i'm feeling like it will be another fight with insomnia tonight so I may post another blog a little later...


cookie decorating, N loved it!!


look at all those presents! dont worry they were not all for Nate! He did get the 2 big ones tho!! I'm SO blessed to have been able to give those to him, err I mean Santa!!



this is one of my favorites from the pics that N's teacher took of us! she's a photographer in her 'off' times!!

Well I hope ya'll had a blessed christmas! and I hope that this new year brings lots of happiness, few tears, and a TON of hope to you and yours!!!

~B