We're back in Wilmore and fully engaged in a biblical interpretation course at the moment, but I thought I'd give you some brief impressions of what I learned out of the Houston church immersion experience that I hope to bring home with me:
1. Prayer is the undergirding of every important work in ministry. I need to focus my own time more on prayer and make it an emphasis in the congregation. The area of spiritual formation and spiritual disciplines are a key to fruitful discipleship. After this latest series through the Bible, I will be turning our focus toward another church-wide emphasis on spiritual formation.
2. Men's Ministry - Rob Renfroe at The Woodlands UMC really inspired me to get serious about crafting a "man church" concept in our congregation. I've mentioned that before, but now I have some practical ideas to go along with that spiritual nudging. I'm reading John Eldredge's Wild at Heart as a backdrop to formulating a plan that I hope to unveil this fall.
3. We experienced a wide variety of worship styles, but I'm still convinced that the ancient rhythm that is contained in our regular order of worship is still the best. What I'm thinking about altering, however, is the content of those elements, adding more space for reflection and different creative means of prayer and doing liturgy. While big, flashy bands and opulent spaces work for some, we need to continue to be "us" in an authentic way. I'm looking forward to doing some experimenting with our worship experience.
4. Our walk through the Bible over the course of this year is something that a lot of other churches are wanting to do. I'm glad that we're on the cutting edge of that idea! Someday I'm going to write a book that will update Kalas' The Grand Sweep and pull things together more connectively around some of the themes we've been talking about.
5. I was inspired by Jim Herrington's bold move from being a traditional large church senior pastor to being a pastor of a small house church in the inner city. He speaks with real pastoral authority and I really admire him.
6. I come away from the experience seeing some great ideas, but also believing that we have some great things going at PCCC and that our best days are still ahead of us. As our leadership meets for a retreat in early September, I'm bringing back some new visions for ministry that will require some new, entrepreneurial kinds of lay leadership to pull off. Perhaps God is already calling you to a new thing! I look forward to sharing it with you all.
Bob, would love to hear your thoughts about ministry and the integration of spiritual formation. I think that is one of the "million dollar questions" and something we are going to devote a lot of time to on the Metamorpha blog. Thanks for your thoughts here! Blessings, kyle
Posted by: Kyle Strobel | August 27, 2009 at 07:54 AM