Reconnecting the Community

Colleagues,

One thing that several of us learned during the water bond initiative was that our community may not be as closely knit as we may have presumed.

Visits in neighborhoods that appear worn revealed a lot of quiet desperation and serious disconnect among neighbors.

What do you suppose could happen if we got several realtors together to identify natural "neighborhoods" and leaders who live in them, and then got together as pastors to identify even more leaders in those neighborhoods for the purpose of creating experiences that bring neighbors into positive contact with each other?

The years of Welcome Wagon and other organizations meeting this need are gone. The stay-at-home moms who ran those programs and successfully wove them into the fabric of local life are busy with jobs and taking kids to soccer practices or other after-school events. Newly retired folk seem either more interested in enjoying a second round of adolescence or already overloaded with volunteer and sandwich generation responsibilities.

I think we may also be ready to admit that it is time to give up the myth that we live in a "Christian" community that measures time by a liturgical calendar or waits with baited breath for every word that comes from local pulpits. Yet, we are not excused from the mandate to make disciples of Jesus, nor are we absolved from living the two Greatest Commandments just because the fastest growing minority among Cameron's citizens couldn't tell you the difference between a doctrine and a dogma, a parable and a parabola.

Is it time that congregations worked together to reverse the unravelling of "neighborhood" and to give some hope to people who live paycheck to paycheck, abuse to abuse, addiction to addiction?

It seems to me that this effort cannot be contained in a program offered by one congregation anymore than the current efforts to address chronic hunger.

I'm very interested in conversation here (or elsewhere) about this. How about you? Is God whispering similar thoughts into your prayers and reflections on Scripture?

Gear Up or Gear Down?

Tom Bandy posted the following observation on the EasumBandy.com advanced leadership forum,
"North Americans associate Easter with Spring ... and it usually marks a culmination of church programming, and a transition toward less regular worship attendance and leisure time."

Is that true for your congregation? If so, is that okay with you?


I have a question of my own: "If the community life of a disciple of Jesus really does equip me for mission and calls me out to deeper maturity and more effective mentoring, why do I need three months off from that?"


Another: "If my experience in a community of Jesus's disciples is such that I feel that I need an extended break to endure yet another year, should I be concerned about something other than taking time off?"

Holy Week Breakfasts

News Release

Men’s Holy Week Breakfasts



From Monday through Friday, April 2-6 men from churches in the Cameron area will gather each morning to observe Holy Week. The event is an annual tradition that has been observed for many years. First Christian Church, 318 N. Pine will serve as this year’s host site. The daily schedule will remain the same as in past years. At 6:15 AM the church doors will be open and coffee ready. From 6:30-7 AM breakfast will be served, and from 7-7:30 AM the group will worship. At 7:30 AM everyone should headed for their daily tasks. On most mornings a continental style breakfast will be served. Wednesday, April 4 is the exception. On that morning the men of First Christian will provide a hot breakfast. Friday will be family day. The men of our area, young and old, are cordially invited to join us!

What If?

If you had access to a team of servant-leaders whose passion, gifting, and calling was to help you and your leadership team to more effectively engage with the micro-cultures around you, to make real the love and power of Jesus Christ, what services would you want from that team?

(Assume that the team is not promoting a denominational agenda but is really focused on working with Christians of any or no denomination. Assume also that the team is comprised of folk in NW Missouri.)

This kind of question is just one way to get productive conversation going among us in the Cameron Ministerial Alliance

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Bill Rose-Heim