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• Missional BreakOUT
• One Great Hour of Sharing
• Palm Sunday
• Adopt-a-School

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• Gulf Coast Mission Trip 2010 Recap
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Last summer the staff of First Presbyterian Church set out on a mission to discern areas of great need in our community. We spoke with local leaders in many areas—including education, mental health, and youth needs—and we asked them, “What could a church do to help this community?” The answers all had a common theme: our community needs individuals who will go out into the need and work to meet it.

The Wednesday collegiate luncheons were begun in response to the needs that we heard from area institutions of higher ed. After speaking with public school leaders, the staff has begun working with an Adopt-a-School program at McKinley Elementary, individually volunteering during the work week.

In January and February, our focus in worship will be “Impacting Locally.” We will focus on awareness of and practical ways to help the needs of our community.

January 17: “Impacting Locally: Mental and Family Health”

January 24: “Impacting Locally: Addiction”

January 31: “Impacting Locally: Homeless and Hungry”

February 7: “Impacting Locally: Youth Issues”

February 14: “Impacting  Locally: Older Adults”

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• Youth Ski Trip Recap
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This month we prepare for and celebrate the birth and coming of Jesus Christ among us.  Theologians call this the incarnation.  With culturally relevant images, language and symbols, the gospel of John tells us, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, ...full of grace and truth...no one has ever seen God.  It is God the only Son who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known (John 1:14 &18)." The central way that God reaches you and me and draws us into God's dream for the world is through God becoming one of us and living and walking and working among us for the good of all.  This is great news for us and our world.  It is also a model for us as a church.  In Jesus' incarnation we have an image of what a community of faith might look like and behave like. 

Alan Hirsh in his book, The Forgotten Ways talks about the incarnation of Jesus and its implications for the church in four ways: presence, proximity,  powerlessness and proclamation. 

Presence                                                                                     

In Jesus Christ, God came and lived with us.  In Christ, God is not above us but right here with us.  For us as a community of faith, the incarnation implies that we are to be present and part of the very fabric of the FM community. As God is with us in Christ, so we are to be with others, engaged in our community offering God's hospitality and well-being to others.

Proximity

In Jesus Christ we understand who God is and through Him, we  have access to God.  In Christ, God lived close by to the outcast, the forgotten, the broken and the lost.  As a church, the incarnation and God's proximity to us means that we are to be in relationship with and available to those people who struggle with faith or seem disconnected from a faith community.

Powerlessness

Alan Hirsh says, "In becoming one of us, God takes the form of a servant...he does not stun us with sound and laser shows, but instead lives as a humble carpenter in  backwater Galilee for thirty years before activating his messianic destiny.  In acting he shuns all notions of coercive power and demonstrates for us how love and humility (powerlessness) reflect the true nature of God and are the key means to transform human society."  Christ's powerlessness calls us to be servants to our community and humble in our relationships with each other in the church and city.

Proclamation

Christ's birth heralded a new day and called for a new way of living.  That is why in Advent, each and every year, we read the story of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the incarnate deity.  As a church our mission statement says, "We will proclaim the Good News of God in Christ." We all have a story to tell of our faith in Christ. As we gather this Advent and Christmas, we proclaim that God has become incarnate among us and as we go into our world we are to do so as well. 

As we prepare for Christ's birth in Advent and celebrate it during Christmas, let us capture with our hearts and minds its meaning and significance for us! 

Peace,

Steve

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• Giving Tree
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An imminent theologian of the 20th century said the greatest question for the church is, “Where is the church in the world?”  In other words, where are God’s people engaged—demonstrating Christ’s love, peace and justice—in the community and world?

I think for First Presbyterian Church, Fargo that may be one of our great questions.  Where are we as individuals and a church living out Christ’s way of life?

Recently a question was asked to Pastor Mary, “What changes will ‘going missional’ bring to our church?”

One of the changes it is bringing about is how pastoral and lay staff lead.  Last month, I mentioned three shifts that need to occur in how leaders will lead.  This month, I would like to continue the conversation.

Leaders in the external-focused/missional church are moving from being the historians to being  journalists.  Reggie McNeal in Missional Renaissance tells the following:

“Missional leaders experience what God is doing and then tell others about it.  In this way, they act as journalists to help us experience it, too.  This means they spend time with God in prayer, asking him to show them what he is doing.  This usually crafts a very different agenda for them than just doing what clamors for attention in their inbox.  And it means they immerse themselves in life.  They journey out of the citadel into the streets.  Missional leaders, in touch with God and with the world, speak convincingly of what the people of God must do.”

Historians talk about yesterday, about keeping the past alive.  Journalists talk about what God is doing now.

Externally-focused church leaders are also shifting from positional to personal.  Reggie McNeal says,

“In the old world, leadership could rely mostly on positional authority.  Hierarchical models of organizational life promoted this. 

But today, leadership is increasingly personal.  The person occupying the role is evaluated in terms of suitability for being followed… 

Are we living what we’re talking about?  Are our own lives missional?  Is there a spiritual attractiveness to us?  Are we frequently caught saying yes to Jesus?  If we do say yes to Jesus, we help others in our constellations of influence make the same choice.”

Becoming an external-focused/missional church involves other practical changes, some of which I will write about next month.

I close with these thoughts:

1. It is an exciting time to be the pastor of this church!  You are great people!

2. God is at work—bringing God’s way of life—in our world and God is at work turning our attention and focusing our hearts and lives on the brokenness and hurts of our world.

Peace,

Steve

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• Kirkin' O' the Tartans
• Thanksgiving Dinner
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