Willow Creek Leadership Summit

August 7, 2008 at 9:00 am (Uncategorized) (, , , , , )

In Tupelo today at the Summit. Been doing it for years now…

www.willowcreek.com/SummitNextSteps

2 Comments

  1. joe said,

    August 8, 2008 at 5:34 am

    My church’s vision is “a multicultural church for all peoples, developing growing followers of chirst”. Efram stated he needed to embrace hip-hop for his worship service. My question is our church embraces the 20 something middle to upper middle class by giving us the joyous mellow sounds of, well- hillsong, and the likes of that. We have also stopped any special music in our(contemporary) or our bigger service.Please allow me to draw a picture to were we live and why i ask. We are in a velley of mostly middle class familys black and white. We are at the bottom of the hill were mostly white upper to wealthy people live and yet we are on the line in which the city is. The city consistes of about 4 diffrent gangs black, spanish, and such. They are into drugs, prostitution and other activities. Talk about cultivating the soil and getting dirty. How does a church with this movement embrace the urban youth, whom also needs a savior, Do we need to embrace that style. We have a thur. night minestry for the urban kids,we play basketball, and we share God’s word to about 40-50 kids who come out each week. I really think these kids a starving for somthing and I feel to truly embrace these kids, we need to adapt a bit to there culture. We also have chinese people, indian (from india) native americans, hispanic. See we can truly become a multi cultural church. Do you feel Efram that to truly embrace a culture we need to embace some important parts of there culture. If yes, how do we get this moving, and shaking things up for God’s glory. My church is a 100 yr old C&MA church- and our motto is we agree to disagree- if that is true I say bring on the hip-hop so we can start embracing and loving these kids and helping them find the path to the redemptive life God intendid them to live. What is your thoughts on this wall we are at.

  2. tapdraw said,

    August 8, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Joe,

    To start off, let me say that I have absolutely no idea how to begin or sustain a multi-racial ministry. Of all of the churches that I have been a part of, none of them have been able to truly break racial barriers, no matter how much I or others I served with wanted to. Even though our intentions have been different, we just haven’t been able to…so far.

    With that said, I think you should be encouraged because it seems like you have a few things going well for you already.

    -You, and some of your people, have a passion for the people who need to be reached in your community, even if they look different than you do.

    -You hate the darkness that is trapping people in your community…but you don’t FEAR it. This is very important (Remember what Gary Hagen said).

    -You have already made an in-road with some in the community as there are many who feel safe and welcome in your church environment every week.

    -It seems like your church is atleast open to the idea of reaching out to the community, since they have allowed the church to be open to basketball and Bible study for the young people nearby.

    I think the keys to future movement in your community are the same keys to everything in ministry:

    Prayer: Pray for the urban community, the kids in it, the adults and families in it too. Pray that God would reveal himself there and that He would include you in the work. And pray for your church, too, that it could boldly and courageously move when called. Remember that Jesus told his disciples to make disciples of ALL nations as you engage with the many different groups in your community.

    Love: Love those around you by serving them. This takes a lot of energy and creativity, but it speaks volumes to the world around you, even before you open your mouth. Sounds like you should have a lot of resources (both from a passion and financial standpoint). Begin looking around for other churches and organizations who can partner with you as you move into the city. The crazy thing about God’s plan is that, for the biggest needs, it’s going to take a movement of his whole kingdom, not just one church, to solve.

    Leadership: I can see this happen in two ways. First, of those Thursday night attendees, begin to find young people who are fully engaged. Discover ways for them to serve and then begin asking them if they have any ideas about how to reach their community. Often, it is people at the ground level that have the best ideas about ministry. Use good judgement, but then try some new ideas. Even if they aren’t the best ideas, if they are done in authentic love, there isn’t too much damage that can be done. Secondly, begin to cast a vision of reaching into your city in your church. Make the ideas and excitement burn bright and see who is drawn in. Then find a place for them to serve.

    As for the Hip-Hop worship style. I would image that there would be a need at some point to begin to include some elements of it if you really want to engage that culture in a worship service. I would be cautious not to try it until you have people who can do it well. You don’t want it to come off as cheesy. This is where finding inner-city leaders and partnering with other churches/organizations can come in handy. Be patient and prayerful and God will begin to reveal the right leaders, worship style AND fruit.

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