The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 3

This is part three of a four part series.  

I love the church I serve in.  And I love it not because of the programs or the buildings or the great office that I have, but because of the people that I have the joy and honor of serving together with in making a difference in our community and our world in the name of Christ.

There are so many people and groups that make our church great and make the work that we do as a church possible.  Most of those people and most of those groups work quietly behind the scenes.  I want to mention three groups today that do that and do it with excellence.

Our Missions Team is made up of people who are not only passionate about doing missions outside the walls of our church but are passionate about bringing other people along in that journey.  For a church our size we do an extraordinary amount of mission work, local and international.  

Our Missions Team works to make sure we continue moving forward without taking on more than we can do with excellence.  They also have the responsibility of making sure that the way we do missions is such that it strengthens rather than harms the communities we are serving.  Many churches never give thought to how they are serving and if their methods are truly good for the community.  Our Missions Team is constantly asking questions and making sure that when we serve in another community we do no harm.  The team also tries to ensure that in all we do, the local church in the community is the hero rather than our teams.

The Missions Team has spent the last year working very hard to develop a mission team manual to guide our teams and to ensure things are done well, within the values of our church and that everyone is as safe as possible when serving.

The Vulnerable Children's Team works to lead our church to understand the needs of vulnerable children in our community and internationally and to work with our strategic partners to help meet those needs.  Our church serves vulnerable children locally through our partnership with FACETS and internationally through our partnerships with Nairobi Gospel Centre, The Royal Diadem for Excellence and Samaritan's Purse.

Much like the Missions Team this team is made up of people that are passionate about the vulnerable children in our world but also passionate about bringing other people into the conversation to be apart of the solution.  

Many times we don't even realize we are serving vulnerable children when in fact we are.  For example when we collect supplies for the FACETS Backpack Program we are supporting vulnerable children in the Fairfax area.  The children and families that receive the supplies would not be able to afford them on their own.  By helping to meet this need we help these children get a better start to the school year by having the supplies they need.  Providing quality education plays a major role in breaking the cycle of poverty.  That's also one of the things we are doing in Kenya.  Right now our efforts as a church support a program operated by Nairobi Gospel Centre.  We are currently making it possible for a young boy named Ancent to attend a private school which is far better than his community school.  Our goal is to be supporting ten children by the end of this year.

We also support vulnerable children through our work with Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  I love that OCC is more about relationships than anything else.  The shoe boxes that we pack and send give local pastors in developing countries a tool for building relationships with children and families in their communities.  The relationships allow the pastor and church to not only share the gospel of Christ with these families but it puts them in a position of being the hands and feet of Jesus as they meet real, physical and emotional needs.

There's no way to possibly list every group that makes our church great and the problem with doing a series like this is the risk of leaving a group out.  There are many individuals, teams and groups that lead annual events, events that only happen once and who serve in so many different ways throughout the year to make our church great.  There are volunteers who show up and fix equipment and make repairs to our building.  There are people who minister one on one to others in our church who are in need.  And there are people who quietly serve and without everyone doing what they do we simply could not do what we do.

That's why I love our church and that's why it's great. because of the people that I have the joy and honor of serving together with in making a difference in our community and our world in the name of Christ.

The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series of posts I'm writing about the people that make our church great.  In Part 1 I talked about the folks that make Sunday mornings possible.  In this post I want to talk about some of the people and teams that work behind the scenes to lead our church strategically and administratively.

• The Administrative Council oversees much of the administrative side of the church.  This team oversees and reports on our church's finances, prepares our annual budget, ensures the property and buildings are maintained and keeps our personnel policies up-to-date.  Over the last few years this team has worked very hard to up date our policies and create procedures designed to protect the church and allow for transparency.  I have the pleasure of working closely with this team and they make things that are difficult for me (crunching numbers) look easy.

• Our Alignment Team has an unusual name for a church team but the name fits its role.  The AT's responsibility is to make sure the church stays aligned with its mission, core values, doctrines and strategic objectives.  The Alignment Team has the wonderful and sometimes difficult job of keeping the "big picture" of the church in view.  By big picture I mean they seek to know where the church is and where it needs to be at any given time.  Forward motion is a key part of a healthy church and the AT makes sure that FCBC is steadily moving forward.

• The Family Ministry Team is a new team and has only been working together for a few months.  While we're still figuring out all the the roles and responsibilities of the FMT we do anticipate this being a "big picture" team as well.  In the past we had a children's ministry team and a youth ministry team.  Both teams led their areas of ministry in silos.  When we created the FMT we brought together leadership from our Kid and Student Ministries to work together strategically with the same goal in mind:  to partner with parents to help them build faith in their children.

• The Pastor Advisory Team is a team of four people who I meet with every three months.  They serve as a sounding board for me as I seek to lead the church and staff.  They ask great questions about my ideas or potential decisions and always provide good, candid feedback and wisdom. The team is made up of people who will tell me what I need to hear not what I want to hear.  In many ways I view them as my supervisor.  The team also helps me gauge the pace of change in the church and helps me keep check on my personal physical, relational and spiritual health.

• Our church Trustees are the legal arm of the church.  In Virginia they are appointed by the church and approved by the circuit court.  They deal with any legal matters including purchasing or selling property, long-term contracts or leases and insurance and liability issues.  Typically the Trustees are not called on very often but when they are their work is very important.

I so thankful for each of these teams and for every person that serves on them.  These folks work very hard all year to make sure our church is protected, that our staff has what they need, and that our church and ministries are moving forward in a positive direction.  Without them leading us from behind the scenes most of what we do as a church would grind to a halt.

The People That Make Our Church Great - Part 1

I love our church.  I think it's an amazing place to serve, grow, connect and be in community.  But the fact is we couldn't do church with out the dedication of so many leaders and volunteers.  Over the next few weeks I want to point out the many groups and people that make the ministries of FCBC, not only possible, but actually great.  Each group is an important part of our mission to develop devoted followers of Christ.

This week I'll start with the folks that make Sunday mornings possible.

Hospitality Team – This team consist of several smaller teams.

• The Refreshment Team are the folks that set up the coffee and snacks and then clean it all up after worship. They are an important part of our Sunday morning hospitality and are behind the scenes folks that do what they do with amazing hearts.  I love how they pay attention to details, try new things and really seem to enjoy what they do.  And whoever came up with the idea to serve OJ and milk is a genius.  We get an enormous amount of positive feedback about this aspect of our Sunday morning experience. 

• Our greeters also play a big part in our hospitality.  They are some of the first people that guests and regulars attenders meet on Sundays and their smiles, handshakes and assistance set the stage for many people’s worship experience.  They also are great at remembering people’s names and have helped me with that on many occasions.  I don’t plan to mention individual names here but one person has to be mentioned - Ray Pettus has been serving as a greeter for at least 15 years; in fact there were times when she was the only greeter we had.  Thanks Ray!

• Ushers are more than just the folks that take up the offering and hand out bulletins - although those are important roles and they do them well.  But they also assist people in finding where they need to go.  They help parents find our Kid's Ministry and nurseries.  And they help folks find a seat when things get crowded.  Ushers also provide a level of security for our building.  Once the service is underway they lock doors and check on the Kid's Ministry areas.

Kid's Ministry Leaders - Our Kid's Ministry is vital to our church and to our Sunday mornings.  The leaders there provide our kids with love, encouragement, Biblical teaching, and a ton of fun.  They also make it possible for parents to attend worship, fellowship with others and experience Biblical teaching themselves without distractions.  As a Pastor and as a parent I'm so thankful for the folks who serve in this ministry week after week.  I'm also thankful for the middle and high school students who faithfully serve in this ministry and that we have adult leaders who recognize the opportunity for our students to grow through serving.

Worship Techs - Our worship techs are another group that faithfully serve behind the scenes.  They make it possible for our worship team to lead us through music and for others and myself to teach scripture.  It's a difficult thing to not get drawn into the songs, music and teaching during the worship service but each person in this ministry is great at staying focused on what they are doing.  Even when we have problems with our mics, sound system and video system the team remains calm and focused and solve the problems. 

Vocals and Instrumentalists - Worship would not be worship with our music and the music at FCBC is great!  The folks who sing and play instruments meet every week for a couple of hours to practice and prepare for Sunday morning and to learn new songs to teach us.  The amount of musical talent that we have a FCBC is rare for a church our size.  I also appreciate the fact that this is an area where we have students serving and adults who are helping them grow.  It's also important to know that this team prays together each Wednesday as a part of their preparation to lead.

Thanks to everyone who serves on Sunday mornings.  Without your dedication we could not do what we do and could not reach our mission.

Thirteenth Birthday

My son Andrew turned 13 yesterday.  His mom and sister and I were singing "Happy Birthday" to him when we looked at the clock and realized it was 7:59PM - the exact time of his birth.  Very cool!

I've heard a lot of parents talk about how they don't want their kids to grow up and all of that.  I've actually loved every stage of my kids' lives and have always looked forward to the next one.  I love seeing them grow, take on responsibility, learn how to solve their own problems and increase their character.  I even love that they are becoming more and more independent from me because I see them becoming more dependent on God.

We got this Email from Andrew's math teacher this morning.  It was the icing on the cake (bad pun I know) to what has been a great few days of celebrating our son's life.

I just wanted to let you know how polite Andrew has been to me all year.  As he leaves the classroom each day, he is always sure to say “Good-bye, Mrs. Hawkins.  I hope you have a good evening” – or something similar.  He is a pleasure to teach.

Who Needs The Church?

This week our 15-year-old dog Ali died.  We'd had her since she was an 8-week-old puppy.  The loss was difficult for all of us, probably more difficult for our kids and especially difficult for our 13-year-old son.  After all it's the first living thing that he's lost in his entire life.

And this week Marsha and I were forced to make difficult decisions and have tough conversations with our kids.  It was not an easy week.  And as I've been thinking about it and processing it (in my mind rather than  through my emotions) I've been reminded that life is hard and that having people in my life is important.

Our small group prayed with us about this on Friday night.  Staff and other friends at our church encouraged us.  And family members were supportive and even helped with some of the logistical details (the burial at Grandma and Pop Pop's house.)  All because we were losing a family pet that meant a lot to us.

Here's what I know, there's a lot of people all around me, and you too, dealing with loss.  And their loss is a lot more substantial than a family pet.

• The loss of a family member or friend.
• The loss of a job.
• The loss of health.
• The loss of finances.
• The loss of a relationship.
• The loss of a dream.

That list could go on and on.  Here's what else I know.  NO ONE and NO FAMILY should ever go through any of those things alone.  That's why the church exists; to help people make it through life when life is hard.  And there's nothing in this world in a better position to do that than the church.

So let me ask you this, who do you know that needs to be connected to the church?  They may not being going through a loss or difficultly right now, but one day they will be.  Who do you know that's disconnected?  And what are you going to do about that?

Here's a simple suggestion:  Invite them to go to church with you.  They may say "no" - it's a risk.  But they may say "yes" and it may change their life forever.

Easter is just two weeks away.  If ever there's a time when someone will say "yes" to an invite to church it's Easter.  Easter affords us an opportunity that, with the exception of Christmas, we don't have the rest of the year.  

Invite them, bring them and help them connect.

Treat People Like People

Our church is operating a homeless shelter this week on our campus.  We've done this for several years in partnership with other churches, non-profits and our local government.  The shelter is hosted each week, from November through mid-March, by a different church.

Yesterday one of our guests told one of our volunteers how much they loved our church.  He said "not just because the food is good but because of the people; they treat us like we're human."

Wow!  That blew me away.  First, I'm just so proud of the heart that our church has for people - ANY people.  And second, I know this happens, but I can't understand how any church can operate in such a way that someone would walk away and say"They didn't treat us like we're human.  They treated us like we were less than that."

Even a casual reading of the Gospels and the way Christ lived his life shows he NEVER treated anyone like a second-class citizen.

The truth is it's become far too easy and we've become far too comfortable making snap judgements about people that we don't even know and haven't taken the time understand.

• We vilify our politicians rather than seeing them as humans, most of whom just want to make a difference.
• We judge people with different lifestyles without realizing they are just like us, trying to get through life, dealing with the same decisions, the same fears and the same needs.
• We look at someone who is homeless and quickly think "they just don't want to work" when in reality they would love to have a job but just don't know how to overcome the barriers they face.
• We see the "bully" and think "they're just a mean person," when the fact is hurt people hurt people.

So how does our church do it?  How do we treat people like "humans?"  We follow Jesus' example.  He saw others, EVERYONE, as valuable first and then he dealt with their issues.

Territorialism

I read a blog post this past week by Mark Batterson by the same title as this one.  You can read it for yourself here.

In the post Mark says "territorialism is caring more about your kingdom than God’s kingdom.  Plain and simple.  It’s selfish spirituality.  It’s caring more about your reputation than God’s reputation."  

I've experienced this first hand a few times.  Several years ago when I was new to the staff of FCBC I had a conversation with a church member who told me when she was in the youth group and would go on retreats that included multiple churches, one of the churches from our area was seen as a "rival" by our church's youth group.

And then there was the time, as a student pastor, I was working with a few other student pastors to create a monthly worship experience for our groups.  We all had small to medium size student ministries so we were coming together to create an experience that had the energy and momentum that a larger group could create.  We had two goals:  create great student worship experiences and develop great student leaders to lead them.

We invited several other students pastors to join us.  One in particular was beyond excited about her group being a part of it.  She saw the value it could have with the students that she led.  But when she told her pastor about the plan he immediately shut it down for their group.  He said "I afraid our students will like one of the other groups better and go to that church."

When I heard that I remember thinking "REALLY?  You're afraid that by doing what's best for the Kingdom of God might have a negative affect on your church?"

I decided then that I would never be that kind of pastor.  I've actually helped people who have attended our church connect with a different church because it was a better fit for them or their family.

I'm so thankful that our church sees the value in partnerships with other churches and other groups.  That our staff and leaders realize it's not about getting a little bit bigger piece of the pie for us but it's about enlarging the Kingdom of God.

If there's a church down the road that I can teach something that I've learned, I'm there.  And if there's a church in our community that can teach us something that can help us reach our mission, I want to know what it is.  And if there's a church that shares our values and wants to partner with us to make a difference in this world then I want to meet them and start a conversation.