Pres Presenta entation of ion of O Our ur Re Revit vitali alizati ation Plan on Plan Centennial Church Board of Elders Here is our best attempt to give you a then to lead us toward launching another summary of the presentation we did on July congregation. 29, 2018, of our revitalization plan that we The development of Gospel Communities has hope to enter with Elmwood Evangelical Free been a circuitous course as we have moved Church and Park Community Church. We back and forth between the theoretical and the apologize that we do not have an actual audio practical. Sometimes what looks good on recording of this presentation. We hope that paper does not always turn out as we would this summary, along with a series of videos we expect in practice. We have made several are producing, will give everyone in our course corrections along the way and we congregation thorough information on how we continue to tinker with the best practices for have arrived at this decision and what it getting people into meaningful community with entails. Thank you for taking the time to hear, one another. It has been much more like think, and pray on this endeavor. paddling a river rather than paddling across a Intr troducti tion lake. The purpose of today ’s presentation is to lay Going back to his hiring 5 years ago, w e’ve things out at a fairly high level in the time that always known that it was unlikely that he we have, as more of a general overview. After would stay in this location permanently. today, you will then have the opportunity to During this time, he has built a GC in the hear more details and engage in more Columbia Heights area that has shared his discussion in smaller groups of about 12. vision for a congregation closer to the Originally, we thought about beginning with neighborhood where they live. Because of this, these smaller groups, but instead, we decided w e’ve also known for a while that some of the to start here with the overall storyline and then people in Columbia Heights Gospel Community go to smaller groups for anyone interested. (CHGC) are here in waiting mode because they Anyone who wants to ask questions or give have a heart for reaching their community. feedback can do so in one of these groups, or if Because of this, we have not expected them to you prefer, one of our elders would be glad to be permanent either. They are here dreaming talk with you privately. of and working toward a congregation in the neighborhood where they live Background o on th the purpose of John’s emplo loyme ment Th The att ttempted ted part rtners rship ip wit with Oak H Hill ill Baptis tist Five years ago, John was hired as Pastor of Church Multiplication. His assignment was to In the second half of 2017, we discovered a help us develop Gospel Communities that could potential partnership with Oak Hill Baptist, an possibly lead to new worship gatherings and aging and declining congregation in need of a 1
pastor. Why we saw this as an opportunity to How w this this disa isappoin intm tment t unexpecte tedly ly revitalize a dying congregation and to replant a prepared red us revitalized congregation under John’s This led to a grieving process because of all leadership. the time and effort that had been put into this. Through this process we have had a growing John had spent untold hours meeting with their vision for the revitalization of declining key leaders and their boards. Elders had spent churches. While we recognize there will time meeting with them. Our elders had spent always be a need for new churches, we also time with each other and with NCD leadership believe that the revitalization of declining evaluating and strategizing and praying over churches is an overlooked ministry. Park this idea. John had spent hours writing Community Church, St Louis Park, has documents on the strategy and the details of demonstrated this potential. They have how it would work, which the elders then spent successfully brought together an aging time reviewing, editing, and revising. For a declining church with a young and vibrant moment it felt as if this had all gone up in church. Replanting a declining church, can flames. As we did a post-mortem, we all mean resources are available at start-up that realized how much we had learned through new churches may take many years to gather. this, how much clearer we were on our vision, and how much better prepared we would be if How w Oak Hill ill unra raveled anything like this were ever to come our way In the early stages, the elders were optimistic again. about the possibility of partnering with Oak Hill Th The Re Repla lant a t and R Revit italiz lizatio tion o of f Elmw lmwood even though we knew there were some large Evangelic lical F l Free Church rch issues that we would have to work through. We were not at all certain or confident, but at Preliminary work by North Central District and each step we would check ourselves and ask if Park Community Church: Elmwood EFC is a we should keep going forward or pull out. Step declining congregation in St. Anthony, near by step we slowly moved ahead, meeting with 35W and CR D. Their facilities are in fairly good key leaders on a regular basis and forming a repair with a sanctuary that seats about 250. revitalization plan. Their current pastor, who has been there 15 years, will be retiring by the end of 2019. This unraveled in the course of one meeting between our elder team, a couple men from Recognizing their declining condition, they CHGC, and about 25 congregants of OH. In the reached out to the NCD for advice and course of this meeting, we perceived attitudes coaching. They expressed a desire to be and heard opinions that were unhealthy and replanted in partnership with another church. toxic to our mission. Before our elders had NCD encouraged them to also reach out to even left the parking lot after the meeting, we Park Community, because Park is a success were in agreement it was over. story of a dying church being replanted and revitalized by a thriving, younger church. NCD 2
and Park then spent time with Elmwood’s Spirit and to us…” Therefore, we took very leadership talking very frankly with them about seriously their suggestion. what needs to change and what needs to It’s important to know that this is an happen in order for them to be vital again. This opportunity that found us, not the other way preliminary work has helped Elmwood’s around. We at not time sought this out. Also, leadership to see their current reality clearly those who found us and invited us in are and situate them in a place where they are people who know John well, who know our ready for change. church well, and who are approaching us Our Invitation: The NCD (Dan Moose, because of something they see in us and our multiplication catalyst) was aware of and very philosophy of ministry. involved in our attempt to partner with Oak Hill. The crux of their suggestion was that John Park Community (Andrew Peterson, pastor) consider coming to Elmwood as lead pastor, was also aware because we were talking to joined by the CHGC, with a view toward them about what we were doing and getting replanting and revitalizing Elmwood. Along their advice and input into our strategy. with this, Park Community desires to send After talks between NCD/Park/Elmwood had their pastoral resident (Matt Frey) to work been going on for a while, Dan and Andrew alongside John along with a group of willing suggested John to Elmwood. Dan and Andrew people from their church and a financial thought we had done excellent work on our contribution to help get things underway. strategy with Oak Hill, that we had put a lot of Our r St Strateg rategy: Generosit sity tow toward rd kin ingdom m thought into revitalization, and that John as advancement Elmwood’s lead pastor along with the CHGC There are times when business principles and would be the best way to lead a revitalization and replant at Elmwood. kingdom principles align and there are times when they seem to collide. This is the latter. How we were invited into this: After the Oak Many of us are asking ourselves, what happens Hill situation, we were prepared to wait. Even to Centennial if we give away John and his though we knew NCD/Park were talking to gifts that we have all enjoyed and a group of Elmwood, at no time did we ever suggest our people? What happens to us? The short ourselves to anyone or pursue involvement in answer and most honest answer is that we it. We deliberately remained passive, believing really don’t know. But we know that we need that they would approach us if they sensed to grip our resources loosely and all we know God’s moving in that direction and that if they about God tells us he will provide, and that he did not, we would go in our own direction. can be trusted. When we were approached with this invitation While it may not make sense for a church of by NCD/Park/Elmwood, their spirit seemed to our size to do this at this time, in this three- be that of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 church partnership, in this location, at this when they wrote “It seemed good to the Holy 3
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