The Future of Faith Des Peres
Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 5:34PM It was great to see so many of you at church yesterday. If you weren't there, you missed a great Reformation Sunday celebration. The choir sounded great! Sunday's sermon is posted here.
In Sunday's sermon I posed the question:
How can Faith Des Peres be a church that honors its reformed tradition while at the same grow into a new way of being church in the world today? It’s not an easy question to answer. The session has been wrestling with this type of question for the past few months and, I think it’s fair to say, they’ve come up with more questions than answers.
I’ve asked them to answer 3 questions:
- Who are we?
- What are we here for?
- And who is our neighbor?
On the surface, they’re easy questions, right? We’re a nice, caring group of people who are here to help and serve each other and God’s people. Which is all well and good, but every church should be able to say that. What I want to know is, what sets Faith Des Peres apart from other churches?
Over the past few months as the Session has looked at these questions in depth, they’re proving difficult to answer because what we’re really trying to get at is:
1. What’s your identity? What makes Faith Des Peres, Faith Des Peres?
2. What’s your purpose? One church guru asks it this way: What business are you in? The fellowship business? The social action or social service business? Are you in the business of calling people in discipleship and forming them in a life-changing faith? Are you in the music business? The historic preservation business? The baby-sitting business? The landlord business? Or in the investment management business?
3. And whom are you trying to reach? Are you trying to reach people who look, think, and act like you? Are you trying to reach the unchurched or unconverted? Are you trying to reach people who once attended church but have for one reason or another put it on the backburner? Are you trying to reach people who are new to town? Live in this community?
I look forward to hearing your responses to the above questions. Leave a comment in the comment section. It's easy to do. Thank you!
Reader Comments (3)
Who are we?--We're all the things Annie described as "standard" for a Christian church. We are questioning and thoughtful. We are willing to grapple with the tough issues. We take care of each other and the community.
What are we here for?--We're here to serve God where ever he leads us. We are here to be his heart and hands in the world. I believe we are especially called to mission work. Doing what we can to serve our community.
Who is our neighbor?--Everyone we meet.
My initial thoughts as I read the questions posed to us:
Why is it so challenging to answer these seemingly simple questions? How would the church founders have answered? How will these questions be answered by our youngest members in thirty years?
I jotted down this quote several years ago, and it gives me perspective in searching for the answers to our questions. "Adjust to changing times but cling to unchanging principles."
I agree with Joanna ... Everyone we meet is our neighbor.
My initial thoughts as I read the questions posed to us:
Why is it so challenging to answer these seemingly simple questions? How would the church founders have answered? How will these questions be answered by our youngest members in thirty years?
I jotted down this quote several years ago, and it gives me perspective in searching for the answers to our questions. "Adjust to changing times but cling to unchanging principles."
I agree with Joanna ... Everyone we meet is our neighbor.