Month: April 2015

Overwhelmed? You’re Not Alone.

One person can make a difference. You encourage your youth groups, your congregation, and your community with this message, hoping you can motivate them to make a Christian response to world issues. But as you urge others to accept the “one person” truth, have you ever thought you’re the one person who can’t?

It’s overwhelming.

Whether shepherding a flock of 200 or 2,000, church leaders face relatively the same challenges: not enough time, volunteers, or money. You can’t do it all. And you don’t have to.

Here are just a few resources that offer free materials to help you communicate with your church about the social issues of our time. From flyers to sermon starts to posters to bulletin stuffers, these sites overflow with resources to give you some relief from the details so you can get back to shepherding.

Prayer seems to work, too.

ImagineNoMalaria.org (Fighting Malaria)
In Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria continues to kill at the rate of one person every 60 seconds. But there is hope! Imagine No Malaria is part of a global partnership. Thanks to the efforts of the United Methodist Church and our partners, we are on our way to beating malaria in this generation. Printable bulletin inserts, worship guides, display layouts, graphics, fundraising ideas and more. From United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Energy Star (Energy Conservation)
You’ll find tip sheets, action workbooks, sample messaging, case studies, cash flow opportunity calculators and other resources designed specifically for churches that want to become more energy efficient. From the Environmental Protection Agency.

Bread for the World (Ending Hunger)
Provides newsletters, fact sheets, pastor helps, congregation and community engagement ideas and resources for prayer, worship, education, and reflections in an effort to end world hunger. From Bread for the World.

Engage Together (Human Trafficking)
This tool kit has been designed specifically for the church with input from experts serving in the field and churches already engaged in combating human trafficking throughout our nation. We pray this will be a powerful resource for you—one that will help you to discover how your church and individual members can be mobilized to rescue and restore those in harm’s way, and to prevent such evil from happening in the first place. From the Alliance for Freedom, Restoration, and Justice, Inc.

Two Feet of Love (Overall Social Justice awareness)
This foundational tool describes two distinct, but complementary, ways we can put the Gospel in action in response to God’s love: social justice (addressing systemic, root causes of problems that affect many people) and charitable works (short-term, emergency assistance for individuals).

Let’s Move Faith and Communities (Children’s Health)
Neighborhood and faith-based organizations are well positioned to initiate and coordinate activities that encourage healthy living and well-being. This organization shows trusted leaders in communities and congregations how to empower families and communities in making better choices that improve the health of our nation’s children.

Resources for Racial Justice (Racial Justice)
This tool kit offers many ways to get involved in implementing the Charter for Racial Justice, including Bible studies, worship, programs, workshops, displays, issues, and action ideas. From the United Methodist Women Racial Justice Office.

The Penny Project (Child Poverty)
Youth of American Baptist Churches USA are collecting 14 million pennies to represent the number of children living in poverty in the United States and Puerto Rico. This tool kit shows how you can help. From the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

Justice for Immigrants (Immigration Reform)
These educational tools include information on how to reach out to the media, tips for pastors who are developing homilies on immigration related issues, and a fact sheet debunking commonly held myths that some opponents of reform claim are facts.  From the Catholic Church.

Who Will Care? Whatever.

If parents could eliminate one word from their kids’ vocabulary it might be “whatever.”  Will our kids outgrow this seemingly disdainful disregard? Will they learn to care? Can we teach them to care?

We had a chance to ask Dr. Terri Manning, Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Assistant to the Executive Vice President at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, and an expert on the topic of Millennials, children born between the early 1980s and early 2000s.

Dr. Manning:
It’s true that Millennials take for granted many of the things that we, Baby Boomers, cared passionately about, but that doesn’t mean they are not passionate about issues like ridding the world of prejudice—they care about that.

Some estimate that as many as 25% of millennial children have at least one parent from another country. Many have pen pals around the world. So while the world seemed big to us, it seems small to them. They were raised with a sense of fairness and therefore really believe all men are created equal and that we should not judge people based on race, gender, and religion.

Cokesbury Commons:
Then they may very well be extremely supportive of church mission work and giving to others. What will trigger this support?

Dr. Manning:
They are definitely “hands on.” They got involved in community service as kids and would rather work at the soup kitchen or build a Habitat Home than write a check to United Way.

Tell them the purpose of the mission at the forefront and let them know why it’s important—what happens if they don’t deal with this issue.

Include a social media person in the planning—someone who knows the best way to communicate and consider a different method of delivery. Not necessarily a different message but a different way of engaging members.

Cokesbury Commons:
So what can churches to do now to prepare for this new kind of church?

Dr. Manning:
A church today would be wise to conduct some focus groups with both their Gen X and Millennial members and talk about things like attracting new members, the layout of the services, the best way to educate members, how the church can use technology, etc.

They have been consulted by adults their entire life. They have been allowed to be involved in family decisions so this would seem totally normal to them—plus they love giving input into things. If you liken the way a church deals with its members to how schools deal with students—we have a lot to learn.

Cokesbury Commons:
And what trends are you seeing in education?

Dr. Manning:
“Flipping classrooms.” The teacher creates video lectures and places them on YouTube or the university’s server. Students are told which videos to watch and are instructed to bring notes to the next class. Then they can spend the entire class in “hands on” activities. It has proven to be a far superior method of teaching, especially with some subjects.

I wonder what would happen if the preacher sent all church members articles and information about the subject of the sermon before Sunday. Then spent the first 20 minutes of the service in discussion with the congregation.

Dr. Manning received her doctorate in Higher Education from Oklahoma State University. She was a graduate faculty member at Tulsa Community College, Oklahoma State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to accepting her current position at Central Piedmont Community College in 1998.  She has consulted with multiple colleges on institutional effectiveness and serves on visiting teams for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. To date, she has made 90 keynote presentations at national meetings, colleges, and local businesses. For more information on Dr. Manning’s research on the Millennial generation, visit her website at http://www.cpcc.edu/millennial.

What Your Coffee Hour Reveals About Your Church

Small things can say a lot about our Christian Hospitality. Can you spot any of these Coffee Hour “tells” at your church?

Starbucks in hand

If people at your Coffee Hour are carrying around Starbucks cups, it says two things:

  1. there’s a Starbucks located near your church (an almost redundant statement)
  2. your coffee is bad

Your visitors will know both of these things before they take a single sip of what you’re serving.

Who serves bad coffee at home? Why serve bad coffee to guests at church? Coffee Hour is, after all, a reflection of your Hospitality Ministry.

If you aren’t serving coffee that’s at least restaurant quality—or if your coffee maker looks like something from a Joe DiMaggio commercial—it’s time for an upgrade.

Coffee that does good

While we’re talking about good coffee, let’s talk about coffee that does good…Fair Trade coffee.

In the simplest of terms, when you buy Fair Trade coffee more of your money goes directly to the coffee farmers who work modest plots of land in developing countries.

As an example, when you buy a pound of Hope’s Blend, ground coffee branded by United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), fifteen cents is donated to its Sustainable Agriculture and Development Program which helps farmers to build stronger communities.

Serving Fair Trade coffee shows your church is serious about social justice—and that alone might be a deciding factor in whether or not a visitor worships with you a second time.

Styrofoam cups

They’re easy. And cheap. But a trash can overflowing with Styrofoam cups screams “landfill”! These days, people notice.

At some churches, people bring their own cups and have a supply on hand for guests. If that’s not practical for your church, check with your paper goods supplier to see what Earth-friendly options are available.

Ask other churches in your neighborhood if they’d join with you on a bulk order of recyclable cups so you can both get a price break.

Put together a committee of young adults—who may be more passionate about the topic—to research alternatives and present them to the congregation.

What little changes—with big results—have you made in your Coffee Hour? Comment below to share them with us. Continue reading What Your Coffee Hour Reveals About Your Church