I am ordained in the Association of Vineyard Churches and I am exploring beginning a new house church in Louisburg, KS.
First, let me share the problem in Louisburg and the Miami County area. Right now there are Baptist churches, a Lutheran church, Methodist churches, Assembly of God churches, Catholic and Presbyterian churches, a Cowboy Church and some non-denominational churches. Each serves the community in it's own way and does a good job of doing what it does.
For some reason though many in our community are not flocking to their doors or responding to their efforts to reach out. The problem is not with the churches themselves but with a lack of an alternative to what they have to offer. Throughout our great country and indeed the world there is a movement away from established churches and a movement to new alternatives. This movement began in the late sixties along the coast of California. Hippies, Surfers and Rock n Rollers were begin to discover this guy called Jesus. These folks were being pulled away from the spiritual emptiness of the drug culture by the spiritual fulfilment of what the Holy Spirit was doing through a new movement called the Vineyard. Now the Vineyard movement is not the only one that is drawing folks looking for something different than what is already available but it is the one that I have found healing in.
The population of Miami County is about 28, 350 and the data I have collected shows that 14, 240 people identify with one of the churches above but that leaves 14,110 that do not. Out of the 14,240 who do identify with a church of some sort probably a quarter to one half do not attend on a regular basis.
People do not attend church for a variety of reasons which range from "it does not seem important" to feelings that the "church is full of HYPROCRICS". I would have to agree with them to a point but argue that they are also operating from perceptions based on faulty experiences.
What I hope to do with this post is share my vision of a church and try to answer the misperceptions about the church.
Vision
The vision I have is based on several scriptures:
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about different gifts the body (the church) has. It is my opinion that everyone who becomes part of the body receives some spiritual gift or even gifts. No one person (not even the pastors) has them all and so it takes the entire body working together to achieve the goals of the church leaders.
In Mark 10: 28-45 we are told that leaders are to be servants and not ruling over the church. It is my opinion that the greater the servant the greater the leader.
Now I could list many more scriptures but I want to use these two to build the foundation of the church on with Jesus being the corner stone by which is the ultimate example of how we relate to each other.
Structure of the Church
The Lead Pastor is the one who does the teaching and meets with the Board of Elders who help govern the body. The role of this group is to set vision, goals and missions for the body. They establish a budget and are accountable to the body for how that budget is managed. An outside accounting firm will be used to audit the corporate books.
Each pastor and department leader will be required to have an accountability partner who will meet with them on a weekly basis.
The salary of the Lead Pastor and other pastors will be established by the Board apart from input from the pastors.
Ministry will be done through the body with members being taught how to identify their gifts and trained in how to use them. The various ministries of the church will be led by people from the body and each will be held accountable by a department head. All ministry leaders and department heads will be interviewed and approved by the Lead Pastor and the Board of Elders.
The Lead Pastor will help each department and leader to establish goals and will allow them to come up with the plan to implement them. Goals and plans will be reviewed every six months.
The Lead Pastor will meet with the pastors and department heads each week and handle any problem situations. The Lead Pastor will meet with the Board of Elders each month and review the progress of the church and handle any problem situations.
The church will be built around the idea that it is a church of small groups that comes together weekly for a worship service. Spiritual and physical growth of the church will be the direct result of strong vibrant small groups.
Financial Giving
It is scriptual for the church board to request that the body give on a regular basis. Although tithing will be encouraged it is not required for salvation. Giving is an expression of the appreciation one has for what God has done through the service of the ministries. God does ask us to give in accordance to what we set in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 9: 5-12 but it does not secure our salvation.
The pastoral staff will not have access to the giving records of the body. The only information the staff will receive is the total amount of giving for a particular week. The giving records will be maintained by a member of the board and reviewed by the outside accounting firm.
Messages
Sermons will be developed by the Lead Pastor or other Pastors. The Lead Pastor and Board of Elders will establish quarterly themes but be flexible about subject matter. Sermons will be Biblically based and relevant to the lives of members.
Ministries
I believe that ministry is done through use of the Spiritual Gifts that has been given to the body. Pastors have the gifts of teaching, speaking, and maybe leadership. Most of the other gifts are given to the body for the common good and I believe that is where most of the ministry takes place. Every member of the body has a part to play in ministry. 1 Corinthians 12: 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
Association
The church will apply to be associated with the Association of Vineyard Churches USA once it has grown to the 100 member level and will be called The Vineyard Church of Louisburg . Until then the organizational name will be Vineyard Fellowship.
Why Misperceptions?
It is my belief that there are several reasons for the misperceptions people have of the church. For one thing if we try to say or act as though we are perfect we live as HYPROCRICS because the truth is none of us will ever be perfect as flesh and blood humans. What we should be doing is trying to live as perfectly as we can and own up to our faults and sins.
It is my experience that some churches just do not preach messages that are scriptually based and are not relevant to the lives of those present. What the Lead Pastor should be doing is getting to know the body and teaching from the Bible truths that meet their needs.
I watched a movie tonight called "Crazy Heart" which was about a country singer who struggled with alcoholism. One of the missions of the church is to bring healing to the wounded hearts and to walk with them as they battle the giants in their life. Jesus showed us that freeing the captives is one of the missions of the church. Not an easy task nor is it without pain but when one person is set free it erases the hardness and pain.
My heart desire is to see people discover the Jesus I know and for people struggling with life controlling habits to break free.
Posted at A Community Chaplain
http://acommunitychaplain.blogspot.com 
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