Putting Love into Action through Rachel's Kitchen

About two months ago I received an email from Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, episcopal leader of the Boston area. He and his wife, Prema, had just volunteered at Rachel’s Kitchen (pictured above with Pastor Earl Dionne and Barbara Loyer), which is housed at the Rachel S. Harlow United Methodist Church in Windsor, Vermont. The Bishop shared with me that the pastor, Earl Dionne, had read my book, A Missionary Mindset, and that it had helped him discover the mission that became Rachel’s Kitchen, a ministry that provides breakfast five times a week in an area of the country where food insecurity is prevalent.

One seldom knows the impact a book might have and so it is a special serendipity that the Bishop shared his experience. Upon arriving at the Windsor church, Prema Devadhar pitched right in, cooking up pancakes on the griddle. The bishop engaged in conversation with those who came for breakfast, including many children. When school is out, as it was in August when the Devadhars volunteered, children don’t have the one nutritious meal provided at lunchtime.

Providing food is important. Studies indicate that 12 percent of people living in Windsor county, Vermont, experience food insecurity. But Rachel’s Kitchen provides something more: a sense of community. There are many regulars among the 52 or so people who come for breakfast Monday through Friday, from 6:45 to 10:30 am. The regulars know each other on a first name basis. They look forward to seeing one another.

As reported in a local newspaper, Valley News, Rachel’s Kitchen is a large room with a kitchen next to it below the worship space of the United Methodist Church, located at 165 Main Street in Windsor. They serve fruit, coffee, juices, muffins and pancakes. One regular attender stops in on his way to work. “I sure like the coffee and muffins,” he said. “It’s company, too” (Liz Sauchelli, “Windsor Church Builds Community, One Morning at a Time,” Valley News, Saturday, December 09, 2017).

Pastor Dionne said that as Christians, “We put our love into action.” In a telephone conversation, Pastor Dionne shared that he was in the hospital getting treatment for cancer, when he started reading A Missionary Mindset. It was one of the books that Bishop Devadhar had urged people in the New England Conference to read. He found in it guidance for becoming grounded in the Christian faith while discerning the mission to which God calls us. “The book served as a handbook for how to go about doing our mission,” said Dionne. Its focus on humility, love, and trust in God helped him find the happy medium of being a witness to his faith without proselytizing or making people feel uncomfortable.

“Mission comes in many shapes and sizes,” said Dionne. “As disciples we are there for others and we live out the love of God for others. For some it may mean providing drinkable water, for us it is offering a good breakfast and a sense of community.”

Because of too few volunteers, Dionne and church member, Barbara Loyer, felt burned out and decided to shut down the kitchen last June 1. A local hospital, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, along with other concerned citizens, sought a way to re-open it. Several important donations came forth and Rachel’s Kitchen re-opened two weeks later. “We were able to fix the financial shortfall,” said Pastor Dionne. “But we still need volunteers.”

They seek a sustainable future with donations and volunteers so that Windsor and surrounding counties can count on a safe space to be in community with each other and to get a good breakfast.

Pastor Dionne’s cancer is in remission and he volunteers at Rachel’s Kitchen several times a week along with his faithful church member, Barbara. He keeps a copy of A Missionary Mindset on a shelf near his desk. “I often take it down from the shelf and re-read chapters. It has become a manual on mission for me.” While those words comfort the author, learning what Pastor Dionne has done in getting Rachel’s Kitchen going, is by far the more satisfying and rewarding news.

Find out how to support Rachel’s Kitchen by visiting their Facebook page.

Incorporating New Church Principles into an Existing Congregation: 6 lessons from Simply Grace Church

Incorporating New Church Principles into an Existing Congregation

6 lessons from Simply Grace Church

from the series: "Going Deeper As We Go Wider"

In May of last year, I had the privilege of interviewing Eric Drew, Director of Worship for the Connectional Ministries’ Team in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. Eric himself has recently released an album of songs that are richly blessing worshipers. These are available at www.ericdrewmusic.com. My favorite of the songs is “Center of it All.” Hear it on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XwbWt2-uPY.

I asked Eric to identify bright spots of ministry that he has witnessed since coming on staff. Among the ministries mentioned, he talked about Simply Grace, a United Methodist community of faith in Bloomsbury, New Jersey, and their pastor, Gina Yeske. Gina now serves as Director of Small Groups for the conference.  Gina helped lead Simply Grace from an average worship attendance of 17, when she became pastor in 2005, to more than 95 today.

Gina, and her husband, Steve, were part of one of the first “Lay Missionary Planting Network” classes. Greater New Jersey helped pilot the initiative in 2010-11. The class emphasizes how laity can be proactive in creating new places for new people in the life of the church. The first session is entitled, “Church Planting 101.” From my interview with Eric, I learned six key principles that Gina lived out in ministry and that could help smaller churches everywhere. The principles are associated with starting new faith communities but can easily be incorporated into the life of existing churches.

1. Deep Listening. Gina is a deep listener. Whether meeting up with new people at the pizza place or visiting with a first-time worshiper, Gina takes the time to get to know people. When meeting with persons new to worship, she discovered that two regular attenders were professional musicians. Once she built a relationship with them, she invited them to help form a worship band. This is not a high production band with bells and whistles. It is a band that plays music well and helps lead vibrant worship. Gina’s gift for connecting with younger people helped bring new life into the life of her community of faith without leaving behind the folks who had been there. 
2.  Following a Process. The church followed the process outlined in the first edition of the book, Roadmap to Renewal, which has now come out in a revised edition with study guide. Gina worked with laity to gain clarity on the vision and mission God was calling their church to be at this time in its history. They received coaching help from Paul Nixon as they lived into the implementation of their plan. A major part of the plan involved rebranding the church from Bloomsbury UMC to Simply Grace, a United Methodist Faith Community. A church name, they reasoned, becomes the first opportunity to cast vision. Rebranding to “Simply Grace” marked a shift in the congregation’s outlook and missional emphasis. It was the fruit of a process they embarked on and saw through toward the articulation of a new direction for mission and ministry.     
3.  Having Patience. The process of transitioning and renewing the congregation did not happen overnight. It took several years to articulate a plan and to begin its implementation. It took patience to live into the new vision and mission of their ministry action plan and to begin to see the fruit of their changes. Most of the Bloomsbury UMC members were on board with changes happening, but not all. Several members, including those who were big financial supporters, left the church because of the rebranding. When more and more younger people became part of Simply Grace, they knew they were on the right track and that the changes were necessary to go into a new direction. Eric Drew commented, “It seems every time I worship at Simply Grace there is a baby being baptized.” Indeed, 19 infant baptisms have been celebrated over the past 12 months. 
4.  Gaining Clarity. The vision the church articulated in the process of renewal was: “To transform their church into a place that will make a difference in the lives of those in their community, region, and the world.” Their mission began at home. You don’t have to be a large membership church to reach out to people in your community. Gina led her congregation in an intentional outreach with an elementary school located directly across the street from Simply Grace. Gina organized laity from the church and together they began to offer a free program for students from the Elementary School. At no charge to the families, students spend two hours after school in crafts and activities led by the volunteers and by enjoying tasty snacks. 20-40 students participate. The relationships built with those families helped make a positive name for the church. In addition, Simply Grace makes regular visits to Honduras where they relate to people in that country and provide meaningful ministry for a week at a time during the summer. 
5.  Living Authentic Relationships. Gina and Steve used to be in the food catering business. They love to cook. One of the ways they connected to young adults was by inviting them over to their house for a cook-out. Younger people experience Gina and Steve as real and caring. They create a space that is inviting and comfortable to younger people. It all starts with being authentic. Eric Drew commented, “I never thought it could work, but they actually take a “halftime” in the middle of worship to invite people to fellowship with one another and have a cup of coffee or tea. They are invited to re-enter the worship center with their coffee!” They created an inviting space where younger people, many of whom had never been a part of a Christian faith community, could feel at home. There is an authentic sense of comfort and acceptance that is felt by worshipers. 
6.  Empowering laity. When Gina invites a person to share his or her gifts in the ministry of Simply Grace, she doesn’t stop with the invitation. She walks with them as they live into their service, providing guidance and encouragement. She helps people take logical steps toward becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus. She discerns how best to empower them so that they use their God given gifts fruitfully in the life of the faith community. She and lay leaders have been intentional about accompanying newcomers in their faith journey. We call this an intentional discipleship system (#SeeAllThePeople) that meets the needs of the people. It is a way to see all the people in one’s community and build a bridge of love between the church and the people.

I have always affirmed that new church planting is the “research and development” department of the Church. We can see how Pastor Gina Yeske, together with her husband, Steve, and other lay members of Simply Grace, implemented learnings from church planting into the life of a congregation that had been around for more than 180 years. Theirs was a way to see all the people (#SeeAllThePeople) in their community and to work with laity to bring about renewal to a congregation. There is a lot that churches small and not so small can learn from their experience.

3 Simple Steps to start a new faith community using The Upper Room

3 Simple Steps to start a new faith community using The Upper Room Devotional

from the "Going Deeper as We Go Wider" series

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation . . .” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NRSV). 

My family began worshiping together when a new church was formed in our town. My father had never belonged to or attended a church previously, and neither did the rest of the family. He was drawn into the excitement of being part of a new faith community. I remember going to Sunday School in the basement of the home where the new church start’s pastor and family lived. My parents met in their living room upstairs. Once we saw how enthused my parents were, my siblings and I were also happy to be part of the new church.

It was through small groups that this church, located in Long Island, New York, built up a constituency that led to the formation of a full congregation, and eventually, a church building. I often wondered what resources were used to start that church, which meant so much to my family.

Ten years ago, a good friend of mine helped start a new faith community in Buenos Aires, Argentina, out of the ashes of a broken and divided church. Today it has become a vibrant, healthy church. When I asked him about how they got started, he told me they used The Upper Room. He and others used it to form small groups. The Upper Room proved to be the glue that kept those broken-hearted people together. They started with one small group meeting in the home of one of the families, like the kind of meeting my mother and father attended in Long Island.

In Buenos Aires, they used the Spanish language version, El Aposento Alto. They found the daily devotions, written by everyday Christians from around the world, relatable. In the appendix of the devotional guide, there is “An Easy Plan to use The Upper Room in small groups.” Using the devotion for Wednesdays, regardless of which day of the week they met, the small groups followed the prompting questions to guide their meetings. They added songs, intercessory prayers and a time of refreshments. Soon the first group outgrew the home’s capacity. Instead of finding a larger venue, they started a second home group. Within a year they had formed eight house groups—all using the Upper Room devotional. They decided to bring all the groups together for worship on Saturday nights at a church that opened its doors to them. Now, ten years later, “Cristo Rey” has their own worship center and a tight-knit faith community with many children, youth, and young adults. And, they still use El Aposento Alto for small group study.

A similar story is told of the formation of new faith communities in Honduras. Again, using the “Easy Plan” for small groups and the Wednesday devotionals, host families invited others into their home for prayer, bible reflection, song and refreshments. Host families give testimony to the joy of providing the space where others can meet to learn, grow spiritually, and enjoy fellowship with one another. These groups, located in Río Lindo, near San Pedro Sula, Honduras, formed a new faith community, also using El Aposento Alto. The questions corresponding to Wednesday devotionals in the back of the magazine, help guide conversation. Participants deepen bonds with others as they share stories of their faith journey, their doubts, their questions, their challenges, and their yearnings to discover a pathway that leads to a meaningful life for themselves and their family.

Recently I have learned of new churches started in the United States using the same methodology:  forming small groups using “The Easy Plan” in the Upper Room devotional.

My father eventually became a Sunday School teacher in that new church start, equipping young children in their own budding faith formation. Later, the new faith community helped my family through difficult times when my father suffered a stroke and lost his job. I remember, as a teenager, overhearing my parents saying together the prayer of Jesus before going to bed. The small groups they attended and the new church that they joined helped form in them a solid foundation of faith that got them through times of adversity.

Both the English and Spanish versions of The Upper Room use the “The Easy Plan” found in the back of the devotional magazine. We encourage its use to create faith formation groups, which in turn can be the building blocks for a new faith community.

In sum, here are three simple steps to start a new faith community using The Upper Room.

1.     Order enough copies of The Upper Room for every person you invite to your home for a small group meeting.

2.     Use the “An Easy Plan to Use The Upper Room in Small Groups” in the back of the devotional.

3.     Add prayer, song and fellowship to your meeting.

E. Stanley Jones and the Dreamers

Yesterday, the US government rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Instituted by former President Obama, DACA brought hope for the children of illegal immigrants who came to this country not of their own volition. These children are often referred to as “Dreamers.”

The news from yesterday recalled a similar time in the 1920s when the US government enacted a bill that limited immigration and made distinctions for immigration based on race. E. Stanley Jones wrote his first book, The Christ of the Indian Road, which sold more than a million copies, during this time of race-based immigration law. Jones couched his remarks about racism in the United States in the context of what he called, “The Great Hindrance.” What follows is an excerpt from my book, A Missionary Mindset, that references Jones’ disdain for the law enacted. The climate of the country was eerily like our own day.

E. Stanley Jones and the Great Hindrance

The Christian witness is hindered when Christians fail to love. For E. Stanley Jones, writing in 1925, that lack of love was manifest through racism, accepting war as an answer to conflict, and unfair immigration legislation. It is sad that these issues are as germane today as they were ninety years ago. Jones might observe that the issues are still real because we Christians fail to love the way Jesus taught us to love. Jones constantly challenged Christians to live in a way that was congruent with their professed faith and matched by actions.

            The three hindrances—racism, war, and unfair immigration practices—speak of missed opportunities to manifest agape in our time and thus reach our communities with the truth and practicality of the gospel.

            Jones wrote of the “snobbery” exhibited when white men from the West behaved as if they were superior to people of color in India and South Africa. He also addressed the unchristian behaviors of U.S. citizens about race relations. Jones wrote that the Indian Asians, as subjects of a British colony, knew enough about Christianity as a religion that they could identify incongruences in its practice. The Indian Asians knew that racist attitudes tear down everything Christians attempt to teach. Moreover, the Indian Asian, from the knowledge his people had gained about Christ, “knows that these things are not Christian.”²

            Jones recounted how Mahatma Gandhi, when living in South Africa, was refused admission into a Christian church because of his race. Gandhi commented that Jesus himself would have been turned away from the church because he, too, was a person of color. Indian Asians, he said, had every right to judge Christians for these manifestations of unloving behaviors.

            Jones recounted how a Hindu person he knew made the distinction between calling someone a Christian man or woman—where “Christian” is an adjective—and calling a person a Christian. The former is a high compliment. A Christian man or woman is held in high esteem because others see the spirit of Jesus in that person. However, in India during Jones’s day, calling a person a Christian connoted that the person was part of an institution that practiced racism, a civilization (i.e., the United States) where people who professed to be Christian lynched black people, and a country that professed faith in the Prince of Peace but for whom war was often the answer to conflict. The incongruities between the agape embodied by Jesus and the behaviors of Christians were a great hindrance to the acceptance of the gospel.

            Many people who live in our towns and cities and who are sought after by new church planters carry the same skepticism Hindus did in Jones’s day about the inconsistency between what Christians profess to believe and the way they behave. They want to know: Do these people exemplify the spirit of Jesus? Do they embody the values of agape, which accepts them where they are and who they are? Or do they more readily reflect a larger culture that says it is Christian but perpetuates the sin of racism, that champions war more than peace, and that is inhospitable to the immigrant?

            About the time that Jones wrote The Christ of the Indian Road, the United States government passed the Johnson–Reed Act, an immigration law limiting the number of immigrants to the country by strict quotas based on the percentage of a given nationality already living in the United States at the time of the 1890 census. It completely barred immigration from Asian countries.³ Jones decried the law as racist. “Do not misunderstand me,” wrote Jones. “I am not advocating the flooding of America by immigrants.” But Jones advocated that the standards for entry into the United States be applied to nations alike “regardless of their race, color, or nationality.”⁴

            We are still embroiled in vehement arguments about how we treat immigrants in the United States. As we seek to reach new communities that are composed of people who come from different countries, will our behaviors demonstrate an ethic of agape love, that sees and accepts them unconditionally, or will our actions expose xenophobia? Like Jones, almost a century ago, I do not advocate unremitting immigration. I do believe that our actions and our policies should include rational conversation that addresses all the complexities of the issue and involves the voices of immigrants themselves.

            Regardless of the issue at hand, the missionary mindset begins with love—love of a people you do not yet know. We look for the Christ in them. We live out our faith in a way that opens the possibility that the Christ in us meets the Christ in them. To do so we need to exhibit the meaning of “a Christian” that a Hindu girl gave to E. Stanley Jones: “One who is different from all others.”⁵

            The difference is marked by love. The Christian wants the best for the people encountered. The Christian wants justice, fairness, and equal opportunity. When the Christian leader enters a new missionary area, he or she needs to discover the circumstances of life that hinder justice and fairness and to work with people and the powers of that area to redress circumstances that hold people down.

The lessons that E. Stanley Jones taught nearly a century ago can help us face similar issues today. As we seek to respond to the rescinding of DACA, how can we do so in a way that gives witness to our faith? How can we invite conversation that includes the Dreamers?

Rivers of Life: Transforming lives among Arabic-speaking New Yorkers in Bayonne, New Jersey Part I

A woman called the pastor of Wesley  United Methodist Church in Bayonne, New Jersey, because she was in dire straits. A widow, her two sons grown up and moved away, she now had lost her job. Her rent was overdue and she was down to her last few dollars without enough to buy food or even a bottle of water. Walking down the street, she read the sign in Arabic at the front of Wesley United Methodist Church. She read, “Rivers of Life” and wondered whether she had found a way to quench her thirst.

The call went to voice mail but shortly thereafter, Pastor Emad Gerges, who serves both the English and Arabic speaking congregations at Wesley UMC, called her back.

“What is your name?” he asked.

She gave only her first name. She and the pastor knew that if she gave her last name it would give away her religious affiliation.

“Can you see me?” She asked.

“Come to church on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm when we hold our services. I will speak to you after worship.” The Pastor said this to anyone who inquired about the church, regardless of their background. Moreover, he spends hours talking with people who attend. The service ends before 4pm, but he often stays until 11pm on Sunday nights in conversation with worshipers and newcomers, almost all of whom are immigrants or refugees, from Arabic-speaking countries. Some people drive more than three hours to attend worship. There just aren’t that many Arabic language communities of faith.

The following Sunday after the phone call, as was his custom, Pastor Gerges recorded a message that he transmits via YouTube prior to the start of worship. There is a large glass window from the makeshift recording studio to the sanctuary and the Pastor suspected that the newcomer entering was the one who had called.

He greeted her and once again invited her to remain after worship so that he could speak with her.

“How do you know me?” She asked after worship.

He said he did not know her. He had never met her before except for their phone conversation.

“But everything you said in the service spoke exactly to what my circumstances are and what I needed to hear.”

“It’s not me,” he replied. “It’s a God thing.”

She began to weep. “You gave examples in your message of the exact things that I am going through in my life!”

“This is God,” he said.

“I am Muslim,” she said.

He suspected that she was. He assured her. “We have others in the congregation who come from the Muslim faith tradition. Please know that God loves you and it matters not where you have come from.”

She poured her heart out. She told him of her dire circumstances and that her funds had run out and told him the story of passing by the church and seeing the “Rivers of Life” sign in Arabic.

Before she left, Pastor Gerges conferred with some lay leaders of the church. Though they themselves were always trying to make ends meet to pay church bills, they managed to obtain a package of food for her and one lay person donated $200 to help her pay bills.

She came back the following Sunday to worship. “I came hoping to get monetary help,” she confessed. “But I received so much more. I met a loving and accepting God here through the kindness and hospitality of these people.”

The “Rivers of Life” congregation, which is part of Wesley United Methodist Church, is, to Pastor Gerges’ knowledge, the only full-fledged Arabic-speaking church in the United Methodist connection. “There are mission congregations,” he said. “But ours is the only one constituted as a church.”

The Muslim woman who found thirst-quenching help continues to be in contact with Pastor Gerges and she has found a job. She found something more through the encounter. She found a lifeline to Jesus and a community of faith willing to hear her story

In by next blog post, I’ll share more about Pastor Emad, his family, their origins and the unique ministry of Rivers of Life. Come back!

Facebook posts some of the most inspiring videos. Today I saw one of a 106 year-old woman who met President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at the White House. She danced with joy as she fluttered over to embrace POTUS and Michelle--part of her and, I assume, the White House's celebration of Black History month. Imagine what she has seen over the years. She was 8 years old when the U.S. entered World War I. She lived before radio and television and even sound movies. She was born before the Titanic set sail or Fenway Park opened its gates.

And she is filled with joy and she exudes it today. What a gift!

See the ABC News video at http://abcn.ws/1mRTx9u or https://www.facebook.com/abcnews/videos/10154138970368812/

Wesleyan Church Planting Resources

 (Pictured here is Christopher Coon, writer of Failing Boldly, one of 4 new books in production for Path1)

I am so excited about publications in process through Path1's "Wesleyan Church Planting Resources." We have four books in production with more on the way after that. Here is a listing of what's coming:

1. Flipping Church, edited by Michael Baughman, founding pastor and curator at Union--a Coffee House/Church in Dallas, Texas. Mike's book includes contributions from a number of church planters from around the county, including a foreword by Kenda Creasy Dean and Mark DeVries (Church Cartographers) and chapters by Michael Baughman, Trey Hall, Amanda Garber, Matt Miofsky, Owen Ross, David Rangel, Olu Brown, Elaine Heath, Doug Cunningham, Derek Jacobs, and Jerry Herships. These writers will show us how new church starts are turning conventional wisdom about the church upside down.  
2. A Missionary Mindset: What Church Leaders Need to Know to Reach Their Community--Lessons from E. Stanley Jones. With so many non religious and nominally religious people living in our communities, being in ministry feels a lot like being a missionary in a foreign land. Why not draw wisdom from the best of missionary practice to learn how to reach a non-Christian context? We draw upon E. Stanley Jones who worked among the people of India for 60 years as well as other missionary experiences.   
3. Planting and Multiplying African American Churches, edited by Candace Lewis and William Chaney. Learn wisdom and best practices from exciting church planters working among African Americans. 
4. Failing Boldly, by Christopher Coon, a co-founding pastor of Urban Village in Chicago. He tells the story of how failure can be the stepping stone to insightful progress in reaching new people with the gospel. 

These books will be valuable resources to fuel the new church movement in the United States. I'll be sharing more details and publication dates in future blogs.