Saturday, December 10, 2016

"Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership Survey" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, December 7, 2016

"Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership Survey" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Dear Friends
I reach out to you today to seek your help in a very important process here in the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary.
The Lewis Center under the leadership of Lovett Weems has become something truly unique as a resource for the church, both clergy and laity. You have made use of those resources and now we ask you for help in determining the next direction and future expansion of the Leadership Center. If you follow this link you will find a survey instrument that will take you a few minutes to complete. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/lewiscenter2016
Those few minutes will have a significant effect over the next five years because the survey will be taken very seriously as we go through our next round of strategic planning.
I also included below a link to a video walking you through the Lewis Center's programs. https://youtu.be/pqeJSDZLMjw
We appreciate your time on this project very much.
Sincerely,
David McAllister-Wilson
President, Wesley Theological Seminary
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Leading Ideas: Room at the Inn | A Birthday Party for Jesus 
Room at the Inn by Douglas Ruffle
Doug Ruffle, who once served as a missionary in Argentina, shares the heartwarming story of a Christmas pageant that went off script, yet captured the true meaning of Christmas. It invites us to make room for the Christ Child in our lives.
As a missionary in Argentina, I served Peace Community Church in Rosaria. It was an intimate community of faith. Their worship center, converted from a neighborhood house, had been built to accommodate up to 60 people. Relationships among members felt like family. The church carried from its earliest days a keen sense of mission.
One Christmas week, on a Saturday evening, Peace Community had gained permission from the local police to close off the street so they could put on a Christmas pageant for the neighborhood. They took chairs from the worship center and placed them in the street, facing the church building. The youth and children of the church — dressed as shepherds or wise men or the innkeeper and, of course, as Mary and Joseph — reenacted the events of Jesus’ birth. The babe was a doll dressed in swaddling clothes. Late December is summer in the southern hemisphere, and the temperatures were warm. It was a very pleasant evening.
It was the most wonderful Christmas pageant ever. Facundo showed us a way to love.
Church members placed a loud speaker on the roof, so people could hear recorded music and the dialogue of the children. Filling the seats were neighbors from a three-block radius: Roman Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals, and those who professed no religion at all. They procured a real donkey to transport “Mary” past the front of the church. The church’s front door served as the inn.
The role of the innkeeper went to Facundo, a 12-year-old boy who had already grown to six feet tall. Facundo was the church caretaker’s son and lived in the rear of the property. While large for his age, he was gentle of spirit. All the children loved him.
With the music playing softly from the roof, Joseph led the donkey that carried Mary and stopped in front of the “inn” and knocked. Facundo opened the door and stood in the doorway. When he saw the donkey, and Mary sitting on it, his eyes grew wide. He had been given two lines, the first of which was: “There is no room in the inn.” Later he was to say, “We have a stable you can use.”
“Joseph” asked for a room, which was the cue for Facundo’s first line. Facundo kept looking at Mary on the donkey and said nothing. One could hear soft, nervous laughter coming from the audience. A prompter from behind the church door softly repeated Facundo’s line. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Facundo said his line aloud. Joseph insisted. “But we have come from a long journey, and my wife is due to have a baby.”
Facundo looked at the donkey that carried Mary and looked at Mary. The prompter whispered his line once again from the other side of the door. “There is no room in the inn,” repeated Facundo, this time with hesitancy. He stood in the doorway watching. Joseph insisted again. “We are so tired; do you know anywhere we can stay?”
This was the cue for Facundo’s second line. He looked at the donkey and Mary and Joseph. The prompter softly said his line from the other side of the door. Again, a nervous murmur came over the audience. The prompter repeated the line.
Facundo stood still, looking at the couple. Then he blurted out, “You can have my room!” pointing to the rear of the church property. There was silence. Joseph just looked at Facundo and said nothing. It wasn’t supposed to have played out this way. If Facundo had said his lines correctly, Mary and Joseph and the babe would have gone to the end of the sidewalk in front of the church, where there was a “stable” prepared for them.
Finally, Mary broke the ice. “Okay,” she said. “That’s really nice of you.” She dismounted from the donkey. The caretaker led the donkey away, and Joseph and Mary went through the door of the “inn” to stay in Facundo’s room.
The audience burst into applause. The children took their bows. The pageant couldn’t have been scripted any better. Facundo stole the show and the hearts of the neighborhood. He had captured the meaning of Christmas, because he made room for the Christ Child in his life. It was the most wonderful Christmas pageant ever. Facundo showed us a way to love.
This material is taken from the book A Missionary Mindset: What Church Leaders Need to Know to Reach Their Community — Lessons from E. Stanley Jones, by Douglas Ruffle. Copyright © 2016 Discipleship Resources, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The book is available through Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources:
Read more.
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A Birthday Party for Jesus by Margie Briggs
Margie Briggs, pastor of two small churches in Missouri, describes how the annual tradition of hosting a "birthday party for Jesus" has attracted children and families from their community into the church, helping to bring new vitality to an aging congregation.
A few years ago, our small rural church in Calhoun, Missouri, wanted to do something at Christmas time for the community’s children. There are only two churches within the city limits, and many children in the town and surrounding area attend neither. When I suggested a Birthday Party for Jesus, folks were a little unsure, but in true discipleship fashion agreed to go for it.
We started small. The children would come with parents and hear the real story of why there is a Christmas in the first place. I would read the story of the first Christmas from many different versions, having the children around me as I read. We would escort the children downstairs to our Fellowship Hall to pick out gifts contributed by parishioners for their parents and siblings. We would finish off with a hot dog lunch, birthday cake, and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.
The joy of the day is hearing older and young voices together, along with the babbles of babies, singing Happy Birthday dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to you.
As the years passed, more and more came to celebrate Jesus’ birthday with us. Early on, a grandmother who was waiting for her grandchildren mentioned it would be nice if there were something like this for grandparents on fixed incomes so they could get their grandkids a small gift for under the tree. Why didn’t we think of that? So for several years now, the entire family can shop. Have some tried to be a little greedy in this new process? Oh yes, a few. But we developed some check points and continue to improve each year.
We receive some modestly priced gifts and some that are more costly. We handle this by having one table of more expensive gifts, and each shopper can take one gift from the special table and get the rest from the other tables that are loaded with less expensive items. With this system, every shopper chooses at least one very special gift for someone on his or her list.
Last Christmas, we had over 70 shoppers and wrapped over 600 gifts ready to slip under their trees. Our congregants and their friends and neighbors are buying gifts all through the year to make sure we are well stocked. And we rely on the help of many soup makers, cookie bakers, gift wrappers, and personal shoppers who assist the little ones to find age appropriate and correct size of gifts.
The joy of the day is hearing older and young voices together, along with the babbles of babies, singing Happy Birthday dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to you.
This article comes from a forthcoming book by Margie Briggs to be published by Cass Community Publishing House.
Related Resources:
Read more.
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The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
In thinking about increasing generosity among members, Rosario Picardo suggests we keep in mind some things potential givers want to know.
  1. Does my giving make a difference?
  2. Do I matter to my faith community?
  3. How will my resources be used?
  4. What is the vision I'm giving toward, and what is the plan for reaching it?
  5. How can I get involved in the ministry I am supporting financially? 
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
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Learn to Reach Others through Hospitality and Worship
Worship attendance is vital to the mission of the church. The Reaching Others through Worship Video Tool Kit provides tools and strategies to help you improve hospitality and worship attendance. Topics include: How Do People See Your Church?; Putting out the Welcome Mat; The Ministry of Greeting; The Sermon Series as Outreach Tool; and Ways to Improve Summer Attendance.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
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Quotable Leadership
The first rule of church leadership is that we must keep our focus on God and the things of God above all.[Christopher A. Beeley]
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Have You Made Your 2016 Lewis Center Gift?If you have not made your 2016 gift for the ministry of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, you are invited to do so now. Your contribution will bear fruit for generations of church leaders to come.
Please donate today.
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Suggestions for Churches with a ClergywomanIf you have a female pastor, the all purpose question to remember is: "Would you honestly ask (say, criticize) this if the pastor were a man? If so, okay. If not, drop it." Know that a female pastor continues a tradition of women in ministry going back to biblical times. Learn to celebrate her pastoral leadership with "To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Clergywoman." -------
Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:

Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NorthWest
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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