I love where God has been leading me this summer: inspiring congregations proclaiming god's kingdom through Christ with creativity and growth, beautiful parts of the world I haven't seen before, connections with new people and fresh conversations, and super time with my family after periods of research on my own. The latest installment:
It's been a productive time of interviewing, reading, and exploring with the staff and ministry of Abiding Hope Lutheran here in Littleton, Colorado, a southwest suburb of Denver. Here are a few neat things about this ministry that's spurred my dreaming about creative ministry:
* Over the last 20 years, they've grown from a tiny mission congregation to a worshipping community of 950. Just like Epiphany, they're considering how to grow at their current campus, but start a new worshipping community about 20 minutes away
* All new members are automatically put into a "home group," to enable ongoing connection, relationship building, and learning. Each home group is challenged to engage in ongoing service projects.
* This last year, they've decided their life together revolves around 3 "beats": worship, relationships, and first fruits giving. Through worship and study, they've driven deeper understandings of these 3 beats and organize their whole life together around them.
* With a beautiful sanctuary, they worship 950 at a Saturday night service and two on Sunday. When they decided to try a third service at the 9.30 hour, they realized the attendance at Sunday School classes plummeted. So the leadership stopped the service! They announced (lovingly) that the congregation "wasn't mature enough" to make a 2 hour commitment on Sunday morning, and therefore, they weren't going to continue to allow their children to miss worship. Why? Because they know the research from Youth and Family Research Institute in MN that says the #1 faith formation factor for our kids (our future) is worshipping with their family--not just showing up to church to go to Sunday School, but worship WITH their family.
* A super book by lead pastor, Rick Barger, entitled A New and Right Spirit, published by the Alban Institute. The book offers a great critique of how a consumer culture can try to hijack a congregation's calling as a mission post in the kingdom of God, and offers a clarion call for a different direction.
* Terrific mission efforts in Haiti, Mexico, inner city Denver, and India (where they have already started a satellite campus)
* A wonderful list of bold vision goals, including giving over $100,000 a year to the Haiti mission, satrating a camp/reatreat center, and continuing to expand the Leadership Academy they sponsor--bringing in nationally renowned theologians and church leaders to inspire area seminarians, pastors, and lay and community leaders. For a copy of this vision, click here: http://www.abidinghopelutheran.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=140006049&sec_id=140002293
PS: On a free day here in Denver, I had a chance to climb my first "14er," as they call them. A beautiful 14,100 hike known as Mt. Bierstadt. Here are a few photos. It was fun talking w people on they way up, and learning about the climbing culture of Colorado, where many people have a goal to hike each of the 50+ 14,000 + foot summets in CO. Again, as a guy from Ohio, it's a delight to see God's beauty manifest in this different landscape. http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/MtBierstadtClimbInColorado
+ Now it's on to the airport to pick up my family. After worship tomorrow morning at Abiding Hope, we'll travel to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days. Then on to a Lutheran camp in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington, known as Holden Village. No email at these places, so I'll post again in August. Until then, God stir the Spirit in each of you, working all that which is pleasing in His sight. In Christ, Fritz
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