Stations of the Cross


Come experience the Stations of the Cross - a contemplative prayer experience - anytime between 6-9pm TONIGHT!

The Stations will be set-up at the church building, 135 E VanEmmon St, Yorkville. See you there!

Not a house church anymore...

I don't know if anyone ever still checks this blog (I know I haven't been good at keeping it updated), but just in case, I wanted to remind you all that we are meeting this Thursday (Jan 11) at 6:30 at my house for dinner and then heading over to the new space right after that.

And of course don't forget that this Sunday will be our first gathering in the new space. If you show up to my house you'll feel pretty silly.

Oh, and I thought you might enjoy this list:

We've found a space!

I have great news. We've found and confirmed a space that we can meet in and grow into! I met today with the VP of the Association for Individual Development and they agreed that we could use their building here in Yorkville on Sunday mornings. It is the perfect type of space for us. It already has a "living room" feel and there are several side rooms for children. There is a full kitchen, a foyer, even an outdoor deck! It will give us enough space to grow into without feeling like we're in too big of a room or too institutional of a setting.

Since we talked about this at our last meeting and agreed that we need to move into a new space as soon as possible, I went ahead and confirmed this rental with AID. We will sign a contract after the New Year. We've agreed to pay them $500/month and put down a $1000 security deposit. That is very affordable for us right now, and it also means that we won't lose our funding from Midwest Church Planting immediately. They suggested we sign a 6-month lease and see how it goes. We can renew for another 6-months after that if all goes well and if we still fit the space by that point.

The best part is that, at least right now, the AID people seem very friendly and eager to have us in there. They are very flexible with our needs and were willing to let us use the building at other times during the week when they aren't there if we need to. They said we can have full use of the kitchen if we want to do meals, and we will be able to leave our set-up stuff there so we don't have to cart stuff back and forth.

We really couldn't ask for a better situation right now. This is a huge answer to prayer. Thanks for praying you guys. God really came through! :)

We should be able to begin meeting there as early as January 14. I'd like to suggest that we should make a big deal about this move to the community. We never had an official "launch" for our church (which was supposed to happen in September), and it'd be great to make this our "launch" so-to-speak. I suggest we give ourselves a few weeks to settle in, and then plan a special "launch" service for the first Sunday of February. I'd like to send out postcards again to the whole community announcing our move and the launch service. Let me know if you all think that would be okay.

I think it'd be a good idea to try and get together as a Vision Team sometime in the next few weeks to talk about this and all the implications. If we met on the Thursday evening after Chrismas (Dec 28) would most of you be able to make it? Please let me know. If that doesn't work, we should shoot for Thursday, January 4 at the latest.

This is a cause for celebration! Let's give thanks to God for his timely provision!

-Mike

What not to expect at a missional church

TEN THINGS ANYONE WHO JOINS IN A TWENTY FIRST CENTURY MISSIONAL CHURCH PLANT SHOULD NOT EXPECT
From my friend, Dave Fitch's blog.

1.) Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kid's needs, and then leave till next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect however a richer life than you could have ever imagined.

2.) Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.

3.) Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church Body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.

4.) Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.

5.) Should not expect a raucous "lights out" youth program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.

6.) Should not expect to always "feel good,"or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.

7.) Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you'll just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.

8.) Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church from 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people's lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.

9.) Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.

10.) Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

AND BY THE WAY, Should not expect that community comes to you. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some "effort" and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you're hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the Body" in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing and praying together.

Our next Vision Team meeting

Hey all,

I just wanted to remind you that our next Vision Team meeting is Thursday, October 5th. Since we only just began our study of postmodernism and the emerging church last time, we will continue our discussion of that topic on the 5th. I hope you all got a rough idea of what "postmodernism" and the emerging culture are all about during our conversation last week. This next time we'll focus more specifically on the emerging church as a response to postmodernity. If you'd like to do any additional reading on the EC before next time, I'd highly recommend checking out the recent post over at my blog: What is the Emerging Church? or the following set of posts at professor Scot McKnight's blog (Dr. McKnight is a theology professor at North Park Seminary in downtown Chicago):
What is the Emerging Church?
Protest
Postmodernity
Pro-Aplenty

Also, don't forget to pick up a copy of Brian McLaren's book More Ready Than You Realize as soon as possible and begin reading it for our discussions on October 19th and November 9.

Peace,

-Mike

Article to read for Vision Team

For our next Vision Team meeting on Thursday, September 7th, please read the article "Dorothy on Leadership" by Brian McLaren. You can find it here.

We'll be discussing metaphors for leadership, and especially what leadership looks like in an emerging church in a postmodern culture.

Weekly Newsletter

Weekly Worship Gathering

As usual we'll be gathering this Saturday (August 19th) at our home (505 Freemont St, Yorkville) for our Via Christus gathering. The gathering begins at 5pm. We will be discussing Luke 10:1-24 together. There will also be a time for sharing God Things (prayer requests, praises, personal art, poetry or music, etc.) so please be thinking about what you might like to bring to the group. It'll be like a spiritual potluck!

Switching to Sundays!
Don't forget that we'll be making the switch Labor Day weekend, September 3rd and then meeting every Sunday morning at 10am from then on. The gatherings will still be in our living room for the time being.

Music & Movies in the Park
Every Friday night Yorkville sponsors either live music or family movies in one of the city parks. There is just one more night of live music at the Town Square Park (along Rt. 47 just north of the river) on August 25. Movies are monthly on August 18 & September 15 and start at dusk in the Beecher Community Park (on Game Farm Rd - just take Somonauk St across 47 and it curves to become Game Farm). Bring some camp chairs if you want to come and enjoy a movie together with potential new friends from Yorkville. They also let you camp out overnight in the park if you so desire.


Hometown Days in Yorkville
Yorkville's annual Hometown Days Festival will be over Labor Day weekend, September 1-3. We need people to help me set-up and run the booth between 2-8pm on Friday, Sept 1. Please let me know if you're able to help for any stretch of time that Friday.


Vision Team
Our next Vision Team meeting will be in three weeks on Thursday, September 7th. We'll be discussing different metaphors for leadership and talking about what the qualities of a good leader really are. We'll also be doing fondue for dinner.


Backyard Party
We will be having a backyard party for our whole neighborhood and anyone else who wants to come on Saturday, September 16th . Mark your calendars now and start thinking about people to invite.


Food Drive
We will be holding another food drive in mid-October (October 15 & 21). Please continue collecting paper bags for us to use. It saves us money and is good for the environment! :)

That's all for now. Hope to see you on Saturday!

Blessings,

Mike Clawson

Via Christus Community Church
http://viachristus.org