Catching the Bug

Well, friends, it's been one week since we embarked on this new journey of looking to the future of Park Church with newly expectant eyes. As our time together with Michael Piazza becomes a memory of the recent past, one wonders, what has come to play in your minds and hearts in a week's time? What has lingered with excitement in your mind? What has been a kernel of hope in your heart? What has stirred your curiosities, what has perhaps even elicited a dose of fear or trepidation? What have you remembered?

Last Tuesday, the Board of Deacons had their regular monthly meeting. There was a different energy, a certain enthusiasm in their voices and ideas of what the future might hold for Park Church. Ideas about how adult education and spiritual formation might happen in new ways within our congregation. Ideas about how today's technology could add vital elements to our worship and life together. Ideas about how we attract those folks who might never come through our doors if we do not do anything differently...

It seems as though many individuals, groups, and ministries throughout Park Church have already caught the bug and they really want to do what is needed to grow and renew our church. And catching the bug is the majority of the battle. It is exciting to see the excitement of what's to come growing! Unfortunately, catching the bug, even though its the larger portion of work to be done, it is also the easier work. The really hard work comes precisely when we try to do these new things...whatever they happen to be. As soon as we begin to move the proverbial furniture, our comfort level is disturbed and our anxiety increases. Even those who are ready to do all that is necessary to make Park Church a community cathedral of activity and attention within Grand Rapids, have something that will trigger their anxiety as soon as it moves.

It's ok. It's natural. It's human. It's not a bad thing. It's the same instinct that protects us from danger. It's an instinct we need.

Even as we look to the future with excitement, there is so much that is unknown. And if we are afraid of anything, we are afraid of the unknown.

What do we fear we might lose should we, the members and friends of Park Church, be successful in doing a new thing?

And yet, we have been told: love casts out fear.

How might we move forward in love, so that our love mitigates our fear, and the fears of others? How might we use that natural anxiety that keeps us safe and make it work for us rather than against us?
Our inclination might be to reject the anxiety. If you're not for us, you're against us, we might say. However, if we reject our anxiety outright, we might just be rejecting the very energy that will cause us to grow!

The energy of anxiety, if transformed, can be the very energy that causes us to grow! It can be the energy we use to discern between what is growing and what is passing away. It can be the energy with which we start new ministries. It can be the energy of life and growth, and not the energy of fear and stagnation. Energy is neutral. It is our choice what we do with it.

Transformation is possible. It's possible for us and it's possible today!

Our Weekend with The Rev. Michael Piazza

Our Weekend with The Rev. Michael Piazza

Friends, this weekend the leadership of Park Church spent many hours listening to one of the most successful and prominent church growth and renewal experts in the UCC. On Sunday, we welcomed Rev. Piazza to our pulpit and then to a time of education afterward. For those who were able to attend, hopefully you caught some of the spirit and passion he has for the future of the UCC and churches like Park. Our greatest hope for the weekend was that in some way, Rev. Piazza might have broken open a sense of hope for the future and introduce us to the hard and creative work which that future will require. Having read the new book he co-authored, the leadership of Park Church will now begin to assimilate the information gathered and engage in faithful discernment about how we will move into a brighter future still. We invite you to join into the conversation here at this blog.

We've named this blog "A Church for Tomorrow." Rev. Piazza shared with us his conviction that we must look not to the past or what is happening today, but to the future. If we are to grow and renew our church, our eyes need to look to the future, to the church of those who are not yet among us. What is the church that they desire and need? There's nothing wrong with the past or the present, in fact there are many wonderful and faithful programs of our past and present that we must celebrate! And yet, there is something else, perhaps something more or something different that we must look towards. The statistics of decline are so prevalent and so persuasive that there is little sense in denying the trends within which we find ourselves. 

Some questions we might ask ourselves: Why are our grandchildren not attending Park? What would it take for them to come? What does it mean to serve rather than be served when we come to church? What does a first-time visitor notice about Park that we take for granted? Who does our worship and programming serve? Those of us already here or those we pray someday might fill the empty spaces in our pews? Amongst the beautiful flower garden of our sanctuary, organ, and stained-glass windows, where are we planting vegetables that provide spiritual nourishment in addition to aesthetic beauty? And the questions continue...

We invite you to use this space to share compelling insights you have received from our weekend together with Rev. Piazza or from your own reading of Liberating Hope!. We welcome all voices to the table!

Post all that inspired or challenged you!

We continue to proclaim no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here!

- Park Church

This is NOT a space to air grievances or personal disdain. Park Church reserves the right to remove any post that does not reflect a spirit of civility, community collaboration, or healthy dialogue and conversation. Our task is always the upbuilding of God's kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. May this space reflect that mission.