I had coffee today with a good friend who serves as pastor of Community Outreach at the largest church in Southeastern Wisconsin. It was so good to hear about the outward focus that his church is insisting become the ethos of the church overall. He told me stories (he is way too humble to brag so he tells very simple, yet wonderfully profound stories) about what the Community group is doing in Milwaukee, but even more impressive, what they are doing right here in Waukesha, the area where we live – Waukesha County is the wealthiest county in Wisconsin so many people assume that the needs of people are inconsequential; nothing could be further from the truth. My friend and the people he is working with have found dozens of pockets of need in Waukesha and they are stepping in and making a huge ongoing difference. I am not talking about dropping food off at the food pantry, although there is nothing wrong with that, but I am talking about investing themselves and their resources in building an ongoing presence in the community; that is so very cool.
I love the fact that people like my friend have seen the immense need for missional activity here in the suburbs – the needs in the suburbs are real – and the pain and fear that is created by these needs are very real to the people that are experiencing these needs.
My friend told me that many of the long-time church members are sort of freaking out that this new missional stuff doesn’t have a program attached to it – they are familiar with programs, expected outcomes and other such stuff – they are not quite as comfortable with leaving the program behind and spending time with the very people who they used to “try” to serve through a program; very different flow and feel to living out your faith in a tangible hands-on way.
On a completely different note – I don’t know if you have heard about a festival put on by the Jesus People in Chicago, JPUSA for short. Every summer this group of wonderful Jesus followers put on a pretty amazing festival called Cornerstone – I used to go every year, but have not been for a while now – this summer I am planning on going again as they have a schedule that looks amazing. I have included the link to their website so please pop on over and have a look – if you choose to go I can promise that you will never be bored. Blessings!
