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The
History
or
What
is "Rivers of New Life"?
In the summer of 1999, Rev. Mark Hamner, pastor of St. Luke Union
Church, Bloomington attended a three day seminar hosted by the Center
for Parish Development in Chicago. That event changed his focus
and direction for ministry and helped bring about a period of
transformation for his congregation.
Through a time of prayer, Bible study, small and large group
reflection, and corporate decision making, his church was
transformed. Individuals who had never participated in the
active membership of the church became strong and enthusiastic
leaders. Lives were changed as individuals experienced the
transforming power of God's presence and grace. People began to
experiment with creative ministries and deepened their spirituality
through reflective times. The need to maintain the status-quo
was examined and released. The organization of the church
changed to allow for people to more readily use their spiritual
gifts. Prayer became something which more people gladly
embraced. Many new ministries were started and flourished.
The cost for their congregation to go through this process was
approximately $30,000, and they have come through it
feeling tremendously blessed, and believing that it was well worth
the time, money and effort.
Rev. Hamner is so excited about what this process was able to
achieve for his congregation that he urged Great Rivers Presbytery to
work out a special deal with the Center for Parish Development, which
they did. The Clinton Presbyterian Church was personally
invited to become a part of the Rivers of New Life process and after
three meetings with Presbytery folk, and a meeting with some of Mark
Hamner's members, the Clinton Session voted to join in the journey!
The
Why
Before
embarking on a journey of this magnitude it is very important to
discover "The Why" In other words, why are we willing
to spend our time and money to get involved with RNL?
On
Saturday, May 1st, the Presbytery held a workshop on Phase 1 of
RNL. Our session sent 5 people from Clinton Presbyterian to
that meeting. While we were there we put together the following
seven reasons for getting involved in RNL at this time:
1.
Deepen our Spiritual Journey Individually and as a Congregation.
2.
Discover God's Purpose for our Church (this can be seen as an
extension of The Purpose Driven Life series).
3.
Help People Discover and use their Spiritual Gifts.
4.
Get a Larger Base of Volunteers.
5.
Discover more Opportunities to Grow besides Alpha.
6.
Be more Intentional with our Mission & Ministry.
7.
Continue the Momentum we are Experiencing Right Now!
Benefits
to "A Typical Church" from this Process:
ARE
YOU SATISFIED WITH WHERE OUR CHURCH IS NOW - SPIRITUALLY? When
the key results and goals of this process are achieved, "A
Typical Church" will have a visionary, exciting,
forward-looking, motivating strategic plan to guide it into a new
future. It will have trained leadership and the essential
structures to implement its strategic plan. It will be
effectively enabling broad participation in all decision-making.
It will be a more exciting and inviting church. Among other
benefits will be:
1.
Spiritual Life Enhanced - Spiritual life will be enhanced as people
re-think what it means to be a missional community.
(a
missional church is defined as a congregation that wants to be a
visible sign of God's way of doing things. It seeks consciously
to order its life together as a foretaste of the future God intends
for the whole world. It seeks to give witness to Jesus Christ
not only by inviting others to become citizens of God's reign, but
through all aspects of its congregational life. Churches
becoming missional are asking and answering these key questions
together: Who are we? Where are we? What is God
doing? How is God calling us? How is God sending us?)
2.
Unity - A greater sense of unity will be found in the church as
people participate in the planning and decision-making, as they come
to see things from the same perspective based on a common data-base,
and as they begin to pull together.
3.
Saved Money - The planning process which is part of the
Transformation Process will help prevent costly mistakes, will focus
the congregation's energies, and will provide for careful financial management.
4.
Saved Time - Without a plan, the church flounders. It loses
time and it loses opportunities. The Transformation Process
asks and answers the most important questions. It saves time
and helps the church identify and take advantage of new opportunities.
5.
Promotes Healing - The Transformation Process encourages people to
work together toward achieving integrating goals. This helps to
heal old wounds.
6.
Develops Leaders - Intensive training will be included for the
pastor and other key leaders and leadership groups, as well as the
congregation at large.
7.
Diminishes Destructive Conflict - With greater unity around common
goals, destructive conflict is diminished. People wrestle with
the larger issues rather than with each other.
8.
Prevents Costly Mistakes - The Transformation Process helps the
church make decisions on the basis of valid and reliable data about
its environment, its membership, its internal systems, its
strengths. It reduces the risk of costly mistakes.
9.
Increases Excitement - The Transformation process helps a church
overcome being stuck in unhelpful ways of thinking and behaving,
while mobilizing energy around tasks that are meaningful.
10.
Broaden Participation - As the process unfolds, participation will
broaden to include more and more people in decision-making and
planning for the future.
11.
Builds Trust - The Transformation Process will help replace fear
with trust. There will be better listening and understanding on
the part of the leadership, blended with a more supportive
organizational climate.
12.
Increases Responsiveness - Some churches are experienced as only
partially responsive to the concerns of members and the other publics
served by the church. The Transformation Process will help
"A Typical Church" become highly responsive.
13.
Raises Vision - As a result of the Transformation Process, people
will learn how to think from a missional perspective, how to discern
a faithful vision to guide "A Typical Church," and how to
be led by that vision.
Upcoming
Events:
Conference
on the Present - November 21, 2004
For More Information Contact Us.
Phone (217) 935-6178 or
email secretary@clintonpresbyterian.org
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