caffeine, please.

Leonard Sweet on church architecture

Leonard Sweet, one of my favorite Dr. Strangelove church voices, posts an engaging set of principles about postmodern church buildings.  In his usual fashion, he quotes obscure items and makes them current while saying profound things in profound ways, all the while pulling it off without ever sounding arrogant.  That's a rare man. 

Here's my condensation and commentary on his "10 Commandments of Architecture for the Postmodern Church":

1. Thou shalt not make a graven image.
   • Sweet seems to be concerned here that the building does not become a celebration of its designers/builders but is instead "designed for recycling. It's egalitarian, mobile, and adaptable for multiple use."  I think the other side of this is that the building itself not be worshipped as sacred but kept in proper perspective and used up for God.  I think we need to grow in the area of maxing out the space God has entrusted us, frankly.
2. Thou shalt not create ugliness.
   • This is a classic Sweetlet:  "Vitruvius [you know, that guy], said in his manual On Architecture that a building should have the qualities of (1) commodity, (2) firmness, and (3) delight. By commodity, he meant user-friendliness. By firmness, he meant integrity: the building does what it says it does—it doesn't fall down or leak. By delight, Vitruvius meant joy and beauty."
3. Thou shalt design for all senses.
   • The Orthodox Church, in all its forms, already does this.  They've been 5 sense innovators since the Middle Ages and before.  This is not new ground but the idea of capturing more of the senses in worship captures my interest--if its not done with distraction and as a replacement to the spoken word in preaching and worship.
4. Thou shalt have a sense of place.
   • This is quite similar to Theology of Place.  I think this is my favorite of Sweet's list.  What it says about reflecting the community where a church resides is huge, especially in a community like Chicago with so many different neighborhoods.  The Catholic church gets this well in much of its architecture--or it least it did back when the buildings were built.
5. Thou shalt get real.
   • In the retrofitting of a Restart congregation, this can be an expensive challenge.  Our Lakeview building was constructed under a different church architecture philosophy.  Little open space, every room seemingly on a different level of floor, lots of passages and hallways.  It does not reflect the open design model that I prefer and that is more current.  Its hard to refit the buildings but some of our locations are doing a good job and we're doing what we can with the Lakeview building.
6. Thou shalt build a living church.
   • "Where else but in churches do postmoderns experience architectural spaces with hard benches, dark woods, and elevated presiders? he asks. Only in courtrooms, which are known for judgment; and funeral homes, which harbor death." 
   • Well stated.  That's why when we revitalize older church buildings, we try to keep some sense of the old without having distracting elements that congure up a wrong environmental response.
7. Thou shalt get the church out of doors.
   • Sweet's nudge toward outdoor amphitheaters (in the right climate--not Chicago) is already being considered/pursued by the church Francis Chan pastors in SoCal.  I love the hear behind Chan's decision--a desire to redirect building funds to serve the mission of kingdom advancement.
8. Thou shalt love thy setting.
   • This is Sweet's green-friendly command.  It applies mostly to new construction though we've talked about rooftop gardens as a way to retro-green some of our older buildings.  What I like about the rooftop garden is its going back the way we came--rooftops have a lot of biblical history.
9. Thou shalt build smart churches.
   • Here Sweet is at his best--proposing a radical rethink about every surface of the church as "a living organism that responds to human touch..."  Cool thought.  Probably will happen.  And the thing is, every display on every surface can be generated through light and projection and then rethought as needed.
10. Thou shalt create new God-glorifying spaces.
    • "The essence of architecture is the imbuing of matter with spirit until the spirit is uplifted."  And that is a fitting final statement to the matter... for now.

Pinch me (not literally, though, please.)

Yesterday Pastor Mark and I had the chance to meet for a few hours with a church leadership team from Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids, MI.  Whoot, whoot for GR!  This church has over 1100 people on a weekend and is currently meeting in two locations with 4 worship gatherings each Sunday morning.  Their leadership team is quite diverse and they are interested in long term multi-site ministry as a way to missionally reach their city. 

As a leadership team at New Life, we've been working for about 6 months with a businessman friend of the church to form a network that would resource and coach churches just like this one--churches that are urban, that are growing and reaching people and that want to save themselves all the mistakes we've made along the way. 

I really felt like we connected on a heart and mission level and with this team and I'm looking forward to relating with them more in the future.

Last Saturday Bobby and I had a chance to spend some time with the leadership team for Second Story from Peoria, IL and formed a similar bond.  (I also got to see my good friend Steve Snyder who serves on the leadership team at Second Story--bonus!)

I enjoy these kind of opportunities--they top my list of ways I like to spend my time.  I feel refreshed when I'm able to hear where someone's at, give feedback and encouragement and point toward potential next steps for breakthrough.  I'm really grateful to serve at a church where I have those opportunities, regularly.  Its one of the "pinch me" realities of my role at New Life.

West Humboldt Park

We had another West Humboldt Park launch team meeting this morning.  Things are moving forward.  Postcards will go out soon, building renovations are progressing, ministry teams are forming and preparing. 

The Grand Opening on March 29th is now less than 79 days away.  That also means in 79 days we'll be releasing a number of people from Lakeview and Lincoln Park to go serve at WHP.  Praying for the hand of God over all this.  Excited about doors of opportunity.

Multi-site trends

Jim Tomberlin is a leader who is on the front edge of multi-site church trends.  He recently posted an entry at MondayMorningInsight.com. 

I'll comment briefly on each of his trend items...

1. I agree-multi-site is becoming common and "normal".  Many church planters are planting with a multi-site mindset from the beginning.  Its weird because when I came to New Life in 1999, I remember how "out there" multi-site church was.  How things have changed in 10 years.
2. We definitely operate out of this model.  I think its like "urban warfare" applied to the church world.  The church, like modern militaries, are forced to rethink their strategy now that the world is more than 50% urban.  The recast strategy is to employ smaller, more mobile units in both the military and the church world--fighting the battle from "house to house".
3. True for us and seeing this at several other churches around the country (Seacoast, Lifechurch, soon Mars Hill Seattle).
4. This seems to be somewhat true though I think multi-site represents a big break from denominational thinking.  Multi-site churches seem to have a much higher value on intra-church cooperation and define themselves more by agreement than by disagreement.
5. This may be true but it seems also true that many campus pastors, in my anectdotal research, are hired from within most often.  Sort of a UPS hiring model--promote from within for 80% of the jobs.
6. Most notably, www.theaterchurch.com, the website of National Community Church in DC.  Mark Batterson and Co are doing a lot of pioneering on this front.
7. Or as we call them, Restarts.  And the more we witness the decline of older insitutional churches, the more this trend will increase.
8. My parents attend a rural multi-site church--Thornapple Valley Church--and I love Pastor Jeff Arnett's vision and passion to grow great churches in the rural communities of Michigan.  For him, if it has a grocery store, its probably a little too urban.  But as he notes, not too many multi-site churches are working in truly rural areas yet so this area needs a strong dose of networking and resourcing.
9. Not a fan of the internet campus.  I don't believe you can call something that happens over the internet a church in the fullest sense.  You can't baptize and you can't celebrate communion together, two functional basics that happen in the gathered community.  I'm all for the video delivery of messages to real gatherings of people but not for the virtual gathering of people on different computers.  I think innovation goes too far with this one.
10. Personally, I think this format will have a backlash.  Live preaching will never go out of style because in a techno world, people long for "the real thing, baby" (thanks Pepsi for the tagline.)  And I have a concern about the growth of video as a means of delivery--the celebrity nature of mass distribution.  I do not believe fallen humanity is built to handle glory and celebrity is a form of glory.  Seems to lead to trouble.  Again, not fundamentally opposed to video delivery of teaching, but I think it should be used with caution. 

Multi Site Blog Roundup

Blogs are a great way to get feedback and info on people's experiences in a conference environment.  A number of people blogged about their time at MSE in Chicago. 

Here's a blog roundup what others said as they took part in MSE:

• From Crossroads in Mansfield, Ohio
• From Faith Church in Cedar Lake
• From Dave Ferguson of Community Christian in Naperville
• From Greg Ligon of Leadership Network
• From Kevin Taylor at Kenosha Assembly of God

Takeaways from day 2

Yesterday was our 2nd and final day hosting the Midwest regional version of Multi-Site Exposed.  From my perspective as a part of the hosting team, it was a success.  One of my favorite aspects of the conference is the impromptu converse/consult/connect conversations during our transition times.  I had good conversation with a lot of folks from all over the U.S. and Canada--Colorado, Texas, Ohio, Alberta, Ontario, Illinois, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Georgia and more--great to hear all the stories.

Spoke briefly with Darrin Patrick from the Journey Church before his session.  I told him that I had caught a message of his online a while back and as I started to describe it he laughed--"dude that wasn't me.  It was another guy on our team.  That is great!  I'm glad you thought it was me. Perfect!"  We had a good laugh.  He also shared that he had only just found out about New Life, felt a strong connection between our church DNA and was wanting to connect his staff with us soon.  He told me he felt like, "you guys are like 10 years ahead of where we're at."  Not sure about that one but it will be interesting to see what comes of some collaboration with a church just a few hours down the road in St. Louis.

Darrin gave an insightful talk.  Appreciated his push on the gospel, refusing to assume that just because people are at a conference that they are Jesus-centered and understand the gospel and nature of the church.  He dropped some  good other nuggets:

• Multi-site recaptures the parish mindset of ministry.  It better enables people to live an integrated life because they don't have big compartments between their church life, work life and neighborhood life.
• "I thought I told you."  A funny line about the problems of bad communication in the multi-site context.
• The RACI Matrix for decisions:  Who is Responsible? (owning the task)  Who is Accountable? (Holding the ball if it goes wrong)  Who is Consulted?  (advising and giving input)  Who is informed?  (needing to not be surprised.)
• Elders serve the church by leading, deacons lead the church by serving.  (Love that quote--very concise and clear distinction between the elder and deacon role.)

Takeaways from day 1

Two great main sessions today at Multi-Site Exposed.  Dave Ferguson from CCC really got the train on the tracks leading off the conference and Jim Downing of First UMC of Sedalia had a rich session to close the day.

Some takeaways from Dave:

• Fibonachi--changed numbers from Roman numerals to Base 10 and revolutionized math by changing how we count.  We need to change how churches count by figuring out what counts.
• Dream big, start small
• The two smallest units of reproduction are leaders and artists
• When you start small, start with yourself--what do you want reproduced?
• When you change how you count you'll seek the lost more than found, love the edge more than the center and will begin to prefer the going more than the staying.

Some takeaways from Jim:

• What would our church be to our community if it could only be pictured as a hand gesture?  Scolding?  Inviting? 
• There is no hope in the heart of a complainer.
• March off the map!  (This is an incredible quote when heard in context and I plan to explore more in future posts.
• An amazing quote from Napoleon that I'll type up later when I have time. 

Multi Site Exposed starts today

Almost 400 pastors and staff from churches all over the U.S. and Canada will be descending up our Midway campus for the Multi-Site Exposed Conference.  Today kicks off with Dave Ferguson from Community Christian Church.  Looking forward to hearing from Dave.

This afternoon I'll be working with Tim Sutherland at CCC to lead a breakout session call Multiple Teachers, One Message.  We'll be describing our church's unique processes for putting together shared teaching across multiple venues.  Should be a lot of fun.

Last night we had a group of early arrivers at our evening worship gathering Shift at our Lincoln Park campus.  It was great to talk with them and begin to get a feel for the folks that will be coming out today.  Stay tuned--updates to follow.

Counting down to conference...

Multi-site Exposed (Chicago) is happening in just a few weeks.  In cooperation with CCC of Naperville and First UMC of Sedalia, MO, we'll be hosting several hundred pastors, staff and leaders who want to learn more about multi-site ministry.

I'm excited about this conference for several reasons:

• It will be the first time we've hosted a conference for people outside of New Life.  It feels like a big step to be doing training for other churches and leaders.
• I believe that the interdependence that multi-site ministry fosters is a New Testament value that gets easily lost in our culture.  So training churches in the interdependence of multi-site ministry is a way to help churches recapture a key value of the early church.
• Anytime you gather people in a conference environment like this, there is a special sense of expectation and faith.  People come with hearts open and a desire to grow.  That is my favorite environment.
• Hearing people's stories and doing impromptu, conversational consulting about the "how's" of ministry will be fun.  Meeting people from different areas and backgrounds stirs me up and helps me see the bigger picture of what God is doing in the world. 
• Preparing for the training sessions will force us as a team to take a good look at what we're doing and to ask tough questions about our practices and theology.  Do we need to tweak this?  Overhaul that?  Get rid of this?  Add that?  Preparing to train can be a great tool for honing your own ways of doing things.

Developments

Two to share...

1. Our www.newlifechicago.org website redevelopment has a schedule and a quality QB keeping us moving.  Rolland Sue who developed and manages the Willow Creek Association website among others is at the helm.  This site will be a major upgrade from our current site.  Details and dates as we move forward.
2. The Multi Site Exposed (www.newlifechicago.org) conference in September is coming up fast and we are close to publishing breakout and mains session titles and doing some heavy promoting.  Really praying for a big turnout, especially from the city, at this conference. 
   • If you are a church staff member or pastor in Chicago and need a price break, drop me an email.
   • If you are a New Lifer who would like to use a vacation day to volunteer on either September 15 or 16 (and attend the conference for free), drop me an email.  (link is in the left margin)

Brand and franchise?

This article didn't sit well with me.  I realize the WSJ is a business paper and the article was highlighting the business and expansion plans of multi-site churches.  But the quotes from pastors in this article left a bad taste in my mouth.  I felt like Jesus would be pounding his fist as he read it. 

I think we need to be a little more self-critical and discerning in how we use words like "branding", "franchise" and "growth" or we may simply fall into the commodities pit at the futures market with little to distinguish us from other "markets". 

Take a look and give me your thoughts...

Opraytunity, follow up

We had a good meeting with the Bethel leadership council last night.  We were able to share our restart journey and let them know how we could be one of the options they consider at this crossroads for the church.

The emotion for leaders in a church that is figuring out if it should continue ministry or pass the baton are very sensitive and raw.  Even with a lot of grace, it can be dicey.  I think Pastor Mark pastored the moment well.  I was also grateful that Chuck McWherther was there to share with them since he is a man who has walked in their same shoes.  He was a blessing.

Our prayer is that the West Humboldt Park community would have a life-giving, Jesus-centered church ministering in the Bethel space for the next 100 years.  Beyond that, who it is doesn't matter.  Pray for the council and pastor as they pray, plan and decide what to do.

Opraytunity

Tomorrow evening Pastor Mark and I will be meeting with the leadership council of Bethel Lutheran Church in West Humboldt Park.  Bethel was founded in 1894--same year as New Life Lakeview (then Galilee Baptist.)  The church has struggled to reach the community over the last era and they are looking at options for the future of the church.

We connected with their team through a strange route--another pastor's children were taught by the wife of the lead elder.  (You might need your toes and fingers to calculate that one.)  We've had a couple initial meetings with the pastor and elder but this meeting will be more of a formal proposal.  Two other ministries will also be presenting proposals to the church council. 

This is an Opraytunity (not to be confused with an Oprahtunity.)  Something we crossed paths with by Divine accident and which we are pursuing with an open-hand.  "God, this could be an opportunity you want us to pursue or it might not be.  Please confirm your heart and allow us to walk forward with generous passion."

Will you join us in praying?  Thanks.

Dechurchification update across the country

Chris Salzman over at ThinkChristian.net (a blog I regularly read) sent me a link to an article on Dechurchification happenings around the country.  Here's his link and a couple referring articles charting dechurchification as a national urban issue. 

• From the Washington Post
• From the New York Times
• From the Get Religion blog

The Church has got to wake up on this.  It pains me to see that we can't figure out the kingdom agenda here and keep church buildings working for the name and glory of Jesus.   I know that God doesn't need buildings.  And as a church we'll never let buildings be an issue that determines ministry.  But buildings do open up ministry options.

I've said it before and I'll say it again--buildings are a stewardship; nothing more and nothing less.  Maybe if we ring this bell loudly enough and in the right places, the story can be written differently.   

Grand Opening

We had a great Grand Opening at Lincoln Park this past Sunday!  About 60 people who were there for the first time and just under 200 people total in attendance.  That represents a 10-fold increase in Sunday attendance since last Fall.  That is a God-thing. 

What was especially cool was that the visitors were people from the community, not so much "well wishers" from other New Life locations. 

I'm really proud of our team--both volunteer and staff--for all the work they did in Jesus name to bring this Grand Opening together.  Mike, EJ, Dave P., Kelli, Alyson, Eric, Nate, Brian, Erin, Gary & Anne, Confesor, Dave K., Mario, Oscar, Jose & Shanda, Leo & Nilsa, Jeff, Debbie, Mike & Leigh, Jose, Chris, Darren, Andy, Jordan, Olivia, Roger, Jeanne, Stephanie, Melissa, Brian P., Janet, Shayna, Mark & Heather, and a host of others who served, worked, prayed toiled and gave to make this happen.

And here's the reality--the real work is only just beginning.  Its like having a baby.  Pregnancy feels like work but once that baby is delivered, the work of raising kids is a whole other level of work.  This Restart was a ton of work (fun work, for sure) but now comes the real work of raising up a real faith community in the midst of secular Chicago. 

So here we go to put our passion to work in cooperating with God to see a life-giving church that blesses Lincoln Park by bringing Lincoln Park Jesus.  Excited about that next step this Resurrection Sunday!

Sun Times article

Here's the link to the Sunday Sun Times article:
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/844977,CST-NWS-newlife16.article

We made it...

...through our first Sunday back in the chapel at New Life Lincoln Park.  A lot of work and a lot of great volunteers who jumped in on Saturday to help get the building from havoc to hospitable.  Sunday morning, DST weekend (my least favorite weekend of the year) we were fully functional with seating, sound system, freshly painted children's ministry, coffee (muy importante), welcome center and almost zero dust. 

This week will be a busy time finalizing lots of little construction details, doing street handouts and door-to-door visitation and making sure we're ready to accommodate guests, hopefully many guests, at 9am on the 16th.

Can we pray together a minute?

Jesus, thank you for the open door in Lincoln Park.  We've worked, we've prayed, we've prepared, we've announced, we've hoped and now we wait.  This is your deal.  Bring the people you are already preparing.  Bring the people who's lives you are already actively working in.  Bring the people who haven't found themselves in a church since the last wedding they attended.  Most importantly, Jesus, please be there with us.  Minister to people, make worship open the hearts of people, go where we can't go to do what we can't do to glorify your name.  Its yours Jesus.

New Billboard

The billboard for our LP location just went up on Fullerton yesterday.  Big thanks to Cortland at Chicago Costume Shop for donating the space to put this sign up.  We're getting it for free!

Lincoln Park Grand Opening in 33 days!

Hardly seems possible, but we will be celebrating the Grand Opening of our 10th location, New Life Lincoln Park in only 33 days!   Much work has been done and much yet to do.  I took some pictures this morning of the auditorium and the welcome area/foyer that are currently under construction. 

You'll see from the auditorium photos that the tech balcony is framed, the back door openings are cut in and the frame for the platform has been completed.  The gym floor was buffed and recoated yesterday and as I was leaving, the flooring company was coming in to refinish the floors in the foyer. 

If you'd like to help with construction, come on out tonight, 7pm to 9pm or Thursday at 6:30 or Saturday at 9am.  We'll be having a lot of fun each of those days and we'd love to have you there!

Out in the community we are just about ready to get a billboard size banner up on Fullerton Avenue, we've just sent out our second mailing to 30,000 homes and we'll be doing a number of street outreaches in the coming weeks to invite the community to visit.  The core in our preview services has expanded to over 70 people and our hope is to have a core of over 100 before the Grand Opening on March 16th.

We'll also be meeting with leaders of civic and community organizations over the next couple months to understand the perceived needs in the community so that we can plan and implement services that benefit the Lincoln Park community.  We want to live up to the statement, "A Church for the Community".

In all of this I am amazed at the goodness of God.  It seems that He keeps putting His hand upon the work and giving us favor.  I'm excited about our next prayer meeting on February 28 as we pray for this new location.

Multi-site Exposed site is live

I've mentioned that New Life will be one of the hosts for Multi-Site Exposed coming up in September.  Today the conference site went live for registration.  Check it out...

Excited that we'll be hosting this conference!

Local newspaper

So I got an email from Jennifer Kranz, an editor at the Lakeview Booster, asking for some info to be used in a feature called "Faith in Our Town."

Here's what I wrote back:

Religious affiliation:  non-denominational

Neighborhood:    Lakeview

Size & character:  This summer, 320 adults and 60 children average in our English celebrations; 50 adults and 10 children in our Spanish celebration.  We are a mix of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds and a mix of neighborhood and near neighborhood residents.

Spiritual leader:  Mark Jobe--lead pastor; Kevin Bruursema; location pastor

Schedule of services:  9am and 10:45am Sundays in English; 12:45pm Sundays en Espanol.

Biggest turnout:  Easter, 546

Instead of answering the remaining questions, let me just talk a little bit.  First, we are a multi-site church.  Simply put that means we are one church in many locations.  We currently have 8 locations in and around Chicago.  Our lead pastor, Mark Jobe, leads our entire church and I am responsible to lead our Lakeview location.  Pastor Mark and I both speak at our Lakeview location.  There are 11 other pastors on our team besides Mark and myself.

We're big fans of other churches and spend a lot of time connecting with and seeking to bless and help other churches.  We're not for everybody so we like to help people find a place they belong.  There are a lot of great churches in Chicago and we want them all to be good at being life-giving groups that are reaching out effectively to people.  We do what we can to give and receive from them.

Okay, back to our story a little bit...  Our Lakeview location was begun in September of 2000 so we are just about 6 years old.  Galilee Baptist Church, the name of the church for 100+ years prior to us being there, just handed over their building and parsonage to us to "restart" the church and reach more of the community residents.  About half of the people from Galilee stayed with us after the transition and are just awesome people.  I think this kind of selflessness and humility is rare and it was a great way to birth a new work. 

We're pretty informal as a church community.  We joke that if you don't like organized religion, you'll like us because we are disorganized religion.  What we really mean is that we're very relational in our approach to church.  We have a core conviction--that God designed us to be in powerful, life-changing relationship with Him and with other people.  So we are big on honesty, the Bible, receiving people as they are and watching God do cool things to transform and grow people in that context.

This summer we've had a big emphasis on sending out short term mission teams from our congregation.  Right now, 10 of our members are in Mozambique, Africa.  They are holding AIDS orphans, working with children in day camps, helping a children's home with care of kids and building upkeep, visiting people with members of a local church and pretty much anything else they can do to be a help and a blessing to the people of Mozambique.  On Sunday we had a live phone call with our team during each of our morning celebrations.  We want what they are experiencing in Africa to impact us back here in Chicago. 

A team of our youth had just arrived back in Chicago on Sunday as well, just in time for our 10:45 celebration.  They were in Red Lake, MN on an Indian reservation connecting with youth.  This was the reservation where about one year ago a young man took the lives of 7 people in a shooting rampage.  We went to offer practical acts of love in Jesus name. 

A physician in our congregation was also preparing to leave for Guatemala with Christian Medical Missions this past Sunday (all of this was on the busy side).  She'll spend a week there with a team of doctors providing care for about 1000 patients.  We had her share and then prayed for her as she prepares to go. 

All that to say that we are big on getting out of our comfort zone to live out our Christianity.

We're big on small groups at New Life.  We believe that people grow best in relationship and that a crowd can't accomplish relationship very effectively.  Our desire is always to help the crowd disperse into small groups where relationships are deepened and life happens more naturally. 

This week we are having a kids' Fiesta party every day.  A team of volunteers put on a program of music, teaching, games and snacks for children from the church and the community.  We have a tremendous team of people who have pitched in to serve.  As I walked out of the building with one of our volunteers tonight she was sweating from the heat but her comment was, "I'm having a ball!"  That's cool.

Challenges?  How can we be more real and authentic with God and each other?  How can we get more tangibly involved in the needs of the different segments of people in our community?  What would it look like for us to make Africa an everyday aspect of our mission and work as a church?  How can we engage people's doubts and confusion about Jesus and Christianity in a safe environment for a broader number of people who would never visit our church?  What is the square root of pi?  How do we provide meaningful spiritual connection for the part of our church and neighborhood community that tends to be transient--here for a year, 2 years, maybe 3 and then moves on?

Jesus, observably present in peoples' lives is what I think makes New Life special.  IWe think its what matters--its why we do church. 

Jennifer, thanks for your email and I hope that this gives you something to work with.  I know I skipped some of your questions but I tried to answer what I could and express a little of who we are.

Blessings,
Kevin Bruursema