Raw and Uncensored…Sort of (Part 2)

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If you took a snapshot of our church three years ago and one today, you'd find a night and day difference in terms of our effectiveness and impact on three fronts:

  • P.E.A.C.E.: We've been doing P.E.A.C.E. long before we called it P.E.A.C.E. For years we talked about being a more outwardly focused church, doing ministries of compassion in our society, but we are now a mobilized church demonstrating the Kingdom of God (doing the whole ministry of Jesus) locally and all around the world. It is a night and day difference. Our outreach ministry under the leadership of Dana Hayden, partnership coordinators, small group P.E.A.C.E. Leaders, on-fire small group leaders and dozens of Five Oakers has transformed our church culture.
  • Bringing Lives to Christ: We are more effective in reaching people for Christ than ever before and the greatest evidence is not in the amount of people making first-time decisions (a huge increase this year over previous years) but in the number of leaders serving at Five Oaks who started a personal relationship with Christ through the ministry of our church.
  • Multiplication: We have talked about the biblical model of multiplying at every level for years (personal, small group, leadership and the church). But this year we finally multiplied at the church level and became one church in two locations. We have established another beachhead for Christ in Hudson, WI, which is thriving, doing P.E.A.C.E. locally and globally and poised to multiply into other WI towns.

Much of this has come together in the last 12 to 18 months due to our prayerful, strategic focus on these fronts. It has resulted in big changes and sometimes has come at a cost to other ministries and emphases. So that's what I'll address in the next post.

Raw and Uncensored…Sort of

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Quite a few people approached me after the congregational meeting to thank me for my candor when I gave my state of our church presentation. Although the meeting was well attended (one of the few lately we didn’t have to delay waiting for a quorum), probably more than 80% of people who call Five Oaks their church home were not there (counting members and non-members). So I’m going to begin a series of posts covering most of the information I talked about, including my assessment of what went right this last year and what went "wrong" (this will be the most interesting for most folks).  I’ll probably go into greater detail on some items than I did at the meeting, but I hope to keep the posts short nonetheless.

I could not have written these posts until recently. I was too emotional about it, needed some distance and had to process many conversations and assessments by others. But I’m ready now. The “sort of” in the title means I’ve had time to process, so it’s not completely raw and uncensored. I’m certain that my assessment is flawed. In another year I’ll be able to say more and hopefully do so with greater understanding and wisdom. But the very act is helpful for me and, evidently, for others.