HEMPFIELD CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN
SPRING CONGREGATIONAL GATHERING
Thursday, April 07, 2016 – 7:00 PM
Hempfield Church of the Brethren Vision - “Firmly rooted and living deeply in the character of Christ to become a healthier church that powerfully shares Christ with the world”
Meeting Notes
The Greatest of these is Love – 1 Corinthians 13:13
Hymn - #332 Blessed Assurance Laura Meiser
Devotions Pastor Pete Kontra
On March 22, 2016 terrorists planted bombs in a subway station and airport in Brussels. A photographer was in a small village in Greece, taking pictures of a refugee camp when she came across a refugee boy holding a sign that said "Sorry for Brussels." Another picture was tweeted out from the same village of another refugee child with the phrase "Sorry for Brussels" painted across his chest.
As the article written about this ends, "These images seem to encapsulate the tragedy of these dark days. And yet seeing these children whose own circumstances are so grim still able to empathize with people in an unfamiliar city offers hope." These children are providing a glimpse of hope to both those in the refugee camp and in Brussels.
It made me think about my Dad. He’s 75 years old and taking Physics and German classes at Lebanon Valley College. One of his professors is Muslim and was sharing what his local mosque is doing to help the refugees overseas. So my Dad asked what he could do to help, which is to send supplies.
So off my Dad and Mom went to buy as much as they could to take to the mosque. Why is my Dad passionate about this? Because he, too, was a refugee. Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, when he was 15 years old he left his family and fled the country with a group of people to escape the oppression of the Soviet Union. Hungary started to revolt and the Soviets came in with tanks and guns and violently took the city back under their control.
I haven’t heard a lot of details about those many days he was on foot running to the border to cross into Austria. I know there were land mines and machine guns involved, and days without food. Once he made it across he was taken in by a school for boys where he learned his trade as a tailor.
It was my home church, Spring Creek Church of the Brethren in Hershey, who sponsored him to come to the U.S. where he lived for six months with my Grandparents and Mom. That’s how my parents met, and how I came into being.
People are people are people, no matter where you are in the world. I haven’t been to too many other countries, but from where I have been, and hearing from so many others’ experiences, we know that we humans all have the same basic needs: To belong, for relationship, to know we matter in this life. To be loved.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
And John 3:17 we cannot forget either: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
God came to show us His love, not to condemn, but to save.
So Pastors Geoff, Kent, Doug, and I met toward the end of last year and in thinking about all this going on in the world, the question came as to what do we do as the church in all this? How do we impact our communities?
And of course it is with the love of God in Jesus Christ.
Because love means action. Love means I reach out to those who I do not understand so I don’t fear them, but can be Christ to them.
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And also to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus also said others will know we are His disciples by the love we show one another.
It’s all linked together.
And so how awesome it has been to see God working through us as the leadership here met and prayed and saw God leading us into this year with goals He placed on our hearts.
To love one another and build our relationships here.
So then to be Christ in the community as we serve as peacemakers in a broken and fearful world.
Because people are people are people. God made us all. We all have the same basic needs.
The greatest of these is love.
Introduction of Goals Ray O’Boyle
This is a unique Congregational Gathering. There is no “official” business to take care of…no budget to hash, or ballot to vote on, or licensing for ministers…only the continuing business of making Christ’s purposes our own.
You hear it every day it seems…“In times like these”…or…”These are trying times.” This is a true observation. But maybe the most interesting thing about these statements is the fact that they are as true today as they have been throughout history. They could have been uttered by the Apostle Paul in the first century church and it would have been just as applicable.
Throughout our lifetime there have been many indications of fear, anxiety and strife amidst our interactions with one another, with our communities, with our states, with our country and with the world. And yet, in his recent book, “The Name of God is Mercy”, Pope Francis writes…”We have received freely, we give freely. We are called to serve Christ the Crucified through every marginalized person. We touch the flesh of Christ in he who is outcast, hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, ill, unemployed, persecuted, and in search of refuge.”
I just heard Jenny Yang, the vice president of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, speak this morning and she suggested that fear cripples the work of God. It cripples the efforts of churches who are the hands and feet of Christ reaching out to people throughout our world.
You see, human nature has not changed significantly since Adam and Eve…and that should be no surprise because we have been created from the same mold in the image and likeness of God. And these trying things that create these trying times seem to repeat themselves over, and over, and over again…only maybe in more sophisticated ways.
With that in mind, at the Leadership Team’s annual retreat we recognized and established two goals to try to address at least two of the fears and anxieties we commonly face today.
First, in a political climate of polarization and vitriolic rhetoric, we seem to put our Christ following in a separate compartment…to be used later. We are faced with stock market uncertainty, terrorism at home and abroad, radical Islam, instantaneous and viral communication, a global refugee crisis, and a plethora of other issues that are disconcerting in these times.
And so…we want to focus outward…We want to become, “an aggressive voice for Christ’s love by creating “pockets of peace” within our community.” We may have very little impact on the world, but we can have an impact on “the one” and put a face on the narrative of some of these real concerns. The goal champion to promote and facilitate our progress with this initiative is Pete Cope.
Second, no matter which age group we find ourselves in, we are all faced with issues that have been unheard of in the past with our schedules being completely full and having to establish priorities among educational, social, economic, athletic, and religious responsibilities for our families in trying to be good role models in the midst of all of the transitions that are occurring within them and furthermore, our more experienced brothers and sisters are living fruitful lives longer and requiring different types of support in the many different challenges they encounter during the changes in their lives.
And so…we want to focus inward…We want to “create intergenerational relationships to foster transitions that help individuals grow spiritually and strengthen the faith.” And the goal champion to promote and facilitate our progress with this initiative is Pastor Doug.
Peace – Love is Kind Pete Cope
“Become an aggressive voice for Christ’s love by creating “pockets of peace” within our community.”
I need to switch roles here for a little bit. As moderator, my job is to be a dispassionate listener and simply manage the conversation. For the next few minutes I need to be part of the conversation.
I’ve always had difficulty reconciling the Brethren Peace position with my Dad’s proud service in World War 2.
While in my heart, I feel peace is a better alternative, I nevertheless cannot condemn the soldiers of my Dad’s, my and my son’s generation who honorably serve their country in the armed forces.
Nor would I criticize the use of armed guards to protect the church children and adults in Nigeria from Boko Harem, or suggest we ignore the real threat of radical Islam around the world, including here at home.
Yet, I feel stronger every day that the fear mongering and bigotry spreading in the world in the name of fighting terrorism is taking our humanity in the opposite direction of where Christ would have us go. I watched the first 30 minutes of an early republican debate and was alarmed by each candidate’s attempt to outdo the other in how effectively they would kill our terrorist enemies. Alarmed not so much by the candidate’s statements as the fact that they probably accurately reflected the mood of many people.
Pastor Pete spoke of who are your Gentiles in a sermon not too long ago, and challenged us to love those with whom we disagree. Christ takes that challenge one step further and commands us to love our enemies.
The mood of the country has heightened our disagreement with Islam to the level of some portraying all Muslims as our enemy.
So can we as a church solve all this and make everyone get along peacefully in our lifetime. Probably not. But what we can do is create a pocket of peace, one person at a time.
By supporting and sponsoring our own Christian/Muslim interaction, over time we can become a beacon of peace, compassion and understanding in our community.
As Ray reported, the Leadership Team committed to address this issue by establishing the goal to Become an aggressive voice for Christ’s love by creating “pockets of peace” within our community.”
Along with the goal, a team was formed – myself, Ray O’Boyle, Jerry Stoner, Joel Kettering and Pastor Kent. You will notice a serious flaw on the team roster. There are no current women members. We will rectify that in the near future. So, ladies, if you are interested, please let me know. We need to properly understand the traditional and modern role of women in the Muslim middle eastand in our own communities as we move forward.
Three objectives were established as well. The first of these is Education and Dialog. Kent.
1)Education and DialogPastor Kent Rice and Jonathan Bornman
Many of us are starting out at ground zero regarding our knowledge of the Muslim Community. We realize the need for education and training to have productive dialogue and are studying and meeting with experts to help us represent HCOB and Jesus Christ well.
The Eastern Mennonite Missions Christian/Muslim Relations Team affords several varied opportunities to learn about, interact with and work along-side our Muslim neighbors.
2)Training and Service Pastor Kent Rice
In order to be effective at service, one needs to understand the service needed and how it will be received.
One option of service is to support a refugee family. Jerry Stoner
Notes from four speakers at the Evangelical Press Annual Convention:
- Jon Hirst, - Today there are 232 million people "on the move" through immigration and out of those, 60 million are refugees being forced out of their countries.
- Jenny Yang - We have the greatest number of displaced people in history and Christiansshould use this refugee problem as "an opportunity to share our love".
- David Shenk - We should seek out peaceful communications with Muslims over "cups of tea" to improve Christian/Muslim relationships.
- Christie Baer - Refugee support and interaction demonstrates that humor, love, and grief are "universal bonds" that bring people together.
3)Policy Pete Cope
Some time ago Pastor Pete and Ray O’Boyle shared former Church of the Brethren General Secretary Stanley J. Noffsinger’s personal statement decrying anti-Muslim rhetoric. While this was not an official statement of the Church of the Brethren at the time, subsequently the denomination has signed a letter supporting Syrian refugees.
As we move forward with learning about, interacting with and serving our Muslim neighbors a statement reflecting our beliefs and our vision of how Christ will support us in this effort will emerge.
We have no words on paper at this time, just the sense that at some point we will.
Community – Love Always Protects, always TrustsPastor Doug Hinton
“Create intergenerational relationships to foster transitions that help individuals grow spiritually and strengthen the faith.”
One of our goals is Create intergenerational relationships to foster transitions that help individuals grow spiritually and strengthen the faith. The team of people spear-heading this project are Jason Hoffman, Galen Brumbaugh, Karen Rice, Dave Dum, and Doug Hinton.
From my position, I see many pockets of faithful people in our church. Sunday schools and children’s church are meeting on Sunday mornings. Youth group (ages 12-18) meet on Sunday nights. Young adults (18-35ish) meet every other Wednesday night. Young families (adults with children <1yr old – 20s) meet every other Sunday night. Our ministry teams meet throughout the month. This is fantastic – but many do not know what the others are doing. We can see this on Sunday morning between those who attend first and second services! Our church reflects the society in which we live, seeing clans of people by age group: kids in sports, young adults at work and pubs, 55+ communities, retirement communities, etc. How can the church be different than the society it reflects?
Acts 2:42ff tells us - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachingand to fellowship, to the breaking of breadand to prayer...All the believers were together and had everything in common…Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their numberdaily those who were being saved.
One of our goals this year, and I believe it to be a start of a longer vision, is community. When the church first came to be, they ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, eating and prayer. They met in the temple courts and broke bread in their homes and ate together.’ We’ve already seen new groups start up at times other than Sunday morning. They want to be together and take more time to dig into and discuss Scripture than is allotted between services. They’re growing, praying, eating, and seeking together. We want to encourage this activity. Some of these groups are still larger than people feel comfortable in and the Education Team has started asking questions like: How can we encourage more small groups to meet together? What materials are needed? What social barriers do we need to overcome? What church ‘structures’ do we need to examine?
Along with looking at our educational structures, opportunities outside the walls of the church are coming together. One way to join people together revolves around a common goal. Dave Dum contacted Brethren Disaster Ministries to allow HCOB to be the hands and feet of Christ. From July 31 to August 6, a trip is planned for Detroit to help people rebuild from flooding that occurred in 2014. We are hoping to take 15-16 people out. Addressing and attacking a common goal like this allows us to see people grow into their strengths, learn from others, and physically participate in restoring the homes of our neighbors: near and far.
Seeking a common goal together can look many different ways. From September 9-11, an all church retreat is planned for Hempfield COB at Camp Swatara. Being around people for more than an hour on Sunday morning can reveal the depth of their character (fun and thoughtful), allow our relationships to become stronger, and live out what Scripture tells us. Is there a game, activity, or devotion that you can lead? Please contact Jason Hoffman or Jason Haldeman. We need only practice the gifts God has given us – because in so doing, we can strengthen the whole body.
Why is this so important? I visited Shenk’s Ferry the other day. I asked God what he wanted me to see. I started looking at the trees: the leaves and young shoots stretching to receive the warmth and nutrients of the sun knowing that the tree must do so in order to survive. But, the leaves could not stretch so high if they were not supported by strong trunks, deeply rooted in the ground being strengthened by the water and nutrients found there. Colossians 1 tells us, “Forby Him all things were created…in Him all thingshold together.” What I saw was the church. The youth and young, stretching toward the Son, seeking him and asking questions. But they would not be able to ask if they were not held up but those more experienced, those rooted in the foundation of faith, those whose rock is Christ alone. Just as a tree has many parts yet remains one being, so it is with the church. As we seek community, as we seek to bridge the gaps, may we see a fuller image of the body of Christ, learning from and leaning on one another as we follow Jesus together.