LifeSong Manchester

Manchester is now our new home.  Lynn and I have been here for 2 weeks now, and fall more in love with the town everyday.  To love a town means you love the people.  We love the people!  In meeting so many people, business owners, residents, and people who are serving the community, the sense that the Holy Spirit is moving in this New England town is obvious. 

Everyone we talk to at this point is very open and find it interesting that a new church is coming to Manchester.  We are hearing comments such as, “I have so many questions about God”, I hope that you have a Saturday night service because I work on Sunday”, and “Your a Pastor?, I didn’t know I could have a relationship with the priest”.  There are times of sowing, times of watering, and times of Harvest.  The scriptures say that "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers or few".  This certainly is a time and place of harvest.

There has been so many times in my life that I have been disobedient from God’s plan for my life, but not today.  And today I ask that God pour out my life for his glory.

Numbers 14:24

But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

The USA Today quoted the PEW organization that 1 in 5 are without religious affiliation.  More people are checking “None” in surveys.  In general, this is a true statement in New England, but we all worship something such as other people and relationships, or our stuff.  In Goshen Connecticut a white bison was born last month, and many Native Americans are visiting the town to worship…that’s no bull J
I see a little something different in this town.  People in New England are just simply tired or even broken by religion… the hypocrisy, the inability to live by certain rules or standards.

LifeSong Manchester is a community of people who most of all are in love with Jesus.  Everyone you ever come into contact with has a story to share, at LifeSong we listen and honor those stories.  We also believe that we are all a part of a greater story, God’s Story, and we want to be a place where we can help you enter into his story in a real and authentic way. 

We are beginning as a small group of people who all want the same thing, to transform lives and communities through Jesus.  It has become obvious to me that people in Hartford county really do want a relationship with God, they just don’t want to play games and be fake.  Me too! 

Our launch date is not yet set, but when we have met the milestone of 4 to 5 small groups of people sharing life together it will be time to launch.

We will be known in our community as a safe place to explore faith in Christ with others who are on a spiritual journey.  We know it can and will get a little messy, but I believe that as we start living authentically God smiles and says it’s “A beautiful mess”

Planting The Gospel,

Pastor Tim

Acts 2 Church

The first church truly got it right in terms of what Jesus intended to church to be. Acts 2 describes a people that ate together, studied together, prayed together, and the number of Christ followers grew daily. Isn’t it funny how God can take a group of people from being self centered to being Christ centered? And when we together, finally focus on the savior and not each other, that is when God uses us to encourage and minister to each other. When a person receives salvation, fellowship is realized, growing together in God’s word is realized, and becoming a missionary in your area of influence is now a “Must Be” reality.

I am overwhelmed of the GroupLink response from this past Sunday. We had 84 adults to sign up for small groups!! This represents 8 small groups in different parts of town, various ages and walks of life. I can see God planting a huge landscape of some amazing relationships that are about to be discovered. Your willingness to be a part of such activity, takes away the ME factor and now puts into play the WE factor. My prayer is that we continue to, not just to know what the savior knows, but to become who He is.

Three Reasons why the first church made an impact on their world:

1. Gather, Which is Fellowship
Acts 2:46
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,

2. Grow, Which is Bible study and prayer.
Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

3. Go, Which is be a Missionary were you live work and play.
Acts 2:47
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Tim

Church: Part 2

What are the most common excuses people give for not being part of a church family? Being in Church leadership, I have heard quite a few. Those excuses come from family, work, and the grocery store. The one I love to hear is “the church is full of hypocrites” and (in my mind) I say “yes” you are right, and we have room for one more, so when can you come?

When I think of church family, I think of unity. In the past I have experienced people that claim to be a disciple of Christ, that have done some very destructive things that disrupt unity, which a true Christ follower would not do.

God’s word has a lot to say on the subject:
Ephesians 4:3
3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
In short, as Christ followers we have unity, and Satan seeks to disrupt it or to remove it. The scripture didn’t say “create” it said “KEEP”.

Who is responsible for the unity of the church?
For the answer read Colossians 3:12-14

Tips worth keeping

Focus what we have in common, not our differences.
Matthew 28:18-20

Be realistic with your expectations
Ephesians 4:2

Choose to encourage rather than criticize.
Romans 14:4-10

Refuse to listen to gossip
If you are not part of the problem or part of the solution and you are talking about it then that is GOSSIP. And listening to gossip is like receiving stolen property.

Practice God’s method for conflict resolution.
Matt. 18:15-17

Support your pastor and leaders
Hebrews 13:17 / 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Side Note:
Other believers WILL disappoint you and let you down, but that is no excuse to stop fellowshipping with them. And Divorcing your church at the 1st sign of disappointment is a mark of immaturity.

Gather, Grow, & Go

Tim

Church: Part 1

How is being a member of a church like being a family member? Wow, if you are like me at all, you would have a lot to say about family and church. I think that there some similarities between the two. Key word here is “expectations”. We all have them, and when the church or the family, doesn’t meet our expectations, we are pretty quick to defend why our expectations are what they are, and even try to make them sound biblical. Sometimes we place expectations on people without ever verbalizing it to them. Example, most people believe that the church exists “to meet their needs”, when in fact the church does meet needs, but it is the result or the by-product of being a group of people who desperately want to see the lost to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The soul purpose of the church is not to meet needs, but to meet souls.

So in reality there are 2 types of misplaced expectations:
1. The unspoken expectation:
“Well, he is a Pastor, he should come and knock on my door.”

2. The unrealistic expectation:
“Why isn’t the church doing more for the marching band fund raiser?”

Using an analogy that a good friend shared with me, kind of sums it up concerning expectations, “at a football game, you have 10,000 people (in need of exercise) not in the game, but complaining what the 11 on the field, (that needs rest), should be doing in order for us to win”

Remember this, you can’t place an expectation on a family member that only the church can fill, because as a Christ follower you were created to have Christ community, and you can’t place an expectation on the church that only God can fill, because without a growing relationship with Him you will forever be dissatisfied, regardless what a family member or a church does or doesn’t do.

Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-2
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Side Note:
As a family member the expectation is to Love and be Loved. That does not exclude you from washing the dishes.

As a Church member our focus is Him and not us, and we don’t earn the right not to serve.

Gather, Grow, & Go

Tim

Can someone live a joy-filled life in isolation from others?

Today, I spent some time with some friends from LifeSong as we worked together on a community transformation project. It was hot and sometimes overwhelming. I noticed a common element. All that participated was just happy being together. They were experincing community. 4 year old Jack kept us in Icey Pops and elbowed his way into any group of people that made eye contact with him. As we prepare for "In Home" small groups, I have been reading "Creating Community" by Andy Stanley. WE are built to be in each others lives.

Here is a short insert:

"Lost Perspective - When we live in isolation, we can easily lose perspective on life. That's because there is no objective voice calling us us toward balance. Our lows tend to be lower, and our highs tend to be higher. Our point of view becomes clouded and things tend to seem worse (or better) than they really are. Simple decisions can appear bigger than life and decision making can become more impulsive when we don't have others to point us back to "True North" And lest we forget, we can lose the perspective that, as believers in Christ, we are in a battle. We can forget that we have a very real enemy and he plays for keeps. We can lose sight that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, and our enemy's most successful strategy is to isolate us so he can attack and destroy us."

What is NOT good? See Genesis 2:18

Gather, Grow, and Go!

Tim