Reflections after 10 years in Dublin
It’s 10 years today since we moved to the Emerald Isle!
Our first decade in Dublin is over and it is all change for me and for the church in the new decade ahead. Here are reflections from me on the journey so far, with some lessons afterwards. Leanne has written a post-script.
10 years in Dublin
Monday 24th September 2012 – this was the day that Leanne and I, with Jacob (3) and Annabelle (1 and a half) moved to Dublin. With the help and support of lots of loving friends from Mosaic Church in Leeds, we packed all our stuff into a big van and got the ferry over from Holyhead. I remember three things about that day – it was very long, it was very rainy and it was very exciting. As we ate fish and chips that night with those who had helped us move, we prayed for God’s blessing on the journey ahead.
Sunday 7th October 2012 – that was the first time Christ City Church gathered for a worship service, in our home, although we didn’t even have a name at the time! There were 6 of us in CCC at the time, and we had one (non-believing) visitor. I always said to people, “I hope we can keep a 1 in 7 ratio of believers to non-believers” in our gatherings. Leanne soon had to learn guitar as no-one else could lead our sung worship, so all the songs were pretty simple! 🙂
We started the church because we wanted to make a positive difference to the city of Dublin. We didn’t really know what we were doing but we had a deep conviction that the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Jesus said that he would build his church (Matthew 16:18) but we knew he had commissioned his disciples (and us!) to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). We believed the scriptures* which taught us that the church is to be an alternative, provocative yet winsome, counter-cultural community where believers are nurtured and discipled, God is worshipped, non-believers can ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ and through whom the cities of this world might be positively impacted. From the very start we always talked about becoming ‘a church planting church’.
So we were small, insignificant and very naive. But we had a conviction and we knew Jesus would be with us in the ups and downs which lay ahead on the journey. We knew we’d get to know him more through the journey, and that he might change us more than we were able to change anyone or anything else!
Sunday 14th October 2014 – we had our first public worship service, in Filmbase in Temple Bar. It was dark, edgy and right in the heart of the city centre drinking district. Slowly we started to understand who we were and what we were meant to do. I remember one of our first banquets – 100+ people crammed into a sweaty Filmbase on a rainy day, with a local Temple Bar band banging out the tunes whilst CCC and local homeless people danced for joy. A picture of the Kingdom of God!
Sunday 3rd January 2016 – After a brief stint of CCC being homeless ourselves (our kind friends at Immanuel church put us up for four months) we moved into Synge Street Secondary School, Portobello, which became a great home for us. As ever, we met at 4.30pm for three simple reasons. Firstly we wanted to reach the unchurched or de-churched 18-35s in Dublin – those living in the hangover of the celtic tiger crash and the failure of the institutional church, who often have another kind of hangover on a Sunday morning too. Secondly, no other church we knew of in Dublin had a service at that time. Thirdly, I had to finish writing my sermon in the morning as I was also working full time in business :).
Over the years God has refined us, disciplined us, nurtured us, grown us and brought great people to support the work. It is remarkable, humbling and encouraging. We have tried to live by the mantra that ‘we don’t take ourselves seriously but we take God seriously’. I have drastically failed to live by that many times, but it is a holy ambition.
So what next?
Sunday 25th September 2022 – we multiply into two congregations as we launch our Morning Congregation in Stillorgan. Over the first decade God has been so faithful – providing, protecting and establishing us as a church and this Sunday is the next stage in our journey of proving his faithfulness. It’s not quite a church plant (we’ll remain one church) but we’re starting a second congregation, CCC South, at 10.30am in Oatlands Primary School (Stillorgan). We’ll continue to gather at 4.30pm in Synge Street Secondary School (Portobello) as CCC Central. In time (in hopefully not too long!) we’d love to start a third congregation on the northside of the city.
On a personal note, I also stopped working at HubSpot after nearly 9 fantastic years, and moved full time with the church in April 2022. This had been the potential trajectory for a few years, although I’d still love to keep my foot in that world and there may be a few days’ consultancy down the line. I shared more about this on my leaving LinkedIn post
So what have I learned?
I thought I’d share 10 lessons from the first 10 years in Dublin. They are in some kind of order…I think.
(1) He wants to change me first. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, he not only was trying to reach Nineveh, he was trying to reach (and change) Jonah’s heart. Jonah needed to understand the depth of his sin, and therefore come to a deeper understanding of God’s grace for him. That has been very true for me. I am still learning and still being changed. Just recently I read Pete Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and Paul Tripp’s book Lead, which both emphasise the need for deeper inner work, at the level of motivation and desire, tackling pride, idolatry and false identities. God wants to transform us from the inside out through his love, truth, grace and church. I am grateful for all the people God has put across my path to help me in that process of change, no-one more so than…
(2) Leanne is the best wife for me. Being married to me is no easy thing! I know it is obvious to everyone how long-suffering she has been to put up with my restless, often headstrong, ways for the last 18 years of marriage. The marriage vow really is powerful! Church planting has been a team effort from the word go, and it’s not always been easy. It has put strain on our marriage at times, but through it our marriage and love for each other has grown deeper and wider, and together we have learned more about ourselves and God. There is no way I could have managed in the last 10 years (let alone CCC!) without Leanne’s faithful, loving, caring, supportive, truth-telling, willing and hard-working presence alongside me.
Where I have had no/little margin (e.g. in the home or for our family logistics) she has picked up the load. She has protected us from bad or skewed decision-making or priorities so that our home has also been a great place for Jacob and Annabelle to grow up, and receive all the love, attention and care they need to flourish into who God is making them. We have a very happy home and family because of Leanne. As a church-planter, you cannot put a price on that!
(see below for Leanne’s post-script)
(3) Bivocational church planting has so many benefits in a city. I left HubSpot at the end of April so for nearly the whole of the first decade I was working full-time in business and doing church work alongside. That I was measured on ‘targets not time’ was vital to create space for church work. I reflected at the start of the journey on some of those benefits, but here are a few more;
- You can live sustainably in an expensive city – money is not a pre-occupation as it is for many church planters
- You can learn from the city – whether from the general culture or business disciplines
- You meet 100s of people – I mean 100s. Over the years I have met 100s of people. Aside from the few colleagues that have become long-term friends, you create a web of relationships and working in the city centre means you can easily grab coffee/lunch with all types of people who work in other businesses or happen to be in town.
- You have dozens of evangelistic opportunities – my dual-identity and role naturally led to dozens and dozens of conversations about the church and often to the gospel. Many friends came to church (even just to see what it was and laugh at me).
- You can disciple people better – because I have an understanding of the ‘real world’ and its pressures, brokenness, intensity, temptations etc I could disciple other Christians in the workplace far more effectively. I was a pastor that ‘understood’ and could relate to their experience.
(4) City centre church planting requires patient and flexible entrepreneurship within parameters. The city is complex, intense and expensive, so for church planting to work in cities one must be patient, flexible and entrepreneurial.
- Patient – it will take time for a church to get established as a healthy self-sustaining church – at least 5 years, if not longer. For example, we still do not have elders appointed in CCC, though we have very well-functioning leadership, staff, trustee and advisory teams. Some things take longer than expected!
- Flexible – having plans is good, but responding to what God is doing, connecting with the people he brings along and seizing the opportunities as they present are also vital. For example, I never imagined I’d stay in the workplace so long! So one must be both proactive and plan, but also be re-active and respond. At different points I have got this balance wrong, on different sides.
- Entrepreneurial – both in ‘entrepreneurial resistance’ which means you persevere and keep going towards the goal despite setbacks and disappointments, but also through a ‘try it and see’ mentality where you are willing to give things a go, fail, and try again. It’s easy to get discouraged in church planting or become stagnant. Cities move too quickly to allow stagnation, so you need to remain entrepreneurial and ‘go again’. Kathy Keller has some great reflections on this in a recent article.
- Parameters – all this needs to happen within some biblical parameters that guide what a church is and does, and must do. There is lots of flexibility, plenty of opportunity for contextualisation, and lots of things that we assume are biblical but are actually just preferences or previous experiences that can be changed. Nonetheless, it’s Jesus’ church and we must do things his way.
(5) Gathering, discipling and training young leaders is the key focus. Before we had even launched the church publicly and were meeting in our home we had an ‘intern’. A brave soul (Christian Hacking!) decided he could come help and learn whilst we figured things out. And since then we have had 15 interns/apprentices (or student interns) and three of them are on staff with me now 🙂 If we’re going to be a church planting church we need to make disciples and raise leaders. Since I was not taking a salary for my church work for so many years, this gave space (and freed up money) for others to take on church roles and be paid. Leanne and I have always been ‘the old ones’ in church (that is starting to change now, which is nice), so it has been nice to see people a lot younger than us grow in the gifts and shape the church.
(6) Dublin is a tale of two cities. As leaders we have talked a lot about this in the recent years and I have written about this elsewhere (here and here), but to understand ministry in Dublin you have to understand what it means to reach two cities – the transient residents and the long-term residents – which require different approaches when it comes to community formation, making disciples, and sharing the gospel. The two types of residents have different needs, challenges and opportunities. Over the years we have encouraged/envisioned many in CCC to stay in the big bad city for the sake of the gospel, and to make life-decisions and count the cost, to do so. Not just to ‘take from the city’ and then leave when you have got what you wanted (career progression, visa update, university degree) but also to ‘give to the city’ in a way that might cost you. This is what it means to ‘love the city.’ Praise God many people have done that, whether for a limited time or for the long-term. The two-city dynamic within Dublin is one key factor in why we’re starting a morning congregation in Stillorgan, and God-willing, another in the northside in the coming years.
(7) Hurling is the best sport in the world. A few weeks ago (at the tender age of 40!) I got to play my first championship match for the Kilmacud Crokes and it was a great honour and joy to do so. I wasn’t very good and we got thoroughly beaten, but I enjoyed every minute. Learning, coaching and playing GAA has been one of the highlights of the last 10 years, and one of the many delights of Irish culture and society that I have loved. I came to Dublin to make a positive difference, but the city has made a positive difference to me…and this is just one example.
(8) Sea swimming keeps you fit and sane (especially in covid). I am one of the most privileged people in the world in that I have a sea-view and can run to the sea in 18 minutes and enjoy one of the many fantastic sea-swimming spots in Dublin. This is a great joy for me multiple times a week, and was certainly vital to my health and wellbeing in Covid.
Sea-swimming and the GAA (#7 & #8) as well as working as a team with Leanne (#2) fit into the wider category of ensuring that, as a leader, I have remained physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually strong over the first decade. These have meant that I am not running on empty but have been replenished and revitalised. Alongside daily habits of Bible-reading, prayer and journaling, and other rhythms of sabbath (Saturday was always off), retreat days, fasting, reading, conferences, meeting with brothers and sisters my age and older etc, the Lord has protected me from me, and protected me from burnout or lacking vitality in ministry. On the whole I have remained fresh and known great joy in life and work, family and ministry.
(9) Pay attention to whom God brings across your path. I have hinted at this already, but it’s important to have your eyes open to who might join the church, become leaders in the church, be key ‘people of peace’ within the city, be open to receiving the gospel, or helpful older mentors/friends to guide and instruct you. This also includes people where there might be challenge or difficulty. God can teach you as much through them as those you ‘click’ with when it is all plain sailing. As ever in God’s kingdom, it’s not usually the ‘likely’ people who become key builders with you in the ministry. Growing in discernment as to who are the people who ‘get it’ and have the character and commitment to partner/build with has been an important lesson along the way.
(10) To God be the glory. It sounds cliche and what I am supposed to write but I mean it. When I consider all the things I have done wrong, all the ways I lacked wisdom, grace, sensitivity or purity of motive it reminds me that it is God who has enabled and built all that has happened in Dublin. When I consider areas of weakness, key people who kindly helped me, and when I failed, the only explanation is that God has been faithful in building his church. So to him be the glory in the first decade, and in the next.
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*These are the scriptures that have particularly guided our thinking on the church and its role in the city – Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 19:4-6, Jeremiah 29:4-7, Jonah 4:11, Matthew 5:14-16, Acts 2:38-46 & 1 Peter 2:4-25. Much of this is under the influence and teaching of Tim Keller.
If you’re interested I was recently in a 2-part podcast series with 2 other ‘Brits Abroad’ who had church planted around 10 years ago into the European Cities of Amsterdam and Stockholm.
… … …
Leanne’s Postscript
24th September 2012 does indeed feel like a lifetime ago. We have gone from a very small motley crew of believers meeting in our home in Dublin with two very small children sleeping upstairs to a church which is about to multiply into two congregations, officially launching 10 years and one day later, a teenager who has just started secondary school and another who will be following quickly in his footsteps next year. There have certainly been many challenges along the way as the ‘pastor’s wife’ (eugh – really dislike that title!). I have resisted the urge to become a traybake extraordinaire though so that’s one thing I guess…
And as Steve enters this new season as a full-time pastor, my role as a hands-on stay-at-home Mom will also morph into something else, although I’m not quite sure what that’ll be just yet!
The changes ahead can seem daunting when looking at them straight on, with perhaps a looming sense of ‘here we go again!’. However, when looked at through the lens of what God has done over the last 10 years, we go again with faith, with hope and with a right sense of expectancy – that God will build his church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. Surely there will be ups and downs, triumphs and challenges ahead. But we are trusting in our good God that he goes before us – as the breastplate of St Patrick says which inspired us 10 years ago and continues to inspire us still…
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
Prayer-Goals For Our Sabbatical – 4 Fs
Leanne and I are about to start a 6 week sabbatical, stepping away from both church work and HubSpot work. One of our advisory team members is also taking a sabbatical in the coming year and had mentioned that typically there are 3-4 reasons for people to take a sabbatical: (1) for study (2) to undertake a project (3) to be restored or (4) a combination of these 3 options. Ours is primarily number 3 with a bit of number 1 as well.
He also encouraged us to set some goals for the sabbatical so that the church could be praying for us and that we might be held accountable for our time away. This felt like a great idea so as Leanne and I have prepared to go we have talked about four prayer goals, and in my usual preacher’s way I have made sure they all begin with the same letter of the alphabet…four ‘F’s!
(1) Family Fun
Since arriving in Dublin and church planting bi-vocationally, I have worked a 6 day week with typically 3-4 nights of the week also taken up with church work in some way. So my guess is that I am typically working a 60-65 hour week. God has granted us grace and the ability to do this and Leanne and I have worked very well as a team to enable this to happen and we have had some great friends supporting us too. I have always appreciated the way the Apostle Paul talked about the power that enabled his ministry:
To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.(Colossians 1:29)
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)
For the most part that has been our experience – we have felt the energy, grace and enabling of God for the work. Nehemiah’s epic rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, working day and night, has also been a great inspiration for me.
The way Leanne and I have given a rhythm to the week and ensured we practice the biblical principle of sabbath is for Saturdays to be completely free of church work and devoted to the family and then Leanne and I would get one date-night a week to catch up. However, it is fair to say that the family has felt the pinch of me working so many hours each week and as our children are getting older they do require more time. So during the sabbatical one of our prayer-goals is to have tonnes of fun as a family, to create some shared memories, to have plenty of time to talk, to hang out, to explore, to play, to eat etc etc. Jacob and Annabelle are at a great age where they should remember this time together. We’ll also create some space for 1-2-1 time with both children and Leanne and I will get evenings together to chat and read.
(2) Freshen Up
Leanne and I sense that after 7 years in Dublin and as the church comes up to its 5 year anniversary it is a good opportunity for us to ‘freshen up’ – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We aren’t burnt out and exhausted but neither are we fresh and revived!
Physically – We want to sleep and get lots of exercise and do some outdoor activities (certainly I do!). As mentioned above, we hope that this chance to have time and to be unhurried and slow down will be physically rejuvenating.
Mentally – This is probably the area where we both feel most tired. Our lives are so busy and there is increasing complexity (some of which is only temporary – e.g. house renovations) that we find ourselves tired mentally and so to have no formal responsibilities outside of the family we hope will enable us to de-clutter our thoughts and freshen up mentally. We are praying for fresh perspective and vision (next point) which will be easier once we have have mentally de-cluttered a bit.
Digitally – Additionally, we will be having a digital detox, dropping off email, whatsapp and social media. The first point of call for the church whilst we are away will be the newly appointed CCC Leadership Team and if needed the Advisory Team.
Spiritually – Leanne and I want to create space in the 6 weeks for us to spend time with God. Our plan is to do family devotions each day after dinner and for Leanne and I to read a chapter from a devotional book each day together to help us pray and reflect. Additionally, we’ll take half-a-day each, each week, for us to have some silence and solitude and be able to pray, journey, read scripture, go for walks…whatever! One of our prayers for the sabbatical is that we will re-build a deeper joint devotional life together. We’d like to sow some new habits and have more time for praise and worship together, something that marked our marriage more so pre-Dublin. We also plan to find local churches on the Sundays we’re able to and join God’s people in worshipping Jesus in some different contexts. We will also be taking books with us to help us reflect and connect to God*
Emotionally – Having space to talk, process, reflect and look back on the last 7 years will be good for us. We can examine our hearts, our emotions, our tensions, our feelings, our desires, our fears and be able to let God in and bring refreshment and renewal to our hearts.
One of the things we are aware of as we head away is that we don’t want to ‘indulge’ ourselves in a great holiday and forget what the sabbatical is all about. This isn’t about having a hedonistic or comfortable time, though I expect we’ll have lots of fun and we appreciate that we’re in a privileged position to do this. We want to connect to God and to one another in a deeper way, to establish some new rhythms, to have fresh energy for service and to ensure we have a sustainable plan for the future…which leads me to our next prayer-goal.
(3) Future Discernment
This is without doubt our biggest practical prayer point. The last 7 years have been fantastic and we have sensed, as Nehemiah did, that ‘The Lord’s hand was upon us’ to get us established in Dublin. But we’re now asking ‘what next’? It’s not that our vision has changed, we still want to make a positive impact for Christ in the city of Dublin and the island of Ireland. We still want to make disciples, raise up leaders, plant churches, teach the Bible, help skeptics engage with Jesus, train others in the integration of faith and work, and participate in kingdom-wide initiatives in Dublin that seek the wellbeing of the city…nothing has changed there…but we’re asking the question: what is the best strategic use of our time to enable that going forward? What do the next 5-7 years looks like for us? What will our sustainable rhythms for the next season be? Our sense is that things will need to change and to slow down. With the church growing and our desire to plant another church, I may need more time dedicated to that. With our family needs increasing we may need more time for that. And as we get older and our youthful vigour starts to let us down (darn it!) we probably have to adjust to a more sustainable pace.
So we will be seeking God, as the church has done through the month of renew, asking him to guide us as to how we can best love him and love our neighbour over the coming years. Please pray for us as we do this. We want to have a fresh touch from God and for us together and individually to have a fresh vision (or probably better…refreshed vision) for the year ahead.
(4) Formative for the church
Our final prayer goal is that by stepping away it will create space for others in church to rise up. The newly appointed leadership team is part of this but we also hope that God will use our absence for the blessing and flourishing of the church, particularly as we think about planting another church or starting a morning congregation (previously we had said between 2020-2022). We will be praying for the church that our time away will cause the church to grow deeper and wider, for new gifts to be fanned into flame and for any unintentional bottle-necks that Leanne and I have created to be revealed so that God can have his way in us.
As part of the 2 weeks back in Dublin and into the month of August I plan to read books more focussed on mission, evangelism and church planting to help think through the future years.*
So that is where Leanne and I are at as we head away. Please pray for us, our children, the church and the future.
The dates of our sabbatical will be Wednesday 19th June to Tuesday 6th August
*Reading List (suggestions welcome)
Here are some of the books I have put aside to try and read over the 6 weeks and into the month of August on my return…we’ll see how I get on, I am not putting any pressure on myself but I’d like to re-establish a pattern of study that was part of my life before I came to Dublin.
In the last 2 weeks of the sabbatical where I will be spending the most time studying and planning, I plan to read a number of books on mission and church planting. If you’re interested, here is the list…in the most probable order I’ll read them (or not!)
Devotional Books
- The Autobiography of George Muller
- Answer to Prayer – George Muller
- Power through Prayer – E.M Bounds
- A Praying Life – Paul Miller
- A Loving Life – Paul Miller
- Enjoying God – Tim Chester
Books on mission, evangelism and church planting
- The Master Plan of Evangelism – Robert Coleman
- Out Of The Salt Shaker – Becky Pippert
- The Trellis & The Vine – Marshall & Payne
- What is the mission of the church? – Deyong & Gilbert
- Transforming Mission (paradigm shifts in theology of mission) – David Bosch
- The Mission Of God – Christopher Wright
- Paul: Apostle of the heart set free – FF Bruce
If you have any other suggestions or recommendations do let me know
How the church can and must reach Dublin?
Each year, around the church birthday, I write an update on things we have learned, or where we are going, partly for my own sake (to track the journey of planting a church in Dublin) and partly because I hope it might help others (who knows if that is true!). You can read the previous years’ reflections here.
We’re 4 years old as a church now and so we have some experience and we have seen some trends in terms of what it means to do ministry in an urban centre. On our last leadership retreat day we spent some time chewing over 2 short Tim Keller talks on Urban Ministry from the 2010 Lausanne conference.
Here is a summary of the talks and then some applications for us as we look to become a church-planting-church in Dublin.
Why must we reach cities?
Keller’s first talk outlines that cities are important for three reasons
- Culturally – cities dictate culture and if we want our culture to be affected by Jesus’ values we must reach them.
- Missiologically – cities are places to reach 4 distinct people groups
- The next generation
- Unreached people
- The cultural elites (the movers and shakers in all sectors)
- The poor
- Viscerally (of the heart) – When God dialogues with Jonah in Jonah 4 he argues that Jonah should care about the people more than he does about his precious plant. Why? The city is full of more people than plants. God loves people more than plants. People are moving into cities at a faster rate than churches are being planted in cities. So we need to plant churches in cities. It’s a logical argument (the numbers make sense) and an emotional argument (people matter!).
How we can reach cities?
In Keller’s second talk he has 2 big ideas on how we can reach cities – firstly, ‘contextualised churches’ and secondly, ‘gospel movements’.
(1) Contextualized Churches
Cities are unique and therefore churches must be unique. Keller outlines a number of ways churches must adapt to the uniqueness of cities:
- Cultural sensitivity – we must be patient with the constant charge of being racially insensitive. It’s inevitable in a city centre church which is very multi-cultural that people will rub up against one another. Be patient. Expect it. Learn how to handle it.
- Integration of faith & work – work is very important in cities so we must stop taking people out of ‘work-world’ into ‘church-world’ but instead equip people to be Christians in their work.
- Open to change and disorder – urbanites like diversity and innovation so churches mustn’t become static or become too orderly. Or as Kathy Keller puts it in her 30 year reflection on ministry ‘church as usual will not work’
- Intentional evangelism – since cities contain a vast diversity of people and world-views, we’ll need to adapt our evangelistic approach and be well trained in different types of gospel presentations and apologetics – for example reaching a traditional Irish Catholic is very different from reaching a young urban Dub who feels they have thrown off the ‘shackles’ of religion. Dublin is full of elder and younger brothers and they need different evangelistic approaches.
- Famous for the care of the poor – so the people in the city don’t just think you’re about increasing your tribe. We want to get a reputation in the city that even though people may disagree (even despise) what we believe, they say “our city can’t do without you…you do so much good in your care for the poor” and that care must be genuine.
- Focus on the arts community – artists are unique and cities are full of them. You have to listen to and empower them rather than annoy and hinder them.
- Protect indigenous relationships – cities happen through relationships and relationships take years to develop so don’t take indigenous people out of the city to train them for ministry. Train them in the context.
City Reaching Movements
Secondly Keller asks the question, how can we get it so the body of Christ in the city is growing faster than the population of the city? He suggests a number of things that churches and para-church organisations can work together on.
- 5-6 church planting movements – One church network can’t do it all!
- A network of prayer – amongst church, para-church and Christian leaders
- Evangelism specialists – especially on campus and with young adults
- Justice and mercy ministries – Christians in the city working together.
- Vocational connections – arts, business, sport, mothers etc. Mentors and networks.
- Faith & work ministries
- Institutions that keep families in the cities (e.g Jews in NYC)
- Leaders connecting and praying together
Applications for Christ City Church
As a church we have just spent 4 weeks in the book of Jonah to consider some of these themes of what it means to reach the city. And as we discussed Keller’s points at our leadership retreat, there were some encouragements (we’re on the right lines) and some challenges (we have a lot of gaps!).
Here were some applications we made (in no particular order)
(A) Cross-cultural training – we must train people on how to interact with different cultures. We have to learn to be incredibly patient with the constant charge of being racially and cultural insensitive and allow for lots of discussion, debate, listening and learning. We mustn’t become cliquey.
(B) Celebrate and train people in ‘secular work’ – we must continue to celebrate, affirm and train those in ‘secular work’ that they are doing God’s work and that the pinnacle of the Christian life is not Christian ministry. I have written some stuff on this and reflected on my personal experience before, so this is a big passion of mine.
(C) Envision, support and inspire families/parents to adapt – raising a family in the city can be costly and many parents run to the countryside or go back to be with their parents. However, there are great benefits as outlined in these articles – ‘it takes a city to raise a child’, ‘the advantages of raising children in the city‘ and, ‘why the city is a wonderful place to raise children‘.
(D) Challenge a consumer-church mentality – Cities are transient places where people come to take what they want and then leave (studies, job, relationships, visas/permits, career development, an experience etc). So Dublin is full of people who want to consume and then leave. This attitude infects the church and prevents us being a church that is for the good of the city; a church that serves the city. I talk more about this in the CCC blog – ‘Staying In The Big Bad City’ and did a our whole preaching series on this earlier in the year.
(E) Help parents change their expectations of church…and ensure the church provides for the needs of parents – When you become a parent, your expectations of church, as with all life, must change. Suddenly it’s not about you anymore…it’s about the kids! If you have a ‘consumer’ attitude to church you’ll soon find it is not easy to ‘consume’ and unless you prioritise church community, service and belonging above ‘getting my hit of songs and sermon on a Sunday’ you’ll find you drift from church. But Keller also suggests we need to think of support structures for families that enable them to stay in the cities, like the Jews have done in NYC. Cities are costly and often exhausting, so we need some thinking on how we can practically help. Hiring a childrens-worker and developing our provision for infants, children and teenagers is something high on our discussion list. We want to take as much weight from parents as is healthy and possible.
(F) Help people who are busy and under pressure learn good sabbath rhythms.This is partly linked to the ‘training people in secular work’ point above but broader. Cities are generally quite relentless and exhausting places. So we must teach Sabbath and not overload people with church jobs or meetings. The rhythm of church must be sustainable and life-giving and not just add to the pressures. But we must also apply grace to the heart so people can trust God, rest in God, switch off and say “no” as their value comes from him, not their work.
(G) We need people to stick around and make long-term decisions for Dublin Jeremiah 29:4-8 – this is ultimately what will change us from being consumers to being servers. The advice God gave the exiles in Babylon is exactly the same advice I sense he would give to young Christians today who are new to Dublin and CCC – “build houses, settle down; plant gardens, marry, have children, work, pray for the city, invest in the city”. Make life, career and family choices based on the kingdom of God in Dublin, not based on the kingdom of you, career progression and comfort. Again, I reflect more on this in ‘Staying In The Big Bad City’
(H) People want long-lasting friends who they know are sticking around. A challenge I have heard repeatedly is ‘I got to know so-and-so but they left after a year’. Or ‘I was building a trusting relationship with a girl in my city group but she left town for another job’ – and so those who are long-termers in Dublin can feel as if they were ‘used’ for their friendship and that they never build good friends. I always want us to be an open-armed church who loves and welcomes all. However, for us to be that church and people not to burn out, long-term friends and community must form. People need to know others are sticking around.
One Final Thought – compelled by the love of Christ
I am sure there are more things to say and reflect upon, but these were the main takeaways from the leaders’ retreat. As you read the list above it can feel daunting and scary. We just reflected how Jonah wanted to ‘run away’ from the city and God kept calling him back into the city. The only reason we’ll ever do this is that if we appreciate afresh the sacrifice that Jesus has made for our salvation, we’ll be willing and empowered to make sacrifices for the salvation of those in Dublin. Part of that is realising that our home is in heaven. Therefore, we can live as ‘aliens and strangers’ on earth as so many of the heroes of the Bible did.
When Paul was talking about his ministry and the many sacrifices and heartaches he had to be willing to endure for the sake of the gospel (he had to die to himself) he summarises it like this – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
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If you have any questions or feedback or are interested in talking more about this don’t hesitate to get in contact – steve@christcitychurch.ie – or do come along to our Becoming A Church-Planting-Church Seminar after the service on Sunday 14th October
What I learned from Alcoholics Anonymous
As a church we’re doing something slightly different with our City Groups for the months of July & August – encouraging social outings, serving projects and generally a bit of experimenting in thinking how we can support/help good projects in the city or beyond.
A few Mondays ago our City Group, on the invitation of two of our members who are part of an Alcoholics Anonymous group, went to visit the monthly open AA meeting in Trim, County Meath. It was a gorgeous evening and the 6 of us that went had a brilliant road-trip and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the sunset over the famous ‘Braveheart’ castle.
We had been invited along so that we might listen, learn and understand what AA does, support the two members we have in our group, and build relationships with their friends.
But I have to say the whole evening was humbling and inspiring and I felt hugely privileged to have been able to listen to their stories and welcomed into this amazing community.
The evening had some formal elements like reading the history of AA, the 12 steps of AA, praying the serenity prayer and a few other things like that. But most of the evening was spent listening to three people share their stories – one man in his 50-60s from Cork, one lady of similar age from Kildare and another lady in her 50s who wasn’t an alcoholic but is part of Al-Anon, a support community for friends and families of problem drinkers.
Here are some reflections from the evening…
(1) Brokenness and beauty
As we listened to the three stories there were moments where your heart was collapsing inside you because of the destruction and devastation that drink had had, not just on the person themselves, but on the families and the wider community, and most of all the children. My eyes welled up with tears 3 or 4 times when I heard about how children of alcoholics had been affected by their behaviour. For example one lady talked about how how her father hid from her as she was coming back from school so that he could go down the pub, and she took that personally and as a nine year old assumed that he didn’t want to spend time with her. And it was clear that many people are alcoholics because they grew up with alcoholics. And we sadly learned about a number of people dying, often young, because of alcohol abuse. There was real brokenness within the room and the lives of those who shared.
And yet there was a beauty, a wonderful light in the darkness, a joy that had been rekindled in/after the devastation, largely from what I could tell because of the work of the AA. There were many moments of humour, lots of self-deprecation and tonnes and tonnes of grace. It was powerful. And the faces of those that shared were etched with the tragedy that alcohol had brought (in different ways) and yet there was a calm, a peace and a joy in their face too. Again, I felt close to tears as I experienced this beauty.
For me this brokenness and beauty is something I see in Jesus’ death and in the community Jesus established (see point 7).
(2) A powerful community
The whole ethos of AA is that it is one alcoholic reaching out to another alcoholic, inviting them to AA, sharing their story, encouraging them to avoid the drink, giving them hope that it is possible. And this community has their own slogans, rules, principles and way of organising itself. Everyone had come to realise that they were not able to sort out their problem on their own, they need a community of like-minded people. They had had to renounce the idea that ‘I can do this on my own’ and instead embrace the idea that ‘I need others to help me or else I have no chance’, and as a result a powerful community had been born. The two members of our church who are part of AA speak of how the community has helped them tremendously.
When I spoke to the speakers or the attendees at the end of the meeting there was a genuine warmth; people grabbed my hands and wanted to know who I was. And the conversation flowed. They are a community that is not closed nor cliquey. Once you have gone through the 11 steps of AA, the 12th one is:
“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs”
So the community is ever-growing and ever-reaching out.
(3) We’re all addicts
Famously, step 1 of AA says:
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
It is profoundly humbling to hear people tell the truth of this first step. But the lady from Al-Anon, who wasn’t an alcoholic, spoke powerfully talking about her own addictions and sickness. She said wasn’t addicted to alcohol, but she was addicted to the alcoholics. Why? Because they created drama in her life and she was able to be the saviour. She was needed. She was involved. She could come to the rescue…and she needed that for herself. She talked about how she was a people-pleaser and addicted to impressing others. She said her sickness was ‘worse’ than that of the alcoholics because she was so self-righteous and judgemental in her sobriety. In other words, she was no better…but her addiction and sickness just manifested in different, often less obvious ways.
Again it was humbling for her to ‘admit’ (like step 1 tells you to!) the things that have control over her life, not to hide or deny them. She said that she had been brought up in Ireland with the motto ‘don’t ask, don’t share, don’t feel’ and as such she had become like an ice-block, all her emotions were numb and she needed real help. She was angry and bitter, she was hurting and restless. And ultimately she was lonely. Al-Anon had helped her to find her way towards greater freedom and feeling.
Just two weeks ago in church we were looking at the story of when Levi holds a party for Jesus. Levi was a famous tax-collector and therefore seen as a traitor and greedy man by the Jewish people as he was collaborating with the Romans (the enemy) and lining his own pockets. So he wasn’t a nice guy and the religious leaders of the time thought of him as an ‘outcast’ and a ‘sinner’ – and yet Jesus accepts the invitation to a meal. And when the religious leaders ask why Jesus says…
Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. (Luke 5:31)
In other words, the pre-requisite of getting well, of becoming healthy (physically, emotionally and spiritually) is to admit that you’re sick. And whilst these Alcoholics were all willing to admit their sickness and their need for ‘a doctor’, I became aware acutely aware of my sickness and need for healing too. In the car journey home we talked about how we are all addicted to many different things and too need to be set free.
(4) A desire to be accepted and fit in
It was striking that at the heart of all the stories, what had triggered the alcoholism, was a desire to be accepted and fit in. People had thought they were ‘uncool’ or ‘couldn’t dance’ or ‘couldn’t get a girl’ but when they drank all their inhibitions disappeared and they got ‘a buzz’ because they lost their shyness and nervousness around people. Each person’s struggle had started because they wanted to be loved and known by others. In other words they had a desire for acceptance, but they didn’t feel they could be themselves without the drink. It was the drink that enabled them to be vulnerable and confident, which enabled them to step out in social contexts.
And isn’t that true for all of us?!
A few weeks ago I was speaking to a friend about how fundamental to all humans is the desire to ‘be known and loved’ – in other words we want to be accepted for who we are…for someone to know us…and to still love us. It goes back to the garden of Eden where it was said that Adam and Eve were ‘naked and unashamed’ (Genesis 2:24). That is what we all long for. That level of vulnerability, intimacy and acceptance. It is what we are built for. We cannot function without it and yet so many of us find it hard to be honest and open, to be vulnerable and real, because of the shame and fear we feel.
It takes courage to really open up and let someone in…but unless we do, we’ll become like a ‘block of ice’ as the lady had said.
(5) Acceptance of help from outside & responsibility for your own life
There is a wonderful balance in the 12 steps of the AA, a balance we see many times in the New Testament where if we are to grow as a person we must both accept that we cannot do it on our own – we need other people and God’s help – but also, we have to take responsibility for our own lives. If we only have one part of this we’ll either burnout (I have to do it) or never get going (God/others will do it). We need the balance. For an example see Philippians 2:12-13.
The 12 steps of AA are well worth reading…because they epitomise this balance so well, red indicates outside help, blue indicates taking responsibility yourself
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(6) A continual journey/battle
Every time someone spoke they said their name and that they were an alcoholic, and we then welcomed them together before they shared. They then would start their story by saying, for example, “I have been an Alcoholic and have not had a drink in 24 years and I hope will get through another day today” or something similar. In other words they (a) never gave up their identity as an alcoholic and (b) literally took each day as it comes with a desire to be sober TODAY. And one of the areas that we were encouraged to keep fighting was the area of relationships – see steps 8-9 – we must seek to make amends and ask for forgiveness from others we have wronged. This is a powerful principle, one that Jesus himself commanded us to obey too.
Each of them were well aware of their weakness, and never took for granted that they were sober or that they have ‘graduated’ and were therefore “beyond this stuff”. They saw each day as a new day to win the battle over drink and a battle to seek to make amends in all relationships. They had their wits about them, they were alert. Again this felt very healthy. Just this week at our monthly prayer & worship night the woman who was leading reminded us of Hebrews 12:1-3 where the Christian life is likened to a race and that we must persevere in the race, and not be distracted or entangled. It was inspiring to see this community persevere together in their race.
(7) A Picture Of The Church
At the end of the evening the friend who invited me introduced me to the person who had hosted the meeting, explaining that I was his Pastor, and the host said “well this is basically a church isn’t it?” and in many ways it was. The evening had consisted of hearing each others’ stories, praying together, reading from the AA handbook and spending time building supportive and accountable relationships. It seemed to act like a family. It was a picture of what the church should be!
A number of years ago I had a similarly moving experience when visiting my good friend Christian Hacking, who had just finished being an Intern at CCC and upon arriving back in the UK he broke his back in a climbing accident which left him in a wheelchair. At the time I visited him there was no real hope for him to be able to walk again. Praise God that he is now making great progress!
We had spoken fairly regularly over skype in the first 6 months after his injury but I remember when I first visited him in Stoke Mandeville Hospital just outside London. I was in London on business for Hubspot so had spent 2.5 days rushing around from one meeting to another. Everyone in London has something to prove – look how pretty or rich or successful or trendy or popular I am. It’s a relentless city. Money, sex and power are everywhere. People are trying to establish their identity.
Then I went to the Stoke Mandeville which is home to over 100 paraplegics and quadriplegics. There was no hint of anyone trying to prove themselves or build an image. There were no image issues. Everyone was broken and humbled. Everyone was equal. Everyone was together…carrying each others’ burdens. And it was beautiful. From the relentless and externally impressive professionals of London, to the humble and internally beautiful community of handicapped people. Again there was plenty of humour, laughing, self-deprecation and grace for each other. So much grace!
Just as when I visited AA, the brokenness and beauty was humbling and inspiring and it was actually a picture of the church. A community of people that have been humbled and yet strangely and beautifully exalted through the death of Christ. And that through Christ we are now one, now equal, now helping each other carry others’ burdens and trying to spread the message of grace to others who are willing to hear. May God help us as he has helped the AA to make us a community of beautiful brokenness.
Tomorrow the people of Ireland go to the polls to vote about whether we should repeal the 8th Amendment and allow the government to legislate on abortion. The likely legislation will include abortion with no restrictions up to 12 weeks’ gestation with a waiting time of 72 hours, abortion if the mother’s life, health or mental health is at ’serious risk’ to be agreed by two doctors up to viability (24 weeks’ gestation) and up to full-term for a diagnosed foetal condition which is likely to lead to death during or shortly after birth. I wanted to write down a few fumbling thoughts that may (or may not) help you as you decide to vote.
The challenge I face
- I have not quite known how to articulate all the facets of the debate
- I am not and never will be a woman carrying a baby that I do not want
- My worldview, taught me by my parents, is one that puts ‘welcome and hospitality of all people’ front and centre so I find it hard when, instead of welcoming, embracing and learning from one another (in our disagreements), we stigmatise and distance ourselves from one another. And I feel that communicating online ‘at a distance’ rather than ‘face-to-face’ more often than not hinders us from having a gracious debate and more naturally leads us to demonise those who disagree with us. I hope this blog post will not do that so let me talk about…
Tolerance
It really saddens me that we so quickly distance ourselves from those who take a view divergent to our own, as if our whole identity and meaning in life is wrapped up in whether we vote yes or no on this particular topic.
I hope this post will not cause those who disagree with me to distance themselves from me but rather that we might learn how to talk truthfully yet graciously to one another in our disagreement. I believe a ‘tolerant society’ is one in which we can name and talk about our disagreements whilst ‘tolerating’ each other, not hating each other. I hope we can learn from this referendum what it means to be tolerant.
Compassion
And let me say a few things about the word ‘compassion,’ which both sides of the debate want to claim for their own. I trust that we will respect and honour one another’s intentions and motivations, that we are all trying to be ‘compassionate’ – whether to the mother who has a crisis pregnancy or to the baby who has a right to live. Let’s at least give each other the benefit of the doubt that we are acting and voting out of compassion, even if we disagree with each others’ ultimate ways of showing compassion.
The value of a human life
Early on in the campaigns I met a lady who had had an abortion earlier in her life. When her mother found out she told her daughter that she herself (the daughter) had been conceived because of rape but her mother did not have her aborted because “she did not believe the value of a human life should be dependent on whether the baby was conceived in violence or in a bed of roses” – that a life is valuable however it starts. A few years later the woman got unexpectedly pregnant again and her then boyfriend put great pressure on her to have an abortion but she refused and eventually lost the boyfriend but kept the baby. This lady’s story aligns with my own view that all human life is valuable whether it’s in the womb or out.
As I see it, the only difference between the baby in the womb and ourselves is time. At conception the baby has all the potentiality for life and at 12 weeks (which is the date that the likely new legislation will allow abortion up until with no restrictions) they have hands and feet like me. They have fingernails like me. They yawn like me and can even suck their thumb like me. They have a unique DNA code like me and they can feel stress just like me. Here is a brilliant video that captures all of this from an ultrasound scan. I think the 8th amendment is in place to protect the lives of the unborn and that is a good thing.
I recently attended a ‘Love Both’ rally at Merrion Square and we heard two people tell stories about those who are alive today because of the 8th amendment. One was a young lady who became pregnant as a teenager and she said she would have had an abortion if it had been readily available as she was so shocked and panicked about being pregnant. But the 8th amendment gave her the time to think and she now has a little girl who would not have been here, were it not for the 8th amendment. The second person was a young man in his 20s whose mother had also wanted and had even gone to the UK to have an abortion but the very existence of the 8th amendment made her stop and think about what she was doing and ultimately not go through with it. He credits his life to the 8th amendment.
Lesser of two evils?
I have not met (correct me if I am wrong) anyone who thinks abortion is a ‘good thing’ – it might be the lesser of two evils and it might be necessary in the extreme and nasty cases of rape or incest but from what I can tell, no-one actually likes the act of abortion or thinks it is a good thing in and of itself.
That leads us to ask the question – why do people have abortions in the first place? As much as I have been able to listen and learn, I have tried to appreciate the arguments on the repeal side, the reasons for changing the 8th amendment seem mostly to do with the hard cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s health is at risk. It is my understanding that the current law in Ireland says that when the life of a pregnant woman is in danger it is possible to be given an abortion or to receive necessary treatment, even if that risks the life of the foetus. So our vote doesn’t affect that issue. With regards to rape and incest, I appreciate these are very challenging situations and we must do more to support women in this situation. However we must face the facts about most abortions. In England and Wales, 1 in 5 babies is currently aborted. This is calculated by looking at the number of live births (in 2016 there were 696,271 live births) and the number of abortions in the same year (190,406 abortions in 2016). This seems to me staggering compared to the 1 in 20 currently in Ireland. England and Wales do not record the specific reasons why women have abortions but of these, 97% come under category ‘C’ which is about injury to the physical or mental health of the mother. When you compare this statistic to the results of an extensive study in the US that compiled estimates of the reasons why women had abortions, they found that less than 1% of abortions were because of fatal foetal abnormalities, less than 0.3% were because of rape, less than 0.03% were because of incest, less than 1% were due to the risk of the physical or mental health of the mother, and over 97% were for other ‘elective’ reasons. If the 8th is removed, we have good reason to expect similar ratios. So given these statistics, this referendum doesn’t seem to be for the hard cases, this referendum is about the 97%.
I appreciate that many women who are in the 97% who have abortions do so because they are fearful of becoming a mother or they cannot see how they will be able to cope going forward or because they feel they don’t have the resources to raise a child, and I imagine that most find it very hard to choose and go through with the abortion itself (in other words it is not an easy or flippant decision) but does that not say more about the way our society supports, cares and provides for mothers? Is the real answer to offer unlimited abortion up to 12 weeks or to find more creative ways to support mothers when they don’t really want an abortion; they just feel they don’t have the capacity for a child?
I said at the start “I am not and never will be a woman carrying a baby that I do not want” so I appreciate I need to tread carefully here and that my tone may come across as cold and insensitive (that’s what online does!). Maybe some personal testimony will help. A number of years ago Leanne and I, on two separate occasions, have spoken to 2 young women who became pregnant unexpectedly and offered to both care for them and the baby when they were considering an abortion if they wanted it. One of the women had the abortion, the other didn’t, neither took us up on the offer. I am not saying we are heroic for doing that, I am just pointing out different ways we should support and help women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy and who think ’there is no other option…no way out’. I want Ireland (I include myself in this!) to come up with a greater vision for how we care for women who have unwanted pregnancies.
Let’s listen and love regardless
These are some jumbled up thoughts that may or may not be helpful as you think about voting tomorrow. For the record, I will not be able to vote tomorrow as I didn’t get my act together quickly enough and my Irish passport has taken so long to come through that I wasn’t able to register by the 8th May (very frustrating for me!). But as you can tell I would lean to the no side. But please hear me, if you vote yes I will trust your motivations are compassionate and you are doing what you think is best for both the mother and the baby. I pray we will not despise each other for our opinions, but learn to understand each others’ motivations and reasons for believing what we believe. If we can do that then I think we will become a tolerant and compassionate society, and better for it.
However Ireland votes tomorrow and whatever the outcome, we all wake up on Saturday 26th May 2018 and will have the same task before us that we have today – working out how we love each other in all our diversity…what a wonderful and challenging prospect that is!
One final comment – to those who have had abortions
One final thing which I have to mention comes back to my introduction about how online discussion more naturally leads us to distance ourselves from one another rather than come together. By posting publicly as to which side of the fence I fall on I am in danger of not only distancing myself from those who vote ‘yes’ tomorrow, but of distancing myself from those women who have had (or will have) an abortion. My guess is that you might feel judged by me. I hope this post will show you that that is not my intention and I am sorry if any turn of phrase has given you that impression. Please forgive me if so. I do not believe any one human being is morally superior to another and I do not believe any one human being is morally inferior to anyone else. I truly believe we were all created equal. And I am greatly inspired by a man who said “‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I try to follow this advice as best as I can, so I hope that for those who who have or will go through an abortion, you will not feel judged by me but rather, as my parents taught me, you sense a welcome and an acceptance from me no matter what.
3 Years Church Planting in Dublin & 5 Principles Of Ministry
We’re coming to our 3rd birthday as a church and seeing as my last blog post was a year ago for our 2nd birthday, it feels appropriate to do another now. At the very least it helps me collate my thoughts as we look forward. Let me share 5 thoughts I have learned over the last 3 years of church planting.
(1) A long-term posture of investment
Like any capital city with multiple universities, tech companies, a growing economy and free movement within the EU, Dublin is FULL of new people. People are continually flooding into Dublin for studies or jobs or to be with their partner in a country that recognises their visa… or for whatever other reason. Just this year the intake at Jacob and Annabelle’s school is far more international than any other previous years. When you walk around Dublin City Centre you hear all kinds of accents and languages. This is exciting and provides a great opportunity for the gospel.
However, I see two challenges with this:
- Loneliness – Integrating new people into Irish society and communities can be challenging. Many people can find it hard to make friends in Dublin and can feel lonely and isolated. It has been said that “The Irish are the friendliest people on earth but the hardest to get to know.” That is a caricature, but any caricature has some level of truth.
- Consumerism – It’s easy for people to come and take from Dublin (education, jobs, money, experience etc) and then leave when they have what they want. This will limit Dublin’s flourishing and will never enable us to care for the most needy in the city.
So for a church plant to survive and thrive we need to give new residents a vision of what they can give to the city, not just take from the city. And those of us who have been here longer than 5 years and are settled into communities and friendship groups need to do all we can to help people settle. If we’re to become all that God wants us to be in the city, we need people to stick around and commit, to buy houses and have families (as Jeremiah 29:4-8 encourages the Jewish exiles in Babylon to do). We need those who will buy into the vision and make life-decisions for the sake of the mission.
Churches thrive (and therefore cities thrive)
as people commit and invest, both internally in the friendships and externally in the city. We need a long-term posture of investment if we’re going make a difference. So, as I have often said, so I say again to those who are part of CCC… stick around and make career choices that are about committing to Dublin. As you do you will make a much bigger impact to the kingdom of God.
(2) A Provocative Church
We have found that whilst people in Dublin, as everywhere, are looking for meaning and purpose, often they have little space for God. Additionally, as is well documented, many have been burnt by church and have no desire to get to know God even if he does exist. There is hurt or anger or disillusionment. What does this mean for church? It means that no matter how sexy/cool/impressive our ‘events’ might become… people are not just going to turn up in their droves. Gone are the days when Christianity was a dominant part of the culture, everyone attended church and people wanted to know how to get right with God and live for God. That was the last 50-100 years, but it’s not today. So we need to rethink church. Instead of expecting the people to come to us, we need to go to them. This was always the vision of the New Testament, that the church would spread out and take the message into the marketplace, into homes and into the social arenas. Our methods of ministry must change, even if the gospel message and the importance of the corporate gathering remain.
Don’t mishear me, once someone decides to dip their toe in and see, I hope they experience something wonderful, transcendent and compelling… but how do we tempt people to dip their toe in the water and take a peek in the first place? We must become a provocative church, a church that provokes questions and draws people in through the quality of our lives. Blaise Pascal famously said:
Make religion attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promises true good.
Earlier this year we held two seminars to equip people in this provocative and question-asking approach. I think there is much work to be done here in equipping the church to help seekers and sceptics explore faith and connect in. I still think our focus on the pub will help with this as that it is a non-threatening neutral environment to start conversations and relationships.
(3) Clarity on vision & values
We are by no means a large church, nor do we want to become one. But over the last three years we have grown, and with numerical growth come opportunities and pitfalls. The opportunities centre on investing in people, creating community, the creative energy that comes from new people/ideas and the potential for more ministries/City Groups to develop. However, the pitfalls of numerical growth are often greater… and they can lead you away from your vision and values. Here are some that I have pondered:
- Pride – We can easily find our identity in numbers. We can think we’re doing well because we’re growing bigger. Remember… Jesus wasn’t a big fan of the crowds!
- Assimilation – Jesus was about forming spiritual families and missional communities, not people who turned up to ‘consume’ the latest thing. As we grow bigger, we can forget that Jesus wanted to ensure that people became part of the community and not just the crowd. As you grow, it is easier to miss people and it’s easier for the church to feel cliquey.
- Life transformation – Numbers are great if the numbers represent people who are being impacted and changed. Otherwise, they’re just numbers.
- Outreach – It is quite possible at this point that the church has grown sufficiently to allow most of your relational needs to be met with Christian church friends. This is tragic if it happens. We turn into a closed-minded group and we lose the purpose of what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s important we prioritise neighbours, families and friends who are not part of church.
- Purity of vision and values – the danger of a growing church is that the question changes from “How can we reach out?” to “How can we keep everyone happy?” We must not become a church that is all about ensuring we fit people’s needs or are becoming trendy… or whatever else.
It’s those last two that scare me the most when I think long term about the church. We could easily continue to just grow the church through new Christians to the city or de-churched people connecting in… and that’s great, but not sufficient. We’re not living up to our calling and purpose; Jesus wants us to be his missionaries here in Dublin. So how can we also grow through people coming to Christ? How can we help spiritual seekers connect to Christ and His Church? How can we nurture a similar ambition to Paul who said in Romans 15:20:
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
When we started the church, we always wanted it to be a church (a) that’s relevant to the sceptical Dub, and (b) that would work for the common good of the city. We talked about it being ‘a church not for ourselves’ and I hope and pray that it remains that way. To do so, we’ll have to resist that internal inertia which is part of why we have a strategy to become a church planting church.
(4) Organic leadership structures
Many people have negative feelings toward the words ‘authority’ and ‘structure,’ yet for any organisation to thrive it needs leaders, it will need to give authority to certain people so decisions can be made and structures will need to be put in place to ensure everyone and all the activities are co-ordinated towards a common aim. And the New Testament talks plainly about leadership structures and the importance of those that govern.
But the model of leadership in the New Testament is always patterned after Christ the servant-leader and, as I explain elsewhere, all structures within churches are to be like a trellis that supports the vine. The trellis is not the important thing. The vine is the life and focus, but the trellis helps it develop.
What we often forget is typically many of the most ‘influential’ people in church life are not part of the official leadership structures, but use their gifts, time and passions to invest in others, organise events and come up with creative new ideas. So whatever structures we put in place to support and oversee the church, they exist to help the creative and passionate individuals get on and do what they do. The structures are really to ensure these people get released and that THE WHOLE CHURCH is using their gifts. So the leadership structures must be organic, in that they need to be flexible but also they’re there to serve the life that God is growing.
What does this mean in practice? It means instead of trying to fit someone into a particular role/need we have in church we must look at (a) the gifts of the person and (b) the passions of the person, and channel those two things in such as way that brings life to the vine.
But let me ask another question that relates to all this and our future… when do you stop becoming a church plant and just become a ‘church’? One of the markers of this transition is that you have appointed leaders (in the New Testament these are called Elders/Pastors/Overseers, the terms are used synonymously – see 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5 & Acts 20).
So as we mature as a church we need to appoint elders and develop more of a leadership structure. At the moment it’s Leanne and myself who meet weekly. Then there is the staff team, which meets weekly, and finally there is a leaders’ gathering that meets quarterly.* Leanne and I also meet with Caroline and Justin and Daniel Czulno (a friend and financial advisor outside the church) twice a year to look at whether our finances match our vision and values, and to think over strategic decisions.
I don’t imagine that our leadership structures will look much different from this, although I suspect a group of elders being appointed and meeting monthly/quarterly may be a natural next step. Whatever we do we (a) want to keep everyone involved and encourage more to join, (b) keep it life-giving, fun and organic and (c) allow flexibility and space to involve people with different timetables, roles and gifts.**
(5) Joyful hard work
When I think back on the last 5 years (2 years settling in and 3 years church planting) I can truly say I have had a blast. It’s been so much fun. I have been so energised. I have learned loads. I have changed (for the good I hope?). It’s been stimulating and fast paced. But it’s also been hard work. It’s had lots of ups and downs. There are disappointments – events that didn’t take off, pastoral challenges I didn’t expect, people who left that I thought would become key leaders. Leanne and I have had moments where we’re pulling our hair out (each others’ sometimes!) and tensions have run high. There have been times when I have been exhausted. But throughout it all I have known an energy, a joy, a zeal and a grace for the work. The Apostle Paul once put it like this (2 Corinthians 4:7-9):
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
And he goes on to talk about the life of Christ coming through his life and ministry. It was Christ sustaining and enabling him. And that is what I have experienced and so whilst it’s been hard work, it’s been joyful hard work. If you go into church planting thinking it will be easy, you’ll be crushed under the hard work. If you go into church planting prepared for the hard work but without the joy and resources of Christ, you’ll also be crushed under the hard work. It’s joy that sustains us in our work! I pray God will give us all lots of joy as we think about investing long term in the City and into the lives of others!
If you have got this far… thanks for reading! Do pray for us as we try to apply these 5 principles and ask God to enable us to become a church-planting-church.
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*Leanne & I gather together all the Staff Team, Interns, Apprentices, City Group Leaders, Ministry Leaders & Sunday Leaders four times a year
**Additionally, part of this maturing process is to appoint an Advisory Team for support, accountability and advice.
2 Years Church Planting – Climbing Everest
This Sunday we celebrate 2 years of being a church…doesn’t time fly?! I wrote some reflections on church planting at month 6 and month 12 so I thought I’d write a few more reflections now we’re at month 24. On our church blog I wrote about 3 reasons why we should give thanks – to stop pride, stop grumbling and keep us excited. In this blog I want to reflect on the journey so far and think about priorities for the year(s) ahead.
So let’s retell our story of the last 4 years, using the analogy of climbing Everest which I recently used on a leadership retreat. It has 3 stages.
Sept 2012-Sept 2014: Training the team
Leanne I arrived in Dublin in September 2012 and for 2 years we focused on three things.
- Team – We gathered a team together to form a house church. We started as 6 people and by the end of the 2 years we were about 20 people.
- Training – We did some altitude training in terms of settling in, making some friends,
becoming financial viable/sustainable and understanding the culture and the people (contextualisation). We wanted to understand Dublin well before we launched the church. - Vision – We clarified our vision & values which in summary is to see the spiritual, cultural and social renewal of the city and our values are mission, discipleship, community & leadership. Put even more simply, we wanted to be a church for the skeptical Dub, particularly those between the ages of 18-35. We wanted to be a community that could connect with those that were not connected to church.
After 2 years, we were ready to start the climb!
Sept 2013-Sept 2014: Reaching Basecamp (year 1)
In year 3 of being in Dublin (year 1 of the church) we arrived at basecamp, a place where we can grow for the long-term. Here were some important milestones.
- Launch & venue – We actually launched the church and started in Filmbase in Temple Bar, then moved to Immanuel on the Quays briefly before settling at Synge Street Secondary School
Identity – After being fairly hidden, we became known in Dublin, and started to grow. People found out about us. And we had tonnes of fun together, growing in community. Going to the pub was a key part of our identity, both in connecting to the city and ensuring everyone who came felt welcome.- Early signs of vision – What we had hoped started to happen. Those who were skeptical started to engage. We saw some people baptised. We saw some ‘prodigals’ return and we saw some ‘de-churched’ get connected.
- Early signs of values/structure – We started training leaders and set up City Groups, Life Groups, Sunday Leaders and we became a charity.
Sept 2015-Sept 2016: Starting to climb Everest proper (year 2)
So this time last year it seemed that having got ourselves set up and established as a church, it was time to think ‘long-term’ and about what we were hoping to achieve over the next 10-20 years. And there were 3 things that really stood out to us, which we have started to implement and want to keep focusing on.
(1) Leadership development – We want to continue to grow our internship and apprenticeship which has been a huge success. It has been great seeing people grow through the year(s). We will keep doing 6:30 leadership to develop leaders and over the coming years hire some more people onto staff. We will sorely miss Caroline when she heads off on maternity leave.
(2) Remain an outward facing church – in 2 ways:
- Be a church where skeptics are welcome.
I want our church to remain a church where those who are skeptical, non-believers, unsure of what they believe or have fallen out with church can connect and be engaged, be welcomed and loved. - Be a church that is about the city of Dublin. It’s less about building a great church and more about playing our part in making Dublin a great city. We want to infiltrate every sphere of Dublin – schools, colleges, homes, community, business, art, music, finance, politics…you name it. We want to be salt and light in these areas, trying to make a positive difference. A key ingredient in this is learning how to integrate faith and work.
(3) Multiplication – Planting other churches/congregations. As part of the DNA of the church we want to have a vision for multiplying and planting other churches and starting other congregations. That is partly why we want to raise up leaders and this is partly what it means to be an outward facing church. But this will also require sacrifice and a willingness to put God’s mission above personal comfort. Our hope and prayer is that we can have multiplied by our 5 year anniversary.
There are more ideas that we have prayed about that we’d love to see happen but they’re less clear at this stage – like starting a mercy ministry or renting a multi-purpose space for offices/training/cafe/meetings or planting churches outside of Dublin/Ireland or setting up a more formal faith&work initiative. These kinds of things excite us…and hopefully they can come further down the line.
I ended my recent church blog like this:
I love the holy ambition of Paul, who knows that nothing can stop him because God is for him, and he ends his letter to the Romans by saying (Romans 15:20):
“It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”
That is what I want for our ambition as a church. To be excited that God will lead us to places where Christ is not known… and we can build a new foundation with him.
So as we come this Sunday to celebrate our second birthday as a church and look to the future, we must remember what he has done so far and give thanks. Let’s avoid the pitfalls of grumbling self-indulgence and proud self-reliance by thanking him for what he has done. And let’s stay excited and expectant of what is to come!
Onwards!
Jesus The Salesman
So I work in sales for HubSpot and volunteer as a Pastor with Christ City Church. I have commented before here and here about how fun and interesting I find the intersection of these two worlds. In the introduction to my talk last Sunday to the Church, as part of the Jesus The Revolutionary series, I outlined how in some senses you could say Jesus was the greatest ever salesman. Read on before you make any judgements. You can listen to the talk – it is based on Mark 2:1-12 where Jesus forgives and heals a paralytic man.
Many of you will know that I work full time in business for a company called HubSpot as a salesman. HubSpot is a software company that helps other companies perform inbound marketing and grow their businesses online… I won’t bore you with the details right now, but here is my business card if you’re interested (haha!). For those of you who didn’t know that, you’re now not sure whether to trust me and listen to this talk… as you have always been told never to trust a ‘slimey’ salesman!
Well I want to start this sermon by giving away the secret of a good sales person, and it’s very simple. A good sales person is able to get under the surface of what is going on the mind and heart of a potential customer and discern their deepest pain and their deepest desire. If you’re able to discern the motivation/heart – then you’re able to help that person solve their pain and realise that desire.
So when you’re being trained in sales at HubSpot they talk about level 1-2-3 pain and desire:
Level 1 – is surface level pain and desire. Someone wants to speak to me because they’re interested in our software to grow their business. They want to become better at online marketing and we might be able to help them. It’s general and surface.
Level 2 – is specific pain and desire, maybe you find out that they have to grow their business by 25%; that they’re losing market-share; that they have pressure from the boss to make a change; and that the website has to become more effective at attracting new customers. So we have gone a bit deeper and now things are more urgent and pressing.
Level 3 – is when we get right to what we call personal pain and desire. For example if that person doesn’t see changes and turn the business around they’ll lose their job; but if they do they’ll get a promotion and a salary increase – both scenarios will affect their families!! Now we’re getting deep… and now that I have discerned their motivation, the consequences and the urgency, it’s much easier to help them and ensure they get the right solution (which is always HubSpot software!!!)
So do you see – the best sales people move from a general surface level issue, to a specific and clear pain or desire, to a personal motivation. But here is the thing – very often the person who is interested in HubSpot has not seen clearly for themselves just how big the problem is or how far-reaching the consequences are. So a good sales person has to ask the right questions to ensure that they see it clearly. As you all know, we’re often blind to our own biggest problem, but other people can see it much more clearly.
So the best sales people ask lots of good and probing questions, making the person feel uncomfortable at times, but in the end the potential customer is always grateful. In fact, a good sales person will not actually try to sell you anything, they’ll just try to help you see for yourself what your biggest pain and desire are, and lead you to work out the right solution!
Well I know this is very cheesy and potentially irreverent… but this passage shows that Jesus is the greatest salesman that has ever lived; not that he was trying to spin anyone or sell something false (though I guess that is how people who don’t believe in Jesus might see it… including my manager at HubSpot!), but in that he always wanted to take people deeper. Jesus was able to discern the heart better than anyone else who has walked this planet. He is able to see right into our greatest pain and desire, and he can see the stuff we can’t see or are too proud to see, and he wants to take us deeper – he wants to take our surface level problems that we bring to him, and go much deeper.
He’ll often make us uncomfortable, he might even offend us and turn us off following him. But if we’ll open up to his gentle probing, he’ll bring a freedom and joy, a peace and contentment we had never thought was possible.
That is what today’s passage is about – it’s the first of five consecutive conflicts that Jesus has with the religious leaders in Mark’s Gospel. And in this story Jesus is going to take the paralysed man much deeper than he had bargained for, but he’s also going to take the religious leaders much deeper than they had bargained for. So let’s look how the story begins…
Do read the passage and listen to the whole talk, but if you want to know how I concluded the talk*, here it is:
You see, at that moment Jesus had the power to heal the man’s body, just as he has the power to give you that career success, that relationship, that recognition, that job, that home you’ve been longing for. He actually has the power and authority to give each of us what we’ve been asking for on the spot, no questions asked. But Jesus knows that’s not nearly deep enough. He knows that whether we’re a paralysed man lying on a mat or one of us sat here tonight in Dublin who is desperately trying to make ourselves feel more valuable, we don’t need him to just grant our deepest wishes; we need someone who can go deeper than that. We need someone who can remove the sin that enslaves us and distorts even our beautiful longings. In short we need to be forgiven, we need to know Jesus as our priest, our sacrifice and our temple. That’s the only way for our discontentment to be healed. It will take more than a miracle worker or a divine genie – it will take a saviour.
And now, a shameless plug, for those who are interested in discussing more about all this kind of stuff – come to The Intro Course, starting Wednesday 28th September, 7.30pm at Third Space at the Y on Aungier Street. No question is too simple, and no question is too feisty.
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* Heavily drawn from the end of chapter 3 of Tim Keller’s book Jesus the King.
Rubicon – An Interview with Greg Fromholz
I heard about Greg Fromholz 4 years ago, just around when we decided to move to Dublin. People said he’d be a good person to talk to. But try as I may it took me 3.5 years to actually get a coffee with him…but when I did it was well worth it and I was inspired and encouraged by his story – inspired because here is someone that really wants to love and serve Dublin, encouraged because you can be from outside Ireland and still have an impact.
He is also the co-founder of Rubicon which is a really cool and niche event that happens every year. He’ll explain more below.
(1) Greg, tell us a bit about yourself, your family and how you fill your weeks. Also, what’s your favourite thing about Dublin?
I’m originally from the United States, having moved to Ireland in 1990.
I fill my week in a quite a variety of roles that at times feel like I’m juggling chainsaws and badgers, but is incredible. I spend my fill my week writing, having published my second book “Broken; Restoring Trust Between the Sacred and the Secular” last August with Abingdon Press; speaking; directing music videos with everyone from Rend Collective to Guy Garvey of Elbow and documentaries “Phyllis” and the soon to released “Peterson: In-Between the Man and The Message”, a short film with Eugene Peterson; co0ordinating Young Adults work for the Archbishop of the Church of Ireland; serving our church plant Holy Trinity, Rathmines: and running the Rubicon gathering. And I love it.
I’m married to Alexandra, with three brilliant kids, Chloe, Joshua and Eden and one ridiculous dog named Mr. Bojangles.
I love roaming the streets of Dublin and discovering the art and coffee and people that continue to bring such a vibrancy to this old/new city.
(2) Tell us about Rubicon – why did it start? What was the vision? How have the first few years gone?
Rubicon started 5 years ago with Rob Jones and myself hoping to create a space for discussing and debating the interplay of culture and faith, a community where the big questions can be wrestled with. We wanted a conversational TED Talk styled event with 95% local speakers as well as a strong 5% from outside Ireland for outside perspective. The first years have gone really well, we’ve been able to maintain the boutique style of the event by limiting number to 120, so as not to lose the intimacy of conversation.
(3) What is the line up and theme for this years conference? Why have you chosen the focus you have?
The line up is really exciting this year- but of course I’d say that as I’m running it- but I do believe it. Brian Zahnd, Pastor and Author of “Water to Wine”, “A Farewell to Mars” and “Beauty Will Save The World” is our keynote.
Joining him are: Stephen James Smith – Slam Poet, Writer and Performer of “Dublin You Are” :: Pádraig Ó Tuama – Corrymeala Community Leader :: Dr. James Gallen – Lecturer in the School of Law and Government at DCU :: Sr. Imelda Wickham – Wheatfield Prison Chaplain :: Ferg Brown – Founder and Owner of Roasted Brown :: Natasha Paulberg – Dublin Composer and many more.
This year we will be looking at 1916-2016; Church State to Secular State, how the church has evolved, changed and atrophied over the past 100 years as well as it’s role going forward.
(4) If you were doing a SWOT analysis of the Irish Church, what would say are it’s strengths and weaknesses?
Great question. I can be like a teenager at times with the Irish church- loving it at times and annoyed with it at others. As a parent of a teenager this becomes more and more apparent as we go on. Yet, I have a deep hope that is rooted in the incredible communities and churches that are restoring a trust that has been severely shattered over the last decades and indeed centuries by the tradition and not so traditional churches. I think at times the churches strength is also it’s weakness, that of familiarity and it being part the cultural DNA; this gives both opportunity for influence but also gives the church a lot more work when it comes to restoring that trust. Work that I believe we should all dig our hands and souls into.
(5) Why should someone come to Rubicon?
Because being challenged beyond what we are comfortable with can also be great fun. And, let’s be honest, we are all pretty good at complaining about issues and maybe not so good at gathering, conversing and solving problems. Rubicon represents the opportunity for hope-filled conversations with diverse voices as we, together, explore culture, the arts and the future of Christianity in Ireland.
Here’s the details on the 2 days;
Rubicon | April 16, 9am-5pm | Church of Ireland College of Education, Rathmines
Rubicon+ | April 17, 12am-3pm | Holy Trinity Rathmines
With Brain Zahnd and special guest singer-songwriter Jason Upton
(6) What’s the best book you have (a) ever read and (b) read in the last year (that’s not the bible)?
It’s a tie between “The Wounded Healer” by Henri Nouwen” or “Run With The Horses” by Eugene Peterson.
And it’s another tie between “Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense” by Francis Spufford or “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
twitter/instagram/fb: @gregfromholz
An Interview with William Vanderbloemen on leadership
Since the CEO at HubSpot found out that I was a pastor he has been connecting me with every HubSpot customer who has a Christian background. One such customer is William Vanderbloemen, who has been a successful HubSpot customer for many years. He was a Presbyterian pastor who decided to move out of leading a church and set up a business to help churches find the right staff. He is one of those guys who (a) knows everyone, (b) is full of energy and (c) is incredibly likeable.
He asked me to do a podcast for his show so in return I asked him if he’d do a blog-interview on leadership since he speaks with lots of leaders and we have both an Internship Program and a leadership course at Christ City Church so I am always looking for good material to share with those participating.
(1) Hi William! Who are you, what do you do and what is your most favourite thing about Dublin?
Hi Steve! Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your blog. I founded Vanderbloemen Search Group, a pastor search firm that helps churches and ministries find their key staff. Before that, I was a pastor for fifteen years. I love what I do because, like you, I’m passionate about helping churches apply business best practices to the nuances of ministry to help them do what only the church can do best. We have a team of 30 located in Houston, TX, and we have the honor of helping churches all around the world build great teams. My favorite thing about Dublin is its rich history. I’m a bit of a history nut.
(2) Who have been your inspirations growing up, who do you enjoying reading and what do you do on a day off?
John Maxwell spoke into my life as a young pastor, and I’m forever grateful for his wisdom in leadership development. I also highly respect Sam Chand, who has helped me think through key decisions throughout my vocation. On a day off, I soak up time with my wife Adrienne and our seven kids. We enjoy heading to the golf course. Adrienne and the kiddos are now better golfers than I am!
(3) Why did you stop being a pastor and set up Vanderbloemen Search?
I was 31 when I was called to be the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Houston. At the time, I was the youngest pastor to have ever been called to lead as the Senior Pastor. In my six years there, I experienced the joys and challenges of trying to bring innovation into a traditional context. As a young pastor, this was challenging, particularly in regards to team building.
I was looking for agile, creative problem solvers to join a more rigid context, and it was difficult to find the right DNA match. I even used a search firm during my time at First Presbyterian, and it wasn’t a good experience. I knew that my peers and I didn’t learn about hiring, firing, and team building in seminary and that the church needed help from someone who could apply the best practices of the corporate world to the sacred nuances of ministry. So I studied executive search for a few years before Adrienne and I felt called to bring my past experiences, ministry network, and search expertise together to found Vanderbloemen and help churches build great teams. We started the company on the Ides of March in 2010, and 5 and a half years later, we have over 30 full-time team members and have completed over 600 searches for churches and ministries around the world.
(4) From your experience of hiring church leaders, what are the key characteristics you look for?
The number one characteristic we look for in church leaders is a passionate calling to ministry and a love for the Bride of Christ. Beyond that, agility is a key characteristic that we believe an effective church leader must have. In fact, Ever-Increasing Agility is one of our team’s values as we serve our clients. Agility means being able to pivot and change to adapt to what your church and community needs. It means seeking innovation and avoiding the phrase, “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Ultimately, when we’re helping our churches find their new team members, we’re spending time understanding their DNA as an organization so that we can match that DNA in the right candidate that God is calling to their team.
(5) How do you stop your heart from becoming cynical or despondent when you’re called in to hire a pastor because the previous leader had sinned and had to step away from leadership?
We talk as a team often about how we are called to love the Bride of Christ. Even when she fails us or when her leaders fail their followers, we’re still called to love the Church because Christ loves the Church. The Church is made up of sinners, which reaffirms the fact that we’re all in need of a Savior. It’s a humbling reminder that God can use “the least of these” to do immense work for His Kingdom.
(6) What do you think are the key issues facing the church in the west today and how do you think we can handle them?
With the rise of digital media, the world is noisier and more connected now than ever. With social media, email, and smart phones, everyone’s rolodex is at their fingertips. You would think this would make it easier for church leaders to find their key staff, but it actually makes things trickier. It’s never been easier for people to make themselves look great on paper. The real art to effective team building is getting beyond the resumé, beyond the happy Facebook posts, and truly understanding the person’s heart. This takes a lot of time and expertise, which is why in our extensive search process, our team interviews both our clients and our candidates face-to-face. This face-to-face time allows us to see the intangible aspects of the organization and the candidate as we discern the right fit.
(7) What are the 3 best books on Leadership that every young leader should read?
- What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
- QBQ! The Question Behind The Question by John G. Miller
- The Key to Everything: Unlocking the Secret to Why Some People Succeed and Others Don’t by Matt Keller
Steve Vaughan 