Calling for The Symbiotic Life
People often ask me, "Where do you go to church?"
To which I reply, "Cedar Grove Community Church. It's the one on College Avenue with all the big trees."
In Livermore and Pleasanton, that response is met with nodding and smiling. People know my church. It's lovely. It's been there forever. It's experienced a lot of very public turmoil with its neighbors due to past desires to expand. But recently, expansion hasn't been at the forefront of CGCC's agenda.
Years ago, our church was thriving. It housed a church body of believers who happily attended services on Sunday mornings for interesting, low-key sermons and the opportunity for fellowship, but who were also fed spiritually by a set of small groups which met all over the community.
Our youth group was a place where teenagers felt safe, had fun, and wanted to bring their friends. Those of us in the youth group who didn't feel spiritually challenged on Sunday mornings were met with productive solutions... separate Bible studies and the creation of a youth missions board.
Bolstered by a calendar jammed with activities, a vibrant, well organized program for children, and an overtly welcoming atmosphere, CGCC's church family was growing rapidly, and a plan to move to a new location was born from that optimistic, joyful foundation soil.
A plot of land was purchased. Architectural drawings of the new building were placed in the lobby. Each elevation was crisp and sleek and bright, banked by panoramic views of purple vineyards and golden foothills, exactly the way a House of God should be.
Many of us can pinpoint the day all of those effectively-laid plans evaporated. It had to do with CGCC jumping on a bandwagon.
I've read parts of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and it's an interesting and inspirational consideration of the purpose of human beings. Congregations across America adopted the structure of the book in a movement focused on the Forty Days of Purpose and discovering church-level fulfillment, something that would, ideally, translate to discovery of personal fulfillment on the part of individual parishioners.
It was a grand idea. Unfortunately, the process called for an effective reboot of each church's current system. This requirement, at least in the case of CGCC, appeared to cause the dissolution of small groups and the faltering of traditional activities. And, when the forty-first day dawned, there was no epiphany to carry our church to new heights of purpose or success.
There were, of course, other reasons and complexities to which I was not privy, which contributed to CGCC losing steam and slowing to a crawl. But I still contend that the catalyst came when CGCC stopped doing what was good in favor of doing something that was possibly better. It took its eyes off the road. It wasn't broke, and yet it volunteered to be fixed.
So where are we now?
I love my church, but today my loyalty is more dogged than devoted. I can remember how it felt to know that our church was meeting the vast needs of people, believers both old and new, of all ages; I remember the personal fulfillment I had in being utilized for good, participating in service projects and missions, etc. That sense of accessibility and acceptability has faded in the last few years. We are sluggish, we are despondent, and we are needy.
CGCC needs to be jumpstarted. And I think whatever changes are made need to begin with the women of the church.
Sociological, anthropological, and psychological statistics point to the health of any community being directly correlated to the health of the women in it. That holds for churches, too. If the women of CGCC were better educated by the church, better supported by the church, better connected with resources of all kinds by the church, their joy, purpose, and fulfillment would be positively affected, and thereby allowed the potential to spread to men in the church, children in the church, etc. This is a bold, though not altogether new idea.
According to scripture, Christian women ought to be among the most fulfilled, joyful, purposeful people in the world. Right now, any communication of that truth at our church comes in drips and drabs through one or two Bible studies and the annual Women's Retreat. That needs to change. It needs to be taught consistently and frequently, and such instruction should begin a lot sooner.
In my perfect church, the connection of women in all pertinent relationships would be facilitated by the church itself. Each person would be called to serve and would be served by someone else in another capacity.
I don't know how such a change would begin, but I want for CGCC to experience a Renaissance of involvement by its parishioners. The problem is... people won't feel compelled to participate and serve if they aren't better connected with the heart of the church, and they won't be better connected with the heart of the church unless they participate and serve. It's a sad, deteriorating cycle, and it must be broken to achieve progress.
It's time to recall all the ways CGCC has succeeded in the past, to cram its youth calendar full of safe, fun activities, to encourage interpersonal relationships of all kinds, to provide resources for the congregation (babysitting co-op platform, group dates for singles, childcare during women's Bible studies, fundraising events, etc.), and to invest in traditions we all love and want to share with our friends.
Thankfully, where it's a question of will, God does provide. All we need to do is ask.
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Audrey Camp
I'm an American expat and freelance writer living in Oslo, Norway with my husband. I love language, adventure, dogs and classic movies.
Well, I'll comment if nobody else will. :-)
AC: "If the women of CGCC were better educated by the church, better supported by the church, better connected with resources of all kinds by the church, their joy, purpose, and fulfillment would be positively affected"
This reminds me of a certain recent Cedar Grove play: "Well, your money's in Joe's house... that's right next to yours. And in the Kennedy House, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and, and a hundred others". By this, I mean (of course) that the church is *us*. Learning, support, and resources are first what we generate, and second what we receive. A path to learning could be lots of prep time before leading/facilitating a discussion. A path towards support and resources is often simply side-stepping the idea that you need others' stuff or input when beginning to create meaning and provide for the immediate needs around you (out of whatever strengths you already have). At least a small percentage of the church population should be spiritual entrepreneurs who don't ask permission for permission's sake. (This had to be a larger percentage during the first 300 years (AD) when Christians only met in homes.)
D.
P.S. An unrelated note -- given the consumer driven mindset in this country, I just checked to see if ratemychurch.com was taken. Yup (but nothing there yet).
AC: I can remember how it felt to know that our church was meeting the vast needs of people, believers both old and new, of all ages; I remember the personal fulfillment I had in being utilized for good, participating in service projects and missions, etc. That sense of accessibility and acceptability has faded in the last few years. We are sluggish, we are despondent, and we are needy.
If I read this correctly, I take your meaning to be that CGCC is no longer, or not as effectively, meeting the needs of people. I don't know how it used to be because I wasn't here, but I can speak for how it is now from my perspective. I see many examples of people's needs being met every day. I see people of all ages being utilized in ministry in incredibly meaningful ways.
I wonder if the generalizations that you are making here are due to the fact that our main failing as a church has been how we are communicating our successes. There is a lot more going on than meets the eye, and the leadership (including myself) have renewed our efforts to get the word out more broadly that there are amazing things happening.
The "body life" portion of each Sunday service is designed for just that goal: to communicate the successes of mission trips (3 in April alone), facilitate methods of involvement (40 days of prayer, Operation Andrew, Easter outreach, discipleship and membership opportunities, etc.), and tell the stories of those who have experienced God's grace and mercy in their lives (testimonies like the one this Sunday). We will, however imperfectly, continue to tell these stories at every opportunity.
AC: That holds for churches, too. If the women of CGCC were better educated by the church, better supported by the church, better connected with resources of all kinds by the church, their joy, purpose, and fulfillment would be positively affected, and thereby allowed the potential to spread to men in the church, children in the church, etc.
Your italicized phrase "by the church" begs the question answered by the previous commenter: who is the church? Answer: we all are. And, speaking for myself, I welcome any and all efforts to meet the goals you outline for women. I believe that the rest of the leadership would agree, but I can't speak for them.
Ephesians 4:11-13: It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
As a pastor and leader in the church, I am in the business of preparing God's people for works of service in order to build up the body of Christ. This involves the consistent, dogged, repeated encouragement of a (generally-speaking) consumer minded people to get involved in the lives of others. As more and more people learn the truth of Ephesians 4, my hope and prayer is that the renaissance that you speak of will grow.
Explain specific examples of how the women of our church are not "educated" "supported" or "connected"
You mention examples of how women are involved with the church, but fail to mention just how MANY more ways women help to LEAD our church. Women play some of the most important roles in multiple ministries of our church... worship, youth, childrens, plays, teaching, and including a very influential woman who is the go to person for all potential and ongoing missionary activities. (Carolyn Pura)
Ask any woman who is truly involved, and I'm certain they will tell how blessed and involved they feel to be serving in a specific area; not upset or disheartened because they can only attend "a couple bible studies, and a retreat."
The comment that women should be "the most fulfilled, joyful, and purposeful," strikes me as odd when God clearly wants this for all of his children; and in my opinion there is nothing stopping any woman from feeling this way at CGCC.
Is the church really SO different from the very recent "past" you speak of? The childrens, and youth calendars are as jam packed as ever. Worship and Services have gone to a whole new level from where they were when we were in high school... There are so many more examples than I have time to list right now, as it's about time for Junior Camp band practice in which one of our adult young women is the leader.
You can justify it in your own mind however you want, but women lead our church in so many other ways than sitting in an elders chair.