PREPARE YOUR CHURCH AND MEMBERS TO SURVIVE A DISASTER

By Rev. Dr. Norman L. Williams, PSWR Disaster Recovery Ministry

Prepare your Church and Members to survive a disaster with the new toolkits and videos from FEMA's Ready Business website.

Organizations and their staff face a variety of hazards. The Ready Business program helps organizations plan for these hazards.

The Ready Business Toolkit series includes hazard-specific versions. The following versions include step-by-step guides in English and Spanish to build preparedness within an organization.

• Earthquake “QuakeSmart” Toolkit
• Hurricane Toolkit
• Inland Flooding Toolkit
• Power Outage Toolkit
• Severe Wind/Tornado Toolkit

The Ready Business videos, available in English and Spanish, briefly explain several key parts of getting ready, such as:

• Staff/Employee Management;
• Physical Surroundings;
• Physical Space;
• Building Construction;
• Systems; and
• Community Service.

Download and view these new resources at www.ready.gov/business.  If you need any help or guidance please contact me.  We have team members ready to help your congregation and members prepare for to survive!

Rev. Dr. Norman L. Williams
PSWR Disaster Recovery Ministry
ChNorm@msn.com
909-289-6525

What's New With Hatchery LA?

Hatchery LA is an initiative of the Disciples of Christ of the PSWR and we are an incubator for Spiritual Entrepreneurs.  For those of you who aren’t as familiar with Hatchery LA, here is a little background… 

Being integrally passionate about spiritual communities, churches and projects that are thriving in serving the needs of people and promoting sustainability and viability, the PSWR Regional Ministers along with Executive Director, Spencer Burke, dreamt up Hatchery LA.  

As an initiative of the Disciples, we resource the region both in terms of existing churches and communities that are in need of spiritual innovation as well as new projects that are seeking new frameworks for the way ministry is done in the 21st century.  

We believe these new frameworks are part of an emerging discipline called Spiritual Entrepreneurship.  What is this new emerging field?  Hatchery LA defines SE as:

Responding to the shifts within culture and the world, motivated by the goal of common good, Spiritual Entrepreneurship is an invitation to engage new questions of god and new ways of engaging god that promote community, sustainability and viability. Spiritual Entrepreneurship innovates and iterates to anticipate and address the changing needs of spirituality in the 21st century.

Maybe you are you a seminary graduate that doesn't feel completely prepared to do ministry in the 21st century.  Perhaps you are a minister or pastor struggling amidst the transition that changing culture brings.  It could be that you are what we call a cultural creative and filled with new ideas and passion.

Whatever ministerial context you might find yourself in, we want to invite you to consider our 12 week course, Certificate in Spiritual Entrepreneurship.  Go to the Hatchery LA website - http://HatcheryLA.com - to see a preview of each week of the course and what you can expect.  We are covering topics that include innovative theology, lean methodology, economics, technology and sustainability and viability for the future.  Our course launches April 23rd.  We would love for you to take this journey with us!  Feel free to contact Spencer - Spencer@HatcheryLA.com for more information!

Mile Marker #99: Can You Hear Me Now?

By Revs. Don Dewey and Susan Gonzales-Dewey, Co-Regional Ministers 

Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." Mark 4:9

Cellco Partnership, which operated under the name Verizon Wireless, launched their “Can You Hear Me Now?” campaign in January 2002. It was an effort to increase their market “footprint” and expand coverage for more mobile phone users. It also helped establish higher-ground branding for Verizon amidst their competitors.

The goal for this campaign was to show future customers that their networks were better at avoiding dropped or lost calls and maintain stronger connections for their phone service. Verizon was spending $1 billion every 90 days for this campaign!

This past weekend I attended the REVIVE conference held at Mission gathering in San Diego. A guy referred to as “Science Mike” led one of the workshops offered. Though Mike is not a scientist in the traditional sense, he has done extensive study on generational characteristics. In this workshop he was specifically sharing information on what is referred to as the “Millennial” generation, those born between 1980 and 2000.

Looking across the broad spectrum of church in America, Millennials are seen as the “lost generation.” According to one study (and many others like it) church attendance and impressions of the church are the lowest in recent history, and most drastic among Millennials described as 22- to 35-year-olds.

• Only 2 in 10 Americans under 30 believe attending a church is important or worthwhile (an all-time low).

• 59 percent of Millennials raised in a church have dropped out.

• 35 percent of Millennials have an anti-church stance, believing the church does more harm than good.

• Millennials are the least likely age group of anyone to attend church (by far).

Another staggering statistic shared in the workshop led by Science Mike at REVIVE was that 35% of Millennials (and growing) are in depression. Some of this is attributed to the continual use of electronic devices. He said that there are at least two things that help mitigate this rise in depression among this generation. One is their involvement in sport activities. The other is active participation in church and/or a faith community. Unfortunately Mike says, that most churches do a very poor job of connecting with Millennials and younger generations.

This is both good news and bad news. Good news in that a faith life improves our overall life no matter the generation. Bad news is that we in the church have failed to connect well with the younger generations.

Their mass absence from our churches is a silent cry, “Can You Hear Me Now?” While so many in our churches bemoan the fact that there are fewer and fewer young people in their midst, yet when ask what would they like to see in their church they almost always reply “more youth and young adults” but rarely take the time to find out what they need or want from their church or faith community.

Mainline churches, including Disciples, continue to experience growing decline even with our best efforts to start new churches and yet remain reluctant to make the necessary adaptive changes that might begin to reach and connect with our newer generations. Many will say that the church is dying. I believe the church, as we’ve known it, has been and will continue to evolve, change and transform to meet a continual need with or without us.

Our scriptures tell us: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

The mission of God is emerging all around us and most often in places and ways we least expect it. God’s activity is not limited to age, culture, language, generation, style, place, denomination or any other category. The desire in every human being to be drawn into the mystery of God knows no boundaries. God’s Spirit continues to move in and through us seeking connection and asking again and again, “Can You Hear Me Now?” Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." Mark 4:9

Sam Eaton has written a provocative article/blog titled, “12 Reasons Millennials are over church”, see: https://faithit.com/12-reasons-millennials-over-church-sam-eaton/ I would encourage anyone interested in some of the concerns of the Millennials to read it. Besides the critique of why Millennials are over church, I appreciated that he offered some suggestions for what churches might do to change this situation and connect with this lost generation.

Obviously there are no quick or easy solutions to the ever shifting and changing landscape of church in America, yet I believe we must begin to take the time to listen to the needs of our young people if we want to be a part of God’s continual activity and mission in the world.

I continually hear from those who are new to Disciples that we are the best-kept secret in mainline churches. Friends, we can no longer afford to be a secret when there are generations unable to connect with the Good News of Jesus Christ because we have not done our work in connecting with them.

I don’t believe we need to spend $1 billion every 90 days to do this. However, I do believe we need to be continuingly asking our younger generations, “Can You Hear Me Now?’ with the desire to make the best possible connections!

Together on the journey,

Don and Susan Your Regional Ministers

Mile Marker #98: What the World Needs Now

By Revs. Don Dewey and Susan Gonzales Dewey, Co-Regional Ministers

In April 1965, two well-known songwriters released a song that soon became a hit titled: “What the World Needs Now." Reflecting on the state of our union these days and all the divisiveness going on in every sector of our society, the lyrics for this song seem especially poignant for us today. As we begin this month of February, the month where we celebrate love on Valentines Day, it seemed appropriate to share the words to this song:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last till the end of time
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone
Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine
Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone
No, not just for some, oh, but just for everyone

I especially like that the song speaks of an inclusionary love, “No, not just for some but for everyone.” For me this resonates with what I believe was at the heart of the message of Jesus. Over and over again we read in our Gospels Jesus’ inclusionary love. Regardless of the political or religious barriers erected to keep some outside of God’s gracious unconditional love, Jesus shattered those barriers and welcomed those excluded, marginalized and despised into the circle of God’s love. No, Jesus’ love was not just for some but for everyone!

Today it seems there is a lot of hate and vitriol spewing out of both sides of the political and religious debate about what’s right and what’s wrong. Yes, we need to speak truth to power, yes we need to speak out against all forms of injustice and yes, we need to lift our voices on behalf of the voiceless but we need to do so with love that does not destroy or dehumanize the other no matter how much there actions or words are hurtful or harmful. Jesus’ love called us to love even our enemies.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom we just honored and remembered once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

As we continue making our way into 2018 it will be important for us as followers of Jesus to seek fervently to walk in his way. Remembering his command to love: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Of course we know, this is not the love that most will be thinking of on February 14th as we celebrate Valentines Day. It is probably not the love Hal David and Burt Bacharach had in mind in their song. Yet it is a love that includes everyone and one that calls us to be willing to challenge the forces that deny human dignity and basic human rights to any and all.

Again, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that the ultimate power in the universe is love and when we live into it faithfully as Jesus did, it is unstoppable. It is, as always, what the world needs now!

Together on the journey,

Don and Susan
Your Regional Ministers

Mile Marker #97: A Season of Hope

By Revs. Don Dewey and Susan Gonzales Dewey, Co-Regional Ministers

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” 1 Peter 1:3,4

On New Years Eve Sunday morning, our pastor, Rev. Dr. Dayna Kinkade, shared a wonderful message about TIME using the scripture text of Ecclesiastes 9, “To everything there is a season."  She noted that with all the things that happened this past year—natural disasters, social unrest, political divisiveness, sexual harassment in the workplace and more—that many were glad to see 2017 end, and in fact chose Hallmark Christmas movies to get through the holidays! She stated that so much is wrong that we don’t know where to begin. However, the writer of Ecclesiastes seems to get it. 

Rev. Dr. Kinkade said, “He (the writer of Ecclesiastes) begins the book with the memorable phrase “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” It’s all hebel, that’s the Hebrew word for it. Today we might say it’s all gone to pot. There really isn’t a good translation for it. It is disgust and disillusionment with a spoonful of frustration: hebel. It’s all hebel.

The frustration was the fact that the good and just suffered while the wicked prosper. He was also frustrated that wisdom was lost on the powerful.   

In Chapter 9 he includes this proverb:

17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one bungler destroys much good. (Eccl. 9:17-18)

The author, introduced as the teacher, in the first chapter, is cranky. He is venting about the injustice he sees. He is venting about feeling powerless to affect change. He is venting about fools in charge. He is articulating what his readers feel. All is hebel.

Yet the Book of Ecclesiastes is more than one long rant. It serves as a corrective to some misguided thinking. In the ancient world there was the prevailing view that the righteous prosper and the wicked suffer. That’s how the world worked. That’s how God works. If things are bad it is because you are bad…It is easy to think that God blesses the faithful—or that everything happens for a reason. The problem with this thinking is that it fails to explain why faithful people struggle and suffer. Like Job’s friends, the only answer to suffering is, “You must have done something wrong.”

The teacher offers a different answer. With the beauty of poetry, he offers hopeful words to the disheartened. Life has seasons…and a time for every matter. Our job is to be mindful of the time.  When times are good it is important to live in appreciation, making the most of that time, knowing that the time will change. When times are bad it is important to persist, and resist, knowing that this too shall pass. And regardless of the time, he affirms the importance of shared meals and laughter. This is of more value that a heap of riches.”

We have said goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018 with hope, however faint, that things will be better for our families, our churches, our world and ourselves. The writer of 1 Peter encourages us with these words: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” 1 Peter 1:3,4. Jürgen Moltmann says, “Hope is nothing else than the expectation of those things which faith has believed to have been truly promised by God.” (Theology of Hope, Jürgen Moltmann)

Our hope for the future is not the same as wishful thinking or new years resolutions. Rather, our hope is grounded in the reality of God’s promises. The writer of 1 Peter goes on to say, “Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine.” 1 Peter 1:6, 7. In other words, to everything there is a season but God’s promises transcend seasons and can “never perish, spoil or fade.”

So how do we approach this New Year with faithful hope? First it is important as Pastor Dayna stated to be mindful of the time/season. When times are good we need to cultivate a spirit of gratitude for all the ways God has blessed our lives. I like to think of it like storing up thankfulness in the good season that then can carry us through the lean ones. And when times are bad, we ground ourselves in our faith knowing that God’s promises are ours forever.

Recently writer, activist, and president of Sojourners, Jim Wallis shared his 10 resolutions for the coming year. I share them with you with the hope that they might inspire you and challenge you to think about how you will live into 2018 with faithful hope.

Jim Wallis’s 10 Resolutions:

1. To start each day with a “yes!” to my faith — and to my personal and public morality.

2. To have the courage to say “no!” when that is required, wherever it is required. 

3. To not wait to say “no,” or wait to stand in opposition to wrong and dangerous ideas and actions, until I see how others will respond. 

4. To hold the Bible in one hand and the news in the other as I go through each day.

5. To better answer the biggest challenges of 2018 by acting on my faith, rather than reacting from my emotions.

6. To see crisis as both danger and opportunity.

7. To see evil and injustice as a call to go deeper. 

8. To spend even more time with my family. 

9. To pray for particular people who will be playing critical roles in the outcomes of political events in this country.

10. To work and pray to grow in my trust of God, friends, and community. 

 (Go to https://sojo.net/articles/10-resolutions-2018 for a full description of these resolutions)

We pray that your New Year will be filled with new opportunities, new blessings, new joys and renewed hope. Let us work together to bring about God’s promised justice, peace and love for all humanity and a deeper care for our earth and all its inhabitants.

We give thanks for the privilege of serving with each one of you and look forward to our ministry together in the coming year.

“So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13

Together on the journey,
Don and Susan
Your Regional Ministers