Our 4th Quarter Business Meeting was held Sunday, October 30, 2022, in the Fellowship Hall and via zoom. Thank you to all who were in attendance either in person or virtually. If you missed the business meeting, CLICK HERE for the recorded video of the meeting.
If you still need a copy of the Quarterly Report, please CLICK HERE.
Earlier this fall the youth group kicked off a new weekly program with high aspirations and minimal fuel to make the engine “go”. Long story short, after a couple of weeks of experimentation, it became pretty clear the most recent reboot of our youth program isn’t sufficient.
God is doing something exciting in our experimentation and intentionality. We’re feeling encouraged to see our students integrating into the specific spaces of belonging we’re building for intergenerational Discipleship. We’re seeing God at work in and through the lives of those participating in Community Ministry (Saturdays), Dinner Church (Wednesday evenings), and Woven (Sunday mornings). God is bearing fruit in the deliberateness of our relationship building, through the continuity and deliberateness in our holy conversations.
1) The identified need and desires we’re seeing in our younger youth are radically different from what we’re seeing and hearing from our older youth. This has always been true AND there is a palpable and definitive tension unique to the moment.
2) The vast majority of the adults in our congregation, including many parents of our children and youth, do not express feeling called or remotely equipped to disciple children, youth, or adults.
3) We have not been able to identify a core group of adults to make a weekly investment in the intentional discipleship of children and youth. Yes, there are individuals but no core groups of adults. We have no reason to believe this will change anytime soon.
4) Families with children/youth are in constant motion. It was true long before the pandemic began and it’s even more true now. We have no reason to believe the pace of life is going to slow down anytime soon. We have no reason to believe that “church” will ever be the center of family life again nor should we assume the church should be the center of family life again. The road ahead doesn’t resemble the place we’ve come from.
5) We can’t seem to put down the baggage of the past (discipleship as a program) which gives us little or no capacity in the embracing of discipleship as a deliberate form of relationship building with Christ at the center.
6) The Church is adrift. We have not come together to identify our priorities and we can’t make critical decisions together until we discern our priorities together.
None of us, myself included, saw the missional drifting when it first began; we can’t identify when it actually began. We certainly didn’t make a conscious decision to drift. Let’s be clear, no parent, leader, partner, community or organization drifts away from purpose….. on purpose. When we drift, and all of us do, we don’t usually know it’s happening. Maybe it begins when we get ahead of ourselves or a little full of ourselves? Maybe it happens when the tired sets in? Maybe it happens when we get scared or overwhelmed? Maybe it happens when grief claims our focus? For whatever reason, we’re all prone to gently drift asleep at the wheel. If only the awakening would be so gentle.
For the record, we have not come together to make a collective decision to radically change course and nobody has deliberately sabotaged our vessel. We fell asleep at the helm and we’ve been awakened by a crisis.
1) We didn’t see the need to recommit to our priorities, or discern new priorities during our chapters of thriving.
2) The lack of seeing the need to clarify our priorities gave each of us, individually and as little groups, silent permission to determine our own priorities.
3) A church full of individuals, boards, official and unofficial committees, each determining their own priorities, is a church adrift.
4) The wake-up call continues to be painful.
The most obvious proof of our missional drift is our lack deliberate walking with children, youth, and their families. Judy, April, a couple of lay leaders, and myself are not able to do this on the church’s behalf. As it relates to ministry with children, youth, and their families, we must clarify what we’re trying to accomplish. We must receive the resources God is providing for the purpose of equipping. We must embrace our commission to make Disciples.
1) The leaders of the church are actively creating a plan to bring all of us together so that we can actively discern what God wants us to prioritize. Your voice is needed. More importantly, your listening heart and ears are needed! Mark your calendars for a church-wide spiritual renewal weekend, January 13-15, 2023 and pray for our leaders as they help prepare the soil.
2) In the meantime, as it relates to children, youth, and their families, we’re creating new spaces for you to make an immediate investment. The table you choose to sit at, the attitude you arrive with, your motive for participating, the risk you take in sharing, your gentle listening, makes more difference than you know.
3) We don’t have to succumb to either/or thinking. It is entirely possible to remain a committed member of a class/group AND also participate in intergenerational spaces of belonging. Venturing out of your regular class/group, once a month, is healthy and undergirds the priesthood of all believers. What a gift it will be to return to your group the following week, to testify in what God is doing in the life of your church. We urge you to carve out time, at least once a month, to participate in in one of our new spaces of belonging (Sunday mornings, Wednesday evenings, and/or Saturdays)
3) Whoever said that what God wants is for any of us to put church at the center of our lives? Jesus certainly never said that. He speaks of himself as God’s Temple, continually moving in the neighborhood. God wants us to put Christ at the center of our the totality of our lives. What a tremendous opportunity we’ve been given to help families learn to disciple one another so they might share God’s love with those they are actually “doing life with”… on the sidelines of sports fields, on field trips, at work, and all of the gazillion places they find themselves on any given day.
5) And then there’s this…… best news ever…..God is with us AND for us. Drift is inevitable AND God is faithful. We may have wandered but the Spirit guides. The crisis we’ve brought on ourselves in missional drift brings opportunity for Jesus to help us find our way again. Our intentional walking in these last two months of the calendar year could very well determine whether or not we thrive in the year that follows.
We have some amazing kids in the life of this church. Their parents, surrogate parents, and grandparents are also pretty amazing. Don’t even get me started on the newcomers that have only recently found an home in our little corner of the world. Each and every one of us, a child of God, full of holy potential, yet-to-be-discovered wonder, and renewed purpose. Each and every one of us with a part to play.
We make the road by walking.
Yours in Christ,
Sterling
Sterling W. Severns, Pastor
Click here to see the information for the parents and youth that are attending the Youth Retreat at Eagle Eyrie on November 11-13, 2022.
Hello Youth Families: This year’s CBFVA Fall Retreat is happening November 11-13 at Eagle Eyrie in Lynchburg. This event is open for all middle and high school students (and their friends)!
The cost to attend is $95/person but we have scholarship funds available for those that may need it.
The deadline to sign up for the Fall Retreat is Friday, September 30th. Payment is due by the time we leave for the retreat on November 11th.
Please complete the form by CLICKING HERE for each youth who plans on attending. There may be more forms to fill out for CBFVA in advance of the event, but we will get those you when we have them.
Video specifically mentions two sign-up links. Please RSVP ASAP
1) Youth Night – this Friday, September 13
2) This Sunday’s lunch. (Sept 18)
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We launch into this fall season with confidence that God will give us the resources we need in accomplishing the important work of the church. It is our hope that every member of the church will: 1) Deliberately take a deeper step in their faith walk 2) Every member will find one area to regularly serve (weekly or monthly) Which of these many opportunities would you like more information about? A member of our staff will reach out to you to answer questions and help with your discernment process. Please CLICK HERE to take the survey. Please click on the boxes to find out more information on how you may serve. PRIORITIES: CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL (9:45 – 10:45 AM) – Cindy Hutchinson is our week-to-week lead teacher. We need a minimum of one adult to serve with her. We’re likely looking for a rotation of adults to serve once a each month. (background checks required) YOUTH GROUP MENTORS (Sundays, 12:30 – 2:30 PM) Sterling Severns is our week-to-week leader. We need 2 other adults to serve beside him. We’re likely looking for a rotation of adults willing to serve once each month (Background checks required) DIALOGUE FACILITATOR (serving larger community) – ExCell is beginning a new zoom based program which gathers a small group of preschool parents together on a monthly basis. Facilitators will be trained in a 1.5 hour session and then commit to facilitating a conversation for 1 hour….once a month. We’re looking for facilitators with these attributes and attitudes: – Positive and uplifting leadership with others Guide conversations through keen observations – Demonstrate curiosity and interest in learning from others – Share patience and a sense of humor with others – Ability to listen responsively (demonstrate to the speaker that you are listening and understanding what is being said, which encourages the speaker to continue) We’re looking for a total of 10 facilitators. YOUTH EVENTS: We have a handful of upcoming youth events requiring additional chaperones. Check the box if you’d like info on events and dates. TABLE PREP AND/OR FOOD PICKUP: Mid-September, we’re beginning a new Wednesday night program called “Dinner Church”. We’re looking for folks willing to pickup food and deliver it to the fellowship hall on Wednesday afternoons and others to help prepare the tables (late Wednesday afternoon) ONCE A MONTH CLEANING AND ORGANIZING: We’d like to have a list of folks that will be willing to come into the building, once a month on a weekday of their choosing, to help tidy up and/or organize classrooms and hallways. HANDY PEOPLE: We’d like to have a list of folks that would be wiling to come into the physical building to help with basic “handy” projects. Think – hanging frames, powerwashing, preparing walls for painting, etc. SHORT TERM PROJECTS IN THE BUILDING: SANDERS: use a belt sander and mouse sander on small oak classroom desks STAINERS: Stain some of the furniture out sanders have prepared. TECHNOLOGY: organize our cables, test equipment, and/or install AV in classrooms “AT HOME” PROJECTS SEWING: new cushion covers for sitting stools, a sitting bench, light blocking curtains, and cushions for “This End Up Furniture” BASIC FURNITURE BUILDING: Break down a piece of furniture and use the wood material to create a basic sitting bench (we have a leather cushion for the bench) Please CLICK HERE to take the survey. Please click on the boxes to find out more information on how you may serve. We’ll continue to post other opportunities as they arise and appreciate you discerning YOUR place of service. |
Joseph Myers in The Search to Belong, with the help of sociologist Edward T. Hall, identifies four kinds of spaces in which we find a sense of belonging. DISCIPLESHIP HAPPENS IN ALL FOUR OF THESE SPACES. Each intentional space has a unique purpose and set of expectations.
Our goal is to prompt each one of us to take a deeper step in our walk with Christ.
Public space is about sharing a common experience in a larger space, like a public worship service.
WE SHOULD EXPECT to come to worship with expectation of encountering the living God, prepared to listen to stories about the in in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, and leave with a renewed sense of purposefulness. We should not expect this space to do the challenging and long-term work of transformation.
WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT this space to do the heavy lifting in the long-term work of transformation. While this space may feel intimate to those participating, it isn’t meant to be a replacement for the smaller spaces where people can be vulnerable and practice accountability.
AT IT’S BEST, corporate worship becomes missional if it reshapes people to inhabit God’s story in their everyday lives.
Community space is where people select a community – people with whom they want to go deeper – to belong to. In our congregational setting, this space is more like a mid-sized group of 20 to 40 people. The It’s small enough for people to experience authentic community, but big enough to mobilize.
WE SHOULD EXPECT this space to facilitate deeper relationship building and lighten the load by spreading out the work.
WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT the deepest levels of vulnerability and accountability to take place in this space.
AT IT’S BEST, this space gives people a foretaste of the Kingdom, where people are known and, together, we’re living out love and relationships in meaningful ways.
Jesus discipled the disciples through constant invitation and challenge. Personal spaces of belonging are small by design, 5-12 participants, and are uniquely suited for a deeper formation.
In this closed and temporary space we invite people to live out a common rule of life and share in habits together that will help us to have eyes to see, ears to hear, and practices that will encourage us to live out the mission of God.
WE SHOULD EXPECT accountability to happen in this space because Christ calls us to help one another explore our unique struggles, hopes, and callings. In this space we invite and challenge one another to open up honestly. We create safe space a shared commitment to expectations and embracing the importance of keeping trust in the holding of one another’s stories.
WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT everyone to feel comfortable to participate (yet) and we shouldn’t assume this is space where we expect the “naked truth” of our lives to be fully revealed.
AT OUR BEST, The farther we move from the public space into personal/intimate spaces, the greater the accountability and vulnerability becomes and the more intentional we should be in fostering the invitation and challenge to walk with Christ into a hurting world.
Higher depths of accountability and vulnerability don’t come easy for many of us. Trust takes time to build. Whereas, we should assume that everyone is expected to go deeper, with each step they take with Christ, the stride and pace of those steps will vary dramatically. If you’re ready to step into something that promotes vulnerability and accountability, we’ll have a space for you now. If you aren’t ready yet, it’s ok. We’ll be ready when you are.
This is like the space Jesus had with Peter, James and John. Whereas, we aren’t yet ready to invest energy in creating intimate space, we want to be mindful of it’s importance!
Explore our fall programming guide
Short on time? Here’s a snapshot of what to expect this fall
“What would the church look like if everyone in the church used their God-given gifts and talents to equip the rest of the church in such a way that the entire church became more like Jesus?” For if the whole church looked and lived more like Jesus, how much more would our neighborhoods and cities look more like heaven?
– JR Woodard
The Pastoral Staff has been hard at work in preparing to equip the church in this next season of life together. Early this week, we’ll share the details of what the church can expect. This document will serve as a primer in better understanding why we’re beginning “here” and what to expect from each space we’re creating. Our goal is to prompt each one of us to take a deeper step in our walk with Christ; we make the road by walking.
It’s all about equipping the people of the Church to be more like Jesus in a world that needs the love of Jesus. Christian discipleship is about calling others to join us in practicing a way of life in which we embody (flesh out) the life of Jesus in the context of the world as we journey to fulfill God’s mission together.
Explore the primary tool we’re using to develop three unique spaces of belonging in Fall 2022.
Explore our fall programming guide
Short on time? Here’s a snapshot of what to expect this fall
* Adapted from Jr Woodard's Creating a Missional Culture: Equipping the Church for the Sake of the World
We continue to lift up Eloise, Massie, and the entire Fulks family, as they grieve Margaret Anne’s death and celebrate her homecoming.
Alcorn, Margaret Anne Fulks, 66, of Boise, ID, formerly of Richmond. VA, joined her beloved ancestors and her Heavenly Father on August 4, 2022.
She was the third child of Melvin Earl Fulks, Sr. and Margaret Broach Fulks. Margaret Anne was a loving, caring, and mighty child of God. Though quiet and willowy she had an unyielding personal sense of justice that would summon her into immediate action when a stranger, dog or cat needed help. She leaves behind her two children, Matthew Alcorn and Samantha Alcorn, as well as ex-husband, Scott Alcorn.
Margaret Anne had a long career as a meticulous, cheerful legal secretary in Boise. Her sense of humor and many hijinks kept everyone laughing. Her siblings, Melvin Earl Fulks, Jr. (Lynn), Eloise Fulks Hines (Vic), George Massie Fulks (Betsy) and Darryl Wayne Fulks will miss her greatly. She also leaves behind seven nieces and nephews and a host of great-nieces and great-nephews.
There will be a Graveside Service at Forest Lawn Cemetery on Monday, August 29, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.
| YOUTH PARENTS & MENTORS Next Event for our Youth Group Youth Event For Wednesday, August 17th Picnic Party At The Gradwell’s! Hello Youth Family: Our next youth event for Epic August, is Wednesday, August 17. We’re looking forward to a great picnic party at the home of the Gradwell’s. If you have not RSVP’d already, please do so by Monday, August 15, by 7:30 PM. WHEN? Aug 17, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM DROP-OFF/PICK-UP at The Gradwell’s1613 Harborough Rd., Henrico, VA 23238 FOOD Hotdogs and hamburgers and trimmings and a dessert RSVP Please RSVP by Monday, August 15 by 7:00 PM. Click here to RSVP. Upcoming Youth Events: August 20: Youth Participate in our Church-wide Clean-up Day September 16-17: Lock-in and RVA Street Art Festival November 11-13 2022: CBF Va Fall Youth Retreat at Eagle Eyrie Please be sure to RSVP when you get the email or see the post as this helps our coordinators plan for your event. |
