OK, so how to put this...
It was just that we gathered together as Vine leadership last week and realized that we had reached one of those crisis points; where what we decided in that moment would really dictate how the movement flowed from that point forward. From the beginning, when Vine was still just a dream, we prayed and planned that it would be a community of servants, not another church filled with spiritual consumers getting a weekly fillup. We were about using 1 hour a week to equip for the other 167. And if you've been to a Vine worship gathering since we launched last August, you know we talk about that a lot. It's basically what we mean when we say we are a "missional" community of Jesus Followers.
And in some ways that servant mentality started to show right away. We got involved with Oscar Pope school, we're sending people to DC this summer, we had great groups come out for a couple of community workdays, even people in Vine taking up their own missions as God opened doors. Cool stuff. Good times. Rock n Roll. And there will be more and more.
But a servant heartedness wasn't really showing itself within Vine - in how we served and cared for one another within the community. The opportunity for people to exercise their servanthood by helping with a team on Sunday mornings was put out there over and over, but with the exception of a couple of teams we have had only a small and consistent few coming week in and week out to serve the rest of us. A handful walk into an empty FPC gym at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning (except for the chairs, set up by the FPC custodians the day before) and set up curtains, staging, tables, stuffed chairs, communion table, video cameras, candles, and more. A faithful handful of servants have stayed after Vine to put it all away, so by noon or so it's an empty gym again. An even smaller group of folks have volunteered to fill the amazingly important role of being door greeters and hospitality people - we have been woefully understaffed in that crucial area from the beginning, and our welcome of visitors has not been as strong as it could be.
Because Vine exists to be a community of servants, we knew as leaders that things had to change and we had to stop doing whatever it was that wasnt working. We needed to look hard at our message, our organization, and our bad habits. If we didn't, we had no right to call ourselves missional or pretend we were doing anything any different or new compared to other churches.
We started by reflecting on an amazingly relevant story from the early church told in Acts 6. There were some unmet needs in the community brought to the attention of the apostles - the leaders of the Jerusalem church. Instead of just taking the problem on themselves - and limiting the energy they would have for their main task: sharing Jesus with those who had not heard of him - they appointed seven chosen by the community as people full of the Spirit and proven as leaders. The apostles then gathered the community, appointed the seven to specific roles, the problem was addressed and the community continued to grow. It was a strong statement about the need to expand leadership rather than overburden existing leaders.
So we're in the process of seeking and appointing leaders from within Vine Community to be Team Leaders - people who will give specific oversight and leadership over servants performing a specific task - greeting, setting up, taking down, praying, tech, etc. They will be poured into by the leadership, giving them support and accountability. If you are a Vine Community member, the story in Acts says you have a part to play in bringing these folks to the surface. If you would nominate someone you know in Vine who is an excellent leader of people, yet who has a servant's heart, let me know at
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. I'll share the name with the other people on the Vine leadership team. I promise we'll leave you out of it!
We're also going to have some worship gatherings during the year specifically geared towards raising up servants and filling important roles. This will not be about recruiting, but seeing together the important role being a servant plays in walking the Jesus path. Read the gospels yourself, and you will see that message rising to the top over and over. We're also going to do some things to make the organization better, so people will know exactly what their task is and how to do it well. That way, people will spend energy on serving side by side with others, not on wondering what to do.
We also are going to make sure that there are lots of open doors for servants to serve, that people aren't serving so much they get burned out, and that people have a balance of serving and simply enjoying the community. Everyone, even Team Leaders, will have weeks on and weeks off to just come, worship, and enjoy the community without feeling like they need to do anything. Servants need people to serve.
This is going to take a couple of months to get organized. In the meantime we are taking some steps to lighten up on our existing group of overworked, faithful, and exhausted volunteers. There won't be any curtains or cushioned chairs to setup or takedown, and we've simplified in some other areas, too. We're asking this group to set some boundaries by signing up on a schedule where they can get a break this summer.
If you would like to step up, be a servant within your community, and help out in these crucial areas this summer, even if for just one or two weeks in the next couple of months, please contact our Resource Lead David Finger today at
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. Let him know the weeks you are available and how you'd like to help. You can also indicate your interest in serving on the info card at Vine this Sunday. We'll get in touch with you.
My fervent prayer is that the curtain will come back up on a community that talks about servanthood, but also one where it is easy to see that it's more than just talk. People will just look around and see all the people serving out their Jesus faith for the benefit of their brothers and sisters. That will be sweet.
