One Region, One Church, One Mission
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Same Message. New Approach
By Kyle Patterson, photos by Matt Brown
Church in a bar. It happens every week in downtown Buffalo. But, they really aren't there to goof off. Quite the contrary, the 60 or so people that make up Church on Tap, a relatively new church (about 4 years young) that meets at one of Buffalo's most popular bars, Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, are all from different backgrounds, yet have common threads that hold them together—Christ, community and living out their faith incarnationally. Some come seeking, others come wondering, still others are seasoned in their faith and committed to raising their families in God's word. Whatever background they may be from, all have a desire for real community and putting their beliefs into action and by doing so are challenging the status quo of American church life.
For the families and individuals who make Church on Tap their home church, it comes down to a matter of values for the predominately young group of 20 and 30 year olds, many with young families. You see they don't even have a staff pastor that they put on the payroll, and it's not that they can't afford it, they purposely decided against it. For this group of believers, it's about doing the most good with what they have been given. Instead of spending church resources paying a pastor and paying for a building and then maybe a bigger building down the road and running building drives or the bigger and better, this church has chosen to give it all away. And it’s not that Church on Tap believes something is inherently wrong with buildings and staff. It’s just they believe this is what God has called them to do and who can argue with that? Over 80% of what comes in to the church goes right back into the community in one way or another. This model has allowed Church on Tap to support everything from overseas missions, to helping a neighbor in need of a car repair to fixing up an abandoned East Side home. Their model of doing church encourages everyone to participate in the ministry, not just the ones with the most visible gifting of speaking or playing music. The vision is to see the values of Christianity lived out without the constraints that often times come with large building initiatives and six figure pastor salaries.
For Jim Sproull, one of the founders and many times the one teaching on Sunday mornings, he experienced church staff cutbacks when his job was eliminated at a mega church. Sproull found himself out of a job after the church made staff changes due to an over budget building project. The church couldn't keep up with the salary demands and Sproull found himself without a job and wanting to rethink church. He began asking some hard questions and defining what he understood from Scripture church to be. It was during this season that Sproull with a couple of friends decided to try a new type of church experience. At first the question was whether to even have a Sunday service, but after consideration they determined it was a must. A paid pastor though they decided to forsake and as for a building? A mutual friend happened to be the manager of Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, “As long as we didn't interfere with business as usual, we were welcome to use it,” explained Erik Eustice, one of the founders of the church and a leader in the community.
“The church is composed of people, not a building and not a staff. If the church is truly composed of people that are doing ministry the only way to do that is eliminate the hierarchy of those who get paid to do it and those who watch it, we wanted to change that whole mindset,” explained Sproull. And that is exactly what they are doing. The church is empowering and mobilizing organic forms of outreach and missional strategies to reach into the community including forming a partnership with other East side inner city churches. Even Pearl Street Grill and Brewery is catching on with the formation of a community outreach team from the restaurant that works with Church on Tap to make a difference in the community. For Church on Tap the name is symbolic of what it means to be the church. “On Tap” for them means availability and accessibility. For a Church to be on tap means when there is a need in their growing community, they have the accessibility to hear about it and the means to act, something they pride themselves on and something any church should pause and learn from. Erik Eustice explained, “A lot of it is about accessibility. Access to Christ, access to followers of Christ, access to resources, access to real tangible impactful parts of the kingdom. You aren't just sitting down and saying OK there are a handful of professionals who we will pay to do ministry and we will watch. It puts you back on the hook and says everybody has a role in this.” And that shared role translates into a high percentage of Sunday morning attenders involved in the weekly ministry.
In terms of the bar setting, it wasn't something the church leadership even pursued but when the opportunity presented itself they saw the opportunity to attract people who may never come to a typical church setting. “It’s where life happens, its not removing church from everyday life. It’s a familiar place, we aren't separating church from the rest of our lives. We are intentional about breaking down barriers between the church and the world,” explained Eustice and Sproull in a recent interview. “We are about removing the icons, and removing the wall between paying people to do the ministry and the rest of the people who open their checkbooks to support it. Instead it’s about everyone getting involved.”
Church on Tap’s strategy is to utilize the gifts and talents of their members and work together to glorify God, after all they are all in this ministry together. They are raising families, running businesses, starting businesses taking care of their spouses and Church on Tap provides a place to intentionally build relationships with like minded people, enjoy community, have a meal together and encourage one another. Throughout the week various bible studies and play groups for the many young moms are available. Because of this community comes natural because they have committed to doing life together.
TJ Stewart started attending Church on Tap with his wife Leslie and young daughter after moving back home to Buffalo from Denver, CO. The Stewarts came out of a traditional church setting and were looking to get connected again locally when they ran into some friends at Church on Tap. TJ explained, “The whole notion of church being a structure was losing its appeal to us. Church wasn't the structure, it is the body of believers. My cousin said come check it out we do church in a bar. Curiosity gets the cat and what I found was close personal connections and in a really personal way demonstrating what the body of believers looks like. The people were friendly and outgoing and love you where your at, and a lot of times big churches have lost that. Here is the thing I realized, when you talk about the big C church of the U.S. there are people who wouldn't be caught dead walking into church in a bar. After going large and being a part of a large church and serving in various capacities, I don't know if I could go back to a big church setting. No bureaucracy, no politics, no one person in charge of it. The body sees a need and the body steps up to fill the need. Everyone chips in and I think it is a close representation of the early church. There is something beautiful in the simplicity.”
Monday, May 7, 2012
CMS @ The Chapel: Another Year of Musical Experience
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| Photographer Matt Brown captures an acoustic moment with David Crowder at CMS @ The Chapel this past weekend. |
Answering the Call to Pray
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| The 61st Annual National Day of Prayer brought together an estimated 500 in Niagara Square, Buffalo. Photo by Bob Caple |
The local expression of the National Day of Prayer in Buffalo has been joining together in Niagara Square for a number of years has coined the name, "Prayer in the Square." The 12-1:30 gathering invites believers to join other believers from every denomination, nation, tribe, people and language before the Throne of God to experienced God's power and answers to prayer. Representatives and leaders from 10 specific prayer focuses led the group of believers in prayer for government, media, business, church, family and more. Kathy Bowman, of Buffalo's Antioch Holiness Church on Michigan Avenue was the NDP Taskforce chairwoman for this year's event and kicked off this year's observance by reading a proclamation from President Barack Obama. Below is the full statement released by the White House:
Prayer has always been a part of the American story, and today countless Americans rely on prayer for comfort, direction, and strength, praying not only for themselves, but for their communities, their country, and the world.
On this National Day of Prayer, we give thanks for our democracy that respects the beliefs and protects the religious freedom of all people to pray, worship, or abstain according to the dictates of their conscience. Let us pray for all the citizens of our great Nation, particularly those who are sick, mourning, or without hope, and ask God for the sustenance to meet the challenges we face as a Nation. May we embrace the responsibility we have to each other, and rely on the better angels of our nature in service to one another. Let us be humble in our convictions, and courageous in our virtue. Let us pray for those who are suffering around the world, and let us be open to opportunities to ease that suffering.
Let us also pay tribute to the men and women of our Armed Forces who have answered our country’s call to serve with honor in the pursuit of peace. Our grateful Nation is humbled by the sacrifices made to protect and defend our security and freedom. Let us pray for the continued strength and safety of our service members and their families. While we pause to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending liberty, let us remember and lend our voices to the principles for which they fought — unity, human dignity, and the pursuit of justice.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3, 2012, as a National Day of Prayer. I invite all citizens of our Nation, as their own faith directs them, to join me in giving thanks for the many blessings we enjoy, and I call upon individuals of all faiths to pray for guidance, grace, and protection for our great Nation as we address the challenges of our time.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
BARACK OBAMA
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Harvest Eyes Part II
(Continued from Feb/March 2012 issue)
By Rev. Dr. Bob Tice
(3)“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out (thrust out) laborers into his harvest.’”
Notice the words of Jesus indicate that the greatest challenge of world ministry is not the harvest, but rather the harvesters themselves. Jesus says the harvest “is plentiful.” The word “plentiful” here means very full and manifold. The harvest is huge and God-assured! We bemoan far too much that people are not open. While this can be true, based on this Scripture there is always an abundant harvest awaiting willing workers. We have met the enemy, and the enemy in mission… is us!
This is why we never find an instance in Paul’s letters where he asks his readers to pray for the unsaved. As the great apostolic missionary to the gentile world, Paul repeatedly asks that they pray for him. For Paul, the harvest is the lesser of the two challenges: Paul knew he had a harvest!
This is also why Jesus says, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to thrust out laborers into his harvest.” Harvest eyes will notice two things here. First, despite a harvest waiting for workers, Jesus does not say, “So guys, just dive right into those fields!” Rather he says, “Therefore pray.” Pray first, because communion must always precede commission. Prayer is our declaration of dependence. This is why it is translated in places as, “Supplicate the Lord of the harvest.” Supply, oh Lord! We need you, Lord!
Second, harvest eyes will see the words “thrust out” (some translations have “send out”), which mean in the original language “to cast out” or “to vigorously thrust something out with a mighty force.” Part of the original word in Greek sounds like our English word “ballistic.” Of the seventeen other times Matthew uses this word, thirteen of them refer to the casting out of a demon! What must Jesus be telling us when the very same action needed to cast out a demon is needed to move us to ministry!? Oh, may it not be true that believers are as hunkered down in the comfort of their own salvation as ungodly demons are dug-in to those they possess! If we are to be numerous enough to meet the awaiting harvest, then there must arise from within the church a spiritually violent heart-cry. The church must cry out in passionate prayer… to go ballistic!
(4) Reproduce the Jesus in Yourself in Others, to Multiply the Harvest Brought in (10:1-2, 5):
“Then Jesus called his twelve disciples to him, and he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. …And these twelve Jesus sent out” (10:1-2, 5).
Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “The harvest is so big that I’m going to knock myself out and get all the glory for myself.” Rather, his plan for expansion is one of reproducing himself in others and then releasing others into God’s Kingdom. Remember! The harvest is huge, and it demands believers who understand there must be a huge army of harvesters. This requires believers and churches who call and raise up others (10:1a, 2); give these others true authority (10:1); equip them to send them out (10:5-42); plant new churches; and above all, walk in an attitude of humility, cooperation, team-building, broad apostolic vision, and unity in Christ.
This applies to every truly committed believer in God’s church, not just to its prominent leaders (and certainly not only to an isolated few at the top). Every believer can nurture and develop somebody else—a Sunday school child, a younger brother or sister in Christ, a struggling friend. In fact, those who have already become true harvest people usually have done so because they have been able to follow a worthy model and are always striving to return the favor with someone else.
Harvest people pass it on! And understand this: The “ripple-effect” can change the world!
Oh… for… harvest… eyes!
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