Richard Sims

Messy Ministry

At Tapestry Church, we want to be a place "where people who are broken or frayed are woven together into the body of Christ." What do we mean by "people who are broken or frayed"?

Just what it says. All of us have sinned. All of us are broken and frayed in some way. The good news is that all of us are loved dearly by our Heavenly Father. But there are lots of people around us who haven't heard that incredible news. And that should break our hearts.

There are broken, frayed, messy people all around us. Many of them need to know Jesus. The truth is, lots of churches want these messy people to know Jesus, but they don't really want those messy people in their churches.

I do. I want God to send to Tapestry messy people who no one else wants. I want us to love them, and I want them to understand that God loves them.

This isn't an easy ministry. Messy people are, well, messy. But God loves them just as much as he loves me. He sent his Son for them, just like he did for me.

Here's where the church comes in: "And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others." (2 Corinthians 18b-19)

So let's tell others. Let's love people, even messy people. Especially messy people. Let's invite them. And let's make sure they hear the wonderful message that their Creator loves them and wants them to be reconciled with him.

We're On The Same Team

A few years ago my kids and I attended my parents’ church on Father’s Day. My home church has been a strong church for years, reaching people for Christ, developing believers, giving away lots of money to missions, and teaching English to the large number of foreign nationals in an Air Force town. Their worship service is also fairly traditional.

I knew what to expect from the kids, and I wasn’t disappointed. “Who are all those people?” “That’s the choir.” “What are they wearing?” “Those are called choir robes.” You get the picture. It was all just too foreign to three children who are used to loud guitars, drums, lots of clapping, you know,  a “cool” church.

And to be honest with you, I felt the way they did. I mean, I’m so past that traditional type of worship experience, and I don’t look forward to attending services like that. Ever.

But then came time for the invitation. After explaining to the kids what a hymnal was and showing them how to sing along to “Just As I Am,” I watched as an older couple went forward and shook the pastor’s hand. Then he introduced them as a couple he’d been meeting with...and they were coming forward to publicly give their lives to Christ!

I was ecstatic. When we got there that morning, these two people were lost. Now they were found. And I turned to my children and said, “This is why we should never make fun of a church who does things differently than we like. This church did things their way, and now these two people will be in heaven.”

That’s why I don’t understand when I hear Christians putting down other churches. Sure, there are lots of churches out there who aren’t doing anything for the kingdom and are just interested in getting their needs met. As far as I’m concerned, those churches should be called to task.

But I hear people talking negatively about other churches, not because of their ineffectiveness, but just because of the way they “do” church. What does methodology matter, if they’re impacting the world for Christ? And why do we have such a desire to belittle churches that don’t do things our way? What good does our slamming each other do for the kingdom?

There are all kinds of people out there without Christ. It takes all kinds of churches to reach them. We’re all on the same team. Let’s act like it.

Yesterday's Road Trip

To all who went on the road trip to Buckhead Church yesterday, thanks for going! I was re-directed by a family change of plans (more on that in another post), so thanks, Josh, for taking the lead on this one. Everyone I've heard from was pumped after yesterday's service at Buckhead, including the music, the message, the facility, the whole thing. I also need to give a special thanks to Courtney and Ryan Fitzgerald for giving our folks the grand tour, including the pretty much inaccessible Waumba Land environment. That was above-and-beyond, and our folks truly appreciated it!

Buckhead Church was the Sims family's church for nearly 2 years, and we could have been content to just stay there. But those of you who went yesterday now understand our passion to bring that kind of vision, that kind of passion for worship, that kind of passion for volunteerism, that kind of passion to create a church that unchurched people like to attend, those kinds of messages, now you understand why we wanted to bring that to the people of Bartow County, especially to the people here who are going through life without Christ.

And I am so glad you're on the journey with us, helping us get there!

It's All In The Name...

Dottie Brawner sent me a quote from one of the great heroes of the faith, Corrie Ten Boom, that reminded her of why we chose the name "Tapestry." (If you don't know who Corrie Ten Boom is, go here.)

We call ourselves Tapestry Church based on the design of ancient tapestries, where the visible threads make a beautiful work of art, but the hidden threads tend to be made of basic cotton or wool, and are often broken or frayed.

At Tapestry Church, our desire is to be a place where people who are broken or frayed can be woven together to produce a beautiful work of art, the body of Christ.  When outsiders look at Tapestry, they won’t see the brokenness of the people, they will see the beauty of the Savior.

So here's the quote Dottie sent us from Corrie Ten Boom: "Lord, thank you that your side of the embroidery of our life is always perfect."

Nailed it, didn't she? We have struggles, difficulties and failures. Some of us had given up on church, and even given up on God.

But we started Tapestry to be a church where broken and frayed people would be welcome. Let's ask God to weave us together in such a way that people don't see us, they just see their incredible Heavenly Father.

What's This About the Foyer?

Last week we looked at the three environments at Tapestry Church, including the foyer. In your house, the foyer is the welcome area for visitors and new friends. It's where you first meet. It's where you can help them want to come back. Not a whole lot of conversation takes place in the foyer, but it isn't designed for that.

At Tapestry Church, our foyer is the Sunday worship gathering. It's where we welcome visitors and new friends. It's where we first meet. It's where we can help people want to come back. Not a whole lot of conversation takes place here, but it isn't designed for that.  Of course we worship in the foyer, and we learn here, but everything we do in this service is looked at through the eyes of someone who is new, someone who has never been to church.

Here's the bottom line of why Tapestry Church exists...we want to create a church that unchurched people would like to attend. That's it, bottom line. There are people living and dying every day in this community who don't know their Savior. That should break our hearts! That should make our blood boil! That should fire us up to do something! That should fire us up to do something NOW!

Our foyer environment is designed so that unchurched people can attend, find it enjoyable, find it helpful, and want to come back. Simply put, Tapestry Church is here to introduce people to Jesus. And if we don't do that successfully, we are not successful as a church.

The question I am burdened with right now is not "Are we reaching some people?" The question that gnaws at me is, "Are we doing everything we can to create the best foyer environment possible to reach the most people possible for Christ?"

How would you answer that question?

 

Why Are We Here? Part 1

Why is Tapestry Church here?

The easy answer is to quote our mission statement: our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by creating environments in which people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with believers, and influence on those outside the faith.

"Ok, Richard, I get that, but those are just words on paper. So, really, why is Tapestry here?" 

Really and truly, that mission statement is why we're here. Tapestry Church was started because we had a burning desire to see people grow in their relationship with Christ. Period. And that includes people who currently have no knowledge of God (which is why we wanted to create a church that unchurched people would like to attend) and people who have been Christians for years. We're here to help all of them to move forward in their walk toward God or in their walk with God.

We define growth in God by looking at our growth, or lack of growth, in three areas:

• Are we growing, individually, in our knowledge and obedience and faith in our Heavenly Father?
• Are we growing in our relationships with other Christians, or are our relationships filled with problems, arguments, jealousy, you know, all that yucky stuff we don't like to talk about but that we've all seen way too often among church members?
• And are we growing in our influence on those around us who are not believers? Do we even notice them? Do we know who they are? Do we talk to them? Do we love them, or do we just condemn them? Can they see by our actions that our lives are different because of Christ? And if they did have some spiritual questions, would they turn to us for answers?

Tomorrow: What's all this about "environments?"

Strategic Service

It's Friday, and that means we're once again talking about Tapestry's Core Values. This week we're at number 6, with one more to go!

Today's Core Value is Strategic Service. We believe that every Christian is a strategic member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). That means that every believer has been given talents, abilities, passions, and at least one spiritual gift, all because God has strategically placed each one of us in the body to perform a role in the body. Every member is important. Every member is vital.

You are indispensable to what God wants done in the world. Something that God wants done won’t be done without you.

At Tapestry, many people will serve as volunteers in the church. Our church schedule, however, will deliberately be kept simple so that individuals have more time to serve outside the walls of the church, in the community.

Either way, every believer should have the goal of exercising his or her gifts and abilities in tandem with other members of the body. This is how God wants to change the world!

Authentic Community

It's Friday, which means we'll look at Tapestry's core values.  Today: Authentic Community.

Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and we believe that in order for that kind of spiritual growth to occur, "community" is vital.  That word "community" can mean a lot of things, but we feel that authentic community exists among a group of people when there is care for one another, a sense of belonging, and accountability.

These three things, care, a sense of belonging, and accountability, are best achieved within the context of a small group of like-minded, relationally-connected believers. Tapestry’s goal will be for every attender, from preschool through adulthood, to be connected in a small group that meets for relational connection, Bible study, and prayer and who does life together, facing together the issues and challenges of life.

Did you follow that logic?  Our mission is spiritual growth; spiritual growth takes place where there is accountability, belonging and care; and those three things happen best in a small group. 

It's easy to see that small groups will be vitally important at Tapestry Church.  That's why small groups were the focus of our ministry to preschoolers and elementary-age children from the start.

Now we can turn our focus to small group ministry for teenagers and adults.  We're in the process right now of making plans for these groups, with the goal of having them in place around the time school starts this fall. Please pray about this ministry, ask God whether this is a place where you may be called to serve, and let us know!

At Tapestry Church, small groups are not a nice addition to our ministry; they are the heartbeat of our ministry.

Relational Evangelism

Quick reminder: No UpStreet this Sunday, April 6. Bring your kids into "big church," and we'll see you in UpStreet on April 13!

Once again it's time for our Friday look at Tapestry Church's core values. Today we'll look at Relational Evangelism.

We believe that our message of forgiveness through Christ is most effectively communicated through relationships. We are relational beings. That's the way God designed us.  So Tapestry will encourage every attender to develop genuine relationships with people outside the faith. As we grow in our walk with Christ, it should be so overwhelming in us that it pours out of us and people notice, to the point that they begin to want to know the same God we know.

Don't know anyone outside the faith?  A recent study showed that there are over 20,000 unchurched people in a 5 mile radius of Tapestry Church. It's time to change our patterns and routines to put ourselves in their path. It's time for us to be proactive in reaching out in love to the people around us.

Tapestry's role?  Well first, we'll function with a simple schedule, leaving plenty of time for individuals to work on our relationships with pre-Christians. As an outward-focused church, we will not fill our time with multiple church events that consume all of our attenders’ time and energy.

Second, our leadership will work very hard to partner with TCers by creating irresistible, effective environments to which you can invite the unchurched and once-churched people around you.

Our whole reason for existence as a church is to reach people for Jesus Christ. And the best way to do that is for every Tapestry attender to initiate and develop relationships with lost people around them.  Together we can make a difference in our community...and in the world!

Relevant Environments

Each Friday for the next few weeks I'll be talking about the core values of Tapestry Church.  Today I want to talk about Relevant Environments.

We want to create irresistible environments for all age groups, and these environments will be designed to effectively connect with their target audience.  For example, Waumba Land is designed to connect with preschoolers, UpStreet with elementary-age children, worship for adults and, until they have a ministry of their own, teenagers.  We want all of these environments to be relevant to the people who are in them.

And it's not all about age-grouping. Some environments, like the Sunday worship service, are designed to be an inviting place for first-time attenders and people who don't usually attend church. Other environments are geared toward helping people meet each other and begin friendships. We plan to have some events like this in the spring and summer. Still other environments are designed to provide deep relationships and community for all those involved. These are our Community Groups, and you'll start hearing more about them over the next few weeks.

We call these types of environments the Foyer, where we expect guests; the Living Room, where people make friends; and the Kitchen Table, where people feel like family. 

Every environment in Tapestry is designed and evaluated to make sure that it connects with its target audience and serves its target function.

And now you know what we mean when we say the term "relevant environment"!