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Cliquishness?

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By Steve McCoy

As an intentional interim pastor, I conducted 125 interviews with Elim people. When I asked about your perception of the weaknesses of our church, some one-third of you responded with one word—cliquish.

It definitely caught the elders by surprise when I reported my findings to them.

A clique is a small group of people who share common interests with one another and spend time together, but do not readily allow others to join them. There is an aura of exclusiveness.

Cliquishness is opposed to the very essence of the gospel. Jesus “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4, NIV.) To exclude people goes against the very grain of what we believe.

The elders are taking this seriously and are endeavoring to remedy this. But it is a church-wide issue. We all need to step up in order to change our church culture.

Here are some ideas.

  • First, seek out someone you don’t know in our worship service. Engage them in conversation. Smile. Listen to them.
  • Second, when you engage with people, do it like you really mean it. Community groups are times to go deep with others. Church service is a time to meet with those who are not necessarily in your group.
  • Third, invite new people to sit with you during the service. Larry and Darlene Short testify to the effectiveness of this. They are trying to practice it.
  • Fourth, if you are a fast forgetter of names, like me, write down their names ASAP.
  • Fifth, sit in a different location in the worship center. We tend to get comfortable sitting in our favorite sections. Jeff Foerster has been challenging his men’s group to sit in different areas.
  • Sixthly, listen to an alternative opinion before quickly dismissing it. Express appreciation for their thoughts. Genuinely consider it.
  • Finally, invite people to join you and your group or ministry team.

By God’s good grace, we can be “de-cliqued” by the time Elim embraces her new pastor!

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What Is Happening with the Transition Team?

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by Pastor Steve McCoy

It has been over five months since I’ve come to serve here. The initial months were filled with interviewing some 124 people.

Starting in the fall, I began working with a 26-person Transition Team. We began by doing a number of analyses and assessments. Currently, we are working on drafting a mission statement. This is a brief, broad, biblical statement of what the church is supposed to be doing. You might call this it a biblical job description for the church. This is a very challenging exercise, but once it is done, it will really help the church to focus on what it needs to do.

A multi-month assignment for the Transition Team is to conduct interviews themselves. I’ve challenged each team member to interview three unchurched people. They have a one-page question sheet to help them connect and discover perceptions of the church.

On top of this, I have challenged each member to conduct three other interviews with school officials, government leaders, business leaders, community leaders, etc. They have another interview form to help them sniff out community needs.

The Transition Team will take about six months. If all goes well, we will finish up in February or March of 2020. After that, we will launch the Pastoral Search Team. The ultimate goal is to help our church find the next pastor.

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One Way to Make Your Marriage Special

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by Pastor Steve McCoy

This next Sunday I will be preaching a sermon titled, “What Is So Special About Marriage?” It is based on Hebrews 13:4, which says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

It is one thing to honor marriage, but it is another to live honorably with our spouse. One way to do that is to continue to “date” our spouse as when we first courted them.

Dr. Steve Stephens (don’t you love that name!) is a licensed Christian counselor from Clackamas, Oregon. He suggests the following 12 rules for a great date, which can be found in his book 20 (Surprisingly Simple) Rules and Tools for a Great Marriage:

  1. Shower and brush your teeth.
  2. Dress up to make your spouse proud.
  3. Turn off your smartphone.
  4. Listen with interest, giving 100 percent of your attention.
  5. Don’t talk about finances, children, problems, or anything potentially stressful.
  6. Compliment each other at every opportunity.
  7. Be polite and apologetic if you say or do anything rude.
  8. Say, “I love you.”
  9. Hold hands.
  10. Do things you know your partner would like.
  11. Have fun and be playful.
  12. End with a kiss (and maybe more).

Meanwhile, I’ll see you Sunday in church—perhaps after that Saturday-evening date?!

Warmly,

Pastor Steve McCoy

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Church Cardiology

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by Pastor Steve McCoy

Abdu Murray is a Christian speaker who works with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He speaks about Christianity on various college campuses.

At one major university, a member of the audience took the microphone during the Q and A time, posing an interesting question. He prefaced the question with his backstory: “I am a software engineer. Once we’ve designed the software, we test it for things that bug us about it. Not just glitches, but things about the software we personally don’t like. If you were to do the same test on the church, what would bug you about it?”

The audience nervously laughed as they eagerly awaited Abdu’s answer.

How would you answer that question?

What bugs you about the church?

What bugs you about our own church, Elim EFC?

What needs to be fixed? What needs to be left the same?

During August, I am going to give a sermon series called Church Cardiology: Strengthening the Heart of Our Church. We will be dialing down on Revelation 1–3.

In chapters 2–3, John the Apostle writes seven letters to seven churches throughout Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. In these letters, Jesus attempts to debug seven church situations.

Interestingly enough, we find Jesus evaluating these seven churches. He addressed them as unique congregations with unique gifts, skills, contexts and opportunities. He doesn’t expect them to conform to a cookie-cutter template; His goal is to help them be the best church Jesus created them to be.

Jesus wants us to evaluate ourselves so we can be the best Elim can be.

Join us this August as we listen to the Chief Cardiologist debug our church.

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