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Home | News > NIC Hears About Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

NIC Hears About Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

02/06/2011
by Susan Gieseler, Interim Communications Director

Four days after  a blizzard put Northern Illinois and the Chicago area hold, more than 350 people made their way to Sycamore, IL to learn and be inspired by Bishop Robert Schnase, author of “Five Practices and Fruitful Congregations.” 

Mrs.Betty Meinders from Marengo UMC said, “I love the book and I’m excited about hearing from the author himself, to really bring it home.”  Elgin District Superintendent, Oscar Carrasco, was excited to see the large turnout.  He said, “This is a wonderful day, to work and learn together and I think we are going be a better church. I’m so delighted to see the number of people coming to learn and celebrate together today.”

The day opened with worship and singing, and closed with communion. The singing was joyful and enthusiastic led by Craig Fritz, organist at Sycamore UMC, and Natarsha Gardner from Cornerstone UMC in Elgin.

Bishop Schnase led us through the five practices that he has found to be key to being a fruitful congregation, and a fruitful Christian. Our mission is to “Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” If our churches are not doing that, then why are we here?

The first practice is “Radical Hospitality.” This practice belongs to everyone in the church and should pervade the life of the church. We need to be radically hospitable, not just friendly. Being radical about it means that we go the extra mile or two, seven days a week, in our buildings as well as our people.

Our worship must be passionate. It doesn’t matter if your worship style is contemporary, traditional, blended, or anything else, but it must have PASSION. Worship must be well-prepared, like it is the most important hour of the week. God uses our worship experience to reshape human hearts.

Then our churches must offer intentional faith development. John Wesley believed that our life journey should be one of growing daily closer to God. We can only grow this way in community. We can ready and study the Bible alone, but real growth comes when we discuss it with others. You only need 2 people to start a group. Pick out time and place and a book of the Bible and get started this week.  The number of small groups in a church has the greatest correlation to the growth potential and strength of that church. It is through a small group that we can best find a sense of God’s call for how we can make a positive difference in the world.

Risk-Taking Mission is the next challenge. Every person in a church should be involved in some level of mission – reaching out to others, even those who we know will never be a part of our congregation. Every Methodist church should be known for a significant program of outreach to their community – the community that surrounds a church. The risk-taking aspect is important – we need to step out of our comfort zone. We need to examine what we are doing now, and look for ways that we can grow it.

The last of the five practices is that of Extravagant Generosity, because our giving affects our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. The opposite of Generosity is greed and self-absorption, which don’t lead to Life. Generosity will lead to Life. Bishop Schnase wonders why we have trouble with tithing. Our great grandparents were tithers because they were influenced by their faith. We are more influenced it seems, by our affluence. We always think that we need just a bit more to be really comfortable and satisfied. This is a prescription for continued discontent. If we put God first our relationship with money will change and we will gain a better understanding of what is REALLY important and what makes for LIFE.

Every one of these practices are essential. The one we fail to follow through on will be the seeds of our own destruction. Bishop Schnase calls them practices instead of principles because they are things we must DO, things we must practice. We must keep learning. When things don’t work out as we expected, we must rework the plan and try again, doing it a little different. We also have to look at all those things that we’ve always done. If they aren’t bearing fruit, we need to stop doing them NOW. We should be measuring our progress, not by what we put into it, but on our results. A successful youth program is not one that costs thousands of dollars, but one that brings many teens to Christ – changing their lives for the better.

Joyce Kiepura, from Roselle UMC said, “We bought the book. But we’re So glad we came. He gave us so much information. This is good stuff. I really like the radical hospitality. I think that’s what’s missing in most of what we do.  Connectivity and community feeling is missing for our Sunday School teachers. Our teachers don’t have an opportunity to connect. I can focus on that immediately.”

The day closed with some words of encouragement from our own Bishop Hee-Soo Jung. “My people, just go for it!”  Because we are “there” tears will be wiped, comfort will be given, and sustaining food and clothing will be provided. People are waiting for our witness and love. We are God’s precious servants.