PHC Update

I just heard from my contact at the United Way, and it turns out that there are a few changes/updates on the volunteer opportunities for Project Homeless Connect:

**NEW** Training Times
(Apparently, they had to change the training times)

1. Monday, December 10th at 4:30 pm
2. Wednesday, December 12th at 8:30 am
Both at the site of the event (592 Ella Grasso Boulevard)

If you can't do the training at these new times, never fear! Just let me know and we'll figure out how to either get alternate training or arrange for volunteer opportunities where training isn't necessary.

**Updated** Volunteer Opportunities: Set-Up & Clean-Up
If you can't make it from 11am - 1pm (that's when we plan on volunteering as and ECV team, or really anytime between 10am - 3pm), but would still like to volunteer, they would really appreciate help with set-up and clean-up at the event.

No training required to do this - Both Set-Up & Clean-Up will be on Dec. 12th at 592 Ella Grasso Blvd.

Set-up: 8am - 10am
Clean-Up: After 3:30pm

OK - I think that's it for now... Remember to let me know by Sunday whether you can help out (and give me your t-shirt size!)

Best,
Hannah :)

Project. Homeless. Connect.

Building on the homeless outreach that Audrey and Stella have initiated on the Green, here is a great city-wide effort & opportunity to reach out to the neediest in our city! (see below)

... Plus, you get a FREE T-Shirt!

The United Way of Greater New Haven is hosting an event called "Project Homeless Connect" - which has been billed as a "one-stop shop of health and human services for homeless individuals and families", bringing together Greater New Haven service providers and volunteers to support this one-day event and create lasting solutions for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

"Project Homeless Connect" will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 12th from 10:00am - 3:00pm at 592 Ella Grasso Blvd (Columbus House).
(But you don't have to volunteer the entire time)

...And... you get a FREE T-Shirt! :)

Based on some initial interest, I've signed up ECV to help volunteer for this event - They are mainly looking for volunteers to be "Guides" to direct homeless individuals and families to the services they need (though there are needs for other types of volunteers as well).

We are thinking of having a group of us volunteer between 11am - 1pm at the event, so that people who can only come on their lunch hour can attend. Of course, if people want to stay longer or come at a different time that day, we can probably arrange that as well.

Interested in Volunteering? Just follow these 2 EASY Steps:
1. Email Hannah by this Sunday, 12/2 (or just sign up at our Sunday Worship Gathering) AND also give me your T-Shirt Size (the default size is Large)
(Did I mention that you get a FREE T-Shirt?)
2. You will have to attend a very brief training (only 1/2 hour) on Friday, 12/7 at 8:30am (right before the workday) or on Wed. 12/12 (the day of the event) at 9:00am.

Want more Info? click on the link below:
United Way Link
or if that link doesn't work, try this one:
NH Library Bulletin Post Link

Don't forget: FREE T-Shirt!

Honestly, I know that it's really not about the T-shirt... It's just a humor tactic to keep you reading this announcement... I just thought this disclaimer might be necessary for the more humorless among us... :)

Still, I hope that many of you will be able to help out in what promises to be an amazingly helpful event!

Best,
Hannah :)

Kick-off Sunday gathering a success!

Woohoo- it was an exhilarating Sunday to gather folks of the ECV together to share about our vision and values. Of course, we were locked out of the church UP TO THE MINUTE of when we were supposed to start the thing. Fortunately, both Jonathan K and Emma S reassured me that such mishaps are a good sign--anything too polished or perfectly scheduled would be quite unideal. The MKs know best, after all!

I thought you'd all enjoy an online version of the values stuff we handed out on Sunday, so here it is:

ECV Vineyard Values (adapted from Vineyard USA values):

OUR VALUES

A. WORSHIP

1. We desire to worship God with our whole being. We want Jesus at the center as our Lord. We hunger for the fullness of the Spirit... His glory resting upon us!

Colossians 3:12-15: Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

2. We desire Spirit-enabled worship in a style that is intimate, dynamic, and life changing.

B. THE WORD

1. We want to hear the Word of God taught in a practical, inspiring way, in conjunction with His current prophetic word.

2. We aim to hear and obey God’s Word to us... to be “doers of the Word” who are being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

C. FELLOWSHIP, THE "KOINONIA" OF THE CHURCH

ACTS 2:42- And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

1. Therefore, we are the family of God, one Body in Jesus Christ, joined together as brothers and sisters forever.

2. We seek to develop real, intimate, enabling friendships together, built on covenant love, mutual responsibility and faithfulness. In particular, these friendships are built on being accountable to one another, confessing our sins and being supported in our transformation towards Christ-likeness

D. MINISTRY

1. We believe that all Christians are called to serve Christ in the power of His Spirit, in ways that build up the local church.

2. We are called to do the ministry of Christ in the world today to...
a. preach the Gospel of the Kingdom—Jesus Christ has claimed victory over death for us! In Christ, we have the gift of living reconciled to our Holy and Just God. In Christ, we have the opportunity to live in freedom from sin.

b. persuade people to repent and believe in Jesus through friendship and relationship: evangelism.

c. to operate with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including healing the sick, raising the dead, speaking prophecy, performing miracles.
Matthew 10:8: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

d. care for the poor and those in need

e. counsel those in need of God’s wisdom

f. teach believers to follow Christ

g. give our resources to the work of Christ

Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

h. train Christians to serve the Lord.

E. TRAINING

1. We believe that all Christians should be trained to “do the works of Christ.”

Matthew 28:18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
2 Timothy 2:2: And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

2. We are committed to the “show and tell” model of “on the job” training, in which trainees are introduced to doing ministry functions with trainers and then are taught during and after the training experience.

3. We aim to provide training for all aspects of responsible Christian life and ministry.

F. SENDING

1. We aim to renew, refresh, and enable existing churches by sending trained personnel out on ministry trips.

2. We aim to build the Church of Jesus Christ by sending trained personnel to plant churches around the world.

Sunday Worship Gathering!

Join us for the Elm City Vineyard Sunday Gathering!

When: Sunday, Nov. 11th at 4:00pm
Where: United Church on the Green, Fellowship Hall (in the lower level of the church) in New Haven

What & Why: This is our first "official" gathering of our Church! Matt C. and Kathy M. will be casting vision for ECV, and it'll be a fabulous opportunity for all of us to gather, worship and celebrate!

Immediately following our Worship Gathering, we will have a Celebratory Fellowship Dinner, and we hope you all can linger a bit and fill your tummies with yummy food and fill your souls with great fellowship in Jesus!

Hope to see you then!

Participation: What Kind?

One of Christianity Today's blogs recently blogged a new initiative out of Willow Creek Community Church--one of the largest churches in the U.S. The initiative was born out of a bunch of research Willow Creek did on the relationship between church programs and individual spiritual growth, defined in terms of increased love of God and neighbor. The study found that there was essentially no correlation between increased participation in church programs (defined in terms of attendance) and spiritual growth. This was an alarming finding, of course, for a church that invests millions of dollars in such programs. (They repeated the study at 31 other North American churches, involving feedback from more than 20,000 church goers, and got consistent results. Check out executive pastor, Greg Hawkins explanation of the study and its findings here.)

The solution suggested from the data? Senior pastor, Bill Hybels, suggests that churches need to be teaching people "that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own." The CT blog concludes: "In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships." True enough, but I still have some questions...

As Jason pointed out to me when I forwarded him this article (and several of the commenters on CT's blog mentioned), aren't small groups chief among Willow's programs? Aren't those small groups built around "prayer, bible reading, and relationships"? Why aren't they working?

I think at least one key has to do with how we understand "participation." As I said, Willow's survey defined "participation" simply in terms of attendance. In this light, the fact that attendance of church programs isn't bringing about spiritual growth seems more obvious and more relevant to the problem. Passive attendance at anything seems unlikely to help deep spiritual growth.

Perhaps the question is more one of a passive or active orientation, rather than a question strictly regarding the "program" itself. The critical question is: Does the program permit--or even encourage--passive "participation"?

God's been teaching us a lot lately in the Thursday night homegroup about participation. We've realized that even a small group can be a place that encourages passive attendance rather than active contribution. And I experienced that in my small group the summer I interned at Willow; the question in choosing a small group was "Whose small group has a leader whose bible studies most closely emulate the brilliant Sunday teaching of John Ortberg or Bill Hybels?" Harder to admit, is that all too often I think we've continued to experience this same vibe in the Vineyard. As a leader I've strived to be that brilliant teacher in Ortberg's mold. Homegroup may be a small show, but, gosh darn it, it'll be a good show.

Instead, God's been challenging us on Thursday nights to begin to think about how to create a homegroup rhythm that provides opportunity for--and even requires--active participation from each of our members.

After all, if we're about calling our City to revolutionary lives of action, we better not accidentally train ourselves in consumer passivity when we gather. God has called us to more. God has created us to live lives of authority in the mold of Jesus. "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

What do you think?

Notes from Uganda

A note from Tom from Uganda:

Hey friends -

Many of you know that I have left for a 10 day trip to Uganda to set up a missions trip with InterVarsity this coming June. We arrived safely, and I am trying desparately to stay awake until nightfall and beat the jet lag. Today, we spent the afternoon in the capital, Kampala, mostly at a squatter community of mud and tin room houses. We visited children and the pastor of a small "revival church" smack in the middle of the extreme poverty. It rained today, and I was shocked to see people come out with jugs to fill water from the run-off, dirt disease and all. We played soccer with the kids and listened to a choir of 10-13 year old girls who have written their own music that tells their stories set to traditional African dance. It was beautiful. We are working with an organization called comeletsdance.org who does meaningful empowering and partnering work with the Africans.

This weekend we join Ugandan students for a conference, and afterwards head up north to gulu for the remainder of next week. We will be working to restore child soldiers from a brutal civil war that only recently came to a cease fire. You can check out Child Voice International if you'd like to see what we are doing. The North has had a bitter history of ethnic violence, mistrust and animosity toward the south. We are hoping that our involvement in
both regions will be used by God to bridge the gap and reconcile relationships, especially among the believers. I return to the
states next Sunday, Nov. 11th. Thank you for praying for my spiritual protection and discernment in this time, and especially for praying for (and helping) Maureen who has it tough with the three high maintenance boys on her own.

Take care, and God Bless,

-Tom