Hey Peeps. Our 2nd annual Greenfest was a huge success. Check out the video recap. Thanks for helping us engage the community!!
About Engage Community Church
Engage is a new creative church in the Carlisle vicinity whose vision is to help people live lives focused on the things in life that matter most. Their values include engaging with culture, involvement in the community, and helping people develop a faith that’s relevant as we live in a complicated world. For further information on the festival, visit http://www.carlislegreenfest.com/. For further information on Engage Community Church, visit http://www.engagecommunitychurch.com.
Watch the following video for some fun filled info about Community Groups at Engage!!
Hey Community Group Leaders,
Over the last two weeks Jon and I have been talking, scheming and praying about Community Groups at Engage. I’m very excited about the potential for growth and relationship-building within the groups, and have a passion for the kind of community that is fostered within groups like these. If our Sunday morning gathering are like the front porch, our community groups are like coming into the living room. This is where we find friendship and go a little bit deeper, interacting with the Bible and what’s being talked about on Sunday mornings, and care for one another. Our desire is to see authentic relationships and real community develop at Engage, and Community Groups are an important avenue for these things to happen.
Over the next week I will be contacting each of you individually to connect about what’s going on with your Community Groups, talk about ways that Jon and I can support and resource you as leaders, and share some of the vision that we’re developing for the groups. We also want to meet together with all of you soon, and so are inviting you to a gathering of Community Groups leaders after our Sunday morning time on Nov. 1. Here are the details:
Community Group Leaders Meeting
Sunday, Nov. 1
11:45am - 1:00pm
Lunch and childcare will be provided.
A big thanks to all of you for serving as Community Group Leaders. I am praying for each of you and your groups, and looking forward to hearing more stories about how God is working in the groups.
Kevin Barr (Director of Community Groups @ Engage)
Wow, It’s been six months since we started meeting on Sundays following January 11, 2009. Since that time God has been writing the story of Engage. God has done some very exciting things as the story of Engage continues to be lived out. So let’s start with the numbers:
-163 people have visited Engage at least once since Feb. 22nd.
-98 Average attendance on a Sunday from May to July.
-43% of those attending Engage do not have any prior meaningful church experience.
-57% of those attending Engage would call themselves growing Christians.
-25 the number of backpacks we just provided for Project FunFest
(in partnership with Project Share and other local churches to provide school supplies for every student with a need).
-31 the average age of those attending Engage on a regular basis.
-1185, the number of dollars Engage needs each week to make ends meet (not counting the generous support of $1050 we receive each week from our family of churches called the Brethren in Christ Church www.bic-church.org).
-$2791, the accumulated amount of money we have received from May - July exceeding our weekly budged projection.
-$1000, the amount of money we have raised outside of the Engage Community to go towards the hiring our an Engage Kids coordinator. (we need a total of $5000)
-30, the average number of kids in the Engage Kids Environments on Sundays this Summer.
-4, the number of community groups we are starting this summer. Community Groups are groups that meet outside of Sunday Morning for the purpose of support, serving the community, spiritual friendship, and spiritual growth.
But numbers aren’t everything…though they are important. Numbers represent people, and movement, and energy, and relationships, and real lives finding greater life in the context of faith in Jesus. So here’s what some people are saying these days:
From a second time guest at Engage:
“I have never felt so comfortable and welcomed at church before. The non-judgmental attitude (I have never had in the past) is refreshing. Keep up the great job.”
From a person who has been at Engage for 5 or more months:
“I have never been a part of a group of people who made me feel so loved and accepted for who I am, no strings attached.”
Engage is a safe place for people to explore faith, ask questions, and begin to experience what the message of Jesus looks like lived out in everyday life.
I think back over the past six months and can name person after person who is experiencing transformation in the way they see themselves, others, God, and the world we live in. I think of the new connections that are being made this summer in our community groups. I think of the ways people at Engage have supported those within our community who have had financial needs or needed a last minute babysitter or needed a car to borrow. One of my friends at Engage told me that one of the big reasons why they are drawn to invest their lives through Engage is because of the unique ways they have experienced people at Engage supporting each other.
Engaging our Community:
As you read earlier in this email, Engage provided over 20 backpacks and 2 large boxes full of school supplies for students whose parents struggle to resource them with what they need to return to school later this month. Engage is committed to Engaging our Community. Part of resourcing needs in our community is to experience those needs firsthand. It’s easy to buy a backpack and put it in a box on a Sunday morning. Maybe you need to start there, that’s ok. But the next step beyond that is actually seeing the needs firsthand, learning the stories and struggles of what leads to those needs, and being reminded of the importance of real people right here in our backyard. So please pray for Engage and pray the community Engage finds itself a part of. Prayer reminds us that we are often the answer to the prayers we pray on behalf of others. JOIN us this Saturday from 10:30 - 1:30 p.m. and volunteer as we join with others at Project Share Fun Fest and help us distribute school supplies. 5 North Orange Street in Carlisle. When you arrive to volunteer please ask for Diane Baltaef. She will find you a place to serve.
I am excited to see God’s story play out that in your life, my life, and the life of Engage.
This video is an attempt to answer the question of “why a new church” in Carlisle??
Here are some random thoughts. Top 7 reasons why we are starting Engage! Enjoy. I would love any feedback or thoughts.jon@engagecommunitychurch.com
top 7 reasons to start a new church.
10. Look, there is no such thing as a one size-fits-all anything these days. Everywhere you go you find smaller niche’s. This is because as the world grows more diverse (even in Central, PA) we form smaller communities or tribes of people who share common interests, hobbies, tastes, and the like. We need all kinds of churches to reflect the many different kinds of people in our world. Starting something new is an attempt to help people cultivate meaningful faith in Jesus for those who currently aren’t connecting with God through church as they’ve known it. This is a tradition that has been a part of the Christian story for the past 2,000 years. This is how the message of Jesus finds its way into the places and people who have yet to experience the gospel of Christ…even in our own backyard.
9. New churches can innovate and re-imagine how to be the church in our world. New churches can change and adapt faster than more established churches. Tim Keller says, “New Churches are the Research and Development wing of the larger Church.”
8. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, most people can only handle a closer friendship network of 10-15 people. Most people have a capacity to stay somewhat connected with up to 150 people. This means that new churches offer an easier way to stay connected with the other people in the community of faith. We believe church is not simply an institution. It’s more! It’s allowing people to know you well enough to share your struggles, support you, and walk with you on the journey of faith. We say all the time, ” You can’t really know Jesus without the church.” And the church is people in meaningful friendship with each other.
7. We believe the church exists primarily for the benefit of its non-members. It is easier for new churches to be focused outward on meeting the needs of people in our community. Church is what happens during the week, not simply some songs and teachings on Sunday. Those are important and helpful. Church is an incubator, a place people are nurtured by Scripture, Worship, and Friendships to be extensions of God’s beauty, generosity, and self-sacrifice to the rest of the world during the week. ( i know this is an run-on sentence, of which i am king)
6. New churches best reach a. new generations. New churches are one of the best ways to surface creative, strong leaders for the whole Church. New congregations tend to attract a higher percentage of venturesome people who value creativity, risk, innovation, and future orientation.
5. New churches tend to be an easier place for new residence of a community to find meaningful friendships. Not all, but many established churches tend to be friendly, but saturated in their friendship networks. This can lead to the feeling of it being hard to “break in” to the established friendship communities.
4. New churches best reach new groups of people who currently don’t have a vibrant faith in Jesus. Dozens of denominational studies have confirmed that the average new church gains most of its new members (60-80%) from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshipping body, while churches over 10-15 years of age gain 80-90% of new members by transfer from other (mostly dying) churches.
3. Jesus gave his followers the mandate to multiply communities of people who are seeking to follow the ways of Christ. Yes, we really believe that knowing our Creator through Jesus causes us to be people who deeply reflect the life of God from the most to the “least” significant aspects of our lives. We live under the conviction that we need to live in relationship with God to be the best of who God created us to be. We simply can’t and won’t experience the fullness of what our Creator intended for his creation if we live independently from God. This doesn’t make us judgmental of people who aren’t “like us”. It’s the opposite. This actually causes us to love better, respect more, and self-sacrifice deeper for those who are not a part of the Christian community.
We hope you can join us on January 11th for our Day of Beginnings Celebration. We will celebrate the official start of Engage with a meal to follow after our gathering.
On December 6th Engage Community Church in partnership with New Life Community Church www.newlifecommunity.us and His Hands Auto Ministry hosted the 2nd annual Car Winterization for single parents. Last year we helped over 30 families prepare their vehicles for the rigors of winter. This year we helped over 60 families. In addition we were able to give away over $1,100 in gift certificates to area garages where single parents could receive tires, repairs, and further work on their vehicles. Watch Kim’s story as she recounts what the car Winterization means to her. Kim attends New Life Community Church. She was a recepient of help last year and this year she was helping to plan and lead the event!!
In October and November we will be hosting a series of events we call “You Teach Us”. “You Teach Us” is an open forum event where we invite you to share your good or bad experiences with church and religion. We would love to spend an evening with you of listening and conversation about what you think church should be in the 21st century. We also want to share a bit of who we are with you. Want to know more about Engage? Contact us to send us an email telling us you either want more info or to RSVP.
Thanks for visiting Carlisle Green Festival hosted by Engage Community Church.
Thanks to everyone who helped us at Green Festival today. We had close to 500 people attend…best we can count…and I am a pastor so you have to automatically deduct at least 18% of those numbers. We tend to exaggerate
If you visited Green Fest we would love it if you told us what you think… leave a comment.
