Audacious Collaboration

Christian Community Development Association audaciously works to lift up broken neighborhoods in the Spirit of reconciliation and restoration. Whether it is a startling story of unacceptable injustice, or the unnoticed tales of disintegration, CCDA involves itself to help.

Thousands of Christians across America and the world are participating in this renewal of all things. Its this mighty stream that Anchor is sipping from, that I am stepping into. Our neighborhood collaboration of churches and schools and non-profits and corporations and local government is a story that's being lived elsewhere as well. The good news can really be present in our communities.

We can develop people and places that add truth and beauty and freedom and goodness in the name and way of Jesus. To be part of Anchor is to be part of something much bigger than we could ask or imagine. God tells his people to seek the prosperity and shalom for their city. Is there anything for Christians and churches to do in our city of Fort Wayne?

Is Jesus wanting to still rescue the broken-hearted in your neighborhoods? Yes - especially when it gets messy and complicated. God moved into our neighborhood, became like us, was our friend, and set an example for his disciples for how to join him in his enduring work to renew all things. Renew broken school systems, broken economic policies, broken foreign policy, broken taxation system.

Sin is personal. Sin is systemic. Rescue and restoration are for individuals and communities.  God has big work for us in Fort Wayne. Its exciting to join with others in this work of development and shalom.

There Are Two Kinds of People

Yawn. A bunch of churches getting together in a local park to worship together. Who cares! It sure doesn't look like anything is really happening. And yet...

On Sunday five neighborhood churches worshipped together in Hamilton Park for the first time. It could become an annual event. We prayed together, we sang, we took communion together, we shared ways of increased collaboration together, and we feasted together. It was good. It was fun. And it was strategic. 

We had Roger Reece, Executive Director of Associated Churches preach  - and it was good to introduce him to our congregations. Most of us are members of the organization, and in one way or another are involved in serving our neighborhood. But it's important that we think about how we can care for our neighbors together. And it's the togetherness aspect that I think was strengthened on Sunday. 

Churches have become very irrelevant and obsolete in their neighborhoods. Sure, they still find a way to contribute to the needs of the community, but ask a neighbor how they've benefited from the local church. The answer will reveal the disconnect. 

Anchor has worked hard to be relevant to our neighbors - but we don't want to continue to do that work alone. We want to learn from our other neighborhood churches from the ways they've become helpful. From the collaboration comes more helpful churches, a unity of spirit that adds strength to our good work, and new opportunities for the Spirit to accomplish the impossible in us and through us.

There were about 165 of us gathered together in front of the brown cinder-block pavilion at Hamilton Park. It was inspiring to hear the voices singing together, to see heads bowed in prayer, to join the long line for Communion. We were planting seeds. Now our vision is to grow our churches and invite our neighbors so that we fill the park, we want people sitting on the far back hill! Wouldn't that be a great testimony to the help we have given in the name of Jesus to our neighbors? 

More than anything, our churches want the Gospel of Jesus to be good news for our neighbors. We want our churches to be harbingers of that announcement. We want the kingdom to come where we live. This means, though, that we have to get involved in the lives and issues of our neighborhood. All the divorced families. All the kids without a father at home. Homes where the man is in prison. Families that are caught up in the court-system. Families that are dependent on the welfare system. Parents that don't know how to make it work together. People on disability, who are depressed, who are angry. People struggling to start over again, to get an education, to get a better job, to be a better parent. 

There are also great families in our neighborhood, homes that are good and stable and shine a lot of light. And our neighborhood needs our churches to do their best in making disciples who are the hands and feet of Jesus where they live. Disciples who use their resources, their connections at work, their influence, their skills, their wallets, their prayers, their kitchen tables, their community assets, their political involvement, their local schools, to help make our neighborhood a better place to live. Disciples who jump into a project that will outlive them, a task that is bigger then all of us, a work that requires more than we can ask or imagine. Disciples who work together, in the wisdom and grace and diligence and creativity and truth and perseverance of Jesus.

For me, the quotes below capture these ideas. They inspire me. May they provoke you as well. 

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.  

~Saint Augustine

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.  

~Albert Schweitzer

The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.  

~Rick Warren

There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they know him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him. 

~Blaise Pascal

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was:  "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?"  But... the good Samaritan reversed the question:  "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"  

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."  

~C.S. Lewis

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.  

~Margaret Meade

Click here for more information about the neighborhood churches involved.

Neighborhood Churches & Great COMMUNITIES

Tonight we met at Grace Presbyterian Church with Megan Kelly of Great KIDS make Great COMMUNITIES. Megan presented an overview of the 40 Developmental Assets, particularly those that congregations can build into kids and youth. It was a lot of good information, a very empowering session. Our 46808 Neighborhood Churches want to make our neighborhood a better place to live - and building assets into children and teens is a key investment.

During Lent Anchor Community Church and other congregations in the neighborhood are meeting during four Sunday evenings to learn more about how to better serve our neighbors. Click here to read more about our meeting last week with Judge Charles Pratt and Kate Rusher. Click here to read more about our helpful meeting with Megan Kelly.

If you haven't read it already, here's an article on our meetings in the Journal Gazette called Lent in a New Light by Rosa Salter Rodriguez!

Neighborhood Churches & Subversion

The 46808 Neighborhood Churches met tonight at First Mennonite Church with Judge Charles Pratt. We're a collection of churches committed to making our neighborhood a better place to live. Through our collaboration we want to subvert the powers of injustice and despair.

This is long-term work, but it's Jesus-work, and that's what we're all about. Coming alongside children and families and neighbors and meeting them in their world, offering a hand and heart and a way forward - that's what we're working to do.

Read more about our plotting at the Anchorblog.

Trusting Three Neighborhood Kids

This afternoon as I was leaving the office to head home for dinner with my family, three neighborhood kids stopped me on my way out the door. The two boys had old snow shovels, the little girl looked very cold. They wanted to know if I would pay them to shovel off the porch and steps. 

According to their story, they were trying to earn money so they could afford to go roller-skating with their school. Their parents agreed to take them, but the kids had to come up with their own cash for the event. I was impressed that the three of them, a brother and sister team and a friend, were out working hard to pay their own way. 

I gave them three bucks in advance of them cleaning off the porch and steps. I asked them how I would know if they would actually do the work, since I had to get going. They promised they would do the work. I gave the money to the second grade girl and told her not to give the money to the older boys until they had finished their job to her approval. 

It seemed like a good idea to introduce myself to the neighborhood kids, and they told me their names. I told them that I was the pastor here, and that they were welcome to come and visit anytime. I invited them to church on Sunday, but the one boy said he lived with his dad on the weekends in Columbia City. His dad makes motorcycles.  The brother and sister remarked in disappointment that they had to hang out with their dad and his girlfriend on Sundays. They remembered the Halloween Maze though, and were pretty impressed with the church, but it didn't seem likely they'd be able to come on a Sunday morning. 

Later that evening I returned to the church for some meetings. As I was turning out the lights, I checked the porch and steps. Sure enough, those three neighborhood kids kept their word. I was very pleased. It was three bucks well spent. I'd like to hope it was some seeds sown for good. And I hope they have a lot of fun at their school roller-skating party. 

Forgive Us Our Debts

Religion Dispatches had this biting and passionate article on why we ought to oppose the debt-driven crimes of our era, A Matter of Life and Debt: The Role of Religion.

Here's the paragraph that was illuminating to me - and disturbing.

Question: All right. But aren’t these weighty systemic questions better left to experts and economists? We religious folk have a lot of other issues to worry about—issues that we are more competent to address.

Answer: Actually, just about all of the issues that we religious folk insist we really care about—issues like world poverty and hunger, resource wars and environmental degradation, human trafficking, widening domestic inequality, shrinking access to quality higher education, declining on-time graduation rates for low-income students and students of color, urban neighborhood blight, stress-related health problems, declining family life and domestic violence—are directly related to systemic debt oppression.

If the most urgent moral question of the 20th century was the question of color line, perhaps an equally urgent moral question for the 21st century is the debt line—a line not at all unrelated to ongoing race-based oppression.

What can a local church do in light of such global and insidious financial sins?

An immediate beginning is to live out the heart and mind of the early church that we read about in Acts 2 and Acts 4. When someone who is part of the church community has a need, work is done to meet that need. Stuff gets sold, connections get made, help is given to meet that need. The bigger the need, the bigger the sacrifice. But after awhile this kind of activity will force the local church to say: instead of treating the symptoms, how can we bring healing to the sickness?

If Anchor is committed to the long-term work of helping make our neighborhood a better place to live, we have much to learn. Our collaboration with others like NeighborLink and Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition and Lutheran Social Services and Associated Churches of Fort Wayne and Allen County, and other churches like Grace Presbyterian and First Mennonite and others are all part of this work.

But we still, at some point, have to prophetically address those institutions in our city that propagate the insidious financial sins that undermine our neighborhoods.

Jesus in Fort Wayne

It seemed appropriate to join in only a few weeks before the Christmas season on a gathering called Incarnate.  Thanks to Andrew Hoffman of NeighborLink Fort Wayne for his involvement in making this event happen. What's the best gift that Christians could give our city this Advent? A Jesus that makes a difference.

Incarnate, made flesh - Christians believe that Jesus is God Incarnate; Emmanuel - God with us. Christians also believe that the Church is Jesus Incarnate. It's vital that each local church is serving it's neighborhood, is loving one another, is living in truth and grace - all in the name of Jesus. It's a breath of Heaven when these local churches collaborate together to seek the peace of the city, to be a blessing to the community.

That's what NeighborLink is all about. It's what Anchor is all about. And having spent Friday at the gathering labeled Incarnate, there are lots of local churches, ministry leaders, non-profits, and individuals who are all about living according to the Same Spirit of Jesus. The Incarnate event was a great opportunity to start new relationships, strengthen the bonds of already forged friendships, and soak up the air of building momentum. It is invigorating to see these like-hearted people brought together.

Of course it's always easy to pronounce good intentions. Talk is cheap. And yet words and promises and meetings matter. Covenants are born out of spoken agreements. The collective enthusiasm for a missional life must be expressed in action, or else it will wither. Time will tell which of the individuals and organizations are able to live out this covenant. God has called us in Fort Wayne - he has blessed us, he is making us a blessing, and if we are willing he will bless the world through us.

We can't predict or control what the outcomes of this service to our neighbors will produce. We have to trust that doing the next right thing will contribute to a day when everything is made all right. The vision is not so much for an end product, but rather for the day to day decisions that lead to Jesus Incarnate.

At the Incarnate gathering, my resolve was strengthened to continue the journey Anchor is on. God is doing some amazing work in Anchor and through Anchor. Makes me very grateful. What makes it so thrilling is to be doing this work in collaboration with so many people and organizations. And it's so fun to continue meeting more people with a similar heart and spirit. The Same Spirit of Jesus is driving all sorts of men and women to do great work where they live - and to come together to do more together than they can do all alone, doing more to make things all right.

Some day God will make everything all right. It won't be in our lifetime. But it is deeply fulfilling to be part of a grand work that will outlast us. Well, actually, it won't outlast us... thanks to the resurrection!

Looking Weary

Last night was Anchor's annual Neighborhood Halloween Maze. It was another successful night of great food, lotsa fun, and plenty of neighborhood kids with their folks. After twelve years of serving our community like this, we've earned a reputation - many people come back year after year, and we do no advertising. And some of the families that come back again and again prompt me to pray harder; they look so weary.

It's not just that it's been a long night of trick or treating, or that they have a big crowd of little masked kids with them. You can see the deep lines in their faces. Families my age, maybe ten years older, but looking like tired octogenarians. What hard life produces those kind of tired cheeks and flat smiles? Is it stress from never having enough? Is it anxiety over a disability which makes for big obstacles to employment? Is it anger and bitterness at lost opportunities? Is it the look of poverty?

I'm glad Anchor has a servant-attitude towards it's neighborhood. I'm thankful that we have members who catch a vision for a project like this, and then make it happen. It was a powerful experience last night to walk into a teeming Foyer of rowdy kids and hobnobbing parents, the smell of hot soups and bowlfulls of candy: and hearing the excitement about how many neighbors had come for the Maze - into the hundreds!

In providing a fun evening for the neighborhood kids, our hope is that we can provide more help for more families on more than just Halloween night. Our challenge: to walk alongside those who are looking weary. In the name of Jesus we bring good news to the poor. A crucial step for us? To actually be good news for our neighbors, to do good and help make the neighborhood a better place to live. And that means learning about what is making the moms and dads to look so weary. What was it that Jesus said? Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Making Levi, Isaac & Eli Pick Up Sticks

Community service is fun. Having my children join in on a service project is even more fun! On Saturday Anchor partnered with the City of Fort Wayne and the Great American Cleanup for the second year in a row. We chose to tackle the alley behind the church.

Two years ago it was littered with large tree debris from an awful ice storm. Most of the limbs and leaves were removed last year, but there was still some left - so our goal this year was to get it all out. If not for a huge growling black dog, we would have gotten that last pile of tree limbs. Stupid snarling Rottweiler.

The Anchor crew got to work sometime after 8:30am, and we were sweeping out the trucks by around 11am. There was a pretty big pile of stuff in the parking lot by the time we got done. I'm hoping the City doesn't delay in picking it up for us!

I'm thankful for the Anchorites that were willing and able to come. Serving our neighbors is important to me, it's something I enjoy, and it's good for my soul. Serving with my friends at Anchor makes the experience even more rich and fruitful!

Having my sons there with me to serve in the alley was a special experience. They jumped right in, worked hard (although we did need to take a drink break... :), and they had fun hanging out with the other Anchorites. Riding in the back of Bob's black truck and Steve's red truck were the highlights of their morning! It was a joy to get my hands dirty while serving with my boys and my friends!

Here's some of the pics that Steve Dennie took - there are a lot more on the Anchor Facebook page.

How Do You Make Your Neighborhood A Better Place to Live?

This is the question that I keep asking for Anchor.

I keep asking it because there is no one simplistic answer. And because we don't have enough answers yet. But here's my best answer so far: Be The Church.

Why ask that question at all? Isn't there a better question for Anchor as a church to be asking? Maybe there are. Here's my point of conviction, though: when Jesus introduces his ministry, he announces that his work will be good news for the downtrodden, the prisoners, the disabled and diseased, the weak and powerless. These were the people of his neighborhood, and Jesus was the good news. 

So, fast-forward to these days: if we are the hands and feet of Jesus, and we are to be good news to our neighbors, how do you measure that in the community? Even though our congregation comes together from all over the city, we gather together in a particular neighborhood week after week after week after week. If we are good news, are we ever good news to the neighborhood we spend all that time in worshipping? And if worshipping and serving are two actions tied together, then is there a connection between our gathering in a neighborhood and our giving to it.

So what is it about being the church that makes the neighborhood a better place to live? That's what we're working to figure out. It's what we've been working on since day one. And the journey has taken us to develop a relationship with Judge Charles Pratt and the Family Court Division. Our neighborhood has many families wrapped up in the world of the courts and prison. So if we are going to be good news to them, we need to better understand what they are going through, and how we can be helpful.

Prior to the relationship with the judge, Anchor has been developing strong relationships with our neighborhood churches. This has proven to be a fun and enriching experience, fruitful and innovative. And because of that existing partnership, we were ready to join in on an opportunity presented to us by Judge Pratt. The Indiana Youth Institute wanted to re-establish a Fatherhood Coalition in Fort Wayne, and that meant making $160,000 available to institutions willing to come together and make it a reality. Two of our neighborhood churches have partnered with the YMCA - SOCAP, along with some other city non-profits and churches to serve and strengthen fathers in the city.

The National Fatherhood Initiative is a movement to mentor and lift up dads in need of wisdom and encouragement. And according to Judge Pratt, better dads would make a big difference in the families he sees in his courts, the same families that are in Anchor's neighborhood. And so, if Anchor is going to be good news to our neighbors, we need to keep partnering with others to lift up dads. This is part of what it means for the church to help make the neighborhood a better place to live. 

The Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition was approved to receive the grant from IYI, and so now begins a six-month project to invest in dads. If we are successful in meeting our goals, IYI is eager to fund our coalition again, as well as helping us improve and expand our services to fathers in Fort Wayne. Because of the grant we received, we will be able to hire a very skilled grant writer and program director for our project. This move strengthens our ability to provide long-term, innovative, and effective ministry to dads in our neighborhood.

Anchor is eager to serve the dads in our own congregation, in our neighborhood, and in our city. We're eager to partner with more churches and more organizations to encourage and train dads to be grow up and step up. And we're excited for where the Spirit is taking our neighborhood churches. It's a journey that will be a good gift to dads, a journey that will be a good gift to families in our neighborhood, and a journey that will give us more opportunities to not only share the good news, but to be be the good news.

If you'd like to be good news, you're welcome to join us!

More Plotting: Church, Community, and the Court System

Our neighborhood churches spent four Sunday nights during Lent gathering to learn more about how the court system works in our county. I still marvel at the willingness of our churches to meet and partner and collaborate and plot. And I'm thankful for the willingness of Judge Charles Pratt and his friends to invest in us, to encourage us, and to guide us in this new journey.

Our fourth Sunday was spent at Grace Presbyterian Church, and the goal was to put forth some action-items. With what we learned about the Family Court Division, we wanted to know: what now? Judge Pratt encouraged the church members to consider these options for volunteering and making a difference:
* partner with the YWCA and help care for women who are victims of domestic abuse
* get the training to become a foster-parent; also - consider adopting foster-children
* join CASA - child appointed special advocate
* help families get counseling from a Biblical, Christian perspective
* incorporate the 40 assets in the congregation

Some of the neighborhood pastors met this morning to keep the momentum going and discuss what's next for us. It was important for us to hear from each other what we wanted to do next. We charted out a process for points of contact - what is our plan for when different individuals and families reach out to us for help regardless of where they are at in their involvement with the courts and prisons. We highlighted what programs or actions are already being implemented or supported, but we also noted some new areas to investigate. It was really helpful to chart out where in the process we have much to offer, and where we need to improve.

There's definitely a strong sense that we are part of a God-thing here. Jesus, when he announced his arrival, read from the prophet Isaiah, announcing that the good news would, amongst other things, help set the prisoners free. This is what we are about - our neighborhood has many individuals and families who need the good news, who need deliverance, who need community, who need help breaking free from the prison-industrial complex. The whole gospel for the whole person. If we're part of the neighborhood, and we're going to be good news, then we have to bring light and hope to those walking in the dark.

Ministerial Leadership for a Missionary Congregation

New challenges for the church require new responses in regard for leadership and ministry. For our neighborhood churches that minister in our urban context, we face new challenges to our leadership and congregational life.

Is the church facility like an island in the midst of blight and secularism? Or is the church facility a wide and deep harbor, willing and able to accept many different kinds of individuals and families?

Is the congregation afraid of its neighbors? Or is the congregation becoming neighbors with a towel over their arm?

Are leaders of these neighborhood churches demoralized and visionless about ministry? Or are these church leaders confident in the gospel and God's work to restore all things to him through our work - his way, in his time, in his power?

Lesslie Newbigin charts out in chapter 19 of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society a way for leaders of churches to rethink what it means to be a missionary leader in their neighborhoods. The wisdom of this chapter energizes me, provides enlightened direction, and provides a sense of calm about the work ahead of us.

You ought to purchase the book, if you haven't already. And you ought to read this chapter (and reread this chapter if it's been awhile). Below are some portions of the chapter that were both convicting and inspiring to me.

If I am right in believing, as I do, that the only effective [interpretation] of the gospel is the life of the congregation which believes it, one has to ask about how such congregations may be helped to become what they are called to be.

I have already said that I believe that the major impact of such congregations on the life of a society as a whole is through the daily work of the members in their secular vocations and not through the official pronouncements of ecclesiastical  bodies. But the developing, nourishing, and sustaining of Christian faith and practice is impossible apart from the life of a believing congregation. It is therefore important... to consider... the question of leadership for such congregations.

The business of leadership is precisely to enable, encourage, and sustain the activity of all the members.

What kind of ministerial leadership will nourish the Church in its faithfulness to the gospel in a pluralist society?

We have lived for so many centuries in the "Christendom" situation that ministerial training is almost entirely conceived in terms of pastoral care of existing congregations. In a situation of declining numbers, the policy has been to abandon areas (such as the inner cities) where active Christians are few and to concentrate ministerial resources by merging congregations and deploying ministers in the places where there are enough Christians to support them. 

Needless to say, this simply accelerates the decline. It is the opposite of a missionary strategy, which would proceed in the opposite direction - deploying ministers in the areas where the Christian presence is the weakest. The large-scale abandonment of the inner cities by the "mainline" churches is the most obvious evidence of the policy that has been pursued.

If the gospel is the good news of the reign of God over the whole of life, public no less than private; if the Church is therefore called to address the whole public life of the community as well as the personal lives of men and women in the private and domestic affairs, what kind of ministerial leadership is needed?

The vision of the church as a body which exists for the neighborhood and not just for its members, as the sign of God's rule over all, is much harder to sustain.

Is it the primary business of the ordained minister to look after the spiritual needs of the church members? Is it to represent God's kingdom to the whole community? Or, and this is surely the true answer - is it to lead the whole congregation as God's [message] to the whole community?

The task of ministry is to lead the congregation as a whole in a mission to the community as a whole, to claim its whole public life, as well as the personal lives of all its people, for God's rule.
* It means equipping all the members of the congregation to understand and fulfill their several roles in this mission through their faithfulness in their daily work.
* It means training and equipping them to be active followers of Jesus in his assault on the principalities and powers which he disarmed on his cross.
* And it means sustaining them in bearing the cost of that warfare.

What, then, will be the relation of the minister to this community? I have used such words as "enabling,""sustaining," and "nourishing" to describe his role in mobilizing the congregation for its mission. But how shall this be done?

Ministerial leadership for a missionary congregation will require that the minister is directly engaged in the warfare of the kingdom against the powers which usurp the kingship. Of course the minister cannot be directly involved in each of the specific areas of secular life in which the members of the congregation have to fight their battles. But there will be situations where the minister must represent the whole Church in challenging abuse of power, corruption, and selfishness in public life and take the blows that follow.

The minister's leadership of the congregation in its mission to the world will be first and foremost in the area of his or her own discipleship, in that life of prayer and daily consecration which remains hidden from the world but which is the place where the essential battles are either won or lost.

He is not to look around to see who else is following. He is to look one way only - to the Master who goes before him. Ministerial leadership is, first and finally, discipleship.

More: Church, Community, and the Court System

This past Sunday night Anchor hosted the neighborhood churches, our third gathering during Lent to learn more about the court system of Allen County. Of course we started off the evening with a wide-array of homemade soups and other delish dishes. After feasting we headed upstairs for a session on the adult court system.

Stan Pflueger crammed a semesters' worth of criminal justice stuff into a seventy-five minute meeting. As the presentation got under way, I was a little nervous - what if the content gets a little boring? But when we hit the sixty-five minute mark it was obvious that just about everybody was intensely interested in the information.

I still marvel that about seventy or eighty people from the neighborhood churches gathered for a crash course in criminal justice stuff on a Sunday night. And liked it!

Some conclusions from the session with Stan: putting people in prison is punitive and expensive. It is crazy insane the system we put up with that sends people to jail as the primary punishment for committing a crime. I'm all for justice being served to criminals - but for most of them, prison is not about justice, but convenience.

It costs taxpayers about $55 a day for each inmate in prison, about $40 a day for each inmate in jail, and about $15 a day for each person involved with community corrections. Once a person is sent to prison, odds are they will return there upon their release. While in prison they are "hardened", they are further disconnected from participating in a healthy way within society, they are unable to work (or get work when they get out...), and thus instead of paying taxes and learning to contribute, they absorb tax dollars and remain unchanged..

What if we could reimagine a way to apply justice to crimes, justice that didn't require prisons as the primary strategy. Sure, some people need to be imprisoned, but not most.

Here's a very interesting takeaway from the last three meetings (dealing with kids, youth, and adults in the court system): positive relationships are the KEY to really helping people change their life. If the church wanted to make a difference in the lives of families who are wrapped up in the court and prison system, consider how to offer a community that loves.

This isn't a new or novel idea, but apparently it is often overlooked, it is more effective than assumed, and harder to do than imagined. Friendship, mentoring, hospitality, kindness, neighborliness, community are KEY factors for instigating and sustaining transformation.

This doesn't necessarily require a church to start a new program! Whew! It basically requires a church to...wait...wait...ready for this? It requires a church to be an accepting community! And it also requires mature Christians (character, consistency, love, wisdom) to volunteer in programs initiated by the courts and prisons! It also requires Christians to volunteer in organizations that partner with jails and community correction institutions. But it doesn't mean a church has to start a new small group, a new Bible study, a new series of classes.

Relationships: Connecting. Empowering. Listening. Being Present. Accepting. Inspiring. Praying.

We all know that Jesus Christ is the one with the power, the ability, the capability to change lives. And we also know that we are the hands and feet of Christ - we are the ones that Christ works through to change lives. We don't change lives, Jesus does that - but he works through our lives, our words, our actions, our decisions, our character, our consistency, our love, our wisdom.

If we want to make our neighborhood a better place to live, we need to keep letting Jesus work in us and through us - in this case, in the lives of families who are part of the courts and prisons. Individuals and families who are part of our neighborhood.... who are part of our church.


** This is info sent by Stan Pflueger via email of some info he presented Sunday Evening.

1. What percentage of the offenders sent to prison return to the community?

95%


2. What Country in the world has the highest documented rate of incarceration?

United States (751/100,000)
Russia is second (627/100,000).

The median incarceration rate for all nations is 125/100,000.
Other nations: England (151/100,000), Germany (88/100,000) and Japan (63/100,000)


3. How many people in the United States are currently incarcerated in local jails and prisons?

Approximately 2.4 Million


4. How much does it cost for an individual to be:
in prison ($55.00/day or 20,000 per year)
in jail ($40.00/day or 14,600/year)
on community supervision ($15.00/per day, most of which is paid by the offender)


5. What percentage of individuals who go to prison are re-arrested within 3 years of their release?

67%


6. If an offender is sentenced to a ten-year prison sentence, how much time are they likely to serve in Indiana?

A maximum of five years is likely with good time credit, and the time in prison could be adjusted down even more if the offender completes programs in prison like substance abuse, GED and others.

Church, Community, and the Court System

What's it take to make a neighborhood a better place to live? Lots.

It takes all sort of key people within the community to care, to collaborate together, and to be helpful. The churches in a neighborhood ought to be the most obvious place for this kind of helpful, collaborate care. Well, that's the attitude that Anchor has, along with a bunch of churches in our neighborhood.

I have to say, I was very, very, very proud of Anchor - nineteen of us showed up for the first of four meetings with Judge Charles Pratt and our neighborhood churches. We're meeting together to learn more about how Judge Pratt's Family Court operates, as well as how the court system works for juveniles and adults. By learning how the courts work, we better learn what role the church can play - to be helpful to the courts and to the community.

Our church is becoming home to more and more individuals and families that are currently dealing with the courts and/or prisons. Or it's a part of their past, and is still yet affecting their life. As the church embraces and disciples more people with this stuff going on in their life, more and more wisdom is needed to be more and more helpful.

It's an honor to have Judge Pratt so eagerly partner with our coalition of neighborhood churches, to instruct us and invest in us. And we are eager to help him be more effective as a judge.

Yesterday First Mennonite Church hosted our meetings, led by Pastor Peter Janzen. Judge Pratt introduced us (some of us for the second or third time...) to the 40 Assets, a key component to helping families actually change for the good. He then walked us through a case study of a little girl who was allegedly molested by her father. Judge Pratt explained how his court worked, how DCS gets involved, how foster care gets involved, and how different decisions by the parents create different potential outcomes. Sad and fascinating stuff.

It's important for churches to be emotionally supportive of families involved with DCS, but to not enable them, or to nurture any kind of disregard for DCS. There are many sides to one story, and it's always wise to accumulate facts before making decisions to "help."

Next week Dr. Steve Cain of Trinity United Methodist is hosting, then Anchor, and then Rev. Laura Sherwood of Grace Presbyterian. Rev. Hal Thomas of Faith United Presbyterian is also involved. Rev. Dave Altman and North Highlands Church of Christ, Rev. Larry Maddox of Three Rivers Wesleyan, and Rev. Don Sandman of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran are also interested and involved in our coalition, willing to find ways to help make our neighborhood a better place to live.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

This is the kind of work we are doing. The Same Spirit that was on Jesus is at work within and amongst us. As churches, we want to be good news to the neighborhood. We're getting there...

Neighborhood Churches Unite!

What's it take for a church to help make the neighborhood a better place to live? If people are going to drive from all over the community to worship in a church facility, how is that neighborhood better off because of that weekly event? If a local congregation were to shut the doors, would the neighborhood notice? Would they cheer? Or would they protest and insist you stay part of the neighborhood?

A bunch of the local pastors in the Anchor neighborhood keep finding ways to serve our neighbors, to be a blessing to them. We met Thursday morning with Judge Charles Pratt to discuss with him how churches could better serve families and children in our neighborhood - particularly those involved with the courts and prison system. Judge Pratt was clearly delighted to discover that our churches were willing to learn and come to grips with how big the problem is, and willing to learn what we can do to help.

All of our churches have families in them who are dealing with the court system, who have a loved one in prison or recently released from prison. And as we get more involved in the lives of these families, the situation gets more complicated. Where is the line between empowering and enabling, between empathy and cynicism? And do we need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to being helpful? Who else is doing something good and can we learn from them, even join them?

Jesus insisted that he came to "proclaim freedom for the prisoners". What's that look like today in a developed nation that incarcerates a greater percentage of its people than any other? If Jesus wasn't pro-anarchist, and if Jesus insisted on repentance for forgiveness, and if Jesus is to be recognized in those who visit prisoners, what is a church to do? What does our neighborhood need us to do? What does the courthouse need us to do? What does the prison-industrial complex need us to do? What do prisoners and their families need us to do? What does God need us to do?

Peter Janzen, pastor of First Mennonite Church, sent around a copy of his devotional that morning:

The Lord says, "See, I am doing a new thing!" Isaiah 43v19
But I believe that God calls unlikely persons to do the extraordinary. I don't know what lies in my future, but I do know that God may call all of us to do "new things." If we believe this and trust, God will equip us...

It's obvious God is at work in our neighborhood, and he is bringing prisoners to our churches. What a gift! And now the amazing and intriguing and beautiful work continues of helping more men and women and children experience restoration and reconciliation.

Our next step is to meet again with Judge Pratt to develop more details about what we can do to help. We also want to use the Lenten Series to educate and inspire our churches to get more involved with this work. We've spent the last couple of years as local neighborhood churches feasting and worshipping together on the Sunday evenings of Lent. This year we'll continue the feasting, but we'll also do some work - getting wisdom on what the Spirit is up to and how we can join in.

Who are the co-conspirators collaborating together in our neighborhood for this new thing?
Peter Janzen, First Mennonite Church
Dave Altman, North Highlands Church of Christ
Hal Thomas, Faith United Presbyterian Church
Larry Maddox, Three Rivers Wesleyan Church
Steve Cain, Trinity United Methodist Church
Tim Hallman, Anchor Community Church.

I'm pretty sure Grace Presbyterian Church will be in on this with us, and we're hoping Trinity Evangelical Lutheran will join us, as well as some more churches in the neighborhood.

Anchor's Neighborhood CleanUp Day

Anchor had a lot of fun cleaning up the alley that runs behind our church. We partnered with the city of Fort Wayne and the Great American CleanUp that they sponsor on May 16th (the third Monday of May every year). The city will mobilize hundreds and hundreds of volunteers to clean up parks, alleys, riverbanks and streets on that Saturday. It didn't work out for us to volunteer on that day, but the program will include anybody that volunteers for a project in the month of May. Through the city and their cleanup project Waste Management delivered for free a huge dumpster for us to use. We filled it in a couple of hours, and we only cleaned up half the alley.

Not only did we partner with the city and the Great American CleanUp, but we also partnered with NeighborLink FW. They help connect people with a need with people who can meet that need. Anchor has committed to trying to meet the needs of anyone from our zipcode that posts a need on NeighborLink. On Saturday we tackled one of the projects in our zipcode. We got the yard cleaned up, but we still have a few more projects on the house to complete.

If you want to see some more pictures, you can visit the Anchor blog or see Steve Dennie's Facebook page.

Good Times in Lent

Tonight Anchor hosted four other neighborhood churches for our the third evening of our 5 Sunday Lenten Services.  Grace Presbyterian, First Mennonite, Trinity Lutheran, and North Highlands Church of Christ joined us for a soup supper (with lots of desserts!) and then for worship and a lesson about Jesus.  

We do the Lent services together for several reasons: first because our churches want to continue to partner together in serving our neighborhood.  In order to better serve our neighbors, we want to deepen our partnership together.  One of the best ways to do that is to not only serve together, but to feast and worship together.  We're getting really good at all three!

Another reason for meeting together has to do with Lent: this season of the church calendar can get pretty "me" focused.  It's often what "I" give up for Lent.  Which is good, but it's also good to focus on community.  Lent is a time for giving something up, but each Sunday of Lent is also like a mini-Easter, and what better way to celebrate a Sunday than with fellow believers from different church traditions.  

One more reason: we pastors can have a very lonely job.  It's too easy for pastors from different churches in the same neighborhood to get suspicious of each other, to get competitive, and to stay ignorant.  I don't want that - and neither to the churches we partner with.  By getting together like this, each pastor gets to host the other pastors and their congregations, each pastor gets to be under the teaching of the other pastors, and to experience their gifts and hospitality.  

We meet next week (3.22) at Grace Presbyterian - 6pm; then the week after (3.29) at Trinity Lutheran.  Join us if you can!

Happy for Habitat

Today I was fortunate to participate in a dedication program for the most recent Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity Home. This was house number 118 in the past two decades, quite an accomplishment.

There are several reasons why this was a special project:
* the family moving in are former refugees from Northeastern Africa
* many local-aid agencies who have been working this this refugee family
* many Christians and churches worked together to bless this family with help and a home
* this was Anchor's first Habitat project
* and we made new friends.

Louise McCracken - a member of Grace Presbyterian Church, is a board member for the FW/HH, and at the dedication today she told two stories of two different volunteers that participated in the build; it just so happened that these two vols were both Anchorites! Louise told these two stories to help highlight the joy and sacrifice that many vols experienced in making this house happen.

The first story was of Joanna Herrrick - surprise, surprise. Louise remarked that Joanna, upon bringing the meal this past Thursday for the workers who were cleaning the house, walked into the home and declared, "This is a God-thing." This tickled Louise and resonated with what we hoped and knew to be true.

The second story was about the sweet and giving spirit of Sarah Palmer. Sarah, an employee of the West State Scott's store, bought four bags of fruit, donuts, juice and supplies to bring to the build where she was also going to work with a hammer and nails. Sarah doesn't drive, so she was hoping to get a ride with another Anchorite - which unfortunately didn't work out. Being a determined sort of person, Sarah took the bus from the corner of State Blvd and St. Mary's Avenue to the corner of Anthony Blvd and Paulding Rd - the other side of town. Not an easy trip with four bulging bags of food. When Sarah showed up, Louise was surprised and delighted and overwhelmed by the gift and determination of Sarah.

As our Lord Jesus taught and demonstrated: it is more blessed to give than to receive. Thanks Joanna, Sarah, and all the other Anchorites who did their part in putting together a house by which we can bless refugees from Africa. And thanks for Habitat for making these kind of projects possible. Happy are the merciful!

Here are some pics:

ACC @ FMC

Last night was our fourth gathering for the Lenten series; we met at First Mennonite Church which is just around the corner (almost) from our place. Anchor's denomination (the United Brethren in Christ) have roots with the Mennonite Church. One of the two men who founded our denomination in the 1770's, Martin Boehm, was a Mennonite preacher.

The week before we met at North Highland's Church of Christ. They have on their exterior wall a plaque which reads: Founding of Church - 30AD; Establishment of this Congregation - 1950ish...or something like that. Interesting. Kind of neat.

It's been good to meet together as one, to gather in each other's churches for food, fellowship, and reflection. The study we've been doing with Philip Yancey's material The Jesus I Never Knew has been good, the videos are very thoughtful. He keeps using scenes from the Cotton Patch Gospel - which I saw in college, but didn't care for that much. But now I'd like to see it again.

Next week we meet with the Presbyterians, always a good time!

TUMC, GPC, FMC, NHCoC @ ACC

Tonight was a lot of fun!

Four neighborhood churches gathered together at Anchor tonight for a fantastic array of delicious soups and very tasty desserts! Trinity United Methodist, Grace Presbyterian, North Highlands Church of Christ and First Mennonite join us - over 100 - in the Fellowship Hall to eat, and then we gathered in the Sanctuary for some beautiful and energy-full singing. It was a full house! It was fun to have my wife Tara singing up there along with Jody, and the guys in the band were having a lot of fun too!

The lesson we did had to to do with the Temptation of Jesus - the fourth lesson in the series "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancey. The overall effect is to prepare us for the Passion week as we continue to meet on Sunday nights during the Lenten Season. The lesson of Jesus this week focused on the temptation to be impatient: turn stones to bread, bow down as a shortcut to saving the world. What about us, as we serve in the name of Jesus, loving our friends, families, strangers and even enemies...do we get impatient with others? With God? With ourselves?

Jesus resisted the temptation to be impatient. Jesus is still patient with us. Which is part of the good news we choose to believe.

The challenge to our local neighborhood churches: be patient with God, with each other, and your church. It is easy for our small city churches to get impatient...

Tonight was a good reminder to remember that God "never lets go", and so neither should we.