A Setting for You!

We are excited about the response to our first Blog. You heard about our first post in the January 6th Enews. Since then, over 70 people have “joined us at the table!” Please let us know what you think! Email the elders with your suggestions and thoughts about the Blog!

Elder Minutes – Blog Edition
Highlights from Elder Meetings of January 4 and 11

1. Communion. We began the New Year by celebrating communion together. It was a great blessing to be served by our brothers in Christ and former active elders Ken Bell and Greg Hudson. We prayed for the ill and needy in our church family, and reported on our contacts with several folks who needed some follow-up.

2. “Next Steps” Updates. The Next Steps Task Force is actively pursuing leads for relocating our office staff off-site. This is an urgent priority, since we cannot begin with converting current office space into Children’s Ministry space until that is accomplished.

3. Christ Church @ Cole Video Venue. A letter to go out to the congregation describing this new step was approved. We are praying for a “detail” person to oversee and lead in bringing this step to reality. Please contact Marty if you sense God’s leading on this.

4. Meeting with Rob Hall. Rob Hall, Associate Director of Technical and Legal Services for the Evangelical Covenant’s Church Growth and Evangelism ministry, met with us as part of his two-day visit to our church to advise us on expansion options. We are looking forward to his report.

5. Vision Trip. Along with several other Evangelical Covenant (EC) churches facing exciting challenges while they grow, Lyle, Robert and Bill will participate in a January 19 - 21 trip sponsored by the EC. They will visit LifeChurch (www.lifechurch.tv) in Oklahoma and Bayside Covenant inCalifornia (www.baysideonline.com). LifeChurch uses multi-site, "video venues" to accommodate and enhance the growth of their ministry in Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona. Bayside is a "family" of four churches in the Sacramento area that also uses a unique multi-site approach to managing growth. We are excited to explore these creative methods of church growth! Please join us in prayer!

6. Director of Small Group Ministry. Since the fall of last year Linda Anderson has served in this role on an interim basis. We approved the recommendation to appoint Linda to this position on an ongoing basis (no longer “Interim”).

7. Winter Retreat and Expansion Options. We confirmed the time and place of our Elder Winter Retreat: February 10-11th at St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham, MA. The purpose of this retreat is to seek God’s direction for the longer-term expansion of Christ Church.

8. Church Brochure. We are in the process of designing a church brochure that is attractive, gives basic information about our church, and has room for inserts about particular ministries. Such a brochure will be especially helpful for new folks who are curious about or drawn to our church.

9. Staff Changes. We are expecting some changes in the near future in our office staff, and are working with Marty in considering some new roles, and individuals who might serve in those roles. The search for a Director of Worship Arts is ongoing.

10. Spiritual Formation Planning. As Elders, we sense a need to provide more support for our church folks in the area of “spiritual formation.” This would include, but go beyond Adult Education. Lyle, Marty and Don will meet soon to begin a process of planning. We are open to including in the conversation others who are gifted in and have a heart for this.

Important Request: Do you know anyone who is unable to take part in communion? This may be a result of illness, hospitalization, transportation issues, or age. Whatever the reason, the elders desire to minister to those who wish to partake in this important sacrament. Please email us or call the church office.

Faithfully, in Christ

The Christ Church Elders

Reflections with Robert Messore

As we continue to develop our look at the subject of prayer, we note from the very beginning that to pray is to struggle. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians that we are in a spiritual struggle – against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Years ago, I was active in the martial arts. When people had gained a certain level of proficiency, they had to exhibit their skill under very physically and emotionally stressful circumstances. A person passed the test, if at the end of the session they stood up in the position they had when the test began. It didn’t matter how many mistakes one made as long as they assumed a standing position ready to continue when the test was completed.

I am reminded of the lesson I learned in karate when I read Paul's encouragement from Ephesians 6: “...after you have done everything, stand." It seems to me that for those of us who desire to develop a life of prayer, our attitude to stand before God each day ready to continue our development is critical.

What determines whether we stand ready to pray? Is it how much or little we prayed the day before? How sinful or spiritual we were the day before? Or whether we feel spiritually ready to pray? Standing ready to pray grows and becomes a desire, a passion to learn more ways to speak with the One we love – and to be near to Him. Responding to life from this deep place is our desire; where we engage the struggle to pray each day no matter what other thoughts or feelings we may have.

Would you like a personal prayer partner?
Would you like someone to encourage you along the way of prayer?
Would you like to learn how to be a prayer partner?

If you have any questions regarding your personal prayer time, call the church office and leave me your name and a way to contact you. You can also email me directly.

For the Elders,

Robert Messore

Welcome to the Table!

Welcome to the Christ Church Elder Blog!

We hope to report regularly on some of the discussions we’re engaged in as we seek God’s direction for the implementation of our vision in both the development of our ministries here at Christ Church and the steps in our building expansion.

Elder Minutes – Blog Edition
Highlights from December 2005 Elder Meetings

1. Prayer Needs. We prayed (as we do regularly) for those in the church who are ill or have special needs.

2. New Staff Appointment. We welcomed Hal Pratt, our new Bookkeeper and Maintenance Coordinator to the Christ Church Staff. Hal will be responsible for both accounting functions in the office, and maintenance functions around the church. He began work on December 4.

3. Conference Call with Covenant Office. Mike, Marty, Lyle and Robert were part of a conference call with Gary Walters and several other members from Covenant Headquarters. The primary outcome of the conference call was a planned Vision Tour. Four leaders from Christ Church will be sent to visit three rapidly growing Covenant churches on the weekend of January 19–22. The three churches are Life Covenant (Oklahoma City), New Song (Los Angeles), and Bayside (San Francisco).

4. Winter Retreat and Expansion Options. We are tentatively looking to schedule the Elder Winter Retreat for the week of February 10-11th. The purpose of this retreat is to seek God’s direction for the longer-term expansion of Christ Church. At this point we have not ruled out either expanding our facility on our current property, or relocating to another site. The Next Steps Task Force is actively pursuing all options. An email from Rob Hall, Covenant site expert, was received just prior to our 12/14 meeting. He proposes an onsite visit to us for January 11 and 12, to review the suitability of our property for onsite expansion and to advise us on our expansion options. Since January 11 is a Wednesday night on which an elder meeting is scheduled, it may be possible to meet with him.

5. Day of Prayer. The Elders approved a request to make January 14th a Day of Prayer. The day will focus on praying for church unity, next steps, and new staff.

6. Christ Church @ Cole Video Venue. On December 4 we had a lunch meeting with Christ Church Deacons, Staff, Next Steps Task Force and various ministry leaders to present the concept of a video venue at Cole Jr. High School and to invite their feedback. Feedback was generally positive. We hope to be able to have an additional 10:00 am service at this facility, with live worship, and taped (from the 8:30 service) message. This service would have its own style and character. It would create an additional 250 seats for the 10:00–11:00 worship hour.

7. Conversion of Office Space to Ministry Space. To create more space for Children’s Ministry we are considering the conversion of the current offices into CM space. We would then rent office space off site at a location near the church. The Next Steps Task Force is scouting out potential rental facilities.

8. Nominating Task Force. We have a need for additional elders with gifts in administration. In addition, we should be seeking a new Treasurer. The Nominating Task force will be reactivated.

9. Financial Administration. In November we approved a new way to handle accounting of finances: we will hire an outside person/firm to track income from offerings and elsewhere, and use a staff bookkeeper to track expenses. The bookkeeper task will be part of Hal Pratt’s responsibilities. This new financial administration plan reconfigures the office of Treasurer, and eliminates the office of Financial Secretary. (Since this elimination requires a change in the Bylaws, this must be proposed for congregational vote at the next Annual Meeting.)

10. All Church Event. We are hearing a desire to repeat a service in which the entire church is together (like the “Celebration Sunday” service at the East Greenwich High School in May of 2004). Discussion of this led to the idea of possibly having our 2006 Easter Service(s) there.

Faithfully, in Christ

The Christ Church Elders


Reflections with Robert Messore


“To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

The movement inward comes first because without interior transformation the movement up into God's glory would overwhelm us and the movement out into ministry would destroy us.”
- Richard J. Foster

Would you describe part of your prayer life as a movement inward?

The Elders would enjoy discussing ways to enrich the prayer life of the church. If you have any questions regarding your personal prayer time please feel free to: call the church and leave us your name and a way to contact you. Or you may CLICK HERE to email us! If you have a more general question regarding prayer, you may use the Blog as a forum for discussion.

For the Elders,

Robert Messore