Monday, July 6, 2009 Listen to the Vision!

At Encounter, our vision is to be something out of the ordinary that catches people's attention so they can encounter God.

Connected to the image of Moses' burning bush experience, we want to be something that is different, something that is extraordinary, that catches the attention of a city and a people attention so they can hear the voice of God.

We want to remove as many obstacles, distractions, and barriers as we can so that this generation and beyond can have an authentic, life-changing encounter with Jesus.

More specifically, we have found that people tend to like Jesus but not the church. They have been turned off by traditional models of "doing church." Their view of what the Church and what following Jesus is supposed to be has been skewed by many things — but primarily by a lifeless, passionless, empty representation of faith that is judgmental, self-righteous, and downright boring.

In a broad sense, we envision a dangerous church, an assembly, a gathering, a faith community, a group of people, who are drawn together to pursue what it means to boldly follow Jesus beyond Sunday, and in the missional context of real life.

HAVE YOU FELT IT?
And this vision is not just mine or Andrea's, but one planted there by God in each one of us drawn to Encounter. Each of us has sensed the vision, we have then seen it articulated, and now we have begun the process of growth that will see the vision come to life. Like a seed that has been planted, it must now be watered and cared for as it matures into reality.

Have you sensed the vision? Have you felt it gnawing at your soul? Have you been discouraged in the valley as God has been molding you into the shape of the vision? We have too, but we are not satisfied with anything else but an authentic and bold following after Jesus and His vision planted within us!

LISTEN TO THE VISION!
I am going to be bold here and just say it. If you are not connected with a church here in Helena — if you are not living out your faith in a passionate and life-filled way with others in a faith community — you are missing out on something incredible!

You REALLY should come be a part Encounter. If you don't live here in Helena, you should move here. Seriously, we will help you! Seriously, the next six months at Encounter are going to be AMAZING! You should listen to the vision that is stirring in your soul and come be a part of what God is doing in Helena!

So let's get together and talk more over coffee.
Give me a call today!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Where Does Our Vision Come From?

The vision of Encounter is to "be something out of the ordinary that catches people's attention so they can encounter God."

It is derived from Moses’ encounter with God through the burning bush in Exodus 3. Those far from God are living their lives apart from His will and purpose.

In the Exodus account, Moses was tending his sheep when the Lord "appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, 'I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.'"

Much like Moses, we are presented with potential "encounters" with God that will lead to a transformed life through a growing relationship with Jesus. But we are often too burdened and distracted to recognize and respond. Part of what Encounter Church is about is freeing people from those burdens and distractions and allowing them to take that next step.

No matter where someone is spiritually - skeptic, new believer, returning to the faith, growing believer - we want them to be moving forward in their faith relationship with Jesus Christ. That's because we see discipleship not as a goal to achieve, but as a process of becoming more and more intimate with Jesus Christ.

Read more about our vision and values here.

Vision and Values Revisited

Andrea and I just spent a few days this weekend with other church planters doing some basic training. We used the opportunity to revisit our vision, mission and core values. We also examined our timeline and the important mileposts we need to achieve as we work toward launch.

As we discussed various aspects of what it takes to develop a vibrant and transformative community of believers, we were reminded that there is a lot of work before us. In fact, we're both overwhelmed and excited!

At the same time, we recognize that it's been a long time since we've first strategized with North Point Ministries. This is a great time to develop a vision and express our mission in our own words - to personalize the same mission and strategy we've been communicating but in a way that directly reflects our hearts.

ENCOUNTER'S VISION:
Freeing people to encounter Jesus Christ
To be something out of the ordinary that catches people's attention so they can encounter God (updated 05-01-10)

ENCOUNTER'S MISSION:
Leading people intro a growing relationship with Jesus
To see people moving forward toward a growing relationship with Jesus Christ (updated 05-01-10)

ENCOUNTER'S STRATEGY:
To create opportunities where people are encouraged and equipped to:

• Encounter God - Growing faith through intimacy with Jesus
• Experience Community - Developing authentic relationships by doing life together
• Engage Culture - Transforming people by investing in trust relationships

ENCOUNTER'S CORE VALUES:

• Authentic — We will be real and transparent in our life struggles and successes in order to remove barriers in our personal relationships with Jesus and others.
• Relational — We believe life transformation happens best in the context of personal relationships.
• Relevant — We will speak into people’s lives with the true relevance of Christ in ways that they can experience God through "touchstones" in their life experience and culture.
• Creative — We know there is life in the creative actions of our God and want people to experience that life as a result of all we creatively do through Jesus.
• Intentional — We believe that when we are purposeful and focused in our actions, we stand a much better chance of being able to accomplish significant things.
• Excellent — We will do the very best that we can with what God has given us because excellence honors God and inspires people.

We would love to hear your comments. Leave one by clicking on the word "comments" below.

Saturday, December 20, 2008 Our Heart For This Generation

Andrea and I feel called to launch a new community of believers, specifically focused on reaching the unconnected of this generation. That especially refers to those unchurched and dechurched in their 20's and 30's who haven't found church to be relevant and essential to their lives.

So while we are creating a faith-community that is welcome to young and old, believers and nonbelievers alike, we will design our gatherings and events for a younger audience. Experiential, relevant, and technologically-enabled gatherings are more likely to reach a younger generation AND also reach older adults. But the reverse is not true. When we design our services for an older audience, the younger crowd will not show up.

These are environments where people can be excited about bringing their friends; where people will experience something so different, unique, and life-giving that they want to come back, whether they believe the teaching or not.

These will be environments where people can experience God through "touchstones" in their life experience and culture; environments where things are done with excellence and where people will encounter a creative God as a result of everything we do. This is our passion and the embodiment of both our vision and strategy for Encounter.

A great example of our approach is embodied here at Ridge Church in Charlotte, NC.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 Steps, Not Programs

Another important aspect of the way Encounter approaches things is through steps, not programs.

No matter where someone is spiritually — skeptic, new believer, returning to the faith, growing believer — we want them to be moving forward in their faith relationship with Jesus Christ. That's because we see discipleship not as a goal to achieve, not as list of items to check off until we have reached a certain point - but discipleship is a process of becoming more and more intimate in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Seeing spiritual maturity as a process to pursue rather than as a goal to achieve allows us, then, to see everything we do as another step in helping someone move further along in their faith relationship with Jesus. Whether they need to investigate faith for the first time, whether they need to address issues in their marriage, whether they need to make some financial decisions in their life — each is an important "step" in the process of following Jesus.

The problem with programs is this. There is the assumption that a program helps you "arrive" somewhere. You are complete. The program is the end in and of itself. In contrast, when we approach growth through "steps," we simply see it as part of the process of leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus.

Saturday, October 4, 2008 Relationships: Our Strategy...Unpacked

At Encounter, we want people to become followers of Jesus who are in a growing relationship with Him. Then it begs the question "How are we going to do this?" Or perhaps "What do we want people to do?"

That, in a nutshell, is the essence of strategy and we've stated ours as "creating irresistible environments where people are encouraged and equipped in three vital relationships: to Encounter God, Experience Community, and Engage Culture."

We can ask ourselves, what demonstrates a growing relationship with Jesus Christ? At Encounter, we believe the answer to that question is found in Jesus' words in Matthew 22 when He was asked "What is the greatest commandment?"

Jesus replied, "‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

It sounds simple, but Jesus is basically saying that loving God and loving your neighbor is what everything comes down to. Everything that has been written in the scriptures is summed up in these two statements. "Loving God" and "loving others" is evidence of a growing relationship with Jesus.

We've defined "loving God" as developing an intimacy with Him. We divided "loving our neighbor" into those inside the faith and those outside the faith. So part of what we want to do at encounter is to create environments where people can pursue these three vital relationships.

Read more about our vision and values here.

Growing Faith: Our Mission...Unpacked

The mission of Encounter is "to see people moving forward toward a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."

It helps answer the question, "What do we want people to become?" It sounds simple, but is it? Well, yes and no.

It IS simple in that it is easy to say, it's easy to remember. But it is not so easy to live. That is because, if you've heard Andy Stanley, a great vision is easy and simple to remember - but it is really incomplete. There is more to understand than simply "leading people in growing relationships with Jesus." So let me unpack a part of what it means.

IT'S NOT ABOUT US
We must first admit that it is not through our effort alone that others enter into or grow in their relationship with Christ. One cannot ignore or underestimate the power and work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we serve a role, but it is ultimately an extension of God's work through us that bears fruit.

If you look at 1 Corinthians 6:19, we understand that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That means that our bodies (as believers) are the place of God's presence on earth. More importantly, God relates to people through us. When people ask "Where is God in the midst of this crisis, in the midst of my journey?" The answer is that God is here, through us (as believers).

All this to say that we play an important role in the work that God has in this world. When we are wholly abandoned and submitted to Him, we are able to carry out His purpose for our life and to help lead another in a growing relationship with Jesus.

MOVING FORWARD
I've had a couple comments about how often we use this phrase when we describe what we're about. The questions that come sound something like this... Is this just about discipleship? What about evangelism? What about sharing the gospel? What about repentance, what about the power of the the shed blood of Christ?

First, leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ involves all those things. It involves what we want people to become. No matter where someone is spiritually - skeptic, new believer, returning to the faith, growing believer - we want them to be moving forward in their faith relationship with Jesus Christ. That's because we see discipleship not as a goal to achieve, not as list of items to check off until we have reached a certain point - but discipleship is a process of becoming more and more intimate with Jesus Christ.

WHAT ABOUT THE GOSPEL?
Our mission really comes from Jesus' parting words from Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Basically, as we go through life, we are to relationally connect with people in such a way that it encourages them to follow Jesus.

And don't miss that key point ... we are to "relationally connect" with people. That's part of what we call invest and invite. In order to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus, we need to "invest" our lives in theirs. As we invest and develop trust relationships with others, we demonstrate our true concern for them. And this ultimately gives us the opportunity to effectively "speak" into their lives.

Whether it involves a discussion about the gospel, about repentance, about the blood of Christ, or about simply inviting them to a worship service, when we develop trust relationship with someone, it gives us the opportunity to help lead them in a growing relationship of Jesus Christ.

Read more about our vision and values here.

Sunday, August 24, 2008 Intentional Strategic Service

Strategic service occurs when we intentionally serve in a place that moves the church closer to fulfilling its mission.

Our strategy is very specific: to create environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue growing faith through intimacy with Jesus (Encounter God), authentic relationships by doing life together (Experience Community), and trust relationships that lead to transformation (Engage Culture).

One of the best ways to connect and grow is to serve others, but it's not enough to simply serve. Our impact relies upon a coordinated, strategic effort of service with other gifted members of the body of Christ. That is why we need every person to serve in at least one of our ministry environments.

At first, you may be asked to serve in areas of need. It is important to understand that as Encounter grows and as God adds new gifted individuals to our community, we will eventually find a place that best fits our individual mix of gifts.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Investing in Relationships

Everyone at Encounter must be committed to investing in relationships with people who are far from God. It is only in this way that we can Engage Culture resulting in transformed lives.

As Jesus invested His life into those around Him, we must invest our lives into those around us. We must serve them, befriend them, accept them, and when we speak of our faith, we'll speak from the overflow of our heart.

And one thing to remember about investments is that there is rarely an immediate pay-off. Investing takes time. It took Jesus three years to convince the twelve.

After such an investment, it is much easier and effective to invite people to connect with Encounter. Then it is more natural to resurface the subject later providing opportunities to share your journey with Jesus. Being with other believers at the right kind of event has a way of opening people up or pricking their interest in spiritual things. We all know people whose picture of Christianity is so distorted that they need to see the real thing before they can hear you.

Investing in others' lives is a both a community culture and a personal strategy. It means genuinely caring for people outside the church and then being bold enough to risk the relationship by inviting them to go deeper. It takes energy and effort to build and invest in a relationship. It takes equal compassion and courage to leverage that relationship for the sake of eternity.

Monday, July 28, 2008 LifeGroups

We want everyone to end up in a LifeGroup for spiritual growth, discipleship, accountability, and encouragement. We believe that the best place for people to experience life change is in the small group context.

These groups consist of six to eight individuals or five to six couples who meet regularly for Bible study and prayer and commit to accountability, friendship and support.

They are a safe place to ask tough questions and build lasting friendships in an environment of commitment and strength and security. They are also a great place to grow in our relationship with Jesus and community with others.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 Entry Environments

In our homes, the foyer is the "entry" place that serves as the welcome area for guests and new friends. It's the first step and it's often the only chance to make guests feel comfortable enough to return.

The gathered worship service will be our primary entry environment. This environment must be one where believers can be excited about bringing their un-churched friends. Therefore, it must be an irresistible environment where excellence is experienced with everything we do. From the physical environment to the look and feel, music, video, sound, lights, and hospitality — all must be done in such a way that it honors God and is appealing and enjoyable.

Believers will definitely be challenged spiritually, but the un-churched will experience something so different and unique that they want to come back, whether they believe the teaching or not. Encounter will create all our entry environments where things are done with excellence and where adults, teens, and kids experience a creative God as a result of what we do.

Friday, July 25, 2008 Why Another Church in Helena?

One question you may have about Encounter is "Why another church in Helena?" You may have noticed that there are already a lot of churches here — it's as though there is a church on every corner - we don't seem to need another church.

THE REALITY
The reality is that while 50 percent of people in Helena claim to have any church affiliation, only 10 percent are members of an evangelical church. At best, there is at least another 50 percent that do not — they don't even attend church.

More importantly, we can see there is a massive shortfall of people who are in a growing relationship with Jesus, regardless of the number of churches in Helena. People's lives and souls are being sacrificed because many churches are desperately trying to keep and satisfy a handful of church-goers who are comfortable with these statistics. We are not comfortable with this.

THIS GENERATION
That is why we are willing to create a community that is specifically designed to reach out to those who are far from God — especially a younger generation that has been dis-enfranchised from our faith communities — especially those who have "tried" traditional church and found it lacking or irrelevant to their lives. We are specifically looking to connect with the largely un-reached or under-reached group between the ages of 25 and 44 (nearly 26 percent of Helena according to Census 2000).

EXCELLENCE
We want to create a community that values environments where the un-churched will experience something so different, unique, and life-giving that they want to come back, whether they believe the teaching or not; environments where things are done with excellence and where adults, teens, and kids encounter a creative God as a result of what we do through Christ.

INVEST & INVITE
We also want to create a community that is ready to invest their lives in others in order to invite them to these environments where that can begin a growing relationship with Jesus. This core DNA of Encounter (what we're about, our essence) speaks to the purpose for which we are created and saved - to encounter a life-giving relationship with Christ and to invite others to experience the same.

IS THIS YOU?
If this sounds like the kind of community of Christ-followers that you could be involved with — or if you want to find out more, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 What Does "Encounter" Mean?

David Edwards wrote in this in his book Encountering God:

"The word ENCOUNTER carries a nuance of surprise with it... encounters with God usually occur, not when they have been planned, but in unexpected places when God chooses to reveal Himself in a more personal way."

Quite simply, Encounter will be a church community where people will encounter Jesus. That means first and foremost, we will embody the purpose and personality of Jesus.

HIS PURPOSE
Jesus healed some, He fed some, He made some social comments, but Jesus' main purpose on earth was to seek and save the lost (He said so in Luke 19:10). And now the church, who is the embodiment of Christ on earth, is to carry on the purpose and ministry of Christ. A church community that is truly being "The Church" is about connecting people with the Father through Christ.

HIS PERSONALITY
Jesus was authentic. He despised any tradition that "boxed man in" and "boxed God out." We need to cut through many of the church culture barriers that are more about tradition than about Jesus and God’s inspired word.

Jesus was relevant in His culture and understood people’s lives, concerns, and dreams. Whatever we do as a church community, we must speak into people’s lives with the true relevance of Christ by addressing the questions our culture is asking. What does this have to do with my real life?

Jesus was enjoyable. People loved to be around Jesus, especially skeptics and sinners. The only people who didn’t seem to enjoy Him were the inauthentic religious leaders. Everything we do at Encounter — our communication, music, relationships, physical environments — must be enveloped in a real and enjoyable atmosphere.

Jesus was accepting. With all of His holiness, godliness, and righteousness, was not afraid to embrace people with a past. Instead, He drew them to Himself. In the same way, a church community will strive after that which is pure and right and true, but at the same time, be comfortable with and accepting of those who are very far from God.

Encounter is about creating environments that reflect the purpose and personality of Jesus. When our environments reflect Jesus, we are more likely to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.