Making More Mature Disciples

Maturity: a significant priority of Anchor Community Church shall be helping followers of Jesus become more mature disciples as they grow in their understanding of the Scriptures and fully participate in the body of Jesus.

It's with much joy that we look around Anchor and see more and more people from the community joining us for worship on Sundays, or small groups during the week, or benefiting from our Community Connections ministry. And it's a real joy to hear the Because of Jesus stories, of how people are experiencing the life-changing power of Jesus in their life.

But there is still a big question mark that hangs over all of this joy: what is it that helps people become more mature disciples of Jesus? We love to have more people join us for worship, to have more people baptized, to have more people share a Because of Jesus story. However, we remember the old adage: God loves us just the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.

What does maturity look like? How do you track the trajectory of maturity? 

What does the journey look like from immaturity in all things to maturity in all things? Is there a standard pace? Is it always in a straight line? How do you differentiate personality and culture from true Christian maturity? And how does a congregation measure maturity? How do we talk about becoming more mature? Who has the permission to decide what is immature or mature?

I ask all these questions to make a point: for all of you who are confident about what maturity is and is not (for example, you yourself are the example of maturity...), and for all of you who have lots of "reasons" for why you are not more mature in your faith ("I'm just so busy...) - there is a tension between what we want to see in others and what we are willing to seen in ourselves. We know maturity when we see it, but it is hard to define - especially in others. 

There are two key ways we define maturity (and immaturity) at Anchor: through your growing understanding of the Scriptures and your participation in the body of Jesus. 

An immature version of this would read: be busy always reading your Bible and showing up at the church whenever the doors open.

A mature version of this would read: what action have you taken in response to a prompting from God because you were reading Scripture?


In what ways is your local congregation or other Christians you are connected with better off because of what you have been reading in Scripture and applying to your own life? Do these two understandings make sense?


Some examples of how this would work with Anchor: 
* to say that we are a follower of Jesus means we are becoming familiar with the teachings of Jesus and can give examples how how we are implementing it in our life. 

If you aren't meditating on the Sermon on the Mount, it's going to be difficult for you to know the key teachings of Jesus, and thus almost impossible for you to follow the way of Jesus. Jesus' understanding of love, forgiveness, prayer, giving money to the poor, adultery and lust, murder and anger, honesty, etc.


* to say that we are a disciple means that we are student of Jesus, which means we set time and energy to read, discuss, and apply what we learn. 

There is thus a schedule in our life by which we listen to the voice of Jesus through Scriptures, prayer, life experience, and the wisdom of other Christians.

But as a student, we don't go merely as a passive sponge - for we know that the most important learning that comes in life is from doing, from our own experiences and attempts.

So as a student, we schedule into our life time to work and give in the name of Jesus. Whether it is a ministry opportunity with your local church or through your local church (like with Habitat or NeighborLink), or it is a task you do on your own or with other Christians you know that aren't apart of Anchor - your intentionality reveals your maturity.

Passivity and maturity don't often go hand in hand.


* a more mature disciple takes initiative to respond to a need that they see. 

They've been shaped by the Scriptures, they've got a history with a local church, and they've both witnessed and been part of work to help others in need. Thus, based on their understanding of Scriptures and their participation in they body of Jesus they've been trained and empowered to be Jesus to the people in their life.

The willingness and skill to do this is a sign of ongoing maturity.

What Anchor Wants

What guides Anchor's ministry? When we put into words what we sense the Spirit of Jesus doing in us and through us, what would we write? What explains the decisions we make, the values we hold, the priorities we emphasize? 

Below is a simple guide to what shapes our ministry as Anchor, some potent sentences that serve like seeds for what we do in response to the work God has started in us, work that God will continue through us.

Anchor Community Church wants hundreds of their friends and family to become fully devoted followers of Jesus who are a helpful blessing to our city through our loving God and neighbor. 

You already are connected to many people who are strangers to Jesus, or estranged. With the people God has already placed in your life, we want ministry to result in helping connect people with Jesus.

This connecting, well we want it to feel like a blessing - to our homes, our community, to our city. And what's the best way to connect as a blessing? Love. Jesus showed us what love looks like - love to God and neighbor, he taught about it, and then commanded us to imitate him. And so we go. And look to find ways to include many more with us in our loving, our blessing, our following Jesus.

When it comes to living out this mission as the hands and feet of Jesus, there are four ways we go about this, four priorities that guide us forward:

Community: our highest priority as Anchor Community Church shall be connecting with people we know and those in our city who need to be welcomed into the body of Jesus.

Maturity: a significant priority of Anchor Community Church shall be helping followers of Jesus become more mature disciples as they grow in their understanding of the Scriptures and fully participate in the body of Jesus.

Ministry: another significant priority of Anchor shall be developing and sending each disciple for a significant ministry through their God-given skills, resources, and experiences to be used in their home, local community, church, and world.

Kingdom Focus: the other significant priority of Anchor shall be collaborating with like-minded churches, local ministries, community and business organizations and selected government agencies to further the influence of the Gospel in our city. 

What's the Spirit of Jesus doing in you? How can Anchor help you in fully devoting your life to Jesus? If and when there is an opportunity for Anchor to be a blessing to you, to help you, to give you a love which you pass on to others - well we will celebrate that experience. Those are the kinds of stories we love to share.

Here are a few stories worth sharing:

* when we baptized ten Christians in June, most of them brought friends and family to witness the event. Some of those who came are not part of a church, are not Christians. All who walked away from that event felt the Spirit of Jesus at work. We celebrate that experience!

* through our small groups this Spring, Christians who were resistant to following Jesus became more involved in Anchor. Some made the decision to start worshipping with us on Sundays every week. Others chose to lead a small group - a big step of trust which God honored. One group started a ministry that continues once a month - singing and fellowshipping with the elderly members of Coventry Meadows! 

* one of our members shared how, as a cashier at a small grocery store, she intentionally ministers to every customer. She sees her place of employment as a place to minister. More than just being a polite employee, she is motivated to serve and greet and work to the glory of God and as a blessing, an instrument of the love of Jesus. 

*  In July we will worship with Grace Presbyterian Church on their front yard - a witness to our community of our oneness in Christ and our unity in loving our neighbor. In September we will worship in Hamilton Park with about eight neighborhood congregations, along with Rescue Mission and Charis House. Last year we partnered with Associated Churches for this worship event. 

This is what is guiding Anchor, helping generate story after story of Jesus at work in us and through us. If you have a story, please share it. And if you want to help generate more stories - well, then welcome!

Recipe for Success

Recently my Mum made 34 dozen monster cookies for the staff at Coventry Meadows Nursing Home where my dad had lived the past few months before he died. Then she made another 34 dozen monster cookies for us! And Eli got to help. And he got to use a lot of measuring spoons and cups. I wouldn't be surprised if he memorized the recipe! The monster cookies were a hit, of course.

It got me thinking about what are the ingredients required for a great church? What's a recipe for success? What is even success for a church? It could be an endless debate.

Friend of Missional is a great place to learn about how churches are learning to think like missionaries in their own culture. It's been influential on me for years. It's been helping me rethink what are the ingredients needed for a great church these days, especially in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Below is a list of observations about a successful church. As you scan through them, which ones do you think apply easily to Anchor? Which ones don't? Your response in the comment section would be helpful!

1. Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.

2. Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.

3. Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.

4. Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)

5. Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.

6. Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers' we help experience healthy community.

7. Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.

8. Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.

9. Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.

10. Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.

11. Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.

12. Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is "the church" in our neighborhood, city and world?

13. Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.

14. Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.

15. Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

Neighborhood Churches Together

It's remarkable what is happening in our neighborhood. 

Our churches are worshipping and working together for the community and Kingdom of God. It's always exciting to hear about diverse churches working together in towns and counties around the nation. I'm thankful that Anchor gets to be part of something so unique and transformative in our city.

This is the sixth year for the 46808 neighborhood churches to gather together during the season of Lent. We meet on a Sunday evening for a meal hosted by one of the local churches, and then we bring in a community leader to give us a better understanding of how we can get involved to make our neighborhood a better place to live.

This year we are meeting for three weeks, in years past it's been four weeks or even six. A different church hosts each week, this year we're glad to have New Zion Tabernacle, Three Rivers Wesleyan and North Highlands Church of Christ hosting us! 

To be frank: sometimes I have my doubt whether these gatherings are really making a difference. 

Is it all really just a distracting drain of energy to meet for worship and a meal? Can I see tangible results from this collaboration? How do I know that the neighborhood is a better place to live because of our Lenten gatherings? Where is the evidence, the fruit of our churches uniting together in the name of Jesus?

What would success look like? 

For me, that a local church wants to join our collaborative efforts is a win. It was beautiful to have Three Rivers Wesleyan hosting our gathering for the first time in six years. It was fantastic to have New Zion Tabernacle host last week and then show up at Three Rivers with so many of their leaders. Very encouraging indeed! 

Success would also include local churches either funding or using the agencies that come and introduce themselves to us. Having churches join Associated Churches, minister at Charis House, use the resources of Lutheran Social Services, partner with Mentoring Moms, give money and donations to the Rescue Mission - all of this is a win-win-win.

Success would also include individual members and families of these many churches partnering with ministries in our city. On their own time and initiative, get involved - both for their own sake and for those that they would serve.

Another level of success: that when a neighbor hears about a local church, rather then a shrug or a blank stare, it'd be a big smile and a story - of how that church is AWESOME! If a church would plan to leave a neighborhood, would people protest, plead, beg you to stay?

Because of our unity, our collaboration, our service, our worship, our prayers and compassion, our neighbors would praise God in heaven. That'd be success. 

The best success of all - and the hardest to attain: that through our co-laboring in the Spirit of the Gospel men and women would find forgiveness of their sins and transformation of their life in the way of Jesus.

Simple tasks can be accomplished by direct action. But the bigger and more complicated a work becomes, the more likely the action becomes indirect. And the more indirect a work becomes, the harder it is to explain how it will achieve success.

It would seem more direct to just go and knock on a door, ask a neighbor if they are saved, and then proceed to pray with them right then and there. This direct action rarely works for such a big and complicated task.

Transformation of the heart takes more than a prayer. Successful transformation of a whole community of hearts takes more then good intentions. So we take indirect action: unite, worship, serve, care, help, bless, follow the promptings of the Spirit, listen to the cry of the oppressed, model forgiveness of sins, act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with our God.

Somehow, someway, I believe this indirect action will make our neighborhood a better place to live. 

Connecting to the Community: with Jocelyn Smith

For our third Lenten gathering, the 46808 Neighborhood Churches met at Trinity United Methodist Church with Jocelyn Smith of Rising Stars, a ministry of Associated Churches of Fort Wayne and Allen County. Jocelyn is the Community Connector for our neighborhood, and works with four local elementary schools: Washington, Nebraska, Bloomingdale, and Franke Park. Jocelyn was joined by the Rising Stars Director, Sarah Adams.

Together the two of them presented to the gathered churches the origins of Rising Stars, the difference it is currently making in the community, and what is next. It was great to have Grace Presbyterian, First Mennonite, Anchor Community, United Faith Presbyterian, and members from Trinity United Methodist come together to strengthen our partnership with Rising Stars and as members of the Associated Churches.

Rising Stars is doing great work in our local elementary schools - and providing a great opportunity for collaboration with neighborhood churches. Community Connectors like Jocelyn Smith build relationships with schools and churches, becoming a link for support and fulfilling needs. Schools always needs supplies for their students, and sometimes they need help with clothing and other essentials. But the biggest need that has surfaced is support for the parents - training opportunities that improve parenting skills, strengthen families, and nurture a better performing school.

Recently, in partnership with Youth Services Bureau and the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition, Rising Stars was able to start parenting classes in a number of local elementary schools, including Nebraska Elementary School, which is ten blocks south of Anchor. These STEP classes are taught by facilitators trained through YSB and funded by Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition. Rising Stars then works with local churches like Anchor and Trinity, to help pay for food costs, provide volunteers and help with incentives. Parents are getting help, the Aha! moments are happening - this is neighborhood collaboration at its best! 

Sarah Adams shared some compelling stories:
*A Bloomingdale student came to school irregularly - she had to share her wintercoat with a sibling. When news reached the school, Rising Stars stepped in to provide a coat so that both students could go to school everyday wearing their own warm winter coats.
*At a different school, a family had split up - and then all their possessions were destroyed in a fire. Through the school, Rising Stars was able to provide gift cards to help them recover. The family got the help they needed, they have come back together, are in a different home, part of a local church, and have started a new life together.
*A principal shared that different teachers said they could feel the presence of God in their classrooms. The love and support they get from Rising Stars is like a big huge hug!

Churches can do more together. God does some of his best work through congregations that collaborate in their city to serve and love in the name of Jesus. To learn more about how you can get involved and make a difference for good, check out these links below:

Associated Churches of Fort Wayne and Allen County

Rising Stars Ministry

Nebraska Elementary School


Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition

Youth Services Bureau


Trinity United Methodist Church

Grace Presbyterian Church

Anchor Community Church



Also: NeighborLink Fort Wayne

Connecting to the Community: With Judge Pratt

Churches in the 46808 Neighborhood gathered together tonight at First Mennonite Church to meet with Judge Charles Pratt. He was joined by his assistant Kate Rusher, the Assistant Chief Juvenile Probation Officer at Allen Superior Court.

Here's an overview of some of the material Judge Pratt shared with us in regard to reporting child abuse and neglect:
First: is the child under the age of 18?
Second: which of these in the "general neglect category" apply -
* Food
* Clothing
* Shelter
* Supervision
* Medical Care
* Education

Third: Does the neglect have a corresponding serious harm to the child?
Fourth: Has your congregation's offer to help or help from other agencies been ignored or refused?
Fifth: Has there been an act - or a failure to act - that resulted in injury (an injury that is not typical given the age, the place of the injury, and the extent of it)?
Sixth: Has there been injuries from an act of domestic violence (or has the child been exposed to domestic violence)?

When reporting, be sure to:
* Give specific conditions of the home if you deem it to be unsafe
* Articulate clearly the circumstances that you deem to of serious harm (untreated medical care, failure to provide food, inadequate shelter, children left alone, etc.)
* Call the child abuse and neglect hotline as soon as you have compiled your information: 1-800-800-5556. If you think the child is in immediate danger, call your local police.

Possible victims of sex offenses:
If the child provides you with facts that he or she has been sexually victimized, then do the following:
* Make notes for your later recollection about the child's comments.
* Do not ask the child questions. There is protocol for interviewing the children that requires an expert to complete
* Contact the police and the hotline.
* Assure the child that you are acting to protect him or her.
* Remember that the child - regardless of his or her participation in the abuse - is a victim.

As our churches become more involved in the neighborhood, and as we come alongside more families, we are seeing more children in dire circumstances. The question arises: what's the best way to serve the children and their families? And: how can we best partner with the court system to better serve those involved in abuse and neglect cases? This is how we subvert the powers of injustice.

Jesus commanded his disciples to go preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. This is motivation for us to meet with Judge Pratt and collaborate with him in better caring for our neighbors. We are a community of churches that want to make our neighborhood a better place to live, in the name of Jesus.

We met with Judge Pratt and Kate Rusher last year - over a period of four weeks they introduced us to the court system from the perspective of children, youth, and adults. They also helped us connect with available resources like Great Communities Make Great Kids, the YWCA: Domestic Violence Services, CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, and others.

This year we wanted to follow up with Judge Pratt and Kate Rusher and learn more about CHINS (Children In Need of Services). Next week we will meet with Megan Kelly who directs Great Communities Make Great Kids - and will do a presentation on the 40 Developmental Assets that church communities can best offer to kids and youth. The following week we'll meet with Jocelyn Smith of Rising Stars, and then the final week we'll meet with Wallace Butts of the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition.

Neighborhood CleanUp Day!

Saturday we tackled the alley behind the church. There are about sixty houses that use the alley, thus there was a lot of tree debris to collect. Waste Management delivered a huge dumpster for us to use. We had about three pick up trucks running up and down the alley which we used to haul out the tree limbs and junk. There were some great workers that showed up to serve: RJ Conrad, Andrew Muncie, Ken Harrold, Eddie Parks and his two sons Rocky and Vinney, Steve & Pam Dennie, Terry & Lisa Sutton, Jeff Jacobs, and Paul Neher.

Once we filled the dumpster with the alley debris (we only finished half the alley...which means now we need to schedule another day to complete the project), we headed off to a home on Hensch street.  Anchor has partnered with NeighborLink FW to help our neighbors in need. NeighborLink has a website where people can post a need, and then someone can go on that site, see the need, and meet that need.  Anchor has committed to taking care of any neighbor in our zipcode - 46808 - that posts a need.  We cleaned up the yard in no time, but Paul spent most of the day working on the oven...and he's still got to go back and finish it!  He's a real trooper though, and I know he'll get it done!

We do this service project to be a good neighbor, and to get to know our neighbors.  While working in the alley I met two neighbors and has some really good talks with them.  When we went to clean up the yard on Hensch street, the owner took us across the street to meet her neighbor - a 97 year old man who is still very active, but needs some help with his yard.  It was also a great day for connecting with fellow Anchorites.  It was a very good day indeed!

Steve and Pam took a lot of pictures and then posted them on Facebook. I stole his pictures and am using them for this post!

Anchor & Literacy Alliance

Since 2005 Anchor has been a host-site for Literacy Alliance, an program designed to increase and improve literacy amongst adults. They provide basic adult education and GED preparation for adults - particularly those who have not graduated from high school.

In the most recent newsletter (2008 Issue 4) the executive director Judy Stabelli noted the increasing need for their programs: 14% of adults 25 years and older in Allen County did not graduate from high school - that's almost 30,000 adults. Judy also noted that 78% of the 288 students who attended intake session from June - October arrived with skills at or below the eighth grade level. This is a serious problem.

According to the mayor's Social Services Summit, adults without a high school diploma have a very difficult time achieving family stability. In fact the lack of that diploma is a primary barrier to that stability. In thirteen tracts throughout the greater Fort Wayne area identified with the greatest need based on education and household factors, ten of those tracts had a non high school graduation rate of higher than 14%, and in three it was greater than 20%.

It's important that Anchor keep hosting Literacy Alliance in our neighborhood, it's important that we help remove such obstacles as distance and space in order to increase the likelihood of more adults needing help getting help. It'd also be awesome if members of our church made a commitment to serve the neighborhood by volunteering with Literacy Alliance.

To volunteer, call 426.7323; email: judith.stabelli@fwliteracyalliance.org
Volunteer to help with adult instruction programs, learning centers, KeyTrain computer training, one-on-one, or group tutoring.

What's Supposed to Happen on Sundays?

There is a lot of expectation for what is supposed to happen on Sundays.

What results are we to look for?

How do you measure hearts that endure in loyalty to God because of what happens on Sundays?

How do you calculate fruitfulness?

How do you grasp the renewal of someone's mind?

Works. Action. Deeds.

The expectation is that, whatever actually happens, the end results in more people doing works of love more often. Works of love done in someway because of their response to God's work of love in them.

How do you know if someone is doing works of love?

At some point we need to mark down what are the works of love Jesus calls us to continue doing, and then mark up how each of us is going to do them week to week.

So then we need to backtrack: what is it that we do on Sundays that contributes to doing works of love week in and week out?

What is it about the songs we sing, and the singing of those songs? What is it about the Scripture that is preached, and the preaching of the Scripture? What is it of the prayers and the praying, of the the koinonia, of the serving, of the listening? What are ways of doing those things that contribute to more people being enabled to live out the Great Commandment and Commission?

I suppose at one level, it has to do with the hearts and heads of the leaders: they set the example. At another level, there needs to be a consistency in the overall message: setting a standard for understanding why we do what we do. There could be many more, but the third thing I think of is connectability: how to help each person connect with the example they see, the message they hear with their own living from week to week.

For Anchor, I think we need to up the intensity of our example-setting of our leaders, be more consistent in sharing our standard message, and then keep being creative in our connectability.

It is not rocket-science, just glad endurance.

It's Good

Being part of Anchor is good.

Part of what makes it good is who is part of Anchor.

Part of what makes it good is the atmosphere of Anchor.

Part of what makes it good is the location of our gathering.

And the best part of what makes it good is the good work God is doing in and through us.

I - we - need to keep remembering that Anchor is at it's best - not when we are gathered, but when we are out and about during the week. What makes being part of Anchor so good is not how great our gatherings are - though they are good- but how great our love is in the everyday moments of our life. If we don't show great love in little things (see Mother Teresa) during the week, we won't have much to praise God for when we gather on Sunday.

It's good to love others as we love God.

It's good to love God by loving Anchor.

It's good to be part of Anchor.