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.

Why Do I Believe In The Crucifixion?

Good Friday, April 6, 2012

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Why do I believe in the crucifixion?

Why do I believe Jesus suffered, was crucified, died and was buried?

Why do I believe that Jesus was tortured by betrayal? A betrayal he could foresee but wouldn’t avoid. A betrayal he endured well before it became reality. A betrayal by the first apostle he called to follow him. A betrayal by the disciple who swore to follow him to the death. A betrayal that left him friendless, alone, abandoned. A betrayal by all the men who called him teacher, who called him master, who called him friend.

A betrayal by a kiss, for some silver.

A betrayal by the ones who walked with Jesus, endured the dusty roads and cold, dark desert nights. Betrayal by the ones who asked the most questions, by the ones sent out to heal and proclaim forgiveness, by the ones witness to feeding of thousands, casting away evil spirits, and welcoming sinners to dinner. Why do I believe Jesus suffered?


Why do I believe Jesus was tortured by injustice? An injustice that permeated the land, an injustice that required a prophetic confrontation from Jesus.

An injustice that had existed for the life of the nation, an injustice that crushed the widows and orphans, that took advantage of the poor and the foreigner, an injustice that flowed from the ones with power and privilege, an injustice that rolled like a river, drowning the weak and crippled, the sick and broken, the abandoned and traumatized.

An injustice that used lies to establish it’s grip, an injustice that fueled fears to sink it’s roots deeper into the community, an injustice that used misunderstanding for its gain, that used apathy to further its agenda in the nation.

An injustice that prompted God to send a prophet to confront, an injustice that God would no longer allow to reign in Israel.

Why do I believe that Jesus was tortured by violence? Tortured by clubs and swords, tortured by chains and shackles, tortured by shoves and spit, tortured by slander and mockery, tortured by ripping out of beard and tearing off of clothes, tortured by whips, by lashes of shards and spikes, tortured by thirst, tortured by exhaustion, tortured by carrying his cross, tortured by the nails in his feet, spikes in his wrists, tortured by the speak in his side, tortured by the splinters in his open wounds, tortured by the gasping for air, tortured by the searing agony of breathing, tortured by the hanging naked in public, tortured by the jeers and disbelief, tortured by the violence of humanity, tortured by the darkness.

Why do I believe Jesus was crucified?


Why do I believe Jesus was put to death on a cross by humanity? Why do I believe that Jesus was abandoned by God? Forsaken, as Jesus put it. “Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani,” to quote the crucified and dying Jesus. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me…” is what he whispered, what he groaned, what he felt. Why do I believe that Jesus was trusting in a Father who seemed far away, far from his cries of anguish?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

God did not answer Jesus’s plea for rescue. It’s as if God turned his eyes and ears away from the bloody cries for deliverance and justice.

Why do I believe that Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer and insurrectionist? Why do I believe Jesus was killed on a cross, the sign of a cursed man in God’s eyes? Why do I believe Jesus was killed as a criminal, murdered along with two other terrorists? Why do I believe that Jesus was caught up in the execution machine of the Roman Empire? Why do I believe that Jesus let himself be crucified by the Israel he came to save? Why do I believe Jesus let himself be executed by the Romans he came to save?

Why do I believe in the crucifixion?

I believe Jesus was the Cup whose wine and blood were poured out to establish a New Covenant of forgiven sins, of shalom, agape and zoe for this life now and in the one to come.
I believe Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.


I believe Jesus was the Shepherd of Israel who lays down his life for his sheep.
I believe Jesus was the Servant of Israel who was pierced for our transgressions, who was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.


I believe Jesus was the Prophet of Israel sent by God to turn his people away from injustice, to return his people to the way of righteousness.
I believe Jesus was the High Priest of Israel sent by God to offer his own life as an atoning sacrifice in the Temple of God, in the Holy of Holies for the sins of Israel, for the sins of all the nations, all the peoples.
I believe Jesus was the King of Israel sent to establish the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and free his rebellious people from their captivity by proclaiming the truth and leading them in a new way.

Why do I believe Jesus was crucified? 


It’s a scandalous event. God killed by his own people. Jesus murdered by the ones he came to save. The Son of God sent by the Father, executed as a rebel king and blaspheming, false prophet. This is not how the story is seemingly supposed to go.

Historically, the crucifixion of Jesus is the most likely verifiable part of the Gospel story. It’s the one element of the tale that is most likely to be believable. And yet we find ourselves believing in the historical event without believing the truth of the event in our heart, in our life.

Do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? 


Do I believe in suffering as a servant of God? Do I believe that God will send me to confront injustice? Do I believe that God will call me to turn people away from their sins? Do I believe that God will ask me to live as a kingdom of priests, a witness to the words and works of Jesus? As the body of Jesus, do I believe that there are holes in the wrists and feet of my heart?

Do I believe that I have suffered for speaking truth to power? Do I believe that I have suffered for bringing love to my enemies? Do I believe that I have suffered for teaching others to forgive those who sin against them? Do I believe I have forgiven those who are crucifying me? Or do I avoid crucifixion?

Do I avoid suffering? Do I avoid confronting injustice? Do I avoid turning others away from sin? Do I avoid loving my enemies? Do I avoid caring for the widows and orphans? Do I avoid the label of blasphemer and insurrectionist? Do I avoid trouble? Do I believe in the crucifixion?

Do I believe I would have been like Peter, and sought to prevent the crucifixion? Do I believe I would have been like Judas, and sought to prompt Jesus to rise up as the new powerful king of Israel and deliver them from the Roman Empire? Do I believe I would have been like the Pharisees, irritated and threatened by Jesus’ new teachings about God and forgiveness and sin and unrighteousness and injustice and love?

Do I believe I would have been like the mob that called for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus? Do I believe I would have been like the apostles who ran away from the ones sent to arrest Jesus? Do I believe I would have been like the Temple priests who wanted God to intervene and free Israel, but not in the way that Jesus commanded and demonstrated?


Do I believe that crucifixion is part of following Jesus? Do I believe that suffering is part of our discipleship? Do I believe that loving my neighbor as Jesus loves me will bring both joy and suffering? Do I believe that loving my enemies as Jesus loves my enemies will bring both peace and conflict?

Do I believe that welcoming sinners, giving hospitality to sinners, healing sinners, befriending sinners, will bring both love and hatred? Do I believe that confronting injustice with truth will bring about victory and persecution? Do I believe that crucifixion was the way of salvation for the world? Do I seek to avoid my own crucifixion? Do I work to avoid suffering or do I work in the way of Jesus?

Why do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? 


I believed it as a child because of the stories my parents taught me, because of the Bible lessons I learned in Sunday School, through the sermons I heard in church. I believed in the crucifixion of Jesus because it was presented to me as true. But then I grew up.

As the Apostle Paul puts it:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 

I had my own sufferings, my own deaths, my own disappointments, my own betrayals, my own wounds, my own clashes with reality, my own attempts to love and be loved, my own sense of forsakenness by God.

And then I wondered: does it matter if Jesus was crucified or not. In this life, in this age, in my world, so what if Jesus was crucified. And so now I am on a journey, working to believe in the crucifixion of Jesus. So many people before me have believed it. Why? Why believe that Jesus was crucified? Why believe the stories of his crucifixion?


If there is a God, surely he wouldn’t do what the Bible claims God did. It’s scandalous what happened to Jesus. It’s unexpected. It rattles the status quo. It shakes our understanding of reality. The crucifixion is how we know that God identifies with our suffering. In this pain-full world, God is not immune to our cries. We have caused him to weep, we have inflicted wounds on his heart.

We shake our fist at God for the suffering we endure, the suffering we see inflicted around us – and yet God does not shake his fist at us for the torture and betrayal we inflicted upon him. In his crucifixion, Jesus asked God to forgive humanity, for we did not know what we are doing.

I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus. It reveals to me a God who is with me, for me, even when I am against him. I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus, for it is the way of deep wisdom, the way of redemptive suffering, it is the way of overcoming evil with good. I believe in the crucifixion because it is unbelievable, it is unlikely, it is unexpected, it is scandalous, it is outrageous, it is unimaginable.


The story of the crucifixion of Jesus requires a leap of faith to accept. I grew up believing it with no leap of faith. I assumed the story was true because that’s what I had been told. I had to disbelieve and doubt the story in order to believe it to be true. It takes a leap of faith for me to accept the crucifixion to be true.

There is plenty of evidence being amassed against the veracity and reliability of the crucifixion stories. On one hand, the research challenges my beliefs, it makes it harder to believe. On the other hand, the world wants Jesus to be dead, to be quiet, to fade away as a quaint historical memory. But when the story of Jesus and his crucifixion is believed, there is no power on earth that can stem the message of salvation, reconciliation, forgiveness, righteousness, agape, shalom that comes from the crucifixion.


I believe in the crucifixion because it’s not the final story of Jesus. I believe in the crucifixion because I also believe in the resurrection, because I also believe in the ascension, because I believe in Pentecost, because I believe in God’s Kingdom come to Earth, because I believe in the return of the King, Jesus and the restoration of all things, when the New Heavens and the New Earth come together and God dwells with his people.

I say why I believe in the crucifixion, but the real challenge is to live as if the crucifixion is true. I read and hear the stories of the crucifixion of Jesus – but do I live as if they are true. Too much of the time, the answer is no. I must turn to the crucified Jesus and ask for forgiveness, for help to believe, for help in my unbelief.


I believe that my starting point for the crucifixion of Jesus is disbelief, as revealed through my everyday actions. That any of us believe in the crucifixion of Jesus is an act of God, that any of us live out the belief of Jesus’ crucifixion is a sign of God at work in our world.

We must rely on God to believe in the crucifixion, we must rely on God to live out our belief in the crucifixion. We must rely on God, since there is no difference between what we believe about the crucifixion and how we live, since how we live is what we truly believe. We can confess with our mouth what we believe about Jesus and the crucifixion, but it is our works that give life to our faith – a faith that is gift of God by grace.


Why do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? It’s a gift of God that I do. It’s a sign of God at work in the world, in my life, that I live out the reality of Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s by grace that I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus.


And it’s only in suffering that I live out the crucifixion. Where there is suffering for loving, for righteousness, for justice, for reconciliation, for forgiveness, for peace in the name of Jesus – that is living out our belief in the crucifixion.


Why do you believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? How do you live out your belief in the crucifixion of Jesus?

May we, in our honest moments on this Good Friday, hear Jesus words to us – hear the Jesus with holes in his hands, his feet, his side, hear his words to us, hear his words to the disciple known as Peter, a disciple who like the others didn’t believe in the crucifixion, yet who was still a disciple of Jesus.

May we hear Jesus’ words to Peter, to us in our failure to believe, in our disbelief, in our running away from suffering, from God’s work in the world he is redeeming and establishing his kingdom, may we hear the crucified and resurrected Jesus’s questions to us: do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?

Now these three remain, belief in the crucifixion, hope in the resurrection, and love in the name of Jesus. And the greatest of these is love.

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 Wallace Butts and Carla Castro

For our final 2011 Lenten Gathering, the 46808 Neighborhood Churches met at Anchor Community Church. We had a great array of piping hot, homemade soups and chili! We also had the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition join us, represented by the Coalition Coordinator, Wallace Butts. Carla Castro also shared a bit she is Anchor's Community Connections Director, as well as the coordinator of programs for FWFC hosted by Anchor. She is also the marketing director for FWFC - that's a lot of hats! She wears them well.

Wallace started off our time together with this great video that highlights the joy and dedication of some great dad!



This was followed up by some sad and sobering statistics on what a family can become without a good dad involved in the home. Here's a few to consider:
* 63% of teen suicides come from homes with uninvolved fathers.
 5 times the national average.
* 90% of all runaways and homeless children are from homes with uninvolved fathers.
32 times the national average.
* 85% of children with behavioral problems come from homes with uninvolved fathers.
20 times the national average.

What can neighborhood churches do when they realize that dads in their congregation - and in their community - need help? Help to become a better dad, to become a more involved dad, to be a more confident and caring dad? The Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition consists of churches and non-profit organizations committed to providing helpful services to dads. We also connect with other dad-oriented organizations for the sake of collaboration and improved services for the dads we are helping. When dads want to get help, we want to be there for them. And with them.

For more information, check out the FWFC website. You'll see the organizations that consist of the coalition, as well as more details about the services we provide.

It's worth noting where the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition came from. Last year, our 46808 Neighborhood Churches met with Judge Charles Pratt and Kate Rusher to learn more about the court system. We had discovered that many, many families in our neighborhood had some member caught up in the system. How could a church become helpful to a family involved in the court system? That's what we wanted to find out. Find out what we learned!

It was fun meeting with Judge Pratt to prepare for that series. In the weeks leading up to our Lenten series, Judge Pratt approached our churches, along with other congregations and non-profits in the community to pitch the idea of a fatherhood coalition. Indiana Youth Institute had an opportunity for a fatherhood initiative if there were interested organizations. The interest was definitely there! IYI provided great support, some great leaders emerged, and within a few months a coalition had been created.

Almost two-hundred dads were served last year through our coalition. The knowledge that was shared, the skills imparted, the relationships formed, and the homes impacted - its a great reward for the families and the coalition. We owe a debt of gratitude to Judge Pratt for introducing us to the idea, and to Indiana Youth Institute for making the opportunity a reality.

It's amazing what can happen in a year - for dads, for FWFC, for our congregations, for our city.