The Eight Qualities of Growing Churches Part 3

Church consultants Brown Church Development Group (BCDG) highlighted eight areas that healthy churches are growing in. Celebration ranked extremely high in all eight areas. This week so far we have looked at:   

Empowering Leadership, Gift Oriented Ministry, Passionate Spirituality and Effective Structures. 

Today we will focus on Inspiring Worship and Holistic Small Groups.

Worship services are to be personal and corporate encounters with the living God and must be reflective of God’s Spirit moving in the midst of it. I have long believed that if we  as a church body are worshipping as the scriptures instruct us to “in Spirit and in truth” then our worship services should  be infused with a balance of celebration, inspiration and preparation for daily life.

Growing churches have a developed system of small groups where individual Christians can find intimate community, practical help and authentic spiritual dialogue. I have long quoted Rick Warren who says in order for our church  to grow larger, it must grow smaller. Larger worship attendance comes because people are well connected in smaller groups.  I want to encourage everyone reading this to make a commitment to get involved in some kind of C3 small group.  

Tomorrow we will conclude the findings of Brown’s Growth Positioning Study by looking at Need-Oriented Evangelism and Loving Relationships.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

98.5 THE TRUTH presents,“Heaven is for Real” on the big screens at Celebration Community Church at 7:05 p.m. Friday. There is no admission charge, and popcorn and pop also will be free. INVITE YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS to join you.  For more information, call (785) 625-5483

The Eight Qualities of Growing Churches Part 2

Last Sunday Todd Brown of Brown Church Development Group (BCDG) shared with C3’s Staff, Directors and Ministry leaders the results of their surveying our congregation about our churches health. He highlighted eight areas that healthy churches are growing in. Celebration ranked extremely high in all eight areas. Yesterday we looked at 

Empowering Leadership & Gift Oriented Ministry- 

Today we will focus on two more areas:

Passionate Spirituality- Effective ministry flows out of passionate spirituality. Spiritual intimacy leads to a strong conviction that God will act in powerful ways. A church that lives out its faith with passionate fervor will experience success. (This Sunday I will be speaking at all of our services on how to live passionately for God)

Effective Structures- The church is the living body of Christ. Like all healthy organisms it requires numerous systems which will work together to fulfill its intended purpose. This year we have promoted Pastor Derek Mayfield to the position of systems pastor to better coordinate the various ministries and improve the processes in our church.

Tomorrow we will look at inspiring worship and holistic fellowship groups.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Come enjoy “Heaven is for Real” on the big screen at Celebration Community Church at 7:05 p.m. Friday. There is no admission charge, and popcorn and pop also will be free. For more information, call (785) 625-5483

The Eight Qualities of Growing Churches Part 1

Last Sunday Todd Brown of Brown Church Development Group (BCDG) shared with C3’s Staff, Directors and Ministry leaders the results of their surveying our congregation about our “church health” and coming up with a Growth Positioning Study to asses our strengths and weaknesses.  The GPS is a snapshot in time that captures our ministry as it occurs today and our vision of a clear and compelling future. As I said yesterday BCDG was most impressed with our overall health in the eight qualities necessary for a church to grow to its potential. Today we will look at the first two of eight areas.

1.     Empowering Leadership-  I have always believed that leadership always starts with a clear cut call from God and then the Spiritual maturity to multiply, guide, empower and equip others to fulfill their purpose in Christ and working together within the church to accomplish God’s vision. We scored high in this area because we have always prided ourselves on being permission giving when it comes to ministry ideas and by motivating ministry leaders with the freedom from micromanagement. 

2.    Gift Oriented Ministry- The Holy Spirit gives to each believer spiritual gifts. The role of church leadership is to help our members identify their gifts and to encourage them to exercise those gifts in a ministry that builds up the body of Christ. In doing so we are not operating on our own power but rather aligning ourselves with what God wants us to be and do.

Want to know how you can discover your spiritual gift to help serve your church?

Contact PK at kyle@celebratejesus.org 

Tomorrow we will look at how are church rates itself as it comes to Spirituality and Structure.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Celebrate Health Class Tonight At 6:30pm for Home Safety and Fall Safety

Heaven is For Real- This Friday at 7:05pm FREE

A Healthy, Well Balanced Church

Last Sunday at Celebration Community Church we heard from Todd Brown, CEO of Brown Church Development Group. We have partnered with BCDG to provide a ministry assessment of where we are as a church and what we need to do to fulfill our 2020 vision of being a church of 2000 in worship attendance by the end of this decade. Todd shared his testimony during our services.

BCDG has compiled extensive information in what they call their GPS-Growth Positioning Study and the results are OFF THE CHARTS PHENOMINAL!

Todd told a gathering of our church board, staff and ministry leaders that C3 is the most balanced and healthy church he has ever had the pleasure of working with. We could not be paid a greater compliment than that. We have strived since our inception at being a church that was evenly balanced when it comes to the five purposes our church is built upon. Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Evangelism and Ministry.

Throughout this week we will look at a summary of BCDG’s assessment and highlight ways that you can more fully align with our Mission Statement:

“With a Great Commitment to the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37)  and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) , God will grow a Great Church.”

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

*”Thank you to the dozens of C3 folks participated in making our Vacation Bible School the BIG (over 170 total kids) SUCCESS that it was. Thanks also to all  who showed up last night to help take down the VBS decorations and reset the building.  All of our volunteers are AWESOME!” --DeLynn Rice, Children’s Director

* Please remember in your prayers Pastor Brant Rice and his family. Brant lost his beloved “Gramps” this weekend. Services are at the chapel in Via Christie Hays  at 1pm today. 

Come See What Brown Can Do For Us

I am proud to announce that Todd Brown CEO of Brown Church Development Group  (BCDG) of Kearney Nebraska will be speaking at all of Celebration Community Church services this Sunday July 27^th. Noted for his accomplishments in high school track (he still holds the state record in the triple jump, and is a 2005 Nebraska High School Hall of Fame inductee), Todd Brown passed up college track scholarships to play football as a walk-on for the University of Nebraska. He was a wide receiver for the Huskers under Coach Osborne from 1978-1982 while he studied Engineering and Construction Management.  Todd played professional football in Canada for the next five years.
 
As the President and CEO of BCDG Todd not only provides the overall leadership for the company, but he also devotes a significant amount of his time to consulting. Todd is driven by his love for the local church and his passion to see each local church realize its full potential for ministry while avoiding the pitfalls that often create roadblocks to success. The result has been a relentless pursuit of methods and processes that help the local church clarify its ministry, fulfill its mission, continuously strive for unity, remain mindful of its testimony and be faithful in its outreach.

Todd’s ability to assist a church to position for growth strategically has impacted churches far beyond traditional architecture and construction, leading instead to a comprehensive church development approach.  This Sunday Todd will share his expertise and heart with us while speaking on  “Positioning for Church Growth”

To learn more about BCDG visit them at http://www.churchdevelopment.net/   

I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO CALLS CELEBRATION COMMUNITY CHURCH THEIR CHURCH HOME TO BE AT ONE OF OUR 4 SERVICES AT 8:30AM, 10AM, 11:30AM OR 6PM. 

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Blessed To Be A Blessing

 Last Sunday 30 + C3 men returned from a mini mission trip that made a MAXI difference in Baxter Springs KS. Baxter Springs is located in the extreme southeast corner of Kansas on the historic US Route 66 highway in Cherokee County. 

Baxter Springs is the home of Word In Action Ministries a mission outreach headed up by Pastor Steve Fellers who Derek Mayfield met years ago as then youth pastor Derek was leading a High School mission trip to offer assistance after the Joplin Missouri  tornado.  Our youth group has returned  each Spring Break since to serve in the ministries resource center and Trinity Worship Center with cleanup, food distribution and building repair.  C3’s mens ministry picked up where our youth left off and in a three day period totally resided the 13,000 sq. foot Resource Center and reroofed the church building. 

When I asked Luke Haines  the owner of RoofMasters in Hays how they could accomplish so much in so little time he told me that God was with them blessing them with cool weather and  great attitudes. Celebration Community Church will continue to be committed to partnering with this vital ministry which feeds and ministers to hundreds of people in need in this economically depressed community. Thank you to all of the men who participated in this massive service project.

Even though we know we blessed Word In Action Ministries, the real beneficiaries of God’s blessings were those 30+ men who donated their time and sweat and to you who helped support them with much needed funds for materials through our Annual Community Mission Auction. A very special thanks again to RoofMasters for donating all of the vehicles and equipment to get the job done.

Well done good and faithful servants.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

THIS SUNDAY JULY 27^TH Todd Brown of Brown Church Development will speak at all of our services about the results of his firm’s Growth Positioning Study for C3 . DON’T MISS THIS IMPORTANT SUNDAY!!!

It Takes A Village

Most families in America today have material goods and luxuries unknown to previous generations. Most have greater prospects for a long life, unparalleled opportunities for education, leisure, entertainment, and recreation. Based on all of that you might think, families would be happy and trouble-free. Yet families today face incredible conflict and hardship.

These include:

* Divorce - As of 2010 marriages were more likely to end by divorce than by death. 

* Crime - The arrest rate among juveniles has more than  tripled from 1965 to 2010. 

* Government dependence - In 2010  more than one child in six was raised on government welfare.

* Births to unmarried women - In 2010 five times more children were born outside marriage than in 1960.

* Single-parent families - 42% of all children now don’t live with their biological father. 

* Suicide - The suicide rate among teens more than quadrupled from 1960 to 2010. 

Your family may not have these problems, but the evidence shows that parent-child relationships are facing ever increasing hardships and Christian families are by no means immune. Serious questions face Christian parents as they strive to raise their kids in a healthy way in the midst of a dark and depraved culture. 

 

Is it possible to raise Godly children despite modern social pressures in entertainment, recreation, and education?  You have heard the expression, “It takes a village to raise a child” well at  Celebration Community Church we know how difficult it is to ““train up a child in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:6) and recognize that we are the kind of  “Village” families need.

This is why we host opportunities like Celebration’s Vacation Bible School. We avail ourselves to parents to help them raise up good and Godly children in a society that scoffs at traditional family values. 

We are blessed to have DeLynn Rice and her Go-Fish Children’s Ministry team who week after week share with kids and their families the love, logical discipline and Biblical learning that supports a healthy family lifestyle.

I am proud to be a part of the C3 village.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

THIS SUNDAY JULY 27^TH Todd Brown of Brown Church Development will speak at all of C3’s  four services about C3’s potential growth and building needs. Come hear his testimony and the results of his firm’s Growth Positioning Study for C3 .

Some Of The WEIRD ANIMALS @ C3

Kids love crazy, weird animals…the weirder the better. So we searched the globe for the most special, unique, rare, never-before-seen animals we could find to help kids discover what Jesus’ one-of-a-kind love means in their lives as a part of “Weird Animals “Vacation Bible School. 

Last night at Celebration Community Church 130 kids experienced God’s love through the Bible and a wonderful crew of loving church volunteers.  The kids sang along with a live band, munched on healthy snacks, made creative crafts, played wild and wacky games, watched humorous skits and video clips which inspired thought-provoking age appropriate discussions. 

Each night the kids at Weird Animals VBS meet a new friend that will remind them how much God loves them. Celebration’s children’s director DeLynn Rice says “God filled the world with a lot of crazy creatures...including children. When kids feel weird, different, or even lost in a crowd nothing makes them feel better than to experience the extraordinary love of Jesus.”    

There is no charge to families for their kids to attend. You can still bring your 4 years olds through incoming fifth graders tonight through Thursday night at 6pm. 


Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle

MARK YOUR CALENDERS FOR THIS SUNDAY JULY 27^TH to hear Todd Brown of Brown Church Development speak at all of C3’s 4 services about what he is discovering about C3’s growth and building  needs in the future.

Jesus Loves V.B.S.

Beginning tonight, our church will host Vacation Bible School for the children of our church and the community. VBS will be one of the most important outreach events of the summer, possibly of the year.VBS is important because children are important to God. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14).

There’s an aging of the church in America. Fewer children fill the seats than 30 years ago.

VBS provides an opportunity to share the Gospel with children in an exciting manner. We have never let the size of our church or the lack of workers to ever prevent our church from hosting a VBS. Even before we had a building we put on a VBS.  Jesus told us to, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest (Luke 10:2). God desires children to know Him.

VBS is one of the most time-consuming, largest outreaches any church will offer. As much as the work, cost and involvement is required to host a VBS, the results can and we pray will be tremendous. Will you pray today that God will bring dozens of new children to our VBS tonight?

Do you know any young people 4 years old through incoming 5^th graders? Please invite them to “WEIRD ANIMALS” tonight through Thursday night and it is all for FREE! Show up at 5:45 pm or contact C³ ‘s Children’s Director DeLynn at delynn@celebratejesus.org

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle