Aj Schwanz

Day 4 came and went in quite a whirl of activity for myself! The ìMissing Generationsî workshop went well as I previously noted. Afterwards, I hung out to talk with folks for a while, and then scooted late to my Board of Evangelism meeting (kinda funny to talk about how young adults like to do things outside of the box of institutional church, and then to run off to a board meeting: made me giggle).

The board meeting was really great: I wouldnít say that we got a lot of work done, but we heard a lot of stories, tales of whatís going on in the far reaches of our yearly meeting - something that the board really needs to hear.

We asked the New Works directors how we can best support them. One thing is to convey information: both to get the info out there, and to get the *appropriate* info out there. Thereís some confusion as to the boardís budget: many folks think that the boardís only work (and budget line item) is New Works; since we have a hefty budget (for us - itís not a lot of money in the ëreal worldí), they assume weíre using all that money to support what they see as a small ministry - perhaps a poor or inefficient use of funds. However, New Works gets little of that money: almost all pastors are bi-vocational. The board needs to be more clear as to what the moneyís going to, as well as sharing what New Works are.

Iíve heard a number of people mention that New Works only supports house churches: I believe that New Works is a certain way of approaching evangelism and church planting - through relationships, being incarnational, going out to people - but it manifests itself generally in house churches. There are New Works that have buildings and look more like ìtraditionalî churches, but they way they engage doing ministry looks different.

The director challenged us to ìlook at the systemî of church: how we do things, why we do things. People will look back to a certain time period - for us, itís generally the first generation Quakers. We need to go *further* back to primitive Christianity: look at how and why they did church. Once our identity is rooted in Christ, then the way we live out church will be in sync with His will.

We heard from some folks who are doing New Works down in Medford: theyíre living out my dream of doing New Works not at the Yearly Meeting level, but at the local church level. Medford Friends is having them on staff part-time to plant simple churches in the southern Oregon area. They will also be supported by the New Works budget to help out the New Works directors by connecting with New Works in that area (can I mention New Works any more in one sentence?). Itís the hardest area for the directors to reach, not to mention they helped plant those groups initially.

Then we heard from a person in the southern Idaho area reporting on simple church-type groups that are popping up over there. He came to the board asking for guidance, clearness, and blessing. Young adults in Idaho are starting to meet together outside of established churches. Currently this person is worshiping at an established church and didnít know if he should fully invest in these new works, or if he should remain at the established church. The board seemed to affirm his being involved in both: in being a bridge between traditional and non-traditional groups. Ooooh, itís so exciting.

I skipped out towards the end because it was time to feed my son, and my poor mother had been watching him for five hours. I also missed the evening session again - sadness. But Iím somewhat at peace: I feel that this topic is something that Iíve been intentional about addressing, researching, and dialoging about with God and others. Hopefully someone will post the addresses online (hint hint to anyone reading this). I miss the open worship, but I also recognize that I need to respect my familyís needs for silence and winding down.