BBQ on April 5

What better way to court one another (Crossroads and GPC) than through our stomachs. Please RSVP by April 1st. Please check the evite to RSVP and to sign up for dessert, sides, main dishes or drinks enough for 6 people. Hope to see you there!!!

Location: Millennium Park in Creve Coeur (902 Mason Road, 63141). http://www.creve-coeur.org/Com-Serv/parks.htm

Directions:
Coming from the East:
-Take olive west past 270 to mason.
-Left on Mason (it's right near Barnes West Hospital and the AMC movie theater there on olive)
-The park is on the left (it can be a bit tricky to see, if you pass Hope Montessori/Andrews Acacemy you went to far (it's just before that)

If get lost: call Leo at 314.249.0864

Ministry Models: Ministry Leadership

In this final post of a three-part series we discuss how ministries can have both a local component as well as shared leadership both by a ministry leader as well as the pastoral staff and the Session.

This diagram shows how the "local functions" listed in the site model have distinct teams, comprised of people from each site, and particular implementations, reflecting the unique characteristics of the site. A good example might be small groups: while the overall goal is to develop small groups of 10-15 individuals (singles and couples) who have regular fellowship, pray for and with one another, spur one another on to works of service, and generally walk through life together, there will be special cases where a particular site has a different-looking fellowship group, such as the singles' ministry, or a kingdom group with a particular purpose such as caring for the house parents at Joe's place. Another example might be worship, where the musicians available at a particular site, as well as the aesthetic sensibilities of people there, would perhaps dictate a particular song selection.

However, an important motivation for the merger is to establish a shared "ethos" for both sites under a single common leadership. Thus, each ministry area will have a leader who is responsible for communication between sites, scheduling of resources where needed, and ensuring that common values and vision are promoted. That ministry leader will work with a pastor (and in some cases an elder) who will shepherd and mentor them, and help them develop the vision for that area, and ensure that it is aligned with the church's overall mission and values.

Thus, there are both local ministries, but common leadership and connection back to the Session, ensuring that all parts work together as a whole.

Ministry Models: Pastoral Ministry

This is the second of three posts describing some of the "ministry models" we have in view for the combined Grace-Crossroads church.

The colored bar, with Andrew leading as Senior Pastor, is meant to show that there is a collection of pastors, elders and interns serving together as a team, with each person focusing particularly on the needs at a given site, but several instances where someone is also responsible for a church-wide ministry, such as singles, or Kingdom Groups, or married couples. This team concept is an important benefit of the merger, which is noted below. The rest of this post is a description of the Pastoral Ministry model from Andrew:

One of the most frequent questions that I hear as we continue looking into the feasibility of this merger has to do with the issue of pastoral care. The question comes in several variations, but let me list the most common of them:

1. Can Andrew/Mark take on additional responsibilities?
2. Will people be properly shepherded?
3. Who will be my pastor?

These are just three versions of a broad set of related questions, and they are all good and get at a basic need that we all have, which is to be pastored. While I will give some answers below, keep in mind that everything is dynamic and some things will become clearer as we move into an actual merged state. That said …

1. Can Andrew/Mark take on additional responsibilities?

The answer to the above question is no, we really can’t. Our plates are pretty full right now as it is. Which is one of the reasons the proposed pastoral ministry model is appealing to us. In the proposed model, the ministry team is expanded to include not only Mark and Andrew, but also Dan Song, Brad Mathews part/time, a slot for a part time person on the Olivette side, along with a slate of interns. Each of those people would have a fairly specific job description. Mine (Andrew’s) would include things like preaching/teaching, shepherding the officers, moderating the session, providing leadership for the ministry, and being involved in pastoral care as needed. Mark would coordinate pastoral care for the Maplewood congregation, facilitate a couple of as yet undetermined ministry teams, be involved in the community, and preach and teach as needed. Dan would mirror that on the Olivette side. With part-timers picking off specific responsibilities (ex. Brad Matthews – KG’s).

When looked at this way it is less unspecified and the question becomes “can Andrew, Mark, Dan, etc… do their job description?” We believe the answer to that is yes.

2. Will people be properly shepherded?

This is a great question. And it reflects a high value for people, as well as the leadership of both Grace and Crossroads. Again, looking at the pastoral ministry model, we see coverage for all categories of people. Andrew will be spending a lot of time with leaders nurturing them and filling them so they in turn can do ministry. Mark and Dan will be working with their ministry teams as well as at-large needs at the respective sites, Brad will work with KG leaders, etc… It is our hope that this model, with both general care, and focused care on leaders give us good coverage. Of course, as we invest in leaders, that flows out in elders' increased ability to shepherd; similarly for deacons, KG leaders, etc…

From a pure numbers standpoint we would have three full time pastors, two part time pastors, plus a number of interns. This gives us the equivalent of 4+ full time pastors for a congregation that should number somewhere around 350. The experts say that you should have 1 pastor for every 100 people; thus, our model puts us well within that range.

3. Who will be my pastor?

In some ways this has already been answered. If you are involved in a ministry you will have natural relationships with the one leading that ministry. At a particular site one can look to Dan or Mark. In overarching ways Andrew will be your pastor. You will also have Elders and KG leaders who will be shepherding you. And there is the ministry of the saints that we do one for another.

Instead of looking for a pastor singular, it might be beneficial to see the model being proposed as a true team model. Frankly, this is one of the things that gets those in the pastoral ministry excited. We have more resources to draw on to give the best care possible. As camaraderie and fellowship are practiced among us, we are refreshed and encouraged and less prone to burn-out.

In closing we know that this is an important question. I hope these answers have been somewhat helpful. Please be assured that this question is as important to those in leadership as it is to you.

Ministry Models: Site View

This is the first of three posts describing the "models" we have put together to describe how ministry might work in a combined Crossroads-Grace church. These were first shared at the Crossroads Town Hall meeting on February 22, and then at the Grace Congregational Meeting on March 15. Hardcopies are available on the Crossroads visitor table.

In the diagram we see the combined church led by a single Session, with Andrew as the Senior Pastor. Each site will have direct pastoral care from either Mark Ryan or Daniel Song, as well as multiple Ruling Elders who worship at that site and are more involved in ministry and fellowship activities (including a Kingdom Group) there.

Generally, each site will have many of the functions of a full church; these are listed appropriately. Some activities, such as Missions, will be a common ministry team, taking advantages of shared resources for greater effectiveness. Where there is a local function, we will also strive to have common ministry goals and leadership; therefore, while Kingdom Groups and Grace Groups will be particular to each site they will, over time and with some exceptions, come to resemble one another more and more as the leadership team develops a common vision for their ministry. The Ministry Leadership Model is described separately.

Over the course of a given year we will look for opportunities to celebrate our unity through retreats and joint worship services. These will be a visible reminder of how God is building his kingdom through our shared efforts.

Some ministries (such as youth) will ideally, in the long run, exist in both sites. In the short term, they may combine efforts between sites to build critical mass.

Stay tuned for other posts describing the other models, and please remember that all of this is preliminary and not set in concrete.

Feasibility Team Update - 3/15

For anyone who didn't get a chance to pick up one of the Update letters, here it is:

Three months have passed since Andrew first shared the possibility of merger at our Congregational Meeting last December. What follows is a review of the current thinking, a summary of upcoming events, and an encouragement to everyone to think and pray about the next steps we need to take as a congregation.

The folks at Grace are committed to moving to Olivette and establishing a multi-ethnic, Reformed presence in that community. If Crossroads were not in the picture, they would call a pastor and begin that transition this fall with the resources they already have. However, having met with us several times, they recognize that we have a lot of good things going already: our Servant Ministry Team, our Kingdom Groups, our form of worship, and our missional focus in connecting with the community are some of the best examples. They want to adopt the Crossroads "ethos", as Mark Ryan likes to call it, and they see the benefit of setting up the new site under the umbrella of a single church governance structure so that both sites will reflect these shared commitments. The goal, if we were to merge with Grace, would NOT be to blend the two congregations and distribute people between the two sites. Rather, the idea is that a group of people from Crossroads, who are excited about helping to start that multi-ethnic ministry in Olivette, will join with the current Grace folks to establish the new site.

God has done a lot at Crossroads since the first Bible Studies in 2002. Certainly, each of us can name the one or two deficiencies that drive us nuts from time to time, but no reasonable person can deny that a tremendous work has been done in just a few years. While we continue to seek opportunities to extend the gospel in Maplewood and Richmond Heights, we also know that God is always calling his people to advance beyond familiar borders. We have been presented with the opportunity to step forward and extend this ministry, sharing our ethos, some of our people, and our leadership with the financial and people resources of Grace. It was the joint opinion of the Elders and Deacons in January that we were favorable to the merger provided God did not show us otherwise, and the feasibility team was created to explore whether any significant obstacles lie in front of us. We did not want to proceed in the face of good reasons for NOT moving forward with Grace.

The feasibility team has thus far established contact among leaders in the following areas: Missions, Kingdom Groups, Finance, SMT/Deacons, Session, Children's Ministry, Women's Ministry, and Worship. We are finding both points of commonality as well as points where one group can learn from another. Discussions about pastoral staffing have led to a model that includes not just Andrew, Mark and Dan Song, but Brad Matthews and other experienced pastors as well. The Grace elders plan to share our "Ministry Model" diagrams with their congregation this week to help them better understand how things can work. All of the interactions we have had with the leadership and people of Grace have been encouraging, and they in turn have expressed their enthusiasm for partnering with us. Nothing at this point clearly indicates that we shouldn't move forward.

However, as the vague concept has given way to a better-defined reality, we have to acknowledge that some personal loss will be involved to realize a much larger Kingdom gain. Countless sacrifices were made to establish a physical presence in Maplewood, and additional sacrifices will be required: in Olivette getting things going, and in Maplewood as attendance dips until new faces fill the sanctuary. The intimacy of a small startup church, which had already begun to fade over the past couple of years as Crossroads grew, will be lost for those who remember and cherish the early days. Fortunately, in the combined entity, the giving from both Crossroads and Grace is more than sufficient to cover our current budget as well as get the Olivette site started. We do not foresee financial hardship being a significant risk.

Getting a new site started won't be trivial, but the resources of both Grace and Crossroads together confer a tremendous advantage on those who are willing to be part of it. This brings us to an important next step: identifying those people from Crossroads who would like to be involved in the Olivette site. Over the rest of this month, we hope to see a couple of elders and deacons and several other families raise their hands to form a core group that can start meeting with Grace folks and planning for the new site. Please give serious prayerful consideration to whether the Lord is leading you in this direction.

On Sunday, March 29th, at 4pm, we will hold another Town Hall meeting at the church. This will be for Crossroads people only, and it will be an important opportunity for feedback and dialogue. We will be in the fellowship hall; the format will be open for discussion with members of the feasibility team.

On Sunday, April 12th, Crossroads and Grace will hold a joint Easter worship service at the MRH auditorium. We hope this will be a wonderful expression of unity leading up to our vote, and a joyous celebration of the risen Savior who is constantly at work in our midst by his Holy Spirit. Musicians from both churches will together lead the service.

On Sunday, April 19th we plan to hold a congregational meeting and vote on the question of whether to merge with Grace. By that time the new "Olivette core" should be forming, and the purpose of the vote is to affirm our commitment to the merger and start the preparation before people take off for summer vacations. Assuming the vote is a strong majority in favor, and Grace votes likewise, we will set a date in the fall to formally receive the Grace folks as members, elect the Grace elders to the Crossroads Session, and dissolve Grace as a separate PCA church. By then, the feasibility team will be done, ministry teams will be combined as appropriate, and the Olivette Core will be preparing to begin worship and other activities at their new site.
Having read this far, you deserve a break from thinking about the merger; however, we strongly encourage you to do several things:

• Pray for the merger. We will be scheduling times of corporate prayer very soon, and also encouraging the Kingdom Groups to set aside time for concerted prayer, because this is a very important decision in the life of both churches. We do not want to move forward unless we are convinced the Lord is in it.
• Visit the merger blog (http://cpfgracemovingforwardtogether.blogspot.com). There you can read the articles, check out the audio and video resources, and post your own thoughts and comments.
• Make plans to go worship at Grace very soon. Their worship is heartfelt and joyous, and the congregation is welcoming. They are likewise sending people to worship with us.

If you have doubts, questions or concerns about what we're trying to do, or why, or how, please - please - come talk to one of the members of the feasibility team, or an elder or deacon, or post a note on the blog. We welcome everyone's participation in this process.

A Good Question ...

What would happen if we don’t merge?

A lot of people have asked this, which is a fair question. I think understanding the answers to this question does help one gain a greater understanding of why your leadership believes it is in the best interest of both congregations to come together …

From the perspective of Grace, not merging would mean the following:

1. Call a pastor and move to Olivette
2. Go through all the growth struggles that Crossroads has gone through the past 4 years or so … including the need for additional staff (children’s ministry, music ministry, etc …) with budget constraints of a smaller congregation, increasingly complex back office situation (payroll, interns, more reporting, end of year reports more onerous, etc…), emerging structures and the corresponding growth pains as more and more needs arise, etc…
3. Would probably remain largely Asian-American (cf. Brian Burkey’s comments at CPF Town Hall on Caucasians coming to Grace and not staying because it is a mostly Asian congregation. Dan Song has the same testimony with the college ministry.)

From the perspective of Crossroads, not merging would mean the following …

1. Continued emergence of changing pastoral ministry model to match growth in congregation … i.e. more focused role of senior pastor to work with leadership, increasing role in pastoral care among asst/assoc pastor and elders, need for specialized ministry (i.e. children’s, music, etc…)
2. Would need to think about some other way to accommodate people since worship services remain largely full, SS space is 100% filled up (our last cycle had three adult groups meeting off campus, each cycle literally uses all of our space. Did you know we even have one of our kid’s SS class that meets on the stage of the Fellowship Hall!), we could not possibly accommodate more people for dinner than we did at our last meal ... Additionally higher volume of people puts greater stress on the physical plant as well … bottom line is that really our facility cannot accommodate any more people at one time … (incidentally this would have to be dealt with if we were ever to consider two services in Maplewood)
3. Would remain largely Caucasian dominated …


Bottom line is that both congregations are in for change … coming together means the following …

1. Combining resources helps put the best pastoral care model in place, particularly in getting the right people to address specific needs (focused resources on college ministry, kg ministry, ministry to marriages, etc…).
2. Grace will not need to reinvent the wheel on structures since Crossroads already has many of them in place …
3. Crossroads gets a little breathing space in Maplewood without “losing” valuable resources that might be lost in a traditional church plant model.
4. Olivette becomes an instantly integrated and multiethnic worship site through the hopefully 30-40 Maplewoodians moving over to worship there plus another 20 or so Caucasians who we anticipate to be interested in ministry in Olivette, the entire Crossroads ministry becomes much more multi-ethnic particularly on the leadership level (session, ministry teams, etc…)

FAQs from Town Hall - February 22, 2009

Here is some of the information and questions/answers shared during our 2/22/9 Townhall meeting at Crossroads.

We were happy to have two ruling elders from Grace Church begin our Townhall discussion by sharing a bit about their vision for Crossroads and Grace “moving forward together”. Brian Burkey shared that Grace is trying to move away from being inward focused. While Grace is a great ministry to the Korean community, visitors sometimes feel like they aren’t Korean so they don’t really fit in. Leo Hsu explained that folks at Grace are excited to get to know the members of CPF. Leo attends classes at Covenant Seminary; he’s learned that God leads us onto missions. He wondered where this is seen in ministry today. He quoted Martin Luther King Jr. who said that 11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America.

Questions

Can you discuss Kingdom Groups?
Kingdom Group ministry will continue. Grace structures theirs a little differently, Grace Groups. Both Kingdom Groups (KG) and Grace Groups will be available to both sites. People will not have to go to a site-specific KG.

If or when the two sites grow larger, what would be the next step, more sites? a split?
Thoughts are that Dan Song may possibly grow into a site pastor in the 2-3 years. Andrew will start preaching 3 of 4 Sundays. As we go on, Dan would take 2 of the Sundays as we go forward. There is an option to do another site in another place three years down the road.


Isn’t this more like a church plant than a church merger?
If Grace had hired a pastor and created a church plant in Olivette they would have had to go through all of the growing pains we experienced at Crossroads Presbyterian Fellowship (CPF). The church plant pastor would be doing all of this alone, but this way; he will have a cohort of pastors to work alongside with.

Are we going to hire support staff to help with the structure?
Olivette has called Dan Song, and they are looking to hire another pastor to take on the college ministry. We are looking to hire a bookkeeper to take on some of the back office tasks. Doing this together with Grace, will save time for both of our groups.


Are there plans to purchase an Olivette site?
No, not at this time. We have to decide if this is what we really want to do. The launch of the Olivette site wouldn’t happen until the fall of 2009.

Audio: Multi-Ethnicity, by Jerram Barrs

GPC has a link on their website to a great sermon preached by Jerram Barrs this past December on multi-ethnicity. It's kind of quiet, and it doesn't start for about ten seconds, so be patient and crank up the speakers.

Great Minds Think Alike

No really they do:

The Settlers of Catan

Feb. 21st at 12 noon
@Joe's Place

Email Dan Reeve (d.e.reeve@gmail.com) with questions, comments, concerns, or requests.

Click below to RSVP:



Schedule of events:

• 12pm eat
• 1pm destroy the competition (with compassion and grace of course)

Video: Why Are We Thinking About This?

Check out Andrew's Video Comments describing our motivation for the merger in more detail:

Video: Intro to the Blog, by Andrew

Welcome to the blog - a video greeting from Andrew.

FAQs - Andrew Vander Maas

Some thoughts on Moving Forward Together - Crossroads and Grace

I realized that due to the holidays we have not had a lot of communication on the merger together, as a church. I am sure that many of you have been thinking about this at various times with various levels of information.

I thought I would give some answers to questions I have been thinking/praying through over the break and some questions that I have heard expressed …

Is Merger the best term for what is happening?

Probably not, because though we are merging into one ministry unit with shared leadership and ministries, we are not merging into one site, there will be two sites in which this ministry will take place. I think the idea of merger, at least initially, presented a vision of two churches coming together to worship together. We had thought that worshipping together might make sense for some period of time, and may have falsely fueled that vision. Perhaps a better way to think of our coming together is in terms of joining forces to better accomplish kingdom ministry goals and to creat a vision for what a multi-ethnic body working together might look like.

One question I keep exploring with myself, as well as others is why are we pursuing this?

I recognize that right now many churches are starting sites of one sort or another. I see that as much as anybody, maybe more given my ministerial circles. I have wrestled personally with whether this opportunity is an opportunity to keep up with the Jones’, to add another feather to the cap of Crossroads? To be honest this is a temptation for me. I like to be well thought of, successful, I like to lead the pack if possible. This is temptation, but it is also sin.

In this instance I have really wrestled with God to take any of this selfish falsity away and to help me see clearly His will in the situation.

Two things have emerged in my thinking. The first is that there is a reason why so many churches are going down the site route, it makes sense. It is easy to look at a trend and dismiss it because it is a trend. But if we do this we miss some of the really good benefits that come from this strategy for ministry. More on that later.

Second, there are really good theological reasons for pursuing this merger.

The first is that it keeps our church Moving Missionally. In the great commission Jesus commands us to “go” make disciples of all nations. This is a perpetual going. A “going” contrary to the “if you build it they will come” philosophy. Now this certainly does not mean that if this opportunity had not come along we would have been sinning by staying at our Maplewood site and carrying on with our mission as we have. But it does remind us that God’s mission is not static, it is dynamic. It involves change and risk. And we must faithfully explore opportunities that present themselves to us, particularly when they involve an opportunity to capture new territory for the kingdom. Which is certainly what we have as we look to Olivette. This is an underserved area of our city with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a group of people who have a heart for planting the Gospel flag in the area, our working together can help this be done more effectively. But beyond Olivette, we should feel the encouragement to missional movement in Maplewood. As we partner in prayer, hear of their conquests, and see too how much work is left for us in Maplewood. As some of our number leave Maplewood to focus on Olivette, the impetus will be on those still in Maplewood to fill their seats with friends and neighbors who need the Gospel.

The second theological motivation for pursuing this merger is the joy that multi-ethnic ministry brings to glory the Lord. Many of us at Crossroads have, from the beginning, longed for a church that looked more like what heaven is going to look like in all of its diversity. Here is an opportunity to enter into multi-ethnic ministry with all of its joys and challenges. Some have questioned how this will be experienced for those in Maplewood. While it is true that the most obvious multi-ethnicity will be at worship in Olivette on Sunday morning, the ministry as a whole will become multi-ethnic throughout. All of our current ministry teams will be infused with Asians, as will our session and diaconate. Ministry functions such as retreats, Bible studies, and fellowship groups will all be mixed ethnically. As we grow and are changed by our interaction with the folks from Grace it is expected that some of that more obvious diversity will find its way to Maplewood.

And this, I believe, brings glory to God. He has taken on our sin in order to break down the dividing wall of hostility (Eph 2), his glory is shown forth when his people are unified as he is unified (Jn 17), and this is simply a foretaste of heaven when people from every tribe tongue people and nation will gather to sing praise to his name (Rv 7). We need to pursue this while we have the opportunity.

Does this mean that we are done in Maplewood and we are on to the next thing?

Not at all. In fact as I alluded to above this should show us how much we still have to do, and give us the impetus to get out there and do it. As we have grown we have inevitably, become more and more comfortable. This merger should bring back again to front and center the things that need to be front and center, namely the need to be going and living missional lives.

What about pastoral care for those already in our mix?

This is a great question and one that needs to be wrestled with. Two thoughts immediately come to mind. First, with our combined resources we should have the ability to add more staff that should create a more loving environment for all. Already Dan Song is committed to coming on as a pastor to young couples, singles, and college students. This is a level of pastoral care that our folks have not had before and a need that we can now more readily meet. We should be able to add some back office support which will create a more loving environment for those who spend so many volunteer hours here, this is pastoral care. Other opportunities should emerge along these lines as things become clearer.

Secondly, this will force us to recognize that the pastoral staff cannot do all the pastoral care. That much needs to be pushed down through elders and kingdom group leaders. This is a lesson that we need to learn at Crossroads anyway, and I am not sure how well I have led or equipped you all to do that. This merger will force us down this road.

PCA Multi-Site Link

If you're interested in learning more about multi-site church ministry, and how it has been successfully implemented in the PCA, here's a link to the Mission to North America (MNA) website with a section on multi-site:

http://www.pca-mna.org/churchplanting/resources.php#multisite

You'll find downloadable notes from a conference sponsored by MNA in 2007.

Initial Thoughts

Here's the first of many posts about this journey we've begun:

in which the people at the Crossroads first considered whether they were being called to join their ministry with that of the people in Kirk's Wood known for their Grace, and to have many adventures together in the Land of Little Olives.

Ok, no more cheap Tolkeinesque homages. This blog will be no epic, but it should quickly become a central place for news, information about events, background, and discussion as we work through the decision process over the next few months.

There will soon be actual content, but indulge me for a moment: I just want to express how excited I am, at this moment, about the prospect of Crossroads and Grace moving forward together. The Peck house has practically the same GPS coordinates as the Crossroads building, so I don't expect we'll be part of a future Olivette site, but I am thrilled to be part of establishing a multi-cultural gospel ministry in Olivette, and hoping to learn how we can bring that kind of ministry to bear more and more in Maplewood.

That does not mean that I am absolutely persuaded God has called us to do this. We will be very careful to listen, to discuss, to think through the challenges that await us, and we want everyone to feel at the end like they were a part of the decision process, not just passengers on a train with the destination pre-determined. To help you take part, we are thinking about several initiatives, namely:

• More town hall meetings
• Fellowship events such as dinners or (weather permitting) picnics
• Joint worship services
• Kingdom Group discussions
  
• Teams focused on particular issues, such as children's ministry, or staffing, or figuring out how we will actually experience unity between two sites. If you have a particular passion, we will welcome your participation in figuring out the details.
  

And please don't hesitate to talk to any member of the feasibility team (myself, Audrey, Josh, Andrew and Mark), or a deacon, or an elder at any time. We don't want to give the false impression that we have all the answers or that we aren't aware of the challenges.

So keep an eye out for Orcs.