The UndergroundThe Undergroundhttp://www.firstpresofniles.org/the-underground/2011-11-20T21:28:22ZSquarespaceFaithful livinghttp://www.firstpresofniles.org/the-underground/2011/11/20/faithful-living.htmlFirst Presbyterian Church of Niles, MI2011-11-20T21:16:28Z2011-11-20T21:16:28ZPreaching and teaching in the Underground has been looking at passages about church growth.  We began by looking at passages in Acts and then talked about the spiritual gifts described in Ephesians 4.  God wants to build the church and expand the circle of faith. 

Today we talked about what it means to live faithfully according to Acts 1:8 which calls us to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.  That seems like a tall order, but actually it just means doing what we already do and applying it to the church.  We are challenged first to discern why we believe in Jesus, what we can say about our belief and where we see God active in the world.  Next we need to ask ourselves why we are members of the church; why we come on Sunday.  When we put words to these actions it becomes a lot easier to be come a witness to our friends and acquaintances.

Jesus calls us to be witnesses and speak of what we know.  Just like we laud the benefits of a restaurant or salon, we are to speak of the church.  When we can offer that testimony, what we know, we become the greatest evangelist the church has seen.  Putting words to our experience is offering witness and being faithful to Christ's exhortation in Acts 1:8

]]>What's your story?http://www.firstpresofniles.org/the-underground/2011/10/21/whats-your-story.htmlFirst Presbyterian Church of Niles, MI2011-10-21T20:43:32Z2011-10-21T20:43:32ZFirst Pres. Niles has always been a church as far as I know.  I was reading this blog  and it got me thinking about church.  Even though we don't have the associations that Jon Acuff makes, we have a ton of other memories and associations with our church.  I will never forget when I was in middle school I was asigned the task of controling one of the more rambunctious kids during a service in which the kids had a part.  This child got away from me and ran across the chancel kicking a guitar on the way!  That's what I'm talkin' about.  Those memories-the sacred and the silly-that we have of church form our foundation.  It is those memories that begin to define what church means to us, how we approach worship and even how we encounter God. So, what's your story?

The core group of the Underground is meeting Saturday to talk about memories, myths and metaphors that we have around the church.  We are going to talk about how that 3M helps and hinders the growth of the church in the world.  I look forward to this discussion.

]]>Halcyon Dayshttp://www.firstpresofniles.org/the-underground/2011/10/20/halcyon-days.htmlFirst Presbyterian Church of Niles, MI2011-10-20T20:22:05Z2011-10-20T20:22:05ZIf you worshipped with us this past Sunday you know that Pastor Gene brought it!  I think everyone in the service felt the presence of the Spirit.  I know we were blessed 'cause Tracy was able to overcome some technical issues with barely a hiccup.  Anyway, it was a joy to have Gene and his family at worship.

This coming Sunday Pastor Fran will be coming down to preach.  I am filling in for our friend Rev. Harry Clark at the UCC so Fran will fill in for me.  Ray is going to be upstairs filling in for her.  This is like musical chairs with pastors as we all switch pulpits.  The gathered believers are the ones who really benefit from these changes since they are exposed to different preaching styles and perspectives on the gospel.  There is a great temptation for preachers to fall into a rut with their preaching and changing up like this jars us out of that habit.

The changes just keep coming!  The fifth Sunday of October is called Reformation Day and Protestant Churches mark that day with a celebration of all things reformed.  For the Presbyterian Church Reformation Day is when we renew our ties to Luther, Calvin and Knox.  Many churches have a bagpipper to commemorate our Scotch roots and First Niles is no different.  Our brother Mike will serve as the beadle [bedel] for this service and we look forward to seeing him in his tartan.

We hope that a sense of the many different elements of Christianity and worship emerge with all of these different preachers and styles.  Certainly we all have manners of worship that speak to us more than others, but that is not to say that there is one style that "trumps" another.  We are all part of one whole worshipping the same God and it seems to me that if we can bring ourselves to focus on our similarities more than on our differences we are better able to build the kingdom.

]]>On the ground floorhttp://www.firstpresofniles.org/the-underground/2011/10/10/on-the-ground-floor.htmlFirst Presbyterian Church of Niles, MI2011-10-10T17:39:33Z2011-10-10T17:39:33ZAfter stumbling along for a few months, the Underground is off to a good start.  I invite anyone and everyone to come worship with us.  Thanks to a gift from the saints we have all new technology which surpasses the old gear by quite a bit!  As always, we are looking for musicians, but we have been able to have some guests in the last weeks to provide a variety of music and preaching.

I am pleased to announce that this coming Sunday Rev. Eugene Staples of Capernaum Community Church will "bring the message".  Gene is a friend of mine and I look forward to hearing his interpretation of a passage out of Acts.

For the next months the Underground will be learning from Acts as we consider how we can imitate the first century church.  We seek to be true to God's purpose for the church and experience the health and vitality that was present.

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