Burlington Center Mall Ministry: The Birth of a Vision Burlington Center Mall Ministerium: fødslen af et Vision

Burlington Center Mall Ministry: The Birth of a Vision Burlington Center Mall Ministerium: fødslen af et Vision

The story of the Burlington Center Mall Ministry (BCMM) illustrates the process of developing and enlisting support for a new holistic ministry. Historien om den Burlington Center Mall ministeriet (BCMM) illustrerer processen med at udvikle og mobilisere støtte til en ny holistisk ministerium. BCMM began in 1993 as a prayer project of Phil Olson, then Minister of Mission at First Presbyterian Church. BCMM begyndte i 1993 som en bøn projekt af Phil Olson, derefter minister for missionen hos First presbyterianske kirke. Challenged by Mission 21 India's prayer strategies and a lethargic period of congregational life and ministry, Phil felt a growing burden for targeted prayer and a passion for reaching unchurched people. Udfordret af Mission 21 Indien's bøn strategier og en sløv periode på congregational liv og ministerium, Phil følte en voksende byrde for målrettede bøn og en passion for at nå unchurched mennesker.

For several months Phil asked God where his focus should be. For flere måneder Phil spurgte Gud, hvor hans fokus bør være. He felt led to pray for three townships. Han følte ført til at bede for tre townships. He got a map and colored them in and prayed over them. Han fik en kort og farvede dem og bad over dem. Then he asked God for a prayer partner from each township. Så spurgte han Gud for en bøn partner fra hver købstad. After a month of praying, he enlisted prayer partners. Efter en måned i bøn, han er hyret bøn partnere. Then Phil developed a calendar of neighborhoods and people groups unique to each township. Så Phil udviklet en kalender over kvarterer og mennesker grupper unikke for hver købstad. The prayer partners spent a month driving around each township, praying and thinking about possible ways to do ministry for township residents, and praying that as the vision was shared with others they would be receptive. Den bøn partnere tilbragt en måned køre rundt om hver købstad, bøn og tanker om mulige måder at gøre ministerium for købstad beboere, anråber, at den vision blev delt med andre, de ville være modtagelige. At this point, Phil conceived of the idea of an off-site ministry. På dette punkt, Phil udtænkt af idéen om en off-site ministerium.

About this same time, First Presbyterian's Session (governing board) was working on a five-year long-range planning process. Om dette samme tid, First presbyterianske's Session (bestyrelsen) blev der arbejder på en femårig langtrækkende planlægningsproces. Not coincidentally, one of the mission goals that emerged was to develop an off-site outreach ministry. Ikke tilfældigt, en af missionens mål, der opstod var at udvikle en off-site opsøgende ministerium. First Presbyterian's leaders realized that in our present culture, the church is no longer the hub of community activity. Første presbyterianske ledere indså, at i vores nuværende kultur, kirken er ikke længere centrum for samfund aktivitet. Church services have plenty of competition on Sunday morning: soccer, the golf course, the beach, second or third jobs, or just staying in bed. Kirken tjenester har masser af konkurrence på søndag formiddag: fodbold, golf, stranden, andet eller tredje job, eller blot opholder sig i sengen. Instead of asking people to come find the church, First Presbyterian wanted to find the people and share the life-changing truths of the gospel. I stedet for at spørge folk til at komme finde kirken, First presbyterianske ønskede at finde de mennesker og deler livets skiftende sandheder af evangeliet. So Session members, particularly the Mission Team, began considering ministry options. Så Session medlemmer, især Mission Team, begyndte at overveje ministeriets muligheder.

In the three townships, Phil was still exploring possible ministry sites. I de tre townships, Phil var stadig udforskning muligt ministerium websteder. Several were investigated, but each time there was some roadblock. Adskillige blev undersøgt, men hver gang var der nogle vejspærring. Phil asked himself where Jesus would go to minister if he were walking the streets of Burlington County today. Phil spurgte sig selv, hvor Jesus ville gå til ministeren, hvis han gik gaderne i Burlington County i dag. His answer: the marketplace. Hans svar: markedsplads. Phil wrote a paper exploring this idea, "Let's Go to the Mall!" Phil skrev et papir udforske denne idé, "Let's Go til Mall!" and sent it to fifty Christian leaders across the country for their ideas and input, asking if they knew of existing mall ministries. og sendte det til halvtreds kristne ledere over hele landet for deres idéer og input, der spørger, om de vidste af eksisterende indkøbscenter ministerier. Phil and others from First Presbyterian visited two other nearby mall ministries, Echelon Mall Ministry (Voorhees, NJ) and the Church on the Mall (Plymouth Meeting, PA) to learn from their successes and failures. Phil og andre fra Første presbyterianske besøgt to andre nærliggende indkøbscenter ministerier, Echelon Mall ministeriet (Voorhees, NJ) og kirken på Mall (Plymouth Meeting, PA) til at lære af deres succeser og fiaskoer.

During a church leadership day of prayer and fasting in November 1996, the First Presbyterian Mission Team went to Burlington Center to talk to the mall management about the possibility of renting space. I en kirke lederskab dag i bøn og fastende i november 1996, første presbyterianske Mission Team gik til Burlington Center at tale med de indkøbscenter ledelsen om muligheden for at leje plads. The management could not understand why anyone would want to be in the mall whose goal was not to make money. Ledelsen kunne ikke forstå, hvorfor nogen ville ønske at være i indkøbscenter hvis mål var ikke at tjene penge. This provided the mall ministry with its first witnessing opportunity! Dette gav indkøbscenter ministerium med sin første vidne lejlighed!

Phil continued to pray about funding and leadership for the emerging mall ministry. Phil fortsatte med at bede om støtte, og lederskab for det nye indkøbscenter ministerium. After several months he felt called to speak with a church member about paying the first year's rent. Efter flere måneders han følte sig kaldet til at tale med en kirke medlem om at betale det første års leje. In God's amazing timing, that person had just received a lump sum and was asking God what to do with it! I Guds forbløffende timing, at personen havde netop modtaget et engangsbeløb og spurgte Gud, hvad de skal gøre med det! Also during this period, Phil and the Mission Team chair each prayed and made separate lists of three possible names for the mall ministry director. Også i denne periode, Phil og Mission Team stol hvert bad og gjort separate lister over tre mulige navne til indkøbscenter ministerium direktør.

Elsie Nicolette was going through a career change at the time and was pretty sure she knew what God wanted her to do. Elsie Nicolette var på vej gennem en karriere ændre på det tidspunkt og var temmelig sikker på, at hun vidste, hvad Gud ønskede hende at gøre. It wasn't directing the mall ministry. Det var ikke lede indkøbscenter ministerium. But each time, just when it looked like she had a new job, something happened. Men hver gang, lige når det så ud som hun havde et nyt job, noget skete. Elsie began evaluating what she really wanted in a job. Elsie begyndte at vurdere, hvad hun virkelig ønskede i et job. In June 1997 she became the Mission Team chair. I juni 1997 hun blev Inspektionsteamet forsædet. Elsie was surprised to discover that her list of things that she wanted from a job matched the emerging job description for the person to lead the Burlington Center Mall Ministry. Elsie var overrasket over at opdage, at hendes liste over ting, som hun ønskede fra et job, der matcher den nye jobbeskrivelse for den person, der leder Burlington Center Mall ministeriet. Her calling was confirmed when she later learned that she was the only name on both lists! Hendes opfordring blev bekræftet, da hun senere lærte at hun var den eneste navn på begge lister!

While the mall ministry was conceived from the beginning as a collaborative project with support from multiple churches, First Presbyterian's embrace of the ministry was crucial to its development. Mens indkøbscenter ministerium blev udtænkt fra starten som et samarbejdsprojekt med støtte fra flere kirker, First presbyterianske's omfavnelse af ministeriet var afgørende for dens udvikling. One way the ministry committee engaged the congregation early in the process was by encouraging members to prayer walk at the mall. En måde ministeriet udvalget engageret menigheden tidligt i processen var ved at opfordre medlemmerne til bøn gå på Mall. They provided a guide to help people identify what to pray about - like lonely folks sitting on benches, mothers with tired or rebellious children, frustrated merchants dealing with cranky customers, and the folks waiting to see Santa who needed to know the real meaning of Christmas. De fremlagde en vejledning for at hjælpe folk med at identificere, hvad de skal bede om - gerne ensomme folk sidde på bænke, mødre med trætte eller oprørske børn, frustrerede sælgere der beskæftiger sig med sær kunder, og folk venter på at se Santa der behov for at kende den virkelige betydning af julen . The committee also kept the congregation informed through brochures and bulletin inserts that described the mall ministry's goals and listed volunteer opportunities. Udvalget har også holdt menigheden orienteret via brochurer og bulletin indsætter at beskrev indkøbscenter ministerium's mål og opført volontør muligheder.

What factors led to the congregation's adopting the vision of a mall ministry? Hvilke faktorer førte til menigheden's vedtagelse af visionen om et indkøbscenter ministerium? One, lots of trust in the church's leadership had built up over the years when it came to launching new ministries. One, masser af tillid i kirken's ledelse havde opbygget i årenes løb, når det kom til lancering af nye ministerier. Two, it was obvious to the congregation that much thought and planning had gone into the ministry design. To blev det indlysende for menigheden at mange troede og planlægning var gået ind i det ministerium design. Three, prior to the congregation's vote of confidence, many people (staff, board, lay leaders and key congregants) had already said "yes" to the idea, including putting their money where their mouths and hearts were. Tre forud for menigheden afstemning af tillid, mange mennesker (personale, bestyrelse fastsætter ledere og centrale congregants) havde allerede sagt "ja" til den idé, herunder at sætte deres penge hvor deres munden og hjerter var. Four, the mall concept was included as a component of the church's developing long-range plan. Fire, The Mall konceptet blev inkluderet som en del af kirken's udvikle langtrækkende planen. Fifth, First Presbyterian was ready for a challenge. Femte, First presbyterianske var klar til en udfordring. The congregation was recovering from an internal crisis. Menigheden var under genopbygning efter en intern krise. No new major ministries had been launched in several years. Ingen nye store ministerier var blevet lanceret i flere år. Members were eager for a forward-looking project that would revitalize the church. Medlemmerne var ivrige for en fremadrettet projekt, som vil puste nyt liv i kirken.

In October 1997, Session approved moving ahead with the mall ministry concept. I oktober 1997, Session godkendt bevæger sig fremad med indkøbscenter ministerium koncept. The ministry had one year's rent, a director ... Ministeriet havde et års leje, en direktør ... and lots of logistical obstacles to overcome. og masser af logistiske forhindringer at overvinde. Each crisis stretched the congregation's faith and deepened their commitment to prayer. Hver krise strakte menigheden's tro og uddybet deres forpligtelse til bøn. They realized that their desire to extend God's kingdom on earth had initiated a spiritual battle. De indså, at deres ønske om at udvide Guds rige på jorden havde indledt en åndelig kamp. The ministry committee knew that its strength would never be sufficient, and that they needed to rely on the Lord and draw on His resources. Den ministerielle udvalg vidste, at dens styrke aldrig ville være tilstrækkelig, og at de er nødvendige for at stole på Herren og trækker på hans ressourcer. The committee recruited people willing to pray for every aspect of the ministry. Udvalget rekrutteret folk villige til at bede for hvert aspekt af det ministerium. Elsie began sending out weekly prayer concerns via fax and email. Elsie begyndte at udsende ugentlige bøn bekymringer via fax og e-mail. At last the doors opened, with a joyous two-day Grand Opening celebration/consecration in mid-July, 1998. På sidste dørene åbnes med en glad to-dages Grand Opening fest / consecration i midten af juli, 1998.

Elsie and the Director of Servant Development at First Presbyterian began to create job descriptions and to enlist and train volunteers. Elsie og direktøren for Servant Development hos First presbyterianske begyndte at skabe jobbeskrivelser og til at mobilisere og uddanne frivillige. Volunteers attend a one-hour orientation to learn about the ministry and volunteer requirements. Frivillige deltage i et en-timers orientering til at lære om ministeriet og frivillige krav. All who interact with the public also take four hours of evangelism training. Alle der interagerer med det offentlige også tage fire timer forkynder evangeliet uddannelse. Further training is provided for specific positions. Efteruddannelse er fastsat specifikke stillinger. With the mall open 75 hours per week, BCMM presents many volunteer opportunities - from "hosts" who sit out front greeting passers by to nurses who provide blood pressure screening, from prayer intercession to grant writing and publicity. Med indkøbscenter åbent 75 timer om ugen, BCMM præsenterer mange frivillige muligheder - fra "vært" der sidder ud foran hilsen forbipasserende ved at sygeplejersker, der giver blodtryk screening, fra bøn intercession at give skriftligt og reklame. New programs, like a children's craft program, are created when volunteers suggest, "I could do ..." Nye programmer, ligesom en børns håndværks-program, der oprettes, når frivillige tyder på, "jeg kunne gøre ..." BCMM presently involves about 200 volunteers from 39 churches, with First Presbyterian supplying about two-thirds of the volunteers. BCMM øjeblikket omfatter omkring 200 frivillige fra 39 kirker, med First presbyterianske leverer omkring to tredjedele af de frivillige. Volunteers cross denominational, gender, racial, ethnic and age categories, demonstrating that God is bigger than any human barriers. Frivillige tværs konfessionsløse, køn, race, etnisk oprindelse og alder kategorier, der viser, at Gud er større end nogen menneskelige barrierer.

The powerful lesson that the church has learned through BCMM, says Elsie, is that "God is able to do exceeding abundantly, far beyond all that we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). Den stærke lære at kirken har lært gennem BCMM, siger Elsie, er, at "Gud er i stand til at gøre overstiger helt, langt ud over alt det, vi beder eller forestille sig ifølge hans magt, som er på arbejde inden i os" (Efeserne 3:20) . First Presbyterian's faith, imagination, prayers, donations, and volunteer commitments are the ingredients God has used to accomplish this remarkable ministry. Første presbyterianske tro, fantasi, bønner, donationer og frivillige forpligtelser er de ingredienser, Gud har brugt til at opnå dette bemærkelsesværdige ministerium.

[Adapted from Churches That Make a Difference, chapter 13]. [Tilpasset fra kirker, der gør en forskel, kapitel 13].