John Louk

How are we doing at making disciples of Jesus Christ who transform the world? In assessing the state of Salem, there are some benchmark statistics to which we want to pay attention. Salem’s membership includes 231 people. This is significantly less than previous years as our Charge Conference in November removed 79 members who had become inactive. This past year 7 members died and 5 were transferred to other congregations. We received 24 new members the previous year, and in 2012 we received another 19 new members (15 by transfer from other congregations and 4 by profession of faith). We continue to grow! Our worship attendance decreased a little. We now average 175. With our membership at 231, however, we are getting healthier. Whereas many congregations see about 30% of their members in attendance, Salem has 75%! The healthiest congregations, though, have greater attendance than membership. Not only are all the members present but several new people are visiting, too. That i...

“ I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.” John Wesley There is an old story about a young man who approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. The foreman said, “That depends. Let’s see you fell this tree.” The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, “You can start Monday.” Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday rolled by. Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.” Startled, the young man replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.” “Normally we do,” said the foreman. “But we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place today.” “But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “I arrive first and leave last. I even worked through my coffee breaks!” The foreman, sensing the young man’...

“Christians are made, not born.” Tertullian (c.160-c.225) How do we live as the church? The Early Church Father, Tertullian, said “Christians are made, not born.” That means, living as the church doesn’t come naturally. It takes work and dedication. The kind of people we become is directly related to the habits we practice in life. Our founder, John Wesley, taught us to order our lives with habits. Wesley called these practices the Means of Grace and said they fall into two categories: "works of piety" (spiritual disciplines) and "works of mercy" (doing good to others). Today, the church teaches us many practices for our lives so that we will live as the body of Jesus in the world. The General Board of Discipleship has helpfully defined and expanded on these practices we teach in the church here . I offer this helpful description in its entirety, hoping that we will obey what the Apostle Paul told the church at Philippi, “Keep putting into practice all you l...

The earth is the LORD'S and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. Psalm 24:1 Being stewards means that we are like managers of the household. The word “steward” comes from an Olde English word that referred to the ward, i.e. the keeper, of the pig sty. The steward didn’t own the pigs but was a responsible farm hand with oversight of the entire hog farming operation. The extended farm family, including all the hired help, had enough to eat and a decent livelihood if the steward did his job well. “Steward” translated from the Greek New Testament word oikonomous , literally means “manager of the household.” We are all stewards of God’s household, the divine reign over all creation which Jesus described as “the kingdom of God.” ( Stewardship 2009-2012 . Copyright © 2008 by Cokesbury.) As stewards we manage God’s household, not ours. God, the Creator and owner of all that is, says, “Here, I’m giving you all that I have. Take care of it. Manage it. Be fruitfu...

Two years ago Salem's Leadership Board accepted an invitation to participate in the Healthy Church Initiative (HCI), a process of renewal for growing healthy and fruitful congregations in the Iowa Annual Conference. Initially, only a handful of congregations were recommended for this opportunity. We completed the first steps (a clergy group and a lay group) and are now ready to prepare for a church consultation. I have begun meeting with the Peer Mentor group, the continuous learning community that leads us into and supports us through the consultation process of HCI. The ultimate purpose for consulting is to help a congregation more effectively join God in God’s mission for the Church. We have a clear process to follow as we prepare for the consultation. We need to create a Prayer Team that will commit to pray regularly for the church and for changes. We also need a vision team to help develop urgency and create vision. Our Leadership Board will oversee the process and...

The week of September 4, 2012, the old Salem United Methodist Church building was torn down. It had been destroyed in the flood of 2008 and sold to the city in the "voluntary buyout" in early 2011. Much of the building was torn down when work began on the morning of Tuesday, September 4. At one point, most of the building was down except for the sanctuary and bell tower. The workers removed their equipment and took a break. In the stillness of the morning, the roof over the sanctuary collapsed on its own and brought the rest of the building down except for the bell tower and front facing. The bell tower finally came down on Friday, September 7. It was an emotional week for many of the Salem people and for many who were connected in other ways, such as through the Walk to Emmaus. We showed this video of the church building being torn down during worship on Sunday, September 9.

Over the last couple of months I posed a question to the Leadership Board. Since giving continues to grow, should Salem try to pay our apportionments in full this year? Or should we be careful about paying in full too quickly and instead use the money first to do what’s necessary to grow and be more healthy? If you don’t know, apportionments are the way we United Methodists give financial support throughout the world to things like new churches, missionaries, Africa University, ministerial education, and the cost of bishops. Bishop Lindsey Davis says “Apportionment giving financially underwrites United Methodist ministry and mission beyond the local church.” Currently, Salem’s apportionments are a little under $4,200 each month. Until the last two years, Salem has always paid its apportionments. They were paid fully in 2008 and 2009 after the flood, but it hurt the church. We used $29,000 in cash reserves to pay our apportionments and it left us in a very difficult situation. A c...

Then [Jesus] said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 NRSV In his book, Not a Fan , Kyle Idleman shares an interesting distinction between fans and followers. Fans are enthusiastic admirers. Think of all the people who are fans of a sports star or celebrity. The fans might know all kinds of facts and statistics. They might have pictures and books. They probably have a great deal of passion about their particular celebrity. If the fans showed up at the star's door, however, the celebrity wouldn’t know who they are. Idleman, a pastor in Louisville, Kentucky is the son of a pastor. When he was growing up, he had a poster of Michael Jordan in his bedroom. Right next to it he had a poster of Jesus. He considered himself a Christian, but while he was a fan of Jesus he wanted to be like Mike. He didn’t come to understand this distinction until later in his life. There are a lot of peop...

As I begin my fifth year as the pastor of Salem, I am grateful for this congregation I serve. What a great adventure! And now we continue our exciting journey. We have just approved a building project and elected a Building Committee. While that group has already begun work, we know it will take some time to put the pieces in place before we break ground. One of those pieces is a capital campaign to raise money for the project. In addition to the money we raise ourselves, Salem likely will receive gifts from our brothers and sisters around the Iowa Conference. This offering is known as a Builders Call. United Methodist Builders have been an important part of building churches all around the Iowa Annual Conference, helping new congregations buy land or build their first church facility and providing funds to help older congregations update their facilities, build new additions, and expand their ministries. Two churches are selected for the Builders Call each year: one in the sprin...

When I was preparing to start a new church, I learned that a new church is a movement, a group of people working together with passion and excitement. At some point, for that movement to continue it needs to organize. When it does and becomes an institutionalized congregation, however, the movement begins to die because the institution seeks to preserve itself. Churches in that situation, often have lengthy committee meetings that produce very little if nothing. “We met for three hours but we couldn’t decide whether to paint the fellowship hall beige or off-white. So we established a task force to study the issue.” The Sunday after our General Conference concluded, I asked the congregation if they had ever heard of a church meeting where nothing happened. People chuckled. I explained there had been a church meeting but nothing had been accomplished. Of course, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Still, it’s not much of an exaggeration. Bishop Will Willimon from North Alabama said it...

General Conference , The United Methodist Church’s top legislative body, has begun meeting in Tampa, Florida. Nearly a thousand delegates from around the world set policy and direction for the church, as well as handle other business. General Conference is the only entity that speaks officially for The United Methodist Church. As always, there are many issues discussed and voted upon such as sexuality (the subject of homosexuality has been debated at every General Conference since 1972), abortion, church membership, immigration, war and peace, financial reform, and the environment. In the midst of this, the Council of Bishops and the Commission on the General Conference are calling for peace and sharing what God expects of us in our Holy Conferencing ( Colossians 3:12-16a, 17 ). I think three issues this year have the potential truly to change The United Methodist Church. STRUCTURE Much research (the Call to Action ) has been done and it says the majority of United Methodist ...

The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. (Mark 4:26-27 NLT) Why do some people respond positively to God’s word while others do not? In the Gospels Jesus tells the parable of the sower ( Matthew 13 , Mark 4 , Luke 8 ). It’s a story about a farmer planting seed. Probably Jesus’ listeners immediately knew he was talking about teaching or preaching. Sowing was a stock metaphor. Jesus says that some seed fell on the path and birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground. It sprouted immediately but died because of a lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns that choked the seeds. Other seed fell into good soil and grew and the harvest was a hundredfold or sixty or even thirty. A first century Galilean farmer would be very excited with a tenfold harvest, taking in ten bushels for every one bushel of seed planted. About seven bushels wou...

We are making a big transition in one of our communication practices. This week we are mailing a paper copy of the monthly newsletter for the last time. We will no longer print and mail in bulk The Forecaster . Rather, we will email it to as many people as possible. We will still print and mail a paper copy to our shut ins, of course, and to those who do not have electronic access, and we will still print and have some paper copies available at the church. We are transitioning to a new way of communicating. This is good stewardship as it is cost effective (the new postage rate just about doubles our cost of mailing), saves paper, and utilizes the technology that many if not most people already have in their homes or access to elsewhere. We are certainly not the first congregation to make this change. Many churches have already begun this practice. The Iowa Annual Conference also continues working to have good stewardship practices. The Bishop announced that the Sessions Committee (...

Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who will transform the world. So how are we doing? I want to tell you about Deb Black and Ed Foss. Deb, our staff person for care ministries, brought Ed onto the Care Team. It started when Ed was in the hospital having major surgery. He was touched by the care he received from the visitation team who came to him and prayed with him each day. During that time, God touched Ed and opened his heart to be a part of that ministry. Deb did a wonderful job. She invited him to shadow her when she made visits in the hospital. She did the ministry and Ed watched her. Then she invited Ed to do the ministry with her. Then she went with Ed while he did the ministry. Finally, she turned him loose and now Ed (and Diane!) are ministering as part of the Care Team. And they are caring for people beyond the hospital! In assessing the state of Salem, besides the anecdotal evidence there are some benchmark statistics to which we want to pay attention. The...

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8 NLT) . January 1, on our Western calendar, marks the beginning of a new year. Many people make resolutions for the upcoming year. Some of the most popular resolutions in our culture include exercising and losing weight, being more healthy, getting organized, learning something new, and getting out of debt. Unfortunately, most resolutions fail before the month is over because often we don’t have a plan to make it happen or we don’t have the discipline. As Christians, rather than simply making resolutions for the new year, we talk about the habits we practice that form our lives in the way of Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells us that physical exercise is good but spiritual discipline is better with benefits now and in the life to come. One of the early Church Fathers, Tertullian (c.160 – c.225) said “Christians are made, not born.” It...