Urban Village Church Blog
My refuge
Urban Village has become my refuge; a place where I refresh my spirit, fuel my soul, challenge my thought process about how I walk through life and affect others; it inspires me to inspire others, and has become my home, away from home.
-Mark D
The Voice
March 7, 2012
Have you seen that new TV show “The Voice?” The first episode came on right after the Superbowl and so my friends and I casually watched it while we talked. I have actually never seen American Idol, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I was immediately drawn to the people who were singing. Some of the voices were so good that I stopped our conversation to listen in. And of course some of the voices sounded more like how I might sing when on national TV. Those voices too caused me to stop what I was doing.
I only ended up seeing the first episode of the show because I decided to give up TV for Lent. Just as “The Voice” distracted me from my conversations with friends, I had begun to notice that I was allowing TV to distract me from my relationship with God. At the end of a long day, I desired to come home and sit in the presence of my TV. It is how I was unwinding. It is how I would distract myself. Distraction isn’t always a bad thing, and I am looking forward to post-Lenten TV watching but I realized I was so distracted that I did not make enough time to listen to God’s voice. I needed more time to sit in the presence of God and unwind by examining my day. I needed more time to pay attention to God’s voice, which is way more captivating that any sort of TV show I can dream up.
If you gave up something for Lent, I’d love to hear how its going. Have you replaced it with anything that is drawing you closer to God? Are you hearing God’s voice? Send me an email and let me know.
Peace,
For the Bible told me so
February 29, 2012
I received a Bible when I was in 3rd grade that was roughly the size of a manhole cover. At least it seemed that way. I don’t know what happened to that Bible, but whenever I’m asked about my first Bible, I usually describe a different one, the one my grandparents gave me when I turned 11 in 1979. I still have it. It was a version called “The Way” (The Living Bible translation). It has a very 1970s feel and was published, I assume, to try to reach youth and young adults. It’s a translation that tries to put things in modern language (well, 1970s language anyway) and there are lots of pictures of young 20s-somethings with long hair with suggestions how we can make the Bible come alive today
I don’t crack it open very often any more (there are other translations I use more frequently), but as I was flipping through it the other day, all kinds of wonderful memories came rushing back as I read notes I’d made and questions I’d had.
The Bible can be a tough book. I’ve talked with a couple of you who are trying to read it straight through and that can be a big challenge. Interestingly, “The Way” suggests that you start by reading Mark and one reason it gives is that “(Mark) will give you dramatic introduction to the events that changed the world.” We’re suggesting you do the same thing during this season called Lent. We’ve started a Facebook group to encourage each other through the process and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this short but powerful entry into the life of Jesus.
Peace,
P.S. Another great way to explore a way to read the Bible is by joining us for our Church Without Walls retreat on March 17. The bulk of the retreat will be spent on looking at faithful (and new to some) ways of reading the Scriptures.
Our understanding of Baptism
February 29, 2012
Who tells you who you are?
We receive our identity from others, from the expectations of friends and colleagues, from the labels society puts upon us, and from the influence of family.
To become Christian is to receive a new identity. You no longer allow others to tell you who you are. Christ now claims you and instructs you. A Christian is one who has “put on Christ.”
Baptism celebrates becoming that new person. That is why the church’s ritual begins with putting off the old, renouncing sin and the evil powers of the world, and pledging our loyalty to Christ.
God Initiates the Covenant
We also believe that in baptism God initiates a covenant with us, announced with the words, “The Holy Spirit works within you, that being born through water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.” This is followed by the sign-act of laying hands on the head, or the signing of the cross on the forehead with oil. The word covenant is a biblical word describing God’s initiative in choosing Israel to be a people with a special mission in the world, and Israel’s response in a life of faithfulness. The baptismal covenant calls us to a similar vocation.
God Has Chosen Us
Christians have also understood the baptismal covenant in light of Jesus’ baptism. At Jesus’ baptism, God said: “This is my son.” While Jesus’ relation to God as Son is unique, for Christians baptism means that God has also chosen us as daughters and sons, and knows us intimately as a parent.
So the most important things about us, our true identity, is that we are now sons and daughters of God. That is why the introduction to the United Methodist Baptismal Covenant states, “We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit.”
The introduction also says, “Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy church.”
Baptism Is the Door
From the beginning, baptism has been the door through which one enters the church. It was inconceivable to many that one could respond to God’s grace by reciting the renunciations, affirming one’s faith in Christ and loyalty to the Kingdom, without joining the fellowship of those who are committed to mature in that faith. As the “Body of Christ” in the world, baptism commissions us to use our gifts to strengthen the church and to transform the world.
Why Baptize Babies?
From the earliest times, children and infants were baptized and included in the church. As scriptural authority for this ancient tradition, some scholars cite Jesus’ words, “Let the little children come to me…for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14). However, a more consistent argument is that baptism, as a means of grace, signifies God’s initiative in the process of salvation. John Wesley preached “prevenient grace,” the grace that works in our lives before we are aware of it, bringing us to faith. The baptism of children and their inclusion in the church before they can respond with their own confirmation of faith is a vivid and compelling witness to prevenient grace.
Baptism Is Forever
Because baptism is a sacrament of God’s grace and a covenant that God has initiated, it should not be repeated. However, God’s continuing and patient forgiveness, God’s prevenient grace, will prompt us to renew the commitment first made at our baptism. At such a time, instead of rebaptism, we offer the ritual for the reaffirmation of baptismal vows, which implies that, while God remains faithful to God’s half of the covenant, we are not always faithful to our promises. Our half of the covenant is to confess Christ as our Savior, trust in his grace, serve him as Lord in the church, and carry out his mission against evil, injustice, and oppression.
Baptism Is the Beginning, Not the End
You have heard people say, “I was baptized Methodist,” or “I was baptized Catholic,” which could mean that in baptism they got their identity papers and that was the end of it. But baptism is not the end. It is the beginning of a lifelong journey of faith. It makes no difference whether you were baptized as an adult or as a child; we all start on that journey at baptism. For the child, the journey begins in the nurturing community of the church, where he or she learns what it means that God loves you. At the appropriate time, the child will make his or her first confession of faith in the ritual the church traditionally calls confirmation. Most often, this is at adolescence or at the time when the person begins to take responsibility for his or her own decisions.
If you experienced God’s grace and were baptized as an adult or received baptism as a child and desire to reaffirm your baptismal vows, baptism still marks the beginning of a journey in the nurturing fellowship of the caring, learning, worshipping, serving congregation.
What Is a Sacrament?
The word sacrament is the Latin translation of the Greek word mysterion. From the early days of the church, baptism was associated with the mystery that surrounds God’s action in our lives. That means that at best our words can only circumscribe what happens, but not define it. We cannot rationally explain why God would love us “while we were yet sinners” and give his only begotten Son that we should not perish but have eternal life. That is the most sacred and unfathomable mystery of all. We can experience God’s grace at any time and in any place, but in the sacrament of baptism we routinely experience that amazing grace.
—Mark C. Trotter
Got Ashes?
February 23, 2012
Today is Ash Wednesday, a day when Christians remember their mortality and begin the season of Lent, the forty days of deep spiritual inventory before Easter. Urban Village Church is taking the traditional practice of marking people with ashes out of the church building to the streets.
At twelve different intersections across the city, teams of people will hold up signs that ask “Got Ashes?” and offer anybody who’s interested a cross of ashes on their foreheads. This symbol is for some an intentional remembrance that we must live life while we have it; for others, it marks a desire for God or a recommitment to the Gospel journey.
Find a location near you and stop by with a friend.
Also, during Lent in worship, we’ll kick off a new sermon series and deep dive into the Gospel according to Mark (the second of four diverse accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry in the New Testament). We’re encouraging everyone to read along during the week, so that by Easter we’ve journeyed together through the whole story. Find links to each week’s reading and more information in the “Coming this Sunday” section below.
Peace,
Trey
Being Bold
February 15, 2012
Sometimes trying to be bold is very uncomfortable and sometimes it is unbelievably awesome. Last year about this time folks at UVC were preparing to hit the streets on Ash Wednesday to give ashes out to strangers and friends. I was hesitant to participate. In my previous years in a church, I had greatly enjoyed Ash Wednesday as a time to mark the beginning of Lent and remind me to turn around to God and live more fully into the Gospel. It was just that I was hesitant to hit the streets with this message. I liked the concept from a theoretical point of view but wasn’t sure if I would be the best person to offer ashes to people. Would I be able to correctly explain what the ashes meant? Would people be angry with me for pushing my beliefs on them? Would people take us seriously? Would they ask other questions that I didn’t have the answers for?
Ultimately my excitement for the ministry of UVC and my desire to be bold won out over my fears and concerns. A group of us ended up spending an hour in the morning in Wicker Park. That evening I spent another hour with some folks in Edgewater. It was a bit uncomfortable at times. There were people that said no and they weren’t nice about it. But there were also these beautiful moments. I got to stand at the train stop and offer people the opportunity to turn around toward God by receiving ashes. And people took us up on the offer. Some were thankful because the ritual was a rich part of their tradition but their schedule would not allow them to stop by a church on that day. Others were not familiar with the ritual and they asked what it was about. I got to tell them it was about remembering where they came from. Marking their forehead with ashes was about marking the beginning of time when they would be more intentional about their walk with God. “Yes! I want to do that,” they would say.
Would you like to join in our bold venture this year? We will again be dispensing ashes all over the city. No experience necessary. Just bring a desire to be bold. Click here to sign up for next Wednesday.
Peace,
Church Without Walls
February 1, 2012
CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS :: Urban Village Church’s calling to deepen our inclusion and to seek justice — particularly to become a diverse, multicultural church and to serve the urban family.
In Mark 12:29-31, Jesus shared the most important commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
After months of congregational conversation and discernment beginning in Summer 2011, Urban Village Church collectively felt called by God to deepen our inclusion and to serve the urban family – and to do so in a bold and relevant way. After all, God consistently and repeatedly challenges us throughout the Bible to broaden our understanding of who our neighbors are.
- Micah 6:8: “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
- Galatians 3:8: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
WHERE WE’VE BEEN
We knew that much would be required from all of us in this challenging, intentional, audaciously divine project: listening and speaking, unlearning and learning, prayer and action, radical dependence on God, and Christ’s love for each other in the process.
We also recognized the all-encompassing, challenging work of inclusion. While our goal is to live out and constantly improve radical, Christ-like inclusion at every level (heart > church > city > world), we first sought candid conversation, reflection and prayer with Urban Village’s leaders. The intentionally diverse Strategy Team deeply discussed and amended our thoughts, seeking affirmation and input from the Rev. Candace Lewis and the Rev. Paul Nixon (both church planting strategists), Urban Village Staff, and Site Teams for conversation, feedback, and amending.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
After five months of conversation and exploration, the Strategy Team offers this foundation on which to move forward:
- This collective calling of Urban Village Church is not a one-year “program” but the emergence of a total new way of being and doing as a congregational culture/church planting movement for the future. Our plans cannot be solely programmatic but must be extensive and sustainable.
- This calling is so important, so messy and hard and right and good, that we can’t walk naively into it — we don’t want to do harm to anyone as we seek good for everyone. Similarly, this calling is so important, so messy and hard and right and good, that we must actually start it—we can’t fall into the trap of talking ourselves into not moving.
- A crucial undergirding of this project of transformation requires us to address and overcome the inherent barriers and injustice in us, our church, and the world — which are expressions of the deeper and underlying condition traditionally called “sin.”
- A life dedicated to inclusion could begin its transformation at many places. After much discussion, the Urban Village Leadership, Staff and Strategy Team recommend beginning our calling with an exploration of race, ethnic and cultural inclusion and our current personal and societal barriers to such inclusion.
- America’s journey with racial diversity and struggle against racism are still relevant today, in ways perhaps unique to other national contexts. Given the stark visibility of this condition, we felt first called to bring all together to share, reflect, pray, and act to dismantle racism (both individually and systemically) as a keystone of our broader inclusion calling.
Even with all that conversation and hard work, we realize that we are still only at the beginning. We have sought to be very intentional, honest, and open to diverse perspectives, and yet we know that with seismic callings like this one, there is never a “good enough”—we can always do better but we can never be perfect.
OUR BOLD, INCLUSIVE & RELEVANT CALLING
We are called by God to be a church—both nurturing home and challenging spiritual launch pad—that includes people diverse in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual and gender orientation, socioeconomic background, politics, theology, and life experience.
We are called to love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our neighbors include people who are different from us. This love is not theoretical but practical.
We are called to a life-long commitment—not a one-time initiative. We invite all people to join this challenging salvation journey and to take proactive responsibility for the process. Everyone is responsible.
We are called to hold together the belief that all people are created in the image of God with the commitment to overcome the inherent barriers to fully living out that image. While there are many barriers (again, individual and systemic expressions of the underlying condition traditionally called “sin”), we believe that addressing the particular problems of racism and economic injustice will be a means toward the goal of a total congregational culture fueled by grace/inclusion/action/change for all people, in every sphere of life: heart > church > city > society.
WHERE WE’RE GOING
The true life force of this calling to build a church without walls is you, the Urban Village Church community, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. Your participation and feedback are essential to understanding and identifying issues and opportunities to further infuse inclusivity into our culture and all that we do. We are committed to bold, inclusive, relevant courses of study and action beginning this Winter.
As such we invite all of you to join us on Sunday, February 12th, following worship at every site for an All-Community Gathering. We will discuss in more detail our approach and some exciting opportunities and things we have planned through the year, including retreats, sermon series, small groups and personal reflection programs.
We are excited to begin this transformative work and know changes will happen most fully with all of us in this together. For none of us is as good as all of us. We are the body of Christ.
If you have questions or dreams, we hope that you will join us on February 12th to share them! You can also email us at info@urbanvillagechurch.org before then. After Feb 12th, there will be more information on our website, including programmatic details, opportunities for continued questioning and ideation, point people and feedback loops, and more.
In the name of Jesus, who makes us one,
Christian Coon & Trey Hall, Lead Pastors
The Urban Village Church Strategy Team
The Urban Village Church Staff
Mavis & Al Streyffeler: This is why we give
Last Spring I received a call from Sharon Clapp, Director of Giving and Development of the United Methodist Foundation in Nashville inviting me to share my story of generosity. We had set up a Charitable Gift Annuity with the Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist Foundation and they had passed our name on to the national foundation. I agreed to share the story of our giving to the church along with some photos of my life including the enclosed photo of me while in a boat on Lake Kariba in Northwest Zimbabwe sometime in the early ‘90′s
Mavis and I each received a portion of the receipts from the sale of the Dreier and Streyffeler farms in 2007. Because we have always been careful about planning for our retirement we were clear that we had sufficient funds from pension programs, social security and other investments to be able to live comfortably without the additional monies received from the sale of the farms. Thus we set about “giving the Streyffeler farm away.”
I have been committed to the social justice witness of the Sojourners Foundation in Washington D.C. (you may have heard of Jim Wallis who is frequently interviewed regarding religious trends and issues in our time). So we sat down with representatives of that foundation in our living room and wrote out a check for $50,000. The only other time I have signed my name to a check that large was for the down payment on the house we currently live in. Another $50,000 was given in smaller amounts to various organizations in the life of the church including a special mission fund at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, my alma mater, to encourage seminary students to take mission trips to explore the work of the church.
Finally, we set up a Charitable Gift Annuity with the Northern Illinois Conference Foundation and once again our dining room table became the altar on which we offered our gift–this time for $125,000. Each June we receive the interest on that money which we use beyond local church giving to support various organizations, political causes, and missional projects including ongoing work in the Senegal Mission. When I die that annuity will go to the Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church in Washington, DC to support justice ministries and church builders within the Northern Illinois Conference. Thus the farm keeps producing.
After exploring the Urban Village Church from a distance (Naperville) since its inception, we decided to move into Chicago in May and are now committing our tithe to the congregation because we are committed to church planting.
I hope that as you read “One Donor’s Story” you will be drawn to consider how you are involved in this Streyffeler story of generosity which extends back several generations and lives on in each of us.
–Al (and Mavis) Streyffeler
If the Streyffelers’s testimony inspires you and Urban Village Church is becoming your community, pray about making a financial commitment yourself. Click the “Give” tab on the menu above for more information.
Donnie Cottingham: This is why I give
I first came to Urban Village about a year and a half ago, both excited and nervous to try a church that “does church differently”. After a few weeks I found myself getting involved in a small group and through that I could clearly see God at work in peoples’ lives. I was able to take part in faith conversations that might not be welcomed at some other churches, especially the ones I grew up attending.
I feel blessed to have joined a church community that encourages me to engage in such conversations, accepts me for who I am, and challenges me to grow spiritually at the same time. Because of that blessing I feel joy in being able to help spread the news of a loving God, as well as help support this faith community through which God is working.
I started giving to Urban Village financially because I felt it was the next step of involvement for me in my faith journey. Giving allows me to make a tangible contribution to helping this community grow and also challenges me to rely on God in a real way.
I’ve found that God provides more than enough for us, and calls us to give some of what we don’t need so that it can be used for something greater than a new pair of shoes or jeans- and something great is exactly what I see God doing throughout this wonderful faith community.
–Donnie Cottingham
If Donnie’s testimony inspires you and Urban Village Church is becoming your community, pray about making a financial commitment yourself. Click the “Give” tab on the menu above for more information.
Ellen Feliciano: This is why I give
I started attending Urban Village in the Summer of 2010. I had been a part of another church for a long time, and despite being very involved in the life of the church, had found myself feeling more and more burned out. Although I was active in a number of ways, some essential spark was missing, and I was feeling spiritually dry. On the first day I visited, I was deeply moved by many elements of the worship service at Urban Village; I quickly decided to commit myself to be a part of this exciting new church. As time passed, being a part of this incredible community and helped me to deepen my relationship with and my spirit has been refreshed and filled to overflowing.
So much of the vision for Urban Village really fit with what I was looking for in a church home. One element that particularly spoke to me was the inclusiveness; Jesus demonstrated radical inclusiveness that tore down barriers; he consistently welcomed the least, the lost and the last. Over the years, I have encountered so many people who have been deeply hurt and even excluded by their church. I believe that as disciples we are called to continue to tear down those barriers, to actively include everyone. Church is meant to be a place of healing and community for those who are hurting. It is a place to share our joys, our sorrows, our doubts and fears with a community that welcomes all of who we are. There are so many opportunities for community, including the many small groups throughout the city.
It is also important to me to be part of a church that lives out its faith in tangible ways. I find that Urban Village is out in the world in real ways, serving at Grace Place and Ravenswood Outreach, helping with urban gardening, helping rebuild in Haiti and so many other ways.
I believe that maintaining my relationship with God is like maintaining any other relationship; I need to commit to it and work at it. Just as our friends drift away when we don’t commit to nurturing the relationship, we can drift away from God if we don’t work at our faith journey. One of the tangible ways I can live out my faith and nurture that relationship is to commit both time and money to supporting the work of Urban Village. Giving is a spiritual discipline that is an important part of my faith journey. Pledging financially is, for me, an important act of commitment and one way of saying thank you for all that God has given me. The act of giving alone is a discipline. Intentionally being in prayer, then planning out what I can give, what I can give up in order to give a little more, and then making a commitment and following through is for me a deeper and more meaningful discipline. And it is a discipline that helps me on my faith journey.
–Ellen Feliciano
If Ellen’s testimony inspires you and Urban Village Church is becoming your community, pray about making a financial commitment yourself. Click the “Give” tab on the menu above for more information.