Catalyst Blog [happenings and other things at catalyst]

Last Sunday (September 20th) we hosted our very first informational meeting about Catalyst Church. We had a great turnout of folks. We also had some great coffee from Berkeley Bob’s and All Steak’s famous orange rolls. If you weren’t there, you missed it. But if you’d like to know what happened, here is a recap:

We started off with our new message series titled “We Love Cullman.” It’s an ideal series for a new church that wants to adopt and serve the people of Cullman. Pastor Chris Owens answered several questions that he often gets regarding this new church: 1) where does the name Catalyst come from; 2) how does one go about starting a church; and 3) why do we need another church in Cullman? Don’t we have enough already?

If you look up the word “catalyst” in the dictionary you will find that it refers to an agent of change. We want to be a part of a church that is about affecting change in ourselves, our friends, our community and the world. It’s a perfect name for us.

Churches can be complicated or they can be simple. We prefer the simple model. To qualify as a church, basically all you need to do is gather together a group of people who want to make a difference in people’s lives….and you start making a difference. It really can be that simple. The first church (described in the second chapter of Acts) identifies what we are supposed to be about. We talked about modeling ourselves after the early church in the meeting.

Are there enough churches in Cullman already? The short answer is no. Why? Because we did some math. Recent statistics show that less than 20% of people nationwide will be in church this weekend. Since there are nearly 80,000 people in Cullman County, that means that only 16,000 people go to church. That leaves 64,000 that aren’t connected to a community. Also, 80% of people say that religious faith is important to them. That means that there is a disconnect somewhere. Maybe people just haven’t found a place where they fit in. That’s why we’re starting another church. Maybe our way of doing church will be appealing to some.

The second half of the meeting was spent brainstorming. Chris unpacked the Acts 2 scripture and identified five areas that the early church focused on. They are: Worship & Prayer, Outreach & Evangelism, Fellowship & Community, Learning & Discipleship, Mercy & Social Concern. He then said that the early church provides a model for us as we start a new church and asked everyone to write down what kind of church they would want to be a part of as it relates to each of these areas. There were some great responses. They are listed below.

So we’re off to a great start. Next time we get together we’re going to unpack these ideas even more and start forming a picture of what Catalyst will look like in Cullman.

Worship & Prayer

- prayer opportunities during the week

- worship – genuine, simple, modern but not flashy, heartfelt

- work on getting away from the mindset that worship is something we do for an hour or two on Sunday or Wednesday

- authenticity

- serve the people of Cullman with love

- God inhabits the praises of His people

- be there for the sick, prayer for the sick

- worship that moves people

- worship is vital & priority to serving God

- concentrated, simple & real practices of prayer

- pray to fill the room at the next meeting

- prayer is very important – but I don’t feel that long, drawn out prayers that go on and on are desirable

Outreach & Evangelism

- Christ’s last words to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach good news”

- extending God’s love to ALL people

- loving our neighbors – all of them

- showing the love of Jesus as opposed to always just telling people

- work toward providing a long term rehabilitation program (like Jimmie Hale [Mission])

- youth outreach/social issues

- make church fun for all ages

- guide people, help people

Fellowship & Community

- acceptance

- fellowship other than church services

- it’s OK if you can’t make it – not making people feel guilty

- small groups that are like family

- service in the community is very important. Looking out for those less fortunate than ourselves shows the love we should for our community (it’s people). Love is stressed very much in the New Testament.

Learning & Discipleship

- teach biblical truths and not traditional ideas we’ve grown up with

- “Study to show yourselves approved a workman that needeth not be ashamed”

- real care for people, accept all people

- seeking “out of the box” opportunities to teach & be the gospel

- not about law – staying free

- open minds

- mentoring groups

- teach [people] to be better Christians

Mercy & Social Concern

- break down walls of judgment against certain races

- helping needy people

- teach how to give mercy & receive mercy

- God is not a democrat or republican

- serving the location we meet in

- anyone is welcome – no pressure

We hosted our first informational meeting for Catalyst Church in Cullman on Sunday, September 20th. We kicked off our message series titled "We Love Cullman," in which we shared our desire to adopt the community and its people. We also talked about how church numbers are dwindling because people are turned off by Christians (see the book UnChristian, which we quoted in the meeting).

We also received feedback from people who attended. We did this because we want to build a church for the people of Cullman by the people of Cullman. So we asked, "if we were to model ourselves after the early church (as described in the second chapter of Acts) what would that look like? What do you want to be a part of?" We will be posting some of the comments and suggestions later this week after we have a chance to sift through them all.