Every CB pastor, who has looked beyond the walls of his church, has asked the question. The more he looks, the more intensely he questions, “How can we reach our community for Christ?”
In Seaside, OR, Pastor Glen Maiden is no exception. The Northern Oregon Coast struggles with drugs, alcohol, broken families, serial marriages and mobile life styles. With so many hurts and needs, how could North Coast Family Fellowship (NCFF), reach the local people?
The quest for an answer led Pastor Maiden and his associate pastors into the unknown. Driven by a life and death passion to reach people, they decided to address their community’s problems.
They encouraged their church family with sermons about Christ’s practical grace. They first tackled helping broken people in their own church. A divorce recovery and a drug and alcohol recovery group started. None of the staff had experience or training, so they purchased “plug and play” materials that the pastors facilitated.
Word of mouth carried the news about the help groups. Non- NCFF-attendees began showing up. More needs led to more groups. The pastors looked for potential leaders and asked them to be facilitators. God used their efforts.
Incredible stories began transforming NCFF’s baptismal services into gospel ones. One woman off the streets of Portland re-dedicated her life to Christ. She invited all her friends to come to her baptism and then spoke of God’s unfailing love for Hosea and his prostitute wife. When the church sang, “I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,” another man wanted Jesus Christ in his life.
The congregation watched as this risky ministry developed. Two groups of people caught the community vision. Teachers, policemen, local city leaders and others who worked with the town’s problems saw the potential. Then parents and grandparents, broken by their children’s and grandchildren’s poor choices and addictions got on board as they saw hope for their families.
The church chose to open its doors to the community. They looked for opportunities to bring people into the church building. Funerals, union meetings, SAT testing, high school choir concerts – all were given use of the facilities.
Once inside the door, the community found a clean, cared-for building and a rack of eye-catching brochures. “Divorce Hurts,” proclaimed one well-designed cover. A rough biker, who’d darkened NCFF’s door to attend a funeral, spotted it and said, “It sure does.” He ended up in the divorce recovery group.
For seven years NCFF has been reaching its community. It now hosts forty small groups. They’ve spent thousands of dollars on DVD materials and don’t regret a cent. They’ve seen many come to Jesus Christ and watched lives change. They’ve felt their own lives changed as members sought to echo Jesus’ words, “Neither do I condemn you.” (John 8:11)
But they’ve also made mistakes, learned limitations, realized costs beyond dollars, and been grieved when folks return to old habits. But the lives they’ve helped are not finished. God alone knows the end of their stories.
In part two of this series learn about the reality that has challenged the North Coast Family Fellowship’s practical theology, even as it holds onto the truth of its systematic theology.
