Paul's Perspective

By Paul Gilliam 06 Mar, 2024
 Dear Winter Park Family, This weekend looks to be a big weekend in the life of our church. We have plentiful and significant activities scheduled. On Saturday, March 9, 2024, we will hold a missions’ fair in the community center from 11am-2pm. There will be outside organizations that we partner with present such as Vigilant Hope, The Harrelson Center, Winter Park Elementary School, and Christian Women’s Job Corps. Most of us have an outreach organization or two that we hold in especially high esteem. For me, Christian Women’s Job Corps is one such outreach organization. Christian Women’s Job Corps assist women who are trapped in poverty with a hand up, not a hand out. There also exists Christian Men’s Job Corps. Did you know there are six Christian Women Job Corps sites in North Carolina and one of them meets in our building each Monday night? In addition to the groups mentioned in the above paragraph, I am thrilled to announce that not only will Marc and Kim Wyatt and Lydia Tatum be present with us on Saturday for the missions’ fair; they will also speak to us during both morning worship services on Sunday (March 10, 2024). Marc and Kim are well-known throughout Cooperative Baptist Fellowship life. For years now, they have served as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. Previously they served as CBF field personnel in Thailand and Canada. The emphasis of their service is housing hospitality – assisting people and families in need of housing. In October 2015, Marc and Kim established Welcome House Raleigh. Welcome House Raleigh serves as temporary living quarters for refugees who do not have a place to stay upon their arrival to the area. Today, Welcome House Raleigh is a partnership between the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, refugee agencies, partner churches, and individuals. Earlier this year, CBFNC hired Lydia Tatum as Welcome Network Director. As noted above, she will be with us this weekend along with Marc and Kim. Marc, Kim, and Lydia will educate us concerning their work with housing hospitality towards their neighbors. Of course, deep reflection upon their ministry is timely for us as our congregation is much concerned about how to best use the three houses we own to the glory of God. On Sunday, in addition to Marc, Kim, and Lydia, we will also have the Gardner-Webb University Concert Choir with us during the 11am worship service. Winter Park Baptist Church is a part of their spring break travel tour. No doubt, we have more Camels than we do Bulldogs in our congregation. However, I know of at least two Gardner-Webb graduates! Please do all you can to be here for the worship of God and to support the Gardner-Webb University concert choir. Perhaps some from the 8:30am worship service might consider staying for the entirety of the 11am worship service as well. I so look forward to our big weekend together! In Christ, Paul
By Paul Gilliam 07 Feb, 2024
Dear Winter Park Family, In my January “Paul’s Perspective”, I asked if you would like to have a conversation about our Sunday morning worship structure which has been in place for 28 years now. I asked if you would like to have this conversation because inquiries were made during Advent. Families that regularly participate in the 8:30am worship service and families that regularly participate in the 11am worship service pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. With the awareness that this would be a big change in the life of our church, these families found it so satisfying when our congregation worshipped together in one blended service that they thought a change, of some sort, is worthy of a conversation. At this point, I did not know how widespread this sentiment was or was not. So, last month, I held my breath and asked! As you might expect, with an issue as sensitive as this, there was some negative response. However, I discovered the great majority of our people are open to a conversation. Even so, the decision to move forward or not was put before our church council. And the church council decided, in January, indeed, to move forward with the conversation. Now, because of the church council discussion as well as staff discussions, the decision has been made to broaden the conversation to provide more context and thus make our conversation more informed. First, we want to discuss worship itself. What exactly is worship? How can we deepen the worship experience for those who participate in the life of our church – both members and visitors? What is the purpose of music in worship? How should we engage with the public reading of Scripture? Is our worship more active or spectator? Are we enthusiastic about inviting people to worship? These and other questions will be considered. As a part of our worship discussion, we also want to become familiar with the changes in American culture over the last 30 years or so that have greatly impacted church life. Why is it that Winter Park Baptist Church, as with many other churches, is significantly smaller than it was just 10 or 15 years ago? Of course, we can point to difficulties unique to our church. However, there have been changes in American society, not unique to Winter Park Baptist, that have led many people to stop participating in a local congregation at all, and many others who do participate in a church, to do so with considerably less regularity. Chick-fil-A’s practice of closing on Sundays used to be a common occurrence among businesses. Now it sticks out like a sore thumb. What’s happened here? Why? What should our church do to be more effective in the current increasingly secular climate? What does healthy church growth look like in our day and time? What is best for Winter Park Baptist Church and what is best for the wider community we serve? To help facilitate this discussion, of worship more broadly, we ask the following of Winter Park Baptist Church. First, please pray! Let’s make the Lenten season which begins on Ash Wednesday – February 14 – a season of prayer for this upcoming discussion about worship. Soon, you will receive a prayer guide for Lent as well as a handful of brief articles that are relevant to our forthcoming discussions about worship. We are hopeful that this season of prayer and reading will enable us to carry out our conversations about worship with a spirit of Christian kindness (Ephesians 4:32). On Sunday, April 14, Chris Gambill – an expert on the church in American society – will be with us. Chris serves as the director of the Center for Congregational Health in Winston-Salem, NC. He will lead Sunday morning worship and then, after a church-wide lunch, Chris will further instruct us in an afternoon gathering. Please do pray for Chris’ time with us. Finally, after a season of prayer/reading, and after our time with Chris Gambill, we will then have small group discussions concerning worship. This is a general guideline. More details and specifics such as the prayer guide are forthcoming. Our goal here is not to defend our personal likes and dislikes. In fact, let’s work towards the elimination of “I like” or “I don’t like” in our language about worship. Rather, the goal is to hear God speak. Whether we make any changes to our Sunday morning worship structure or not, I am confident God will speak to us through this process in such a way as to deepen our worship experience as Winter Park Baptist Church. And I am confident we will be better prepared to be the church of 2024 in Wilmington and beyond. This sounds like a win-win for those of us who make up Winter Park Baptist Church! In Christ, Paul
By Paul Gilliam 03 Jan, 2024
Dear Winter Park Family, This Sunday (1-7-2024) our church will resume our regular Sunday morning schedule with an early contemporary worship service that begins at 8:30am, Sunday school (small groups) at 9:45am, and a traditional worship service that begins at 11am. This has been our Sunday morning structure for 27 years now. As we exit the Advent season, and start 2024, I sense that the time is ripe for us to have congregational conversations over our Sunday morning worship structure. Let me tell you why. And then I would like to know if you too think it is time for this conversation to occur. Almost since my arrival in July of last year, I have heard people question the start time for the 8:30am worship service. There is an opinion in the air that 8:30 on a Sunday morning is too early. It has been pointed out that numerous other churches that have an early worship service begin at 9am. And it is true that many of our own people struggle to make it to the community center on Sundays by 8:30am. Worship begins at 8:30am sharp. However, people continue to enter until 8:45am (sometimes later!). Since my arrival, our congregation has made me aware of its desire to reach college students as UNCW is in our backyard and we are also surrounded by Cape Fear Community College students. Many are of the opinion that contemporary worship is more likely to appeal to college students than traditional worship. While I am hesitant to label a group of people with a single characteristic, I do agree with the accompanying opinion that many (not all) college students, and young adults, are less likely to get out of bed in time for a Sunday morning 8:30am worship service than other segments of the population. I anticipated that our combined worship experience, during Advent, would more reflect my own theological understanding of the church as one body as I hear Paul say in Ephesians 4:1-6. He writes, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (NASV) And so it was that I appreciated our church together as one body – no surprises there. I was surprised, however, by the number of people who voiced to me their desire for a conversation that considers the possibility that our church worship together throughout the year, as one body, as we do during the Advent season. The idea here seems to be a new service and a new time – something we have not done before, a blended worship service with both contemporary and traditional elements. If we engage in this conversation, there should be two main considerations front and center: what is best for Winter Park Baptist Church today and in the future and what is best for the wider community Winter Park Baptist Church serves. Through the years, I have noticed when people discuss worship the word “I” is frequent. For example, some say, I like contemporary worship or I like traditional worship or I like to have worship earlier, so I have more of my day in front of me or I prefer worship later because I am slow to move in the mornings. We all have our personal preferences. However, it is important to remember that worship is not primarily about us. Worship is about God. Worship is our collective expression of gratitude to God for what God has done for us in Christ. Worship is not a selfish act. God is not concerned with worship styles or times. God is concerned with worship that is sincere and focused upon Him. Choruses and hymns are instruments through which we worship. That’s all they are. There is nothing inspired, in and of itself, about a particular worship style. All styles are acceptable to God if they are accompanied with a sincere heart and followed through with a love of neighbor. So, indeed, our primary questions governing this potential conversation are not about my personal preferences or your personal preferences. It is not, “I.” It is “we” and it is “God.” Again, the questions are: what is best for Winter Park Baptist Church and what is best for the wider community? Is it best for Winter Park Baptist Church and the wider community to move forward with the Sunday morning worship structure we have in place now or is it best for Winter Park Baptist Church and the wider community to adjust our Sunday morning worship structure? At the very least, should we move the early service to 9am? I do not know the answers to these questions yet. This is why I believe congregational conversations are needed. Now, I am interested in your initial response. While I have heard much talk, during Advent and before, that demonstrates an eagerness for our congregation to discuss our Sunday morning worship structure, I have not heard from everyone. What do you think? Is this a conversation our congregation needs to have even if the idea of change causes anxiety? Or is the conversation unnecessary and, therefore, we should continue with the current Sunday morning worship structure as is? In Christ, Paul
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