Expect: • You can expect Crown of Life to take the word of God seriously. (Jesus reminds us that there are as many bad messages out there as there are good ones.) • We believe in excellence. We promise to deliver an honest, real message from the word of God with real applications to your life. • You can expect various and frequent opportunities for Bible study.

Partner: • Kids are important! Feed their faith by bringing them to Sunday School • Being in Bible study at least an hour a week will help you grow in your faith. (If you are not being watered, you are not growing.)

Renew: • It’s hard to do the same thing all year long, so we expect you to switch it up. Join a group you have not been in before. • Breaks are essential for growth, so we work in trimesters.

 

• Buy a good Bible. And write in it. Carry it to everything. • Be in a Bible Class. Every time. Attend faithfully like you were paying college tuition for it. • Give your pastor an umbrella of grace for all that they aren’t. Help them teach a meaningful and applicable Bible class by looking for illustrations and applications throughout the week. • Participate. Answer a question in class. Tell a joke. Tease your pastor, but not too much!! Have fun. • Offer to teach Sunday school or share the lesson with someone else. You never learn your material as well as when you have to teach someone else. • If you have a problem (in any area of church life), you are not the first or the last. Talk to your pastor. He will listen.

 

Romans 12:15-16 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

 

 

We Gather: • The Church is about Jesus. But Jesus is about people. You can expect this group of people to hang out together and to bear each other’s burdens.

We do Life: • We want to cry with you when you mourn and laugh with you in happiness. We don’t get special revelations and dreams. Tell us when you need prayers, a visit or a party. • Handle friction and disagreement in a way that honors God – which means handle it Biblically. Whenever you get mad, do Matthew 18:15. Remember Augustine’s motto… “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.” • The worst part about church is the people, but they are also the best part. • Be willing to share your life story with someone. You never know why God put you through what he did. Maybe it is to strengthen the person who hears your story.

 

• Stick around after service every Sunday. Look for the most lonely, quietest, out of place person and say something to them… anything. • Introduce yourself and your friend to someone new every Sunday. Don’t feel stupid if they have been going there for years. The pastor makes the same mistake. • Memorize the photo directory. • Try the trinity of Fellowship: nd someone to text, go to coffee with and pray regularly with from church. • Give your pastor an umbrella of grace for all that they aren’t and pray for them on a regular basis. They can’t walk on water, but they can drown. Be one of their “floaties.” • Realize that those in leadership positions, church staff and volunteers do not get a thousand emails a day giving them encouragement. Most of the people who bother to email do so to critique. Send them a work to feast on to keep them going. They are human and get discouraged as anyone.

 

 

Find the opportunity: • You can expect regular sermon series so that there are beginning points for you to invite your family and friends to hear God’s Word. • You can expect special events designed with visitors in mind.

Grab the opportunity: • We are a church. We are not the only church. You can expect that we will work to make this church the kind of place you feel excited inviting your family and friends. • We will make it easy for people to invite their friends and family to church through our website, postcards, social media, etc. • The fastest way to reach more people with Christ is to start churches. (We will support new church plants.) • We expect you to be involved in outreach… both as a part of Crown of Life and in your own personal life.

 

• Have your neighbor over before you invite them to church. • Invite your unchurched friends. Just invite somebody to something. That’s it. Really, it is the only way our church will grow. • Embody the idea that it’s not about you, but about the person who isn’t even there yet. • Be a willing participant in whatever it takes to reach the lost… even if it means being inconvenienced. • Talk about your church like gossip over the backyard fence, but in a good way. Like a great movie, or a good restaurant. Unleash positive public relations in your world. • Welcome those who come into church with mess up lives, broken marriages, piercings, tattoos, addictions, divorce, children out of marriage, roommates who aren’t their spouse… in other words, welcome imperfect people – because that is what we all are.

 

Motivated to Give: • We believe that everything we have is from God. It’s important our church and our members  manage it properly and give back to their Lord. • We want generous people, so Crown of Life will model generosity with their members. As a church, we give 12% of our offerings to our larger fellowship, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. • We realize that giving is a matter of growing and maturing. We want you to grow in your giving… from sporadic to regular to percentage to extravagant.

Our Goals: • We expect that the less the pastor does, the more gets done. We love our pastor but we don’t want him to do everything. • If our pastor invests in our leaders, then our leaders invest in others. We expect our pastor to invest in our leaders. We expect that you will invest in another. • We will use everything God gives to advance his kingdom locally and abroad. • Expect us to talk about money consistently. 25% of Jesus’ teaching was spent on money.

 

 

 

 

Just Do It! • Yes you! We expect you to serve. In the community, at church or in your family. • We will provide “easy wins” for people to get started serving. • Volunteers are precious, so you can expect us to be clear and hold people responsible. • You can expect us to have service opportunities for members and non-members alike.

Serving whom? • You have gifts given by God to help those in your family and in your church. • We can’t serve everyone, but we can be influential in the communities and organizations we come in contact with.

Why? • We strive to have service opportunities with easy on and off ramps (easy to get trained and started, easy to get out if you don’t like it.) • You can expect to feel good about being part of something that makes a difference.

 

• Be the best neighbor your neighbor ever had. • Start small. Experiment in what you like. Create something new. • Step up and serve. Don’t wait to be asked; just volunteer. If it looks like everything is covered, trust me. It’s not. • Get plugged into helping as fast as you can. It’s the number one best way to know people and be plugged into the church. • Leaders and teachers are always needed. If you have been gifted with this, as a more mature follower of Christ, don’t be bashful in stepping up to one of these pivotal roles. • As a volunteer, or even as an attender, show up on time. You have no idea how much this matters to those who lead. • Expect your pastor or leaders to ask for help. If they don’t, volunteer. They will love it.

 

 

• We will do everything as a church to encourage your growth as a Christian. But we can’t make you grow. We expect that you want to.

• The best way to grow in your faith is to read the Bible regularly.

• Be in prayer and God’s word at some point everyday… even for five minutes. This is our daily bread.

• We will provide you with Scripturally sound material for your growth.

 

Model:

• Know that as parents, you are the first and most important line of reference for your kids.

• We expect that there are family prayers during the day and at meals.

• Show your kids what being in the Word means by reading personal devotions with the family.

 

• Pray, pray, pray. In 14th century England, there were women of the church who gathered in little rooms at the base of their churches. They prayed for the church and its members. These women were called “anchoress” because they were spiritual anchors that held the church amid storms. Be that anchor.

• Our pastor must grow. Our leaders must grow. Our people must grow. Others must come. Pray for them all. Regularly.

 

 

 

 

• Our Message: The Holy Spirit works through the Means of Grace (God’s Word and Sacraments.) Our worship emphasizes the Means of Grace.

• Our History: The Christian Church has worshipped for 2000 years. You can expect that we will honor both the past and the present.

• Our Music: We believe in “homegrown” worship leaders and musicians.

• Our Mission: It’s about Jesus. We expect the words of our worship will proclaim Jesus.

• Our Standard: We believe in excellence. We promise to deliver an honest, real message from the word of God with real applications to your life.

• Our Hope: You’re in worship every week! We aim to give you the Spirit in Word and Sacrament to equip you as the salt and the light of the earth.

 

• Worship every week and listen… don’t just show up. The joy comes in the participation, not in the accomplishment.

• Sit in the front. Just try it. Leave the back rows for those who walk in late or have little kids. You will be amazed at what you hear while in the front!

• Embrace the awkward. Come to worship early and make a friend.

• Ask yourself what you can offer to glorify God in worship instead of how you can be entertained. Try being an usher, a musician or volunteering to take a tired mother’s baby for the sermon so they can listen.

• Work hard on having a positive attitude of a cup half-full instead of half-empty. You will be surprised at how contagious it is.