Ministry in an Increasingly Post-Christian Culture

Caveat – I am a young pastor and, believe it or not, I am fully aware I am not an expert. This is not a space for me to get preachy and offer advice to others in ministry but to present concepts and ask questions that have been important to me and ones I have been wrestling with during my experience in ministry in a post-Christian culture.  

America’s ever-changing religious landscape

One of the fastest growing religious groups in America is the “nones” (not nuns). While it is hardly a “religious” category it is a growing percentage of Americans who are choosing not to attach themselves to any religious group. This group of nones includes atheists, agnostics and what I describe as the “mehs” which are the folks that when asked if they think religion has any importance or bearing on their life they respond with something along the lines of “Meh.” This is a group that does not necessarily see the value of ascribing or aligning themselves to a particular religious belief system or worldview.  So, they simply don’t.

Rhythms – Practicing the Ways & Values of God’s Kingdom

Mission Trip Syndrome

If you were a youth group kid like me I am sure you are very familiar with “mission trips.” Growing up my high school youth group had a few mission trips that we went on every year and I can remember them like they were yesterday. I think I remember them so vividly because they were these monumental spiritual experiences for me. I have plenty of funny memories like being chased by llamas in Ecuador -you wouldn't think it, but a herd (pack? ... flock?) of llamas is pretty scary if they are charging you down a mountainside. But what I remember most was how impacted many of us were. It seemed like every time God touched peoples' lives on those trips. Without fail kids would come home on a “spiritual high." Unfortunately, in a similar pattern we cynically began to believe that it rarely lasted. People would be convicted or encounter God in a profound way and we would all confidently declare that things would be different – that we were finally going to take this Christian thing seriously. It had to be because of what we had experienced together. Some people had lasting change – but many of us slowly moved back to life as usual, like nothing happened except we went on a really fun trip with some good memories. I have since become less cynical and I sincerely believe people had real experiences on my high school trips. Real enough experiences where macho football guys were crying while sharing around a campfire (in front of girls no less).

 I think these experiences pose a big question in youth ministry or really any short term trip. It makes us wonder what’s up with these “spiritual highs” and why do they often wear off for so many of us?

A New Lifelong Friend

This is one of the friends I made while living in Colorado. He is like many Coloradians, he appreciates hiking in the mountains, sleeping outside, growing a killer beard and even eating organic. I met him hiking a 14er called Quandary Peak.

Update from the Mountains

Putting down some roots for the sake of growth

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to write an update for anyone who is interested and what better medium than our old, dusty, unused blog!

Suzanna and I just celebrated two years since our move to Clark, Colorado and we have thought back on all the memories, relationships and the faithfulness of God. One thing we both emphatically agree on is that it has been a wonderful two years. This place really does feel like home to us now.

Over the last few months we have had some doors open, some close and some really great opportunities outside of Clark. There was an opportunity on Colorado's "front-range," one back in the Midwest and even something out of the country. And while these were good and exciting opportunities, Suzanna and I were struggling with leaving this place. It just didn't seem like we were supposed to leave yet. There is so much opportunity for the local church in Clark to grow and develop and we wanted to be a part of what God is already doing here, in this unlikely place.

Updates & Stories

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! As I write this the sun is shining which is AWESOME - since most of February has been overcast. The Elk are out in full force as we drive to and from steamboat each week (they like to steal food from all of the cows). And things are going great. There is a lot to update you on as we move into March, so here are a few things to catch you up.

Christmas Eve (better late than never)

Many of you know already but our Christmas Eve Service went great! I preached at two services- one further north in the old Hahn's peak village school house, and one at NRCC in the charter school. For several years if has been a community tradition for some of the folks that live in Hahn's peak village to have a Christmas Eve service at the historic school house and this year I was asked to speak. It was a lot of fun and we actually used the school bell to call people in - which was ... Awesome! We had about 30 people show up to that at about 5PM. Then 2.5 hours later we had our service for North Routt Community Church and it was a blast! It was an absolutely packed house (We ran out of chairs) of a 100 people and we were able to join together and celebrate the birth of our King. It was really special. Here are a few pictures from the night.

A few people in the back (mostly from Vista Verde) were troopers as they stood most of the night. 

There is Andrew (left) & Bubba (Right) leading us in worship. (2 of 6 who helped lead us) 

More worship!

Singing "Silent Night" with candles lit

It was an awesome night to see the community gather like that! Right after service Suz and I packed up and jetted off to Indianapolis/Chicago for the holidays, which brings us into another story...

The nightmare that was Christmas travels (At least Denny's is open on Christmas day)

Suz and I were all hopped up on caffeine and ready to drive through the night (we had left Clark around 11PM). The plan was to drive straight to Kansas City so we could caravan with Suzanna's sister and brother in-law,  Bekah and Andrew. But sometimes plans don't work out. Instead we didn't even make it to Kansas before our Subaru said, "you know what? I don't really feel like driving anymore" - which sounded a lot like our engine popping, followed by a horrible clicking noise. Long story short we broke down at 6AM, Christmas day in Stratton Colorado - which with no disrespect, it is in the middle of nowhere... So we get the car towed to Burlington CO which actually had some shops. We get our car to 1 of their two shops and have our very nice tow guy drop us off at a mom and pop motel. It was so "mom and pop" that the owner (an older lady) came out in a bath robe because she had been in the shower (haha). After she heard our sob story (I also told her I was a pastor) she took pity on us and gave us a room for free. It was incredibly nice and took a little of the sting out of a pretty crummy Christmas. In between naps and HGTV  we tried to figure out how the heck we were going to get to Indianapolis without a car (The shop was closed for the day and I was pretty sure the engine was shot) and no rental car for 200+ miles from where we were. So we did the only thing we could- we walked to the nearby gas station/Dennys to eat our feelings...And because of the emotional state we were in - it was glorious. However, although we went back to our room full we still didn't know what to do. At this point the family knew we were stuck and Andrew (brother in-law) offered to come get us and drive us back to KC - A total of 12 HOURS! Even though we felt bad, we accepted and he came and brought us back to KC and from there we all decided to drive through the night again (I know, what were we thinking). They let Suz and I borrow their second car and we hit the road. Well to close the story we got to Indy and Chicago, so it all worked out. I turns out the Subaru blew it's engine and needed a replacement. We decided to go ahead and replace it since the cost was much less than its worth. We would have never been able to afford it if it wasn't for the generosity of family that graciously chose to foot the bill for us and we could not be more thankful! So that was the condensed Saga of our trip back to the Midwest

Since we've been back 

In the months that we have been back a lot has happened. We are so thankful for the ways that God has worked in and through our community here. We had one of my mentors Keith Carlson come and stay with us, which was a great encouragement. We are continuing to meet every week for service and every month for community dinners in each others homes. We now want to have a community outreach dinner at the charter school for anyone and everyone who wants to come and eat with us. We are thinking of doing that every other month and advertising it in the community. Also this month, I participated in a 2 day training program called ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) because suicide is a surprising, yet glaring issue within our community. Also NRCC is in the process of partnering with a group called REPS (Reaching Everyone Preventing Suicide) to run a clinic up in Clark for the whole community to be trained in ways to be aware of warning signs and how we can ask questions and connect others to help and resources. Suicide is such an area of brokenness here and we want the Church to step into that brokenness to offer love and hope to those who feel hopeless. And to close with, we finally got the internet at home!!! We were without the internet at home for about a month and a half, which was preeeetty awful. So since we are hooked up to the world wide web you can now expect more updates from us in the near future.

Please let us know if you have anymore questions, comment below or email me at dbloom2388@gmail.com
We also have a Facebook page for the Church that will give some info on whats happening at the church, so be sure to check it out if you are interested!

Thanks so much for your love and support,

Dave & Suz