DAWN Fridayfax 2002 #48

USA

Cowboy church trend

"Church planter Ron Nolen threw his lasso, and a Cowboy church was started - the Cowboy Church of Ellis County," reports the Baptist Standard. "There is an enormous number of 'Old West Culture' people here, who hold true to good old Western values - 'a man keeps his word' and so on," says Nolen. "This group, mostly working class, was largely ignored by the middle class Baptists, who were often only looking for a higher standard of living," he says. But Old West Culture People are to be found everywhere - Country music is one of the key signs. They don't necessarily own horses, but their values and culture unite them: family, a home, committment. There are 2,186 Country radio stations in the USA, almost twice as many as the 1,128 pop stations. Over 300 people attended the first service at the Cowboy Church on Easter 2000, and amost 1,000 this Easter; typically, 500 attend a service. "The people have always been there, but nobody saw them as a target for the Gospel," says Nolen. The Cowboy Church services include Cowboy bands, Roy Roger and Dale Evans songs, and end with a "Happy Trail" at the end of the service. "But we also disciple the people in home groups," says Nolen.

Making disciples of cowboys

Nolen has already started his second Cowboy church, and advises several others in the USA. "There are millions of people with these values. If we are to reach only 125,000 of them in the next ten years, we need around 400 churches with 300 members to disciple them. This is one of the largest people groups which has been overlooked by churches in the USA. The idea for a Cowboy church came when I took my son Matt to a roping (lasso) competition, in which two-person teams race to lasso cattle. I spoke with other fathers, and discovered that many of them did not go to church, because they think it's not for them. They didn't feel comfortable in the beautiful church buildings, so we organised something more rustic: a warehouse with a concrete floor. Smart clothing, asking for money and repeated altar calls were also hindrances." Today, Nolen preaches in a cowboy hat, which he only takes off to pray, such as at the end of each service. They also have a collection - "in a cowboy hat, of course!"
Source: www.baptiststandard.com, Ron Nolen and Andrew Jones, boaz@volny.cz

Holland

Church planting among teenagers

"I was at a local house church conference with eighty others today - how to share your lives, prophesy to each other, baptise people at home and so on. In the evening, we had the practical part: Pizza party! Do you want to know what happened?" asks Roland van der Molen, a young Dutch church planter, on his home page dutchtraveller.blogspot.com. "That evening, we had six teenage guests, including a 17-year-old mother. I asked 'If you could ask God two questions, what would they be?' They came up with some good questions: why is God invisible? Why do demons exist? Is God a man? A woman? We searched the Bible for answers, following which I asked them 'Who wants to trust in this Jesus, and start a new life with him?' They all raised their hands fast, saying 'me, me!'. We prayed for one of the boys, who then prayed for the others, that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit right from the beginning. Later, they said things like 'I feel so free, so happy. I sense the peace. I can feel someone else living in me!'. The evening closed with drinks, and I challenged them to be baptised the following week. Two wanted to be baptised right away. Last Sunday, we held a baptism party with around 80 people, around half of which were non-Christians. I didn't preach in the traditional sense, but simply told the story of God and explained why we baptise people. The resonance was overwhelming; many asked questions, wanting to know more, and some said 'we can tell that you really love each other!'"

"If the world won't come to the church, we'll take the church to the world" Dutch secular television recently reported on Ronald's unconventional methods. He travels all over Holland to encourage young people to plant churches. "I've discovered that church planting isn't exactly the hottest topic for young people between 18 and 25. But when they realise that it's not about inviting the world to the church, but about taking the church to the world, they wake up!" And who is this Ronald? In his own words: "Most of the time, I do three things: I give presents, tell stories and hold parties."
Source: Ronald van der Molen, dutchtraveller.blogspot.com and www.churchplanting.nl

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