We've learned a lot about ourselves and about our God simply by placing ourselves in this situation. For instance, we've learned that even if things do not work out with the merge, it would be highly unlikely that we would return to the original way we did things. It was as if we moved forward and there was no going back. We basically flipped a switch and the ripple effect of that choice made it impossible to try to make things the way they used to be precisely because of the lessons learned during this process - just like the way it is in life.
Another thing we learned was the amazing way in which God works all things together for the good - but only if you love Him, believe that you are called according to His purpose and choose to see things in that manner because You trust His word. I have more to say about that in my other blog (http://dondicastillo.blogspot.com - see the entry on Friday, March 12).
In the past two months, one of the "disappointments" that our previous organization felt was the idea that they were losing a partner in the organization. This was because there are only 2 NWCM churches in the USA and now there was only going to be one. However, I choose to see it differently - even though NWCM "contracted" or "shrunk", the Kingdom of God actually "expanded" and "multiplied". Now instead of NWCM north partnering with NWCM south, they are now able to potentially partner with not just one organization, but with 3. Let me explain.
Our youth group, BASIC, rather than trying to get absorbed by the bigger church's youth group, all of a sudden grew up and took on the responsibility that usually falls on adults' hands. They incorporated - legally. WITH Living is now its own legal entity, established as an official certified 501c(3) tax-exempt body. Its officers are the same late teen/early twenties young men and women who have always done ministry their own way; only now they're doing it under the umbrella of...themselves. BASIC, now called WITH has always been very independent and self-motivated, creating their own program and executing their own activities. We, the adults have always just been supporting them but they were always the ones who would decide the course of their ministry/community. The stirring that happened in our group pretty much pushed them towards a higher level of organization to add to their ministry and community life.
In the same way, Team Evergreen WA which was the main ministry project of NWCM-Federal Way, is now an independent non-profit and is also on its way towards becoming its own 501c(3). It's vision of bringing people together from all walks of life and from all backgrounds and faiths towards a common goal can now be more readily realized as its committed team members are not limited by organizational boundaries.
Both of these organization will not fall under the Word International Umbrella - not because WIN doesn't support them, but because organizationally, WIN already has their own Youth and Poverty alleviation programs. Why force them to merge when they can exist separately and have more people involved reaching different groups of people?
Did our members multiply? Did we increase the number of people involved in these organizations? Not really - as a matter of fact, we lost a few more; those who could not transcend the past decided not to come to church after the merge. But here, the people of WITH and Team Evergreen are still the same people whom the NWCM-North folks knew and loved. Now NWCM-North has 2 new organizations it can work with (TEW and WITH) and since these people now also go to a church called WIN, should they choose, NWCM-North has another church to work with.
So it's all a matter of perspective. We, the members of NWCM-FW didn't envision things to turn out this way. But we continued to trust that God is with us and we will continue to serve Him regardless of how our organizations turned out.
On Sunday, April 4, NWCM-Federal Way will cease to exist as its members start attending worship services with Word International (Easter - new beginnings). We're still the same people, serving the same God, doing the same ministries with better effort. Whether other people choose to see things that way is their choice. They can either look at names and banners and organizational titles, or they can look at the hearts of their brothers and sisters and continue to work with them towards a brighter tomorrow for all.
