Habla igelsia? Sprechen Sie Kirche? Excuse me, do you speak church?
Argh-- language can get confusing. If you've got a church background, or are just eager to know about some of the common terms in the church world--and whether or how they're used at Kaw Prairie--here are some KP ABC's to help:
Baptism is a Biblical requirement for Christians (Mark 16:16, Matthew 28:19-20, et al) that in the best of conditions should unify believers (Ephesians 4:5), but to God's regret often divides us. At Kaw Prairie, we recognize the Biblical validity of both believer baptism and infant baptism (when practiced in a household where parents are faithful and committed to raising their child to confirm their baptism and confess Christ at an age of understanding). So consequently, we practice both types of baptism. In our future second building, Kaw Prairie looks forward to an indoor immersion baptismal pool, but for now believer baptisms normally happen outdoors in the summertime in lakes or pools in an 'immersion' style, and infant baptisms by 'sprinkling' at either lake- or poolside or indoors at a baptismal font. We're also grateful to Shawnee's Mill Creek Community Church for letting us use their indoor baptistry for non-summer immersion baptisms.
Benevolence is a term for the money that our church sends to our missional and denominational partners to accomplish beyond our walls cool things for Jesus that we couldn't accomplish on our own. Because Kaw Prairie is affiliated denominationally with both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA), and because we recognize tithing as the Biblical benchmark for faithful giving, we send a total of 10% of our Sunday offerings to the two church bodies for Christ's mission in the US and around the world. We also support other Christian non-denominational and para-church partners above and beyond that tithe.
Church Council is a common Lutheran term for an elected board of church elders. Kaw Prairie does not use that term, but instead names that board its 'Vision Team' (see below).
Clusters is the term Kaw Prairie uses for its various ministry areas, or departments. At Kaw Prairie our clusters currently are: Celebrate (worship), Connect (marketing, assimilation, congregational care), Cultivate (adult discipling), Children, and Coordinate. Cluster directors, some volunteer and some salaried staff, meet in weekly staff meetings or one-on-one with Pastor Dan.
Communion is the common term for the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, and the one most often used at Kaw Prairie. Kaw Prairie practices 'Open Communion,' meaning that it is open to anyone who has, or desires to begin, a personal relationship with Jesus as the Lord of their Life.
Confirmation is an optional opportunity the church provides for baptized young adults (typically High Schoolers) to publicly 'confirm' their faith in Jesus Christ, affirming the promises that they or their parents made at their baptism. At Kaw Prairie, the Sunday night WILD program provides the baseline of the confirmation curriculum, supplemented by other service requirements and spiritual commitments.
Dedication (Baby) is the Biblically-based rite of blessing of infants or young children that parents may choose if they opt to have their children receive baptism as believers. Baby Dedications happen at Kaw Prairie at our Baptismal celebrations.
Deacon is a Biblical and traditional church term for appointed leaders of ministries that isn't used at Kaw Prairie. It comes from the Greek word for service, diakonia. At Kaw Prairie, though, since nearly all worshippers are involved in some sort of weekly or regular service to Jesus (in the church or outside the church in the world), we'd have to call 75% of the church 'deacon', and that just seems silly!
Elder is another Biblical and traditional church term for appointed churchwide overseer of direction, doctrine and general church health. We do use the term at Kaw Prairie, in deference to our Presbyterian affiliation (elder is English for the Biblical Greek word presbyter)-- and also because a church only has a finite number of elders active at any one time. Kaw Prairie's 'elder board' is our Vision Team (see below).
Eucharist is another word for Holy Communion, used typically by Roman Catholics and other liturgical Christians. Kaw Prairie doesn't normally use the term, but we appreciate its Greek roots and theology: eucharisto means, literally, I give thanks. Since we believe a grateful church is a healthy church, we 'celebrate the Eucharist' each week, the better to remember and give thanks for Jesus' sacrifice, per Jesus' command (Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians11:23-25)
Liturgy is the part of many churches' worship services where people say, sing or do similar things week after week. In 'liturgical' churches, that often means Introits, Gloria Patris, Agnus Deis, etc. But in reality, even supposedly non-liturgical churches tend to do similar things every week: opening worship songs, announcements, teaching message, altar call, and dismissal-- for example. And that's not bad. At some level most of us are creatures of habit, and the predictability of certain parts of worship allows the structure to fade into the background so that the God we worship doesn't! And it allows all of us to participate confidently in worship, since we know what's coming (in fact, leiturgia means work of the people in Greek). So even while nearly all churches are in some sense liturgical, most of us take it to mean churches that do the same chants in the same order week after week. Kaw Prairie doesn't do chants, and our worship follows a pattern, but tries hard not to make them ruts. But we have found a rhythm of worship music, Communion, teaching and more music that seems to feed the soul while it deepens our faith. Whatever you call it, by God's grace it works!
Lord's Supper is another term for Holy Communion or Eucharist, which we celebrate every week as part of the opening worship set. Kaw Prairie practices 'Open Communion,' meaning that it is open to anyone who has, or desires to begin, a personal relationship with Jesus as the Lord of their Life.
Membership at Kaw Prairie is not required to be an active part of the church's life, and we emphasize that because while there are low barriers to worshipping and getting involved, there are higher expectations for membership (worshipping, serving, contributing, behavior, etc). Membership classes are the culmination of a 3-part process, each component of which can stand alone as a great introduction to life at Kaw Prairie. (And each has childcare, too!)
- a casual hour-long ministry presentation called KPQP (Kaw Prairie Quick Peek) with the staff scheduled on Monday nights.
- a casual but longer multi-media introduction to Kaw Prairie's mission, values and history by Pastor Dan called Meet the Pastor, and scheduled on Sunday nights in a leader's home. Dan's wife Laura and our Vision Team members try to attend these evening gatherings.
- a two-hour introduction to, or review of, the basic doctrines of Christian faith, and the particular ways that Kaw Prairie lives them out. We review the Covenant of Membership which members sign, and in fun, informal ways, we dialog about we think about the lifestyle of Christ-following. Offered either in 2 one-hour Monday Night Live classes or a Saturday morning workshop format.
Offerings of financial donations are collected at all Christian churches as part of a disciple's faith walk with the Lord, but at Kaw Prairie, we don't 'pass the plate' to do it. In fact, bringing offerings is part of how we worship God-- offerings of our time, our talents, and our treasure. When we give our treasure to God at Kaw Prairie (unless we use direct deposit transfers or mail in our gifts), we simply place our checks in jars on stands around the worship room. That way we can give to Christ's work discreetly, and without the social pressure of an usher standing over us with an offering plate in his hand!
Ordination is the church's act of setting apart certain church leaders in a spiritual, organizational, and legal way. Kaw Prairie has two ordained ministers on staff: Pastor Dan McKnight (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and Worship Director German Portillo (Church of God). Other ordained pastors are also members or worshippers, and they sometimes serve in a non-staff capacity.
Presbytery is the name of the regional church judicatories in the Presbyterian tradition that serve as a connecting, mission-supporting, and worshiping body for its member churches and pastors. Presbytery is from the Greek word for elder, presbyter. Kaw Prairie is a member of the PC(USA)'s Heartland Presbytery, headquartered in Kansas City, MO.
Session is a uniquely Presbyterian term for an elected elder board or church council. It's not used at Kaw Prairie, where we call our board of elders a 'Vision Team.'
Spiritual Gifts is the term for the innate talents and spirit-developed gifts that believers in Jesus Christ share for the glory of God, the upbuilding of the Church, and the personal development of the believer. Spiritual gifts are found listed in scripture in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, et al.
Synod is the name of the regional church judicatories within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It comes from the Greek words for 'with' and 'road'-- syn & odos-- meaning travelling companions (on the journey of faith). Kaw Prairie travels with the ELCA's Central States Synod, headquartered in Kansas City, KS.
Tithing is the term for offering God 10% of our income--the Biblical benchmark for sacrificial faithfulness since the time of the Old Testament patriarchs. Kaw Prairie members covenant to tithing, or striving authentically to reach the tithe, within three years of joining. Now, many disciples are so excited to walk with Christ that they become tithers right away, but for others, previous obligations make a change in priortities take longer. We just figure that if Jesus could lead non-religious regular guys to lay down their lives for the Gospel after three years of walking with Him, comfortable Johnson County believers within 3 years can certainly give up some luxuries and other sacrifices to live on 90 cents instead of a dollar!
Vision Team is the term for Kaw Prairie's elected elder board. Vision Teamers at Kaw Prairie are currently elected to a maximum of two 2-year terms, from a list of nominations submitted by worshippers and a nominating team. Vision Teamers must be believers of solid character in broad outlines following 1 Timothy 3, (including church commitment, prayerfulness, discernment, discretion, and obviously, vision.) Since Kaw Prairie has no perfect people, and since our hermeneutic of scripture demands we evaluate the Bible not only in its historical but also internally biblical context, we welcome women as elders as well as men. They must be covenanted members at Kaw Prairie and tithers to God's work.