Letter From Tyler Van Horn:

June 10, 2011

Dear First Pres:
For the last century the Western Church has implemented an “attractional” strategy.  The main question of the “attractional” church model is: How do we get people to come to our church?  The unintended consequence of this question is that churches create religious consumers rather than disciples of Jesus.  Thankfully we are seeing the Western Church slowly move towards adopting a “missional” strategy.  The main question of the “missional” church model is: How do we live out the mission of the church in community?  Jesus made clear for his disciples what the mission of the church was to be: MAKE DISCIPLES (see Matthew 28). 

The 5th Act Community is an attempt to make disciples of Jesus by creating communities outside the walls of our church building.  The name “5th Act” is based on the metaphor created by Biblical Scholar NT Wright.  Wright asks the question, “What would you do if you found the first four acts of a five-act Shakespearean play?”  Wright answers his own question by explaining how one would have to go about studying the first four acts of the play extensively in order to create a fifth act.  Wright then extends his metaphor by naming and explaining the first four acts of God’s story: 1.Creation 2.Fall 3.Israel and 4.Jesus.  Here is where we come in because the fifth act of God’s grand narrative is THE CHURCH.   We have been given the task of partnering with God’s Holy Spirit to live out this act in ways that are faithful to the way of Jesus and relevant to our culture.

The strategy of The 5th Act Community is two-fold.  ONE:  create missional communities, or groups of people who meet outside of the church building in order to live out the life of Jesus together.  TWO: invite people to join discipleship groups with the hope that they will learn how to then lead a discipleship group in the future.  Both missional communities and discipleship groups are focused on living out intentional relationships because we live in a culture hungry for authenticity and thirsty for deep human connection.  Our hope is to address the hunger and thirst of our culture by giving the body and blood of Christ to people in the form of community.   We are grateful to be part of the “3DM Network” (check out www.3Dministries.com for info about this group) where we are receiving training for how to do this kind of community development.
If you have questions about this new ministry, or if you are interested in being a part of what we are trying to do, please contact me by emailing tyler.vanhorn@fpcyakima.com.  I will be leading “The 5th Act Community” as a part time employee of First Pres Yakima (my other part time job will be teaching tennis lessons at the Yakima Tennis Club).  Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, your patience, and your financial support.  Jessie and I are so grateful for the ways First Pres has shown us what God’s love can look like when lived out in community.

Grace and Peace,
Tyler Van Horn
Director of the 5th Act Community

Tyler Preaches At FPC
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Sun.Aug 28.11
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