Healthy Church?

Getting ready to start a new sermon series. Hoping to blog more about it.

 

What Most Surprised Me About Christians When I Became One | Rosaria Butt...

Drawings of Mr.G

 

My Work Priorities

 Sermon Study and Preparation

Bible study and Preparation

Monthly Newsletter Article

Leading and Preparing Worship Service/ Wednesday night study

Work on developing a discipleship pathway

Development of Social Media Presence

Connecting with Community.

Do not Take on Other Responsibilities.

(I saw this seems good but thoughts?)

The Power of Example

 The Power of Example

 A preacher closed his sermon with an earnest Gospel appeal. Among the many who responded was a woman of wealth and social distinction.

 She asked per mission to speak a few words to the audience. “I want you to know,” she said, “just why I came forward tonight. It was not because of any word spoken by the preach er. I stand here because of the influence of a little woman who “He who best knows the world will love it least.” — Balzac sits before me. Her fingers are rough with toil. The hard work of many years has stooped her low. She is just a poor, obscure washerwoman who has served in my home for many years. I have never known her to be impatient, speak an unkind word, or do a dishonorable deed. I know of countless little acts of unselfish love that adorn her life. Shame faced, let me say that I have openly sneered at her faith, and laughed at her fidelity to God. Yet, when my little girl was taken away, it was this woman who caused me to look beyond the grave and shed my first tears of hope. The sweet magnetism of her life has led me to Christ. I covet the thing that has made her life so beautiful.” 

 At the request of the preacher, the little woman was led forward, her eyes streaming with glad tears, and such a shining face as one seldom sees on this earth. “Let me introduce you,” said the preacher, “to the real preacher of the evening,” and the audience arose in silent, though not tearless, respect. Oh, ye obscure toilers of the world, ye patient “doers of the Word,” think not that no one sees. I say unto you that a great cloud of witnesses will rise up on that great day, and call you blessed.

The next chapter for the Church

 

                                    The Next Chapter  for the Church.                                                                                                               r

 

Saw this Article in the KYOWVA Evangelistic Association:  newsletter earlier this year,

I made a few editorial clippings but the overall message is we need to Prayer for the Church and have lots of work to do. Enjoy.

The American church is facing a series1of challenges regarding its future. 80% of churches pre­ covid, could be in the category of subtracting or suryiving. Those in the subtracting category are

those who are experiencing a numerical decline. Those in the surviving category are those who have currently reached a state of plateau. Neither growing nor declining. For the first time in the that Gallup has tracked American religious membership, more adults in the United States do not attend church than attend church. In the book the Great De-churching, author Jim Davis reveals, "More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined."

 Many of those declining congregations are made up of an aging congregation who are growing weary and who also have some uncertainty about the future of their local expression of the Kingdom of God. We are seeing churches close at a rate unlike anything we have seen in America. According to Lifeway Research, in 2019 approximately 3,000 Protestant churches were started in US, but 4,500 Protestant churches closed. Just five years prior, in 2014, the same Lifeway study found that 3,700 churches had closed and 4,000 had opened.

Another challenge that must be considered is a diminished pool of those who preach the Word It is not uncommon for churches to face a ministerial search that lasts more than a year.

Focusing on keeping the people you have and not reaching those who are lost. This type of thinking also confuses what it means to be faithful. Faithfulness is defined as keeping the lights on and the door open instead of being on a mission to reach those who are outside of a relationship with Christ. Faithfulness should be defined as being the best stewards of God's resources.

The changes that are facing us today require us to be very intentional about our solutions. It is also time for congregations to consider what is possible if they were to unite their resources with like-minded congregations. Church mergers have always been a challenge, but examples are available to give us hope for the future.

In the event that a church makes the painful decision to no longer

I

operate. The best solution is to what to do with the resource to make the most Kingdom Impact. That’s Kingdom thinking even in death of a congregation.

WWJHMD? What Would Jesus Have Me Do?

 

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning! Great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24.

 

A fourth grader celebrating his birthday while on crutches, so he couldn’t carry the cupcakes into school without help. His mother asked her sixth grade son to help his brother carry them in. “I could,” he said, “but I’d prefer not to.” Spotting a teaching moment, her husband asked, “What would Jesus do?” The boy answered, “Jesus would heal him so he could carry his own cupcakes.”

 

Sometimes I think the whole WWJD (What would Jesus Do) question should be translated to What Would Jesus Have Me Do? This has been a question we’ve been tackling on Wednesday nights with our Intentional Churches study. Looking at from the Street to the Seat perspective of changed lives for Christ.  I quote this phase of being Jesus’ hands and feet. And it becomes more than a question but about impact in our community for Christ. May we continue to focus on Him.