Being a part of a small church has pretty much been my life. I have never been a member of a really large place, not out of dislike, but just wasn't where God led me to be I guess. I love my church and its people dearly. This is a hard economic time and like small businesses everywhere our small church has its belt tightening going on. So there are still the calls for us to move and grow and invite and encourage others to know Jesus in a very personal way. As we prepare our church building and its inhabitants it all becomes cloudy and gray to some. "Why must we paint? Why must we plant flowers? Why must we _______________? Don't you know we have a crisis here?" It's so hard to continue to be active in our lives when the world around us is falling apart and losing ground financially. I can definitely think of better ways to spend "my" money....if it was truly mine. But God calls on us to do His work and His will with His money. In all honesty, it's not nearly as much about the money as it is the heart. Alright already, moving forward, moving on.
I was listening to a pastor last night preaching on being caught in a "growth" seminar at a church early on in his career. So, he was young and considered not-so-smart yet and well, mouthy. He saw that the seminar took an odd turn from growth for the church body to growth for the church's bottom line. He asked the pastor who was teaching, "so if we evangelize to the community and 1000 people give their lives to Christ, would we still be ok if they decided to go to a different church? I mean, Jesus still wins right?" The seminar was over at that point for this young pastor. He moved on. He had more to do than to just sit in a seminar trying to figure out how to grow the bottom line.
So, do we sit and wait for those who need Christ to find us in our seminars or in a fetal position in the church sanctuary corner? Or do we become active in our communities and in our churches?
I'm done playing chicken!
I'm hungry for Christ, so scramble me some of them eggs would ya?
1 comment:
I love the way you clarify things!
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