Leviticus 26:19-20 "I will break down your strong pride. I will make your sky like iron and your land like bronze...Your land will not yield its produce...."
Reading those words this morning I sensed a powerful urge to stop and read no further. Could it be that the lack of spiritual fruit (i.e. the lack of new believers, the lack of evangelistic fervor if you will, the lack of a passion to share Jesus Christ in ways that are meaningful and significant with a generation of spiritually hungry people) is rooted in our own pride?
I know several spiritual people who have little room for 'church' in their lives. As I was praying and reading God's Word this morning a couple of thoughts:
1. Do our worship services focus on God, His Son, and the reality of His Spirit, or are we celebrating our past, focusing on our traditions and concentrating on our own unmet needs?
2. Are we as individuals vibrant about Jesus or are we excited about 'church?' There is a HUGE difference between inviting people to follow Jesus and inviting people to 'come to church.'
3. Are we using the wrong tools? Spiritual warfare cannot be fought with better marketing, more attractive facilities, more 'user-friendly' worship styles. Spiritual warfare muse be waged spiritually. The first battle is not with Satan's grip on the lost- It must be with Satan's infiltration of my own heart, the weeds of sin that have taken such deep root in my own heart and mind.
This is heavy stuff, but frankly, I am no longer a young pastor. I have fewer years of ministry ahead of me than behind me. I am desperate to see God move. Join me in battle- that God will reveal sin in us as believers, that we will allow the Son to root out our sin, that we will seek the filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit to reflect Jesus Christ- not some vision of 'church' to a lost and dying world that is hungry for meaning, for hope, and for purpose!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Post-Easter
It's Monday morning-in Salem, OR. I spent last night with my daughter in her apartment in Salem, driving to Salem after an intensely busy Easter morning. the Sunrise Service was wonderful, and our Worship Time was filled with grace and peace. However...(you knew that was coming, didn't you...) I am challenged by a couple of things I observed yesterday. First, over the past few years I have noticed that attendance at our Sunrise Service is down from the high's of about 8 or 10 years ago. Some might wonder if this is indicative of a lack of vibrancy and vitality among beleiver. I think not. What is happening is a generational shift. My parents and my generation grew up with Easter being recognized - even by secular society-as a Christian holiday. I seem to recall being out of school on Good Friday, and spring break was often scheduled around Easter. We no longer live in a culture that acknolwedges the Christian links with Easter. So it appears to me that some who no longer attend such services are simply choosing to sleep in- and perhaps just being honest and admitting that they don't believe in all this religious stuff anyway. Now, our Sunrise Service attendance is still strong- somewhere around 300 people attended our community service- so that's not a bad number for our community. But one does wonder if it is time to re-invest meaning and significance around the Easter holiday. It appears that we have lost the battle with our culture to keep the significance of Easter. So, it's not the cutlure's fault, and probably not the fault of any specific person. So, instead of trying to assess blame, let's seek God's wisdon on re-investing Easter with its true significance.
The other observation I want to share is related. Ten years ago we could expect a significant attendance bump on Easter Sunday. The past couple of years we have not noticed the significant bump in attendance, but I have noticed that the guests who do attend on Easter are more intensely serious about seeking spiritual truth. In our community anway some who habitually attended Easter and Christmas but had no real spiritual interest have stopped attending these services. Again, maybe they are simply reflecting their honest sense of unbelief. Those guests who do attend, however, seem to be ready to have spritual discussions and willing to hear truth.
Anyway- Enjoy the grace and peace of God!
Steve
The other observation I want to share is related. Ten years ago we could expect a significant attendance bump on Easter Sunday. The past couple of years we have not noticed the significant bump in attendance, but I have noticed that the guests who do attend on Easter are more intensely serious about seeking spiritual truth. In our community anway some who habitually attended Easter and Christmas but had no real spiritual interest have stopped attending these services. Again, maybe they are simply reflecting their honest sense of unbelief. Those guests who do attend, however, seem to be ready to have spritual discussions and willing to hear truth.
Anyway- Enjoy the grace and peace of God!
Steve
Monday, April 6, 2009
A Place for Hope
In the next couple of weeks we will be launching a capital fund raising campaign- of the home grown variety called, "A Place for Hope." Our goal is to raise $80,000 for a significant remodel of our current facility. But maybe even more important than the money is the opportunity to renew our place in the community as a place for hope.
I just finished reading Philip Jenkins' "The Lost History of Christianity." A fascinating book bringing me up to speed on the history of the spread and decline of Christianity in the East. We are so familiar with the spread of Christianity in the West that we sometimes forget that the gospel spread throughout Asia long before it spread to America! I found his last couple of chapters troubling. While he acknowledges that THE CHURCH continues to exist, he reminds us that there are many places in North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, even to China and Japan where the gospel flourished and now is nearly extinct. Cultural changes, invasions of foreign powers, migrations due to invasions and natural disasters have radically changed the people groups of some of these areas. Part of the reason for the decline, according to Jenkins, was the failure of the church leaders to adapt to changing circumstances and a failure to reach much farther than the cities and commercial centers of those lands.
What troubles me are not his conclusions but the frightening parallels in our own culture. There have been far too many studies, surveys, and other research projects that have documented the fact that most Christians live just like their non-Christian neighbors. Without some sort of major shift in the way we 'make disciples' we are likely to find ourselves extinct in the very near future. Perhaps this is God's judgment ( an idea that Jenkins explores in his last chapter); perhaps it is part and parcel of the decline of the nation-state as a social and political grouping that seems to be occurring in our post Cold War world. But perhaps, and maybe this is better left to younger leaders, the real message is we who believe need to refocus our energy and effort on developing disciples who are truly willing to follow Jesus all the way. In a recent email article Ruth Haley Barton quotes Barbara Taylor Brown saying, "I want to stop about a day short of following Jesus all the way!"(see Holy Week: An Invitation to Walk With Christ(www.thetransformingcenter.org)).
If we hope to stay vibrant and alive, we need to be ready to stay with Jesus all the way- and discover a richer, more meaningful, and more productive way of 'making' disciples!
I just finished reading Philip Jenkins' "The Lost History of Christianity." A fascinating book bringing me up to speed on the history of the spread and decline of Christianity in the East. We are so familiar with the spread of Christianity in the West that we sometimes forget that the gospel spread throughout Asia long before it spread to America! I found his last couple of chapters troubling. While he acknowledges that THE CHURCH continues to exist, he reminds us that there are many places in North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, even to China and Japan where the gospel flourished and now is nearly extinct. Cultural changes, invasions of foreign powers, migrations due to invasions and natural disasters have radically changed the people groups of some of these areas. Part of the reason for the decline, according to Jenkins, was the failure of the church leaders to adapt to changing circumstances and a failure to reach much farther than the cities and commercial centers of those lands.
What troubles me are not his conclusions but the frightening parallels in our own culture. There have been far too many studies, surveys, and other research projects that have documented the fact that most Christians live just like their non-Christian neighbors. Without some sort of major shift in the way we 'make disciples' we are likely to find ourselves extinct in the very near future. Perhaps this is God's judgment ( an idea that Jenkins explores in his last chapter); perhaps it is part and parcel of the decline of the nation-state as a social and political grouping that seems to be occurring in our post Cold War world. But perhaps, and maybe this is better left to younger leaders, the real message is we who believe need to refocus our energy and effort on developing disciples who are truly willing to follow Jesus all the way. In a recent email article Ruth Haley Barton quotes Barbara Taylor Brown saying, "I want to stop about a day short of following Jesus all the way!"(see Holy Week: An Invitation to Walk With Christ(www.thetransformingcenter.org)).
If we hope to stay vibrant and alive, we need to be ready to stay with Jesus all the way- and discover a richer, more meaningful, and more productive way of 'making' disciples!
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