The State of the Church

To Change the World

One likely response to hearing, ‘We are to change the world’, just might be something like, ‘But we’re too small to do much about changing the world’. But saying that reveals some important misunderstandings about this calling.

First, there’s the goal of the Church. To change the world is our calling. That’s clear if you remember the words that Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’. What is this but a prayer that God would bring about the ultimate change, the coming of His complete rule over the affairs of humanity. Then, consider Jesus’ parting command to His Church, ‘Make disciples of the nations’. What is this but how God brings about the coming of that kingdom. This is our calling. It’s very important to distinguish this from working for the ongoing existence of Faith Reformed. There have been plenty of churches that were very faithful in working toward this goal which no longer exist. They will be rewarded.

Then, there is the method. How are we to do this? Here’s a key thought for doing this in this culture. These days the Church will make progress in this by Christians working at living well as disciples and being ready for any opportunity to explain their lives, and thus the Gospel, when people ask. If we do a good job of this kind of living, they will come to us, wondering how we do it. This does not mean that we are to be passive in this, but rather that our greatest weapon these days - what will open doors of opportunity for us - is how we live before the watching world.

Last, how long will it take for us to do this? Well, who is that ‘us’? It’s the whole Church throughout history. This is something that we’ve been working on since Jesus told us how to pray and gave us that final command. This is something that has been taking - and will continue to take - generations. Our expectations need to match that. We need to work at this not necessarily expecting to see the result of our labors in this life.

This is how we change the world.

This is the last of a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.

State of the Church

Real Friendships as an Evangelistic Tool

Our deep friendships (aka 'fellowship') can be a tremendous means of doing some very powerful evangelism. In saying this I am making an assumption. Because of the rapid shifts in our culture, people's lives are not working well and they are becoming increasingly aware of that. Quite apart from any sociological studies, we know this happens because the further that people move away from living based on some sort of biblical standards the further they move from reality. And lives based on something other than God's reality will not work.

In the days of my youth, our culture was by no means Christian, but there were certain Christian notions about living that were generally accepted. That is no longer the case. Take marriage for one example. People without a shred of Christian belief will still benefit when they have long-term, faithful marriages, something one time commonly enjoyed. Consider the damage that divorce and promiscuity cause these days.

So, how do we do evangelism in this cultural context? It isn't by the old methods of going door to door or by using little booklets. Today, we broadcast the Gospel first by leading lives that work, by becoming increasingly whole people. Over time, as their lives aren't working and they see that ours are, we will draw them to Jesus.

But this way of doing evangelism won't work without our being a community of really good friends. That's true because, first of all, we cannot develop into whole people without the aid of the group. That's one reason Jesus has a Church. And second, we need to invite those people who will become interested in the Gospel into a group of people who are really there for each other. Our witness is not just individual but also corporate. Being really good friends ('fellowship') is an evangelistic tool.

Next time: Changing the world?

This is from a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.

State of the Church

How Do We Become Whole People?

Jesus has come so that we can become whole people. And that’s a process that we are to continually work at. How do we do that? Here’s one thing: to continually work at friendships. Here’s something to help us understand what to aim at. ‘A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.’ Proverbs 17.17

To really get this, we need to be clear on that word ‘love’. This is more than being nice or being someone to hang out with. The people who truly love us are people we know that we can depend on - like in times of adversity. And if we are going to be real friends to others we need to love like this.  

But please note that if we’re going to be able to love people in this way, we will need to know them, really know them. Real friends know each other. So, how do we do that?

First, we need to listen. We need to listen to what people are saying. We need to listen for what they’re not saying. We need to listen to what’s behind the words. We need to listen.

Then, we need to ask good questions. The fact is that people want to be heard. They want to tell you about what really matters to them. But they are afraid to do that. What if they open up a bit, and you don’t care or you step all over something that is precious to them? But the right questions will show them that it’s okay to talk about these things. It tells them that you will listen and treat what they treasure with care.

We might need to be gently persistent in pursuing this. Most people are used to others not caring to listen. We’ll need to gain each others’ trust.

Oh, and by the way, this used to be called fellowship before that word was re-defined to something about coffee and donuts.

Next: Fellowship has so much to do with evangelism.

This is from a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.

State of the Church

What Does God Want Us To Be Doing?

The question in the title has an important element in it. It doesn't ask, 'What Should We Be Doing?' It asks, 'What Does God Want Us To Be Doing?' That guides us to the place we are to find the answer: the Bible. That might sound obvious, but, sad to say, there is a growing problem of Christians not looking to the Bible for the answers to important questions like ours.

Let me add a clarification lest there be any confusion. The 'Us' in our question isn't us as individuals, even if we are a group of individuals. The 'Us' is the church. The Bible has some things for individual Christians to do and then, other things for churches to do. Confusion here can become a real problem.

So, how does the Bible answer our question? I think that a really good place to start to look for an answer is those letters to churches that take up the second half of the New Testament. When you read through these letters what you find is that they boil down to two important themes. The first is the Gospel stated, clarified, defended: doctrine. The second is the Gospel applied in different kinds of situations: life. (Think: Romans chapters 1-11: doctrine, and then chapters 12-16: life.) And what is the point of these two themes? The stress in those letters is on what kind of people we are to endeavor to become. It's about growing in things like character - aka Christian maturity. So, a good beginning to an answer to our question is that we should be working at becoming a certain kind of people, whole people. And that makes sense since that’s one reason Jesus has come.

Next: Can we get a little more specific, please?

This is from a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.

 

State of the Church

‘We Don’t Do Anything’

We’re once again taking a look at ourselves as a church. This time it’s about the claim, ‘But we don’t do anything’. Let’s be clear. I don’t think this is saying that we do absolutely nothing. We are obviously doing some things that every church absolutely must do. And at the top of the list is the worship of God. There are other things that we also do, but the point of that comment is that we aren’t doing some sort of ministry out in the larger community. And let’s face the facts; we aren’t.

So, is that a problem? Is some ministry out in the community something we really should be doing? After all, lots of other churches are doing ministry in the community. But does that mean that we are supposed to?

Churches, like people, are all different. And one aspect of their being different is that God has called each of them do certain things, this one to this thing and that one to that thing. So, the right question isn’t, ‘Shouldn’t we be doing what that church over there is doing?’ Rather, the right question is, ‘What has God called us to be and to do?’ And whatever that is, that’s what we need to be sure to be working at. At this point, as far as I can tell, God has not called us as a church to create and maintain some sort of community ministry. However, when He does, we’d better listen up and get busy doing it.

Next: What does God want us to be doing?

This is from a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.

State of the Church

Who Are We?

Well, it's a new year and something that people often do at this time of year is to take stock of things. It occurred to me (by the Spirit?) that it would be good for me to do that in terms of our church. So, this is the first of several short inserts reflecting on our church. This insert looks at the question, 'Who are we?'

Here's one thing that is obvious about us. We are a small church. Is that a problem? Is that something that we should be embarrassed about? The fact of the matter is that, for the longest time, I was embarrassed by our size. 'Successful pastors lead (numerically) growing churches', or so I was led to believe. But really, should we see our small size as a problem? It is a problem if the goal is to get bigger. But is that Jesus' goal for His churches? I really don't think so. Size is never mentioned as a measure of success in the Bible.

We're not big, but we are the communion of the saints. The Gospel is being taught and increasingly believed here. We are working at being faithful disciples and good friends. All of those things are good. There actually is much about us that is good. To be sure, there still is much to work on, but that shouldn't stop us from feeling good about who we are.

Next insert: 'But we don't do anything?' 

This is from a series of bulletin inserts that I wrote for my church.