Stopping Time

As we turn the calendar page to a new year, some of us think we would like to stop time. Perhaps, if 2010 was a great year for you, it would be great if 2011 was just the same. For the rest of us, the possibility that 2011 will be different, and maybe even an improvement, makes us anxious for it to begin. I think there are times when everyone would like for time to stop. Each of us have years, months, weeks, day, even moments, that are so sweet we want them to go on forever. Like when she said, “I do”, or you hit the game-winning home run.

I can think of times like that for me: college days when there was so much to learn and more pretty girls than there were Saturday nights; when my wife and I set out on the great adventure of life with nothing but dreams; those wonderful summers I got to teach my son to love baseball and to play it with all his heart; the day the new church building opened, signifying not only the culmination of many dreams and lots of work, but also the potential for many, many lives to be changed. I could go on, but that would be fun only for me.

The fact of the matter is that time doesn’t stop. No matter how much we wish it would. Sweet, inspiring, important times can never be caught and held on to. We get to keep the memories, but time moves on. It is easy to forget that as it moves, it can bring more amazing moments which we would miss if time was held back.

As I get older, I find the temptation is greater to try to hold back time. (I prefer listening to the classic hits radio stations, and I sometimes find myself watching old TV shows and movies on Hulu.com.) But as great as the old times seem, they are passed, and it is dangerous to let them get in the way of new and wonderful things God wants to do in and through me. He isn’t done with the world, or with me, or with the part I am to play in it. So, I will do my best to approach 2011 with great anticipation, high expectation, and courage. That is the choice I have made. Not always easy. If I choose to live as if time were stopped, I am taking the reins of my life out of God’s hands. That is something I never want to do.

That brings me to a most troubling observation. I am seeing many evangelical churches doing their best to stop time. They have determined that there was a golden age for their congregation and they want to stay there, or go back to it. This is disturbing because the world that Jesus assigned us to reach is moving headlong into the future. Surveys of young people (Unchurched by Kinnamen and Lyons ) are finding the church to be irrelevant to their lives and to their futures. They see the church as something for old people. I think this is largely due to the fact that churches do their best to stop time.

I have seen this happen over the years of my ministry. At first, I didn’t understand what was happening. I thought the church was trying to guard the purity of Christianity. As I became older, and, I hope, wiser, I began to realize that what was being guarded was most often tradition, and/or the good old days, at the expense of doing the mission of the church.

I knew one church that had an open road to become a very influential beacon of God’s love and hope in the community, but it decided that it was big enough at about 120 attenders. They chose to spend their money to pay off their rather small mortgage rather than invest in timely opportunities for the future. As a consequence, 28 years later, the church sits in its paid-off building with a congregation of 25, looks back to the days when the sanctuary was full and wonders what happened.

Another church was considered a very large church in the 1960s when a great man was the pastor. He retired and moved on, but the church wouldn’t move on and tried to preserve the 60s. The 120 people that meet there now are taught about the greatness of the old days.

A friend of mine who oversees about 150 churches in a state ministry told me that most of the churches in his adjudicatory are all ready for next year, if next year happens to be 1955. How sad. How heartbreaking it must be for the God who is always contemporary, whose name is “I am.”

Many congregations in His beloved church have chosen to fall behind. Perhaps those churches would feel more comfortable worshiping a God named, “I was.” I could go on, but it would only serve to bring depression. The point I want to make is that the future is open. Wonderful times are ahead, if we are alert, if we are willing, if we are living in time as it comes. This is true for individuals, and it is true for congregations.

Join me in 2011. May it be a year so great we wish it would last forever!

At Just the Right Time...

When the right time came, God sent his Son.
Galatians 4:4a (Living Bible)
Jesus came at the right time, God’s time, for the Jewish people. For centuries they had been told by prophets to watch for the special one, the Savior/Messiah from God. Each day they prayed for him to come, and some of them tried to get themselves and the Jewish nation ready for him. The Pharisees thought that if they obeyed the law of the Old Testament thoroughly enough God would send the Messiah. The time Jesus was born was a time of great expectation. Because the Jews had languished for centuries under the control of the Persians, the Greeks, and then the Romans, their desperation grew; every year they were even more sure the time was right. The stage was set in the Jewish community for the entrance of God’s Son. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus also came at the right time, God’s time, for all the rest of mankind. The Jews tended to think the Messiah would be theirs exclusively, but the Old Testament taught that he would also be a light to all the world. This was never easy for Jews to understand, not even for Jesus’ first disciples. They realized that Jesus came for the whole world only after the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, the time of Jesus’ birth has long been recognized as a pivotal time in world history. Some of the historians and observers of the day spoke of a general feeling of expectation in the entire Roman world. The Bible even gives evidence of this. The wise men were not Jews, but they must have been looking for something great to happen as they studied the stars and discovered the star that led them to Bethlehem. The Roman world was looking for something to believe in. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus came at the right time, God’s time for me. I was only twelve years old when God, using two friends just a couple of years older than me, brought Jesus into my life. Of course I knew about him before that, but that’s when he came to live in my heart. It was just the right time for me. I was trying to figure out who I was and what my life would be like. My future could have gone a lot of ways and many of them not very good. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus is still coming at the right time, God’s time, for people today. There are people around us who God has been preparing for the coming of His Son to their lives. Look around. A lot of people have been shaken lately by the economy and the terror situation. The divorce rate indicates to me that a lot of people are starved for love. People are lonely, and just plain scared of dying. God wants to use us to reach them the same way he used my two friends to reach me. Even though we are by no means perfect, God wants to use us. We are his hands and feet. We are what people see of his heart. He has chosen us to be the way he loves the world. At a literally crucial (the root of “crucial” is cross) time for them as at the crossroads of their lives, they can choose a life with meaning or a meaningless existence. They can choose life or death.

This is the right time for us to share what we know about Jesus. This is a time when people are finding that other things they have trusted in are not trustworthy. Many people feel that their world has been turned upside down. This is a time when they need God’s Son to be born in their hearts. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Growing Up or Getting Old

Christ-followers are to spend their lives growing up to be like Jesus. Check out Ephesians 4:11-13, if you don’t think so. We are to become mature. For me, that means I need to grow into my gray hair. What does it mean to become mature? How can I tell if I am getting there? First, let’s tackle that by looking at what maturity isn’t.

Maturity Is Not:
 Age – adding years makes you old, not mature
 Appearance – as lovely as gray hair is, it does not mean that you are mature
 Achievement – neither making money, nor being famous make you mature. Watch any program on the E television network, and find out.
 Academics – maturity does not come automatically with diplomas and degrees

Maturity is determined by attitude and approach to life. Maturity has to do with how you are when other people aren’t paying attention, in the moments when, and in the places where, no one else sees. What others think of you is recognition. What God and you think of you is your character.
So how can I tell if I am growing into my gray hair? How do I measure my maturity? Our measuring stick is the Word of God, and the book of James gives us five ways to measure maturity.

Five Measures of Maturity (from the Book of James)
I. A mature person is positive under pressure
"Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4
How do you handle problems? Do you persevere through them and learn from them?

II. A mature person is sensitive to others.
"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, `Love your neighbor as yourself' you are doing right." James 2:8
Mature people are empathetic, they help those in need, and they are not snobs (see James 2:1-6).

III. A mature person has mastered his mouth.
"We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James 3:2
The self-control that indicates maturity begins with tongue control (See James 3-11). Mature people praise and encourage others. They use their speech to build up, not tear down.

IV. A mature person is a peacemaker, not a troublemaker.
“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?” James 4:11-12

Truly mature people refrain from gossip and judging. They know how destructive such talk can be and they refrain from it.

V. A mature person is patient and prayerful.
"Be patient then, brothers, until the Lord's coming ... As you know, we consider blessed those who persevere." James 5:7, 11

Patience is a mark of maturity and is learned only by waiting. (Annoying, but true.) A mature Christian has learned that waiting is often part of the answer to his prayer.

So how are you doing with these marks of maturity? Are you maturing or just getting old? Are you ripening or rotting on the vine? It’s up to you, because you get to choose your attitude. Make the choice to grow up and become more and more like our big brother, Jesus.

Who is Served and Who Serves in the Church?

To put this in business terms, the church has both internal and external customers. (Customers are people the church needs to serve.). The external customers are the people who are not actively involved in the church. They include (1) so-called “fringe people”, former members, relatives of members and friends of members who attend from time to time and would call on church in a time of personal crisis; (2) seekers, people in the community who are actively searching for something the church can provide, ie. the message of forgiveness and new life, or a caring fellowship of believers; and (3) folks who have no current interest in the church and do not yet know that the message of the church is for them.

The church’s internal customers are its members. They need the resources and training to be able to deepen their personal relationships with Jesus and to determine and execute the ministry God has for them to do. All members of the church should be active growing Christians who minister to the church and community in some way. It is important for the church to provide the members with opportunities to develop deep, rich relationships with each other.

The internal customers of the church are also the workers. Their work is voluntary. The problem that many church members have is that they act like the church exists to please them. Though the church, unlike businesses, is financed not by external customers, but by the generous contributions of its own workers, the purpose is to make new disciples. If the church is to accomplish its purpose, it must be focused on bringing more and more people to know Jesus, and serve all its customers—those who are members, workers, and givers, and those who are fringe, inactive, and not yet interested. If the mission of the church is carried out, external customers become internal customers, and become part of the workforce and income base of the church. Actually, this is a way of saying the church seeks to make more and more people part of the family, so they can share in the work and support it with love and fellowship. As they grow and become grounded in the Lord and the church they should take on more responsibility for the mission of reaching others.

All this is to say that church planning must take into account both the needs of the members (internal customers) and the needs of the community (external customers). Sometimes, this is problematic for churches. If all the church is concerned about is its current membership, it easily becomes a little island of Christianity in the sea of the world. However, Christ commanded the church to reach out to those who don’t know Him. So, it must stay relevant to the predominant culture without watering down the message Christ gave it to proclaim. The task is not only to celebrate the fact that her members are going to heaven because of what Jesus did for them on the cross, but also to take as many other people with them as they can. The church has to work hard to show the world that what it proclaims is important, life changing, and a better way for those in the world. The architecture, the maintenance of the building, the style of worship, especially the music and the sermons must be attractive to non-members. The church must be ever mindful that the impression it makes on people may well be the only impression those people have of Christ.

Why are Churches Dying?

Perhaps the scariest word in the English language is change. It plunges us from the security of the customary into the unknown. It threatens to take us to strange places and surround us with the unfamiliar. Change causes fear and contention in the church. People count on their church being something they can rely on, something that remains stalwart in the midst of all the craziness of a swiftly moving life and a constantly changing culture. As the old saying goes, “The only one who likes change in the church is the wet baby in the nursery.” Yet, it is in this culture and at this time that the church needs to make necessary changes in order to build God’s Kingdom by reaching this generation. Young ministers and young members are calling for different ministries, different priorities, different buildings and different organizational structures.

The need for change comes from more than the restlessness of a new generation.Churches are dying. In too many cases, church members will hang on to the familiar and watch their church die rather than make, or even allow, the changes that are necessary for it to bring new people to Christ. The church must always stay in tune with the times. After all, our God himself is eternally contemporary. In Exodus chapter 3 He told Moses that his name is “Yahweh” which means “I am.” Not “I was,” not “I will be,” but “I am.” God was then, and always has been, in the present tense. We do not serve Him by trying to preserve the past. The great saints and their accomplishments should be celebrated, but it is not our task to duplicate their work; instead, we must build on it. The methods we use to extend their work may be very different from theirs, but our goal is the same— to make Christ known.

This resistance to change has become so great that many young pastors are choosing to go through the hardships of planting a new church. Church planting is a brave and honorable calling. New churches are desperately needed, but some young pastors feel forced into church planting by the circumstances in the established churches. They find that the difficulties of starting from nothing are preferable, when compared with the fight they face trying to turn around a plateaued or declining church. Consequently, the large investments of emotion, spiritual and physical energy, and money that past generations gave are being lost as those churches die and close.

I completely understand the position of these young pastors. If they start a church they only have to fight one enemy: Satan. If they take a set-in-its-ways older church, they will have to fight not only Satan, but also the church people that are supposed to be fighting Satan alongside the pastor. Many of the best are saying “No thanks” to that proposition, and God seems to agree with them. Unless churches that are declining or stuck on a plateau in regard to attendance make major changes, hundreds, if not thousands, of them will close in the next two decades. Small tweaks to program, style and structure will not bring about lasting improvement. Declining and plateaued churches need to repent of their complacency and selfishness. Then, they need to ask the Holy Spirit for a new burden for souls and a new vision that will enable them to bring this generation to Christ.

Here's the Hope

What is it that motivates people? Perhaps the simplest answer to that question is: felt need. When people know that they really need something, they do everything they can to get it. When I am hungry, I eat. When I’m thirsty, I get a drink. When I am tired, I sleep. A good salesman creates a need for his product so that somebody will feel the need for it enough to pay money to acquire it. Yes, felt needs motivate.

But that is only part of the answer. Many people in areas of Africa and Asia are hungry, but famine has made it impossible for them to answer that felt need. Rather than motivate, their need disheartens and depresses them. To be motivated, people need to see a possibility for them to answer that need. Hope is the necessary ingredient. That is why people, like our ancestors, left lives they knew and came to America. They felt some need: hunger, religious freedom, equality, etc.) and found that in America there was the hope of having that need met.

What is it that motivates people to start coming to church? More to the point, what motivates people to choose to follow Christ? Is it the need for forgiveness, fellowship, a more orderly life, or help with problems? Probably it’s those things and more. Then, why don’t more guilt-ridden, lonely, disorderly, confused people find their way to church? Listen to the conversations of people who don’t know Christ. You will hear many hints that they are weighed down by enormous needs that aren’t being met. The sad fact is that, while there are churches on every other corner, most people don’t see them as places where their needs can be met. Often the church, which is supposed to be in the business of sharing the good news of Jesus’ love, hope and forgiveness is the last place men and women look for help when their hearts cry out.

Folks don’t look to the church for the help they need because we (church people) are not good at communicating the fact that Jesus is the answer to their, hurt, guilt, or life out of control. People don’t see the loving Christ when they see the church. Instead, they tend to see us as people who live by an uptight set of rules, and have a negative outlook on people, fun and life on earth. They know more about what church people are against than about the love we have found and which we are commanded to share. We need to communicate that there is hope in Christ for everyone by the way we live, and by what we say. They need to learn what we have learned: no one has to be in need all the time. The church is the place for hurting people to meet God and His people, and to find answers to life’s deepest needs. There are disheartened, despondent people all around us who have needs they can’t find any way to fill. We need to hold up Christ as the answer. We, who are hope-finders, need to become hope-givers. When they begin to understand that the church is made up of needy people who have discovered that God takes care of our deepest needs, hope may well be born in them. Then they will be motivated to join us in following Jesus.

Mike: Seeing What God Sees

Mike: Seeing What God Sees

Eight o’clock on Wednesday night and it was over. It never really started. Youth Bible study at my house, and only one boy came, Mike. He was a good kid, but I couldn’t help being disappointed. At other churches I had started Bible studies, and within a few weeks, I had a houseful of high schoolers who were really interested in what the Bible had to say to them. This church was different. Have a party; they would show up. Go on a trip; they were there. But I could not get this bunch interested in the Bible. I had tried everything that had worked before, everything I read about, even a few things that I didn’t really know how to do. Most of them were church kids, but they would not make commitments to Christ. Several of them were in trouble pretty often. As I look back on it, they were probably acting out their rebellion against their parents. One boy was the leader, if I could have reached him, the rest would have followed. He knew he was the leader and he wasn’t about to follow me. The other youth groups I led before were easy, but this one was difficult. I should have realized it from the beginning. I was the third youth pastor to serve that church in that year, and I came in July. I guess I was over-confident. Youth ministry had always been so easy before, that I am afraid I thought it was because of me. That night, I was disabused of that notion.

So I tried to pour myself into that one boy. Many Wednesdays it was only Mike and I. He was very bright and eager to learn. I encouraged him to go to a Christian liberal arts college. By the time he graduated he had been accepted there, and had received some pretty substantial scholarships. He even intimated that he thought the Lord might be calling him to the ministry. Though I had never reached the numbers I had hoped at that church, this one boy would make up for it. Late that summer, Mike’s plans changed. Instead of going to the Christian college, he chose a state school that was known as a major party school, in a town that didn’t have a church related to ours. You can’t imagine my disappointment. I left that church a few months later. During the next few years I heard from, and about, Mike from time to time. It was encouraging to hear that he had become involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.

Mike graduated with a degree in computer science at the time when personal computers were beginning to come on the scene. His future was bright and I was happy for him, I wondered how he would use his degree. Soon after graduation, I got a very newsy letter from him. Not only did he tell me he was getting married, (and ask me to officiate), he also told me of his plan to take his bride to Turkey ostensibly to work in computers, but actually, to be an underground missionary. You could have knocked me over with a feather. What a courageous couple! They spent 20 years in Turkey. From time-to-time I he sent me newsletters. Among other things, Mike had a role in producing a modern Turkish translation of the New Testament. I am proud to call him a friend.

From the perspective of today, I can see that the time I spent with Mike was worth more than I could have ever known. I wish I had any idea what God was up to. I probably could have taught Mike more, or been more enthusiastic about our times together. I guess the moral of the story is to always do everything you can, especially when working youth or children. You don’t really know who you are dealing with. When he was in high school, I saw Mike as a smart kid who played soccer. I didn’t see the underground missionary. Who is your in class, group, or your family? What will God make of them? Do your level best to prepare them for whatever it is.

Getting There

Last month, I drove cross country from Atlanta, Georgia to Walla Walla, Washington to serve the Blue Mountain Community Church as interim pastor. It was quite a trip! I started out at my son’s home and drove home to Kokomo with my wife, Tina. After packing for my four month stint here, I kissed my wife good-bye (She’ll join me soon, and I can hardly wait.) and headed west. I drove through many kinds of terrain: from the jungle-like heat and humidity that is August in the East; to the vast grassy plains of Kansas; through the magnificent Rockies and across the desolate high plains coming finally to the fertile valleys of Oregon and Washington. My little four-cylinder Ford Escape climbed up and sped down speed grades. I went through tunnels, over wide rivers and across dry creeks. My strategy was to keep going and going, everywhere the road led, because I was following a good map. Every kind of terrain had a beauty of its own, and each offered its own difficulty, but I was sure, if I stayed on that route, it would lead me to my destination.

The roads of our lives pass through all kinds of terrain: from the tangled jungles of problems, to plains of routine; from mountains of difficulty, to desolate places of spiritual dryness. Sometimes the rough parts of the road are so hard we just want to quit, because we feel we just can’t go on. The good news is that God’s road takes us home. If we are following His road map, the Bible, we are guaranteed that, and He always delivers on that guarantee. Sometimes the road requires us to persevere and endure, but we will make it, if we don’t give up. The difficult parts of any trip are often the most memorable. Whatever the terrain of your life’s road is right now, take courage. If you’re following God’s road, you are going the right way. Trust Him and never stop until he leads you home.

Why Don’t Churches Grow?

A lot of churches don’t grow and haven’t grown in a long time. The people scratch their heads and can’t figure out what is wrong. They love their church and don’t understand why others don’t. They see people come and go, but the attendance just seems to go down. The painful truth is that many of our churches are about a dozen funerals from ceasing to be. Why is it that many churches don’t grow? Of course there are many reasons, but I think the major one is that the world doesn’t see Christ in the church. Jesus’ love and the hope he gives are attractive, but too often non-Christians don’t see Him in our churches. Why is that? How are we covering Him up?

First, of all the world doesn’t know what the church is up to. We have not made clear that we are here to share the wondrous love of Jesus we have found and enjoy. Since they don’t feel the love they come up with all kinds of erroneous motives for the church.
Second, the world doesn’t think the message of the church is relevant. Generally that is at least partly because it we have not made the message clear. So they think, “Whatever they are doing has nothing to do with me.”
Third, we come across to the world as an ingrown culture. To them, we have our own jargon, we exist in our own little world. They think they wouldn’t be welcome, even if they were interested
Fourth, too often we are seen by the world as a people who argue over the strangest things: doctrines they don’t understand; the type of music that is sung in the church; the length of hair, and skirts; and whether or not to wear ties in worship.
Fifth, they see us as people to whom tradition is more important than sharing our message in a relevant way. Tradition can help hold people together, but many times we let our traditions get in the way.

What can be done? How does a church overcome these perceptions? To get past these things the people in the church first have to want to. We must decide whether it is more important to do things the way we like them, or to reassess the things we do and aim our efforts at doing what Jesus told us to do, make disciples, and make the changes necessary to reveal our wonderful Savior to a new generation.

It may sound brutal but it is true is that many of us are flat-out selfish when it comes to our church. We would rather watch our neighbor go to hell than have to change things in their church. Can anyone tell me, what Jesus is going to say about this?

Why is Church Membership Important?

This seems like a strange thing for a Church of God (Anderson, IN) pastor to write about. After all, we like to say, rather proudly, that we don't have formal church membership. Meaning we don't hand out membership cards at our churches. We like to tell people that the only way they can join is to become a follower of Jesus. While I agree with all that, I think it is important to realize that, with or without a certificate, it means something to be part of a church. There are certain things that persons should be able to expect from their church home. By the same token, there are things that church should be able to expect of its people.

But, before I get to that, let me assert that it is God's intention for we Christians to walk together as we walk with the Lord. Jesus brought His followers together and gave them the assignment to be witnesses of His life, death, and resurrection to the rest of the world. It is apparent from scripture that He always intended for His followers to work together; to be a Family; a People; a Nation. I defy you to find any "lone wolf" Christians in the New Testament. As unhandy, messy, and even heartbreaking as it can be at times, we are to do the Christian life together so we can fulfill the mission Jesus gave us.

So what should church members expect from their church? I can think of four major, reasonable expectations:
1. To encounter God through vibrant times of worship, dynamic interaction with God's Word, and loving relationships with the people of the church.
2. To be cared and prayed for, by trustworthy people with whom they share their lives, and who, along with a pastoral staff, encourage them through all the seasons of life.
3. To have opportunities to find their special gifts from God, and use them in helping the church fulfill its mission.
4. To enjoy being part of the great things God is doing both in, and through the church.

On the other hand the church should expect these things from its people:
1. To be fully committed to following Jesus Christ by seeking to grow in him, and serve his purposes.
2. To be regular in attendance, and financial support of the ministry of the church. As Jesus put it, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
3. To follow the leadership of the pastor, and pray God's guidance, and blessing upon him/her.
4. To participate in a small group or class to grow in knowledge of Christ, and share His love.
5. To volunteer time, and use spiritual gifts to advance the mission of the church.

Church members, brothers and sisters in Christ, need to be able to count on each other for mutual support. The Lord should find us faithful to Him, and His work. Finally, the lost and dying world, whether or not it is aware of it, needs each of us to do our part to share the saving love of Christ with it.

God's Love Letter

The single most powerful book in the history of the world is the Bible. That fact dumbfounds its detractors, and it is taken for granted by believers, and for the same reason. It claims to be the Word of God, who is our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior. If, as I believe, it is the God's Word to us, it should be powerful, because it is a message from the heavenly realms. The Bible has long been revered as holy by those who believe in God, and feared as seditious by those who think it is a bunch of fairy tales and myths.

What is the central thrust of this most amazing piece of literature? What message, above all else, is God sharing with us in this collection of histories, poems, laws, prophecies, biographies, and letters? I think the Bible is a love letter from the Creator to each of us. It is the story of God being jilted by the creation He loves and with whom He wants to have a relationship, and then God doing all He can to woo us back to Him. There are many other things that God teaches us in the Bible, but the main message is that He loves us. His constant love and the fickleness of people is the continuing theme of this multifaceted book.

You can trace this love for us throughout. God called Abraham and promised to make him a great nation so that He could be their God and they would be His people. He led Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt to establish them in the Promised Land so that He could be their God and they could be His people. Time after time, Israel rejected God and chased after other gods, but God always sent a prophet who would tell them that although there would be punishment, God still loved them and wanted them to be His people. The coming of Jesus, His sacrificial death and His resurrection were all to show us how much God loves us and wants to be our God as He calls us to be His people. God is self-sufficient. He does not need us, yet He chooses to love us and He desires our love. Over and over again He says it. The closest human experience to compare it to is the deep emotion of a lover who has been wronged and yet longs for reconciliation with his/her loved one. Here are the passages yielded by a very quick Bible study of the phrase "be their God."

The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." Genesis 17:8 (NIV)

Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. Exodus 29:45 (NIV)

But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.' " Leviticus 26:45 (NIV)

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. Jeremiah 24:7 (NIV)

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV)

They will be my people, and I will be their God. Jeremiah 32:38 (NIV)

Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:20 (NIV)

Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD.' " Ezekiel 14:11 (NIV)

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 37:23 (NIV)

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Ezekiel 37:27 (NIV)

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
2 Cor. 6:16 (NIV)

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. Hebrews 8:10 (NIV)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Rev. 21:3 (NIV)

This is what makes the Bible so necessary to us. He loves you and me and, in spite of all our sin, apathy, and rebellion, He simply wants us to love Him back. We are invited to live in relationship with the God of the universe. I am accepting that invitation. How about you?

Good for What?

God calls us to be holy:
"I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." Leviticus 11:44a (NIV)

"But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV)
It is not that he calls us to be better than any one else. He calls us to be like him: holy. Some Christians have decided that this impossible, and believe that God meant this as hyperbole, and that he doesn’t really expect us to be holy. Consequently, the lives of these Christians are no different than those of the non-Christian society that surrounds them.

Others have accepted the challenge and do their best to be seen as holy. However, their brand of holiness often gets hung up on superficial things. They tend to equate looking holy with being holy. Their attempts at this kind of holiness drive them to concentrate on the way their lives appear to others. A few demonstrate this in the way they dress; others show it in the forms of entertainment they choose, or by their selection of food and drink. These people have a list of activities that they have labeled sinful and, for them, the essence of being holy is abstaining from the things on their list. When I was young, some preachers were determined to make us holy by keeping us from using tobacco, drinking, dancing, gambling, and playing cards. Some went farther and prohibited the watching of television, and the wearing of jewelry. These preachers left me with the impression that if I kept myself from doing these things, I would automatically be holy. Then I would be a real Christian, and I would be fit for heaven. This quest to become holy started on the outside of life, with the hope that the inside, my soul, would somehow follow.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I do not want to argue the merits of any of the actions on the list that was labeled as the big sins. My point is that, when it comes to holiness, these actions are largely beside the point. At worst they are a symptom of sin within, and prohibiting them does not make a person holy, any more than putting a band-aid on a laceration makes it heal. The healing of the laceration must come from the inside out. It is the same with the healing, or sanctification, of the soul. (Sanctification literally means to become holy.)

The most dangerous aspect of this outside-in attempt at holiness is that it relies on the individual to force himself to conform to the image that the preachers set forth as holy. Most of the preachers probably didn’t mean for it to come out this way, but it did. A lot of folks who heard them thought they could earn heaven by quitting bad habits and staying away from certain “dens of iniquity.” Many stumbled and fell, and thereby thought they missed their chance for heaven. They began to believe that following Christ could never be for them. Again, I am not advocating bad habits, or iniquity dens. It is just that heaven is not something we can earn or deserve, it a free gift of God, given to us by his incredible grace, at the price of Jesus’ blood.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) >God gives us heaven, not because we are so good, but because He is so good.

So then, where does holiness come in? It comes in as we submit to the Holy Spirit and allow him to remake us from within. (See Romans 12:1-2 & Galatians 5:22.) Biblical holiness is an inside-out proposition. As the Christ-follower continually submits his life to the Lord, he takes on the characteristics of Christ, and, in effect; becomes holy as He is holy. Part of becoming holy is being a person of integrity, with high morals and ethics, but there is more to it.

How does anyone know that another person is holy? The often ignored next verse in the Ephesians passage tells us that God has good works he wants us to do.
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10.
It’s not a list of works we can check off, but it is a way of living, a life emphasis that pours from the work the Holy Spirit is doing inside us. Please carefully note: the works themselves don’t earn us the saving love of God. We do the works because we have received the saving love of God.

Too often people who call themselves “Christian” don’t do these works. They refrain from doing bad things, but that is not enough. They are being good, but what are they good for? Who is helped by their lives? Are they sharing the salvation they have found with people who need it, or are they so afraid of being contaminated by the fallen society around them that they have no affect at all? Too many of them hole up inside the walls of the church. Non-Christians see them as rigid judgmental people, their only friends are Christians. Some spend most of their lives sheltered from sinners, when it is sinners Jesus came to save, and sent us to bring to him. These “Christians” may be good, but they are good for nothing. Strong words? Yes, but what else can you say about people who are under orders that they refuse to carry out those orders.

What are these orders? What are the works God has for us to do? There is no mystery here. Jesus made it very plain: we are to love God, love others, be witnesses of the love and salvation we have received, and make disciples. These are broad concepts and he equips each of us to do specific things to get this work accomplished. This is where we can start looking for the work he has for each of us in particular to do. Whatever your assignment is, it will come under these overarching orders.

What kind of holiness are you seeking? Outside in? Or inside out? Are you trying to impress non-Christians with what you don’t do, or with what you do? Are you known first for the standards you hold, or first for the love you give? Are you good for something?

The challenge is to be holy as God is holy.

The Other Side of Giving

II Corinthians 9:7 tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. Some people do give cheerfully, but many have a tough time with that. Last week I said that we get (have the privilege) of giving to God’s work through His church. This time, I want to look at the other side of giving. The side that is not so cheerful.

Some folks have a hard time giving cheerfully because their financial picture is bleak. They have over-obligated their income. This happens to people of all income levels. Several years ago, I read a news magazine article that claimed the average American family spends 110% of its income. How does anyone get happy about giving away 10% or more of his income if he is already spending more than he is making? If someone in this financial shape decides to become a tither, how can he do it? Some folks say, “Just have faith and give, then God will take care of everything.” I am the last one to say that God can’t do something, but I have found that He expects us to do our part, too. Some people are so far in debt that if they give 10%, they are not really giving their own money. They are giving away money that belongs to someone they have promised to pay. Seems to me, that is a form of stealing, and I don’t think God takes too kindly to the breaking of the 8th commandment, even if it enables the person to give. I suggest that the over-obligated person, who truly wants to become a cheerful giver, should set tithing as a goal and plan a strategy to pay off bills. Then he can enjoy the honor of giving. In the meantime, he should begin giving a small percentage, and, as bills are paid off, increase that percentage. I believe God blesses that kind of faith.

There are some people who give to get. The hard fact is that some preachers encourage this attitude. I once saw a television preacher look straight into the camera and say, “I guarantee, if you send $50 to my ministry, God will give you that job you need, or the raise in pay you have been hoping for.” I think he had a desperate need for money to build something important: like a Six Flags over Jesus theme park. (A few years later that particular preacher got caught up in a sex and money scandal and wound up spending several years in prison.) It is very true that God promises to bless those who give generously. The thing that is often forgotten is that God gets to choose what the blessing will be. If you give some money, even sacrificially, so that you can get even more money, you may well be disappointed. God may choose to bless you financially, but He may instead bless you with the ability to do without the new car, or house you were hoping for. He may bless you by teaching you how to be contented without the raise, or by helping you find a training opportunity for a job in a new field. Make no mistake, God blesses the giver. The giver has to be ready for whatever blessing God decides to give.

The other side of giving shows up another way: when people give to the Lord, but keep strings attached. Sometimes people feel that because they give to the church they should have the final say on how their money is used and what the church does. If they don’t like a program or a staff member, they withhold, or threaten to withhold, their tithe. Perhaps they make a lovely gift in memory of a loved one, and then limit the ways that gift (a room, a building, a table, etc.) can be used. This kind of thinking can cripple a church. The church winds up worrying about pleasing people who have already passed on, instead of reaching the lost.

Finally, it is hard to be cheerful about giving if you continue to think about what else you could have done with the money. Often new tithers do this. They can’t help thinking, “If only I had kept that 10%, I would have enough to take that fine vacation, buy that boat, or order a bigger steak.” The good news is that if they persist in tithing, most people will grow out of this attitude, but for some people it proves to be extremely difficult.

Let us examine our attitudes toward giving and toward what we have given. Are you giving your money, or someone else’s? As you give, are you planning what you will do with the financial blessing you expect God to give you? When you put your offering in the plate, do you let go of it? When you give, can you be excited that God is going to use it, or do you brood about what you could have spent it on? – Or are you becoming a cheerful giver.

Wow! We Get to Give!!

Christ-followers are called on to be giving people. All of us are to be givers. Some folks have the spiritual gift of giving, or liberality, and are wired to give very generously. Often these folks have a lot of resources to share, but not always. Some folks, who don’t have much, are gifted to give far beyond what would be expected. The rest of us, even if we don’t have the gift of giving, do have the role of giving. I am one of those people. I love to give, and I feel honored to fulfill the role of giving my tithe and more, but I am not particularly gifted in giving. When someone with the gift of giving sees a need, his/her first move is to reach for his wallet. My first moves are to try to figure out a way to keep the problem from repeating itself (gift of administration), and how to learn from the situation (teaching). When someone who is a gifted giver suggests we all chip in, I am glad to do that. Often, I wish I had thought of doing it, but it is not generally my first reaction.

The Bible teaches a lot about giving. In the Old Testament a tithe (10%) is required to support the ministry of the temple. (If you read closely, it looks like the tithe is required three times a year so that would be a 30% annual gift) Old Testament people didn’t feel like they were giving an offering until after they had put in their tithe. The tithe reminds us that all we have comes from God, and “returning the tithe” is the way for us to acknowledge his generosity to us. So when you hear people talk about tithes and offerings, it is not really two words for the same thing. Tithes are what God requires, while offerings are our gifts to him and his work. The tithe was to support the temple, today, that would be supporting the church. Offerings might be for many things, like building projects, mission work, or special needs.

In the New Testament, money was a major topic for Jesus, and the Apostle Paul urged the church at Corinth:
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV)
This could indicate a sliding percentage scale. In light of what the Old Testament says, (of which Paul was a major student) 10% is the baseline of giving for the Christ-follower. If God has enabled us to have a better income, we should expect that he may well want us to give away more.

Giving is to be a joyous experience. We get to be part of what God is doing! God allows us to share in his great work in this world. What a privilege! What an honor to be allowed to partner with him! God could have chosen another way to finance his mission, but he his chosen method is to enable us to make a living, and then rely on us to share our living with his work.

Next time: “The Other Side of Giving”

God's Answers to Our Prayers

Yes it is true that God offers three answers to our prayers: Yes, No, and Wait. In my last posting I spent some time discussing the fact that God gets to choose which answer He gives to any particular prayer. This time, I want to look at these three answers. We’ll start with the one that may be the most difficult to accept, then move to the one that is most difficult to live with and finally with the one we all hope for when we pray.

If God is truly our heavenly Father and has our best interests at heart, He must, from time to time, tell us “No.” It is a poor father who never says no to the child he loves. No keeps the child from harm and from the wrong path. God’s no’s to us do the same. In addition, He knows the future and how we are designed to fit into it. Many times His no’s not only keep us from going the wrong way, but also keep us on the best way. For us, just like for a child, no is hard to accept. It goes against what we want now, and it may go against what we have carefully thought out. God’s no may go against our best judgment; in fact, we may not even be able to see how no can be the right answer. That is when we must bend our will to accept God’s wisdom.

The good thing about no is that it can be freeing. It can establish boundaries and help us focus on who God wants us to be and what He wants us to do. My wife was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis on her 18th birthday. The doctor told an athletic, beauty queen, pianist, valedictorian that she had a disease that would cripple her. It just didn’t seem right. In all her young life anything she tried, she had mastered. She thought, as did I when we met and married, that this disease would not stand. We were sure that God would give her a healing. We prayed for it. All our friends prayed for it. In addition, Tina tried all the drugs, vitamins, diets, and quackery she could find thinking that one of them might be the way God would use to remove the pain to heal her.

Instead, twelve years later she was confined to a wheel chair and dying from a side effect of the arthritis. The doctors were telling her that, at best, she would never walk again. The pain was so great that it would wake her up in the middle of the night. One night, as I sat up with her, she told me that she felt that the Lord had told her no concerning her healing. I argued with her that the answer was wait, but she said she was okay with no. She went on to explain that with wait, she had been putting a lot of things on hold “until I feel better”. Now that she had the assurance that her answer was no, she could begin living life and dealing with the abilities she had, rather than sitting and waiting until she felt like her old self. So, she started getting the most out of each day and did as much as her little body would let her. She learned new skills, found new interests, and discovered a new purpose for her life, and a different Tina.

Rheumatoid Arthritis changed her life. A “Yes” from God would have meant a healing that would have enabled her to continue with her old vision and purpose of her life. Accepting the no allowed her to find out what else God had for her to do. As a result, even though, R.A. changed her life, it didn’t ruin it. Her health is now better, but she still struggles every day with the disease. In the last 23 years she has had 43 surgeries. More important than that, she has learned to walk again, graduated from college, become a children’s pastor and ordained as minister. Tina began writing and by now has written children’s Sunday school curriculum for more than 20 years. She is the author of 6 children’s ministry books. She is now the editor of the children’s ministry magazine, “K!”, and writes an online children’s church curriculum, “Kitchen”, for Kidzmatter, and a sought-after children’s ministry workshop leader.

God sometimes answers no, but if He does, He has something else in mind for us. We may not see it right away. In fact, we may not see it until all things are clear to us in eternity. Obviously, no is not our first choice, but it is God who does the choosing. If He is truly our Lord and we are truly His followers, then let us put our trust in Him.

Why Aren't My Prayers Answered?

In the next couple of blogs I plan to deal with prayer. This first one takes a look at what is probably the most asked question about it:

Have you ever heard someone say, "Why aren't my prayers answered?" Maybe you have heard those words come out of your own mouth, or at least formed them in your mind. Actually, this is a question that bugs most Christ-followers at some time or other. I have learned that God always answers my prayers. Sometimes I don't get the answer I want, but he always answers me. It is when his answer to my prayer is not what I was expecting or hoping for that I am tempted to say he didn't answer it.

It is often said that God answers prayer in three ways: Yes, No, and Wait. But some folks will accept only yeses. They remind us that Bible tells us to ask for anything and it will be done, or all we have to do is ask, seek and knock. I ferverently believe what the Bible says about that. However, if you check those passages out, you will find that somewhere in the context the Bible talks about being in God's will, or asking in his name, or the context assumes the asker is submitted to God's will. The supreme example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening before he was crucified. He asked the Father to find a way, which didn't require the cross, to redeem the world. Then he ended saying, "Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39 (NIV)

Some people are sure that if they don't get what they want, God hasn't understood their rationale for the answer they want. So they keep repeating it, and "claiming" it. Jesus encouraged us to be persistent in prayer, so, of course, we should. The problem comes when persistence becomes insistence. Subtley the request becomes an order, and the petitioner becomes a demanding boss. This doesn't work because God is the King, and none of us is. We are to submit to him, not he to us. God gave us the right to ask for what we need, and even for what we want, but he does not give us the right to tell him what to do.

Got comments for me? I would love to hear them. I know not everyone agrees with me. So let me hear from me.

Next Time: "God's Answers to Our Prayers"

Dead Man Walking - The Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul faced the cruelest persecutions imaginable and about every kind of difficulty you can think of. Yet, time after time in his writings he shares his joy and encourages his fellow Christ-followers to rejoice. This week I am posting a message that I preached last year at First Church of God in Kokomo, Indiana about this amazing hero, Paul - Dead Man Walking. Please give a listen. I hope it will both inspire and challenge you to live your life with Paul's kind of tenacity and joy.

Click:  http://tinahouser.net/RaysMessages/index.html to hear "Dead Man Walking - The Apostle Paul"

What Kind of Church is Yours?

Some of you who know me well may have heard me talk about this subject at some time or other, but I have never written these thoughts down, so here goes!

What kind of church do you attend? What kind of church do you wish your church was? What kind of church does God want His church to be? I am not talking about denomination or size. I'm talking about the emphasis and atmosphere of the church.

Some churches are museums. As near as I can tell, the main reason they exist must be to preserve the past. The building probably hasn't changed in years and even if it has been updated, the programs are straight from fifty years ago. Many times they can't change the building because every room, and, perhaps, even all its furniture is dedicated to the memory or the honor of someone who is now long gone. That is, they are gone until someone tries to move or change something, then it seems like they have come back with a vengeance in the uproar caused by their descendants. These churches can't change the programs because, well, we have always had that program. It doesn't matter that the program is no longer relevant and the few who participate do so only out of loyalty. Museums may be nice places to visit now and then to see what used to be, but they are not places that people go to get things done, or to make a difference in the world.

Some churches are stadiums. The crowd watches while a few professionals perform. If the professionals are particularly talented and their performance pleases the crowd, then the crowd raves about it and the number of attenders swells. The crowd's purpose is to pay their money and soak up the excitement. At this kind of church the Gospel is presented and some people find a relationship with Jesus, but there is not much of a place for them to grow and serve. If the professionals hit a losing streak, and the performance is not up to expectations the seats are soon empty. Stadiums are cold, drafty and lonely once the crowd thins out.

It seems to me that many churches these days are exclusive clubs. They would not admit it, but just let the wrong person try to become part of the fellowship. Then their club characteristics come out. Some churches are exclusive to people of a particular race or ethnic group, some to an educational level or social strata, and some to a style of dress or some other standard. I have observed that many congregations these days seem to be determined to be a club for senior citizens. While they lament the lack of younger people, and say they long for the energy that youth would bring, the manner the church worships, dresses, the music it uses, and the programs it employs, are all designed for people of "a certain age." They are suspicious of technology, mostly because it is different. Younger folks are welcome if they like old music, and old ways. What is wrong with at church wanting to appeal to its old members, or have a certain standard for its membership. Nothing, I suppose, if only it would advertise itself as a Christian club instead of a church. Then they could hang out a sign that honestly describes who may apply for membership. A true church is a place where whosoever will may come. "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Revelation 22:17 (NIV)

Thankfully, some churches choose to be what I like to call Spiritual Medical Centers. These are places where people find healing for their souls and then learn to share that healing with others. Medical center churches know why they exist: to make disciples. They use the most up to date methods, and equipment they can find to help them do this. The emphasis is on the person who is hurting and needs attention. Everything that happens at a physical medical center has to do with healing the sick and injured. Everyone from the surgeon, to the administrator, to the nurse, to the custodian, has a job to do that helps the physical medical center fulfill its purpose. At a medical center church everything is about not only getting people to accept the cure for their sin, but also about learning to live healthy lives in Christ. Then they learn to share the cure, and the health they are finding with whoever they can. There are a lot of things to be done, but all of them point to sharing love, hope and salvation with others. All the people who regularly attend the medical center church see themselves as part of this great work. The medical center church doesn't exist for those who are already part of it, but for those who need it. It is not picky about who comes in the door, or where they have been. It just wants to bring them into an encounter with the Lord. Members of a medical center church realize that fulfilling the mission is much more important than their preferences. These are the churches that build God's Kingdom and have a great affect on the community.

I am always looking for other kinds of churches. What kinds can you think of? I have long used the metaphor of the medical center for a healthy church. Can you think of other good metaphors that help explain what a healthy church should look like? Please share your thoughts with me.

The Winsome Church 4

I want to finish up what I have to say about how a church can become winsome. By winsome, I mean inviting; a place where guests feel accepted, comfortable, and loved. Today I am combining my 4th and 5th thoughts on this subject because I think they are closely related.

4. Do everything you can to make guests feel welcome, but don't single them out. I have found that many people are embarrassed to stand in the service. They feel like they are on display. Almost as bad, is to make the guest wear a special "Visitor" tag. A name tag Sunday where everyone wears similar name tags can be helpful, but "Visitor" tags are not a good idea. Churches make visitors stand and label them in an effort to make sure they can know who to welcome. Actually, I think the reason is often so that regulars will not be embarrassed by mistaking a fellow regular attender for a visitor. Personally, I don't see the problem with that. If the regular attenders don't know each other, they need to meet anyway. Why can't they just laugh it off and become friends? However, if you feel that you must identify guests, give them a welcome packet or gift that is too big for a pocket or a purse. Then teach regular attenders to look for people carrying the welcome packet/gift. I attended worship at a church recently where the only people who knew me were the pastor and one of his associates. Even though I was not recognized or tagged as a visitor in any way, 5 or 6 people not only shook my hand, but spoke to me for several moments. This is a church that expects visitors and wants them there. I felt welcomed, but not overwhelmed. That is what we should all shoot for.

5. Here are some other things that must occur if you are actually expecting new people to come to your church.
a.) Whether you call it the foyer, the narthex, or the lobby, the entrance area needs to be uncluttered and welcoming. If you are building or remodeling your church, make sure the entry is larger than you think you will need and that it is well thought out.
b.) The nursery, children's area, and the rest rooms must be clean, and appropriately decorated. The stuff you don't want in your home anymore, is not good enough for God's house. If you would be uncomfortable to have a piece of furniture in your house, don't put it in the church.
c.) Don't be afraid to get creative when decorating the youth, children, and nursery areas. Make them age appropriate and fun. This does not take a lot of money, just some imagination and effort. Remember, if the kids want to come back the parents are more likely bring them again.
d.) Nursery and children's workers must be present early, and come equipped with a smile for every family, including the new ones. Procedures for the nursery should be explained by a worker and printed for the guest to have. Children's church workers should make sure the parents know where their children will be, and where and when they should be picked up. If parents or children are reluctant to take advantage of the nursery or children's church, help them to feel fine about worshipping together.
e.) Go the extra mile to make sure the restrooms, particularly the ladies rooms, are clean and attractive.

Many people decide whether or not they are coming back before the worship service even begins. If the entry is a mess, if the restrooms are uncomfortable, or if the children's areas are not desirable, many guests will right the church off before they even know it. First impressions count for churches, just like they do for individuals.

You and I should be making friends with people who don't know the Lord, and when we do, I hope we will want to invite them to worship with us. As they come, the church should help us present a witness of Christ in every way. Again, be winsome to win some.

What did I leave out? What else can the church do on Sunday morning to support our witness to our friends and neighbors?

The Winsome Church 3

Let me continue again this time exploring what it takes for a church to become a winsome church, so that, it, by all means might win some. Members of the church should be able to feel condident that when their unchurched friends visits their church, they will find a welcome that is practically irresistable. This is my third rant on this subject.

3. Pastor you must lead the way in this. Anytime the church gathers, the pastor should do his/her best to let guests know he is glad to have the guests there. This is particulary true on Sunday morning. I suggest the pastor spend the last 15-20 minutes before the service in the worship room greeting the people, with an eye out for guests. Some pastors will say that they are in prayer for the service at that time. A few will admit they are cramming for their sermon like a college student getting ready for a final. But that few minutes before worship are critical for meeting and greeting guests. The emphasis of your personal greeting time should be the guests, especially ones who appear to be unattached to any of the members. You would do no less than this at home. It's the same as when company comes to your house. You concentrate on them, and expect the family to do the same. To do otherwise, would be rude. The old custom of the pastor appearing as worship begins is not very helpful. Do your praying, that's obviously important, but finish in time to greet your guests. Meeting the pastor puts people at ease,and begins a relationship. If they have seen the pastor up close, there is a better chance that they will be able to identify with him, and what he says in his message. Give them your name and invite them to tell you theirs. They may not want to tell you theirs. Don't assume a couple is married, and don't seek to define the relationship. Let them tell you what they want to tell you. Some folks will want to talk a lot. Others will want to be more or less invisible. They will appreciate your greeting, but they may not yet feel at ease enough to talk with you. Grow antennae and adjust to the guest

At some point, before or during the service, guests should be asked to fill out the welcome card, or a registration (Know Your Neighbor) form, so that the pastor can send a letter on Monday telling them how glad he is that they visited. Be sure to ask them to put the card in the offering or hand it you a staff member, an usher, or a greeter. I suggest that you assure guests that they will not find you camped out on their doorstep. Rather tell them you would like to be able to send them a note thanking them for coming and some information about what is happening at the church. A hand written note from a lay person is a great plus, too. Years ago, we used to try to visit everyone who visited the church. I found that worked pretty well, until about 1985. After that, it became harder to get people to open the door, and many felt uneasy about the pastor being there. I would have thought it was just a reaction to me, but many other pastors have reported the same thing. People in general, seldom drop by other folks homes anymore. This has been a change in our culture. Make sure there is a place on the registration card where they can indicate that they would like a call from the pastor. When someone checks this box, the pastor should respond with a phone call on Monday. If they want a visit, let them invite you to their home.

The point is that the pastor should be very involved in putting guests at ease. His example can serve as a model for all the greeters and, hopefully, all the members.

Does anybody know some other ways the pastor can put guests at ease?

The Winsome Church 2

Last week I shared the first blog about how a church can become a winsome church. In other words, a place where visitors feel welcome and members can feel exited about inviting their friends. Let me start this one with a true story about how not to do it.

A few years ago I was invited to speak at my mother's church for Mother's Day. It was an honor because I had attended there from ages 6 to 12. The service was just as I remembered it from 40 years before: same songs, same organ, even the same organist. It was also the same people, not nearly as many as before. I was one of the younger ones attending that day. Everyone was very nice to me, but after the service, I had an opportunity to stand off to the side as coffee was served. The people were encouraged to chat for a few minutes. I noticed couple was standing there with two children, and I could tell, by their shyness that they were new, and by their dress they were from the neighborhood which had run down over the years. Literally, no one spoke to this couple. As they left, I heard the 80 something year-old church secretary say to one of the other old timers, "What were they here for?" Obviously, she was unimpressed with their jeans, and their tatoos. The end of this story is that about 18 months later the Bishop closed the church. It had literally died, as had so many of the old timers.

This could never happen at your church. Are you sure? What are you doing to prevent it from happening? Here are a few ideas:

Before and after church, it is important for old friends to put off their conversations until the guests have been thoroughly welcomed. In fact, the church should be intentional and strategic about welcoming visitors. From the moment he comes on the church property the new person should begin to realize that you planned for his arrival, and you want him to be with you. It starts outside the front door, with a greeter offering a warm hello, and help with the door. Actually, it should start in the parking lot, especially if it is large one, or if it is not near the main entrance.

Once inside the building, greeters should be outgoing people. This is not the job for someone who is afraid of people, or for the one with offensive personal habits. The greeter, or the welcoming team, should be able to direct guests to the nursery, the children's area, and the youth area, as well as the worship room. Most of all, they should know where the restrooms are. Greeters should find out who invited the guest and try to help the new person connect with their inviter. If that is not possible. introduce them to someone else in the church. Be sensitive, some folks want to slip in with little notice. Don't force anyone to do anything. The point is for the guest to feel accepted, comfortable and loved. If the church has a welcome center, it should be manned early, and attractive welcome packets should be available.

As a backup to personal contact, the church should have good signage. I am amazed that many churches don't have signs at all. The sign should be sure to tell the worship times. Guest parking signs should be posted at the best parking places. (Staff, board members, and other members who want the church to be welcoming to guests should park at the back of the lot to leave room for guests.) The main entrance must be easily identifiable. Inside the building, there should be signs directing guests to the welcome center, the restrooms, the nursery and the worship room. Don't take for granted that new people will be able to find anything. If your church was built in the before very recently it may be difficult for people to even find the right door to enter. How embarassing it is for a guest family to find itself wandering all alone in strange building, and their six year-old needs to find the rest room, now! Remember, signs are to back up personal contact, not take the place of it.

The whole idea is for first experience of someone you may, or may not have invited, to be as comfortable as you can possibly make it.

The Winsome Church 1

Last week I talked at length about Christians sharing their faith naturally. I said that I would share with you what a church can do to help Christians bring their friends and neighbors to Christ. Never has there been a church that didn't think it was friendly. Most of them are: to each other. However, a church that is going to help individuals lead their friends and neighbors to Christ, must be "guest conscious". I think there are five important components to becoming guest conscious, this week I'll share the first one:

1. The church should expect people to come who don't know Christ and be ready for them. If the church asks its people to bring their non-Christian, hopefully, pre-Christian friends, the church should do what it can to make sure they feel welcome. That takes more than a smile from the usher when he/she hands the guest a bulletin. It means thinking about the guests and what would make them feel welcome: from the sermon that is preached and music that is used, to the decoration and lighting of the worship area, to the way people dress.

The pastor must make sure that an unchurched person can understand his message. He can never use words that they won't understand unless he explains the meaning. As he prepares, he must continually ask the Lord to enable him bring messages that will speak to the hearts of the unchurched. Every service must somehow include the simple message of God's love, the sinfulness of all men, the need for reconciliation, forgiveness and submission to God's will. Not every sermon has to deal with all these things, but they need to be dealt with at some point. Perhaps it could come in the prayer, the songs, a testimony, or a video. Church leaders should think about who they are most likely to reach when doing any planning. Those people are the ones the church wants to impress with its programs, classes, and messages. (I know your church wants to reach everybody, I am sure that is true, but a church that plans for everybody, often reaches nobody.)

How does your church show that it expects guests to come? Or, how does it show that it is not ready for guests?

Next time when we will look at the act of welcoming a guest at church.

Sharing Naturally

In a meeting the other day some pastors were talking about the place of evangelism programs in the church today. Usually, evangelism programs have consisted of classes that teach people to share the gospel. They entail memorizing scriptures that have to do with the God's love and his plan for people to be saved from hell by the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus. An outline of the steps to salvation is also committed to memory. There are many programs available for this. Among them are, "The Four Spiritual Laws", "The Roman Road", and "Evangelism Explosion." As the people are being trained, they are given the opportunity to practice what they are learning among themselves. When they have some degree of proficiency, they go out to try to bring people to Jesus, often going in groups of two or three to visit people who have visited their church. Sometimes they go door to door in the neighborhood of the church, or strike up a conversation at a coffee house or similar place. The idea is to learn how to share the Gospel with people who need it - definitely a grand and necessary idea.

Early in my ministry I was involved in several of these efforts. In fact, I was a trainer in an Evangelism Explosion program. Christians ought to learn those scriptures and know how to lead someone to the Lord. More than that they ought to actually be involved in helping people understand the Gospel and come to a saving faith in Jesus. Praise God that people are sometimes reached in this way.

However, I have a few problems with this kind of evangelism program. The training is very helpful, but most of these programs also encourage the learners to target complete strangers. In some ways, it is very hard to share the Gospel with a stranger, mostly because a majority of people find it difficult to talk to strangers about anything, much less the most important thing in life. On the other hand, if the stranger reacts badly, or simply rejects the Gospel, while it hurts, he is a stranger, and there is not much invested in the relationship. When I worked in E.E. I shared the Gospel with a lot of people that I didn't know. I was not even aware that I had anything in common with most of them. Some prayed with me to accept Christ, I am happy to say, but following up with them was tough. I can't remember any of them who became disciples. It felt like I was getting people to make decisions, but I was unsuccessful in doing what Jesus commissioned us to do "make disciples" (Matt. 28:19-20).

I began to wonder if wouldn't be better, though perhaps riskier, to share with people that are friends. Of course, that is not easy for many long-time Christians, because they have no non-Christian friends. How can a church program friendships? I don't think it can be done. As a young pastor, I didn't have time to make friends with non-Christians, because I was always at a church meeting or a training session. I decided to make time to make some friends that didn't know Jesus. So, I found a way out of some of those meetings, and began playing on a softball team that was sponsored by a local furniture store, joined a service club, and became a volunteer police chaplain. Pretty soon I made some new friends, and I was able to earn the right to talk about Jesus. I found that the Gospel just came out naturally as the relationship grew. It didn't feel forced, as it had when I shared with strangers. My friends liked me, and wanted to know what made me tick. I also found that the Gospel outline, while helpful, was not the main instrument that Jesus used. Instead, God used my life, and my sharing what Jesus had done, and was continuing to do in my life that seemed to move my friends closer to the him. Didn't Jesus tell the disciples to "be witnesses" (Acts 1:8)? Seems to me that is simply telling what He is doing in ones personal life. Some of my new friends started showing up in church. Some received Jesus, and I had the privilege of baptizing some. Following up with them came naturally because it was part of our friendship.

Now, this is important: I didn't set out to make a friend to add a notch to my Gospel gun. I simply went out to make friends and the Lord used that friendship to speak to the hearts of some of them. I had some friends who hadn't chosen to follow Jesus by the time I relocated to another part of the country, but I know that the Lord planted seed by means of the friendship. I trust that someone else may have been used by God to later pick the ripened fruit.

I once read a great article in "Campus Life", the magazine of the Youth for Christ ministry, on sharing faith. The first suggestion it gave was "Don't be weird." Sounds easy, but often Christians seem weird to non-Christians. As we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, he changes us. We are not the same as we used to be. Our values and priorities are changed and they are not the same as those of the "world." However, we don't have to be strange just because we are different. Jesus was very different from everyone he met, but he must have had a winsomeness about him that made people flock to him and want to know him. Too often we Christians have succeeded in becoming different, but somehow we have lost out on being winsome. If we ask the Lord to make us winsome, perhaps we will win some. Paul was very explicit about this in I Cor. 9:22b: "I have become all things to all men so that I might by all possible means save some." What makes this kind of evangelism possible is a real and desperate desire to do whatever it takes to see people find the love, hope and salvation that we have found in Jesus.

Next week's I will share what I think a church can do to help this kind of evangelism happen.