Tag: life

  • Letter #43 (Whosoever Will)

    Dear Small Church Pastor,

         I was reminded of something recently that I want to share with you.  Allow me to give a brief backstory for the comments I want to make. 

         A group of us were working to help someone who is living a terrible existence to get housing after a fire took everything from the individual.  As we worked, the life and current situation of that person was discussed.  As we talked about everything that had occurred over a lifetime that had begun so promisingly and turned into a pitiful situation of degradation, addiction and poverty, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus came to give freedom to that person.  He reminded me that, as long as there is breath, there is hope.  He reminded me that Jesus came for “whosoever will believe in Him.”

         You may have someone in your community about whom you have asked yourself if he/she is redeemable.  You may have witnessed multiple times to the person.  You may have helped financially.  You may have given your time and effort to do whatever you could to try to lead that person to have faith in Jesus.  You may have endured some hardship in order to try to meet a need the person had.

         Then, after your efforts, the life doesn’t seem to make any changes.  The same destructive behavior appears.  The old ways draw him/her back into the darkness after a brief season of light tried to shine through into a heart.  And you ask yourself if a person can reach a place where there is no redemption possible.  Allow me to remind you again—as long as there is breath, there is hope.  Jesus came for “whosoever will.”

         Always remember that the “unredeemable one” you may know could have been you.  You could be the addict, the homeless wanderer, the desperate thief and liar.  But you aren’t, and your status with God is determined because you became a “whosoever will” one day.

         Someone did not give up on you.  Someone kept praying, kept witnessing, kept teaching, kept on giving and talking to and helping—YOU.  Were you past the point of redemption in someone else’s eyes but not in God’s eyes?  Were you the black sheep of the family?  Were you the one no one could trust?  Were you like that person whose house burned to the ground and was left homeless with few, if any, people who would do what they could to help because of how you had treated yourself and others?

         Keep on trying to help.  Keep on praying and witnessing and reaching out.  Keep on trying to let some spiritual light shine into that life.  As long as there is breath, there is hope.  Jesus came for all the “whosoever will’s” of this world, even those who are called “unredeemable” by a community.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #18–Eating Together

    Dear Small Church Pastor,

         Let’s talk about the idea of eating together for a bit.  There is a common bond that is created between people when they eat together.  They don’t just eat.  They share recipes.  They talk about family history.  They relate important events from their lives.  They communicate with each other, and communication is one of the keys to creating a cohesive, unified, strong relationship with others.

         While serving as the leader for student government summer camps, I discovered the power of having a meal together.  Our camps, which were designed to foster leadership skills in rising young student leaders, were divided into beginning sections for those who had just become elected to their student councils and those who had a year or more of leadership responsibilities in their respective schools.  I noticed that the advanced students who were grouped together for a special meal outside the normal eating schedule would demonstrate more of a unified spirit than those who did not attend those special meals.  In essence, they were building closer relationships to each other than the beginning groups.

         How does this knowledge play into your situation as a small church pastor?  To help foster that same type of cohesion in your congregation, one way of doing that is to eat together.  There are plenty of times in the Bible in which people ate together.  Sometimes the meals were designed as special festivals.  Sometimes they were everyday events.  But, regardless of the occasion, people shared histories, rationales for the meals existing, everyday life joys and sorrows, and the whole gamut of life’s happenings.

         They were communicating.  They were learning from each other.  They were helping each other deal with life.  They weren’t simply putting food into their mouths.  They were becoming a group, a family, a whole unit that was sharing, not just food to exist, but their common existence, dreams, fears and hopes for the future.

         Eating together can be one of the greatest blessings of being a small church pastor.  The meals don’t have to occur every time you turn around.  They can be scheduled or impromptu.  They can be formal or informal.  Small church congregations will enjoy them, because they don’t just enjoy eating.  They enjoy being together with people of “like precious faith.”

         Allow me to suggest that, in addition to getting the whole congregation together for a meal, you eat with the individual families outside the church setting.  Invite them to your home.  Find out what they enjoy and prepare that meal for them.  Accept their invitations to eat with them in their homes.  Share favorite recipes from your own home and family histories.  Get theirs.  Open yourself up to being alone with that one family or individual and get to know them/him/her while you’re eating.

         Eating together can become one of the great blessings that a small church pastor can have with the congregation and its families. 

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor