Tag: small church

  • Letter #61 (The Local Shepherd)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         I have a question for you.  Do you want a pastor (a local shepherd), or do you want a weekend evangelist who leads people to Jesus for you and visits the sick?  The answer to that question will determine how far you grow spiritually.  It also will determine how long any numerical growth will last in your congregation.

         May I be honest and blunt with you?  If you are seeking the weekend evangelist, you have doomed your congregation to failure.  The desire for a weekend evangelist often reveals that the congregation does not understand the role of a pastor as opposed to that of an evangelist.  The spiritual and physical growth you expect the weekend evangelist to bring to your congregation will probably not last when that dynamic minister decides to leave your presence.  Allow me to elaborate for a moment.

         If the leader is the only one bringing in more sheep (more disciples) to the fold, too many times those sheep are connected only to that leader.  More often than I like to recall, I have witnessed a great preacher lead numerous people to Jesus and encourage them to become involved in the ministry of a congregation, but the congregation had not accepted those new people as an integral part of their group.  They loved to see them at services so the numbers were higher, and they would let them do as much work as they wished to do, but the “core group” of the congregation simply did not accept them into their number.    

         The core group had not been involved in the “birthing” of the new sheep.  They had wanted, even expected, the weekend evangelist to do that.  When the time came for the leader to move on to the next season of ministry, the new sheep too often left with the leader or shortly thereafter.  Their connection to the congregation had been severed, and they didn’t feel like they were part of the “core group.”  And, in reality, they never were.

         If a congregation desires to have a local shepherd, a pastor, and understands the Biblical role of a pastor, then the dynamics for spiritual and physical growth have the opportunity to change dramatically.  People who want a pastor (shepherd) must be willing to fall under the pastor’s authority, which exists spiritually and physically.  They must be willing to be corrected and guided as much as they want to be encouraged. 

         There’s something else about those who want a shepherd to lead them.  They understand that they are the primary ones to birth new sheep into the fold.  (As a disciple of Christ, the pastor will work to lead people to repentance and forgiveness, but the shepherd should never be responsible for birthing the sheep that the sheep are supposed to birth.  That’s not his job description.)  They understand the shepherd’s primary focus is to guide, feed, water, protect, correct and nurture the sheep.

         A congregation that honestly seeks a pastor has a much better chance of growing spiritually and physically.  They know the shepherd will be led by God to be committed to them, and they, in turn, will commit to the shepherd’s leadership and authority.  They have come to understand that, in order to succeed as a congregation, they will have to be under a spiritual umbrella, and that umbrella, that protection and first line of defense against evil that wants to harass them, is provided by the pastor.

         I’ll speak more about the local shepherd and the connection between the congregation and the shepherd (pastor) in the next letter.  Until then, it is my prayer that your congregation has sought a pastor and not a weekend evangelist.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #60 (The Body’s Head–3)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         You begin to feel rough and sluggish.  You decide to go see your doctor and discover that you have gained too much weight and are taxing your circulatory system to the point that it has affected your overall physical abilities.  Your doctor suggests a change in diet, more exercise and regular checkups to keep a watch on your progress toward better health.  You now have to decide if you are going to follow his suggestions or continue doing what you have been doing that has created this poor health.

         Now your brain takes over, and you have to choose to ignore the warning signs of a possible heart attack, or even a stroke, or are you going to do what the doctor suggests.  The situation now becomes a matter of your will, your ability to choose.  You know the consequences of each choice.  Why in the world would you choose poor health over improvement when your brain is trying to get you to make a good choice?  Why would you ignore your doctor?

         Suppose that, instead of poor physical health, that rough, sluggish feeling, we are talking about your spiritual health.  Maybe you don’t feel like you’re as close to God as you once were.  Maybe you know you have slacked off on reading your Bible and you seldom pray.  Perhaps you have not attended a worship service or Bible study in a week or two, or a month or two.

         And then it happens—the Holy Spirit nudges your spirit and reveals to you that you need to do some correcting in your spiritual disciplines so you can gain spiritual health again.  A friend tells you he has missed seeing you in the congregation, and you respond with, “I’ve been really busy lately,” knowing that is not really why you missed worship services.  The pastor sends a text or calls to check up on you, and you begin to feel like “they’re harassing me.”

         It’s at this point that your spiritual brain (the will of God being presented to you through Jesus) lets you know what you’re going to have to do in order to regain your spiritual health.  I have to ask the same questions I did about your physical health—Why in the world would you choose poor spiritual health over improvement when your spiritual brain is trying to get you to make a good choice?  Why would you ignore the will of God for your life?

         In the physical realm, we ignore our doctors because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our health.  We like potatoes with plenty of butter and sour cream.  We enjoy the chocolate-glazed donuts.  We see no reason to have to do without the foods we have always relished.

         And exercise?  Why would I exercise when I know I already walk plenty at work?  I’m active.  I’m no sluggard.  I’m not a morning person, and I can’t see myself getting up an hour early to go to a gym.  And in the evening, can’t a guy (or gal) simply rest in the lounge chair after a good supper?

         In the spiritual realm, we ignore that spiritual nudging because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our relationship with Jesus.  We’ve always enjoyed our favorite singers, regardless of the song lyrics.  I relax while I’m watching  those sit-coms that present all of life as one long laugh, regardless of their themes.  I see no reason to change what I’ve always done when it comes to entertainment.

        Spiritual disciplines?  Why would I attend every worship service possible when I can tune in on the net without having to get out of my pajamas.  Bible study?  I get bored reading the Old Testament.  Prayer meetings?  I can pray at home. (But will I?) 

         If we make a poor choice when it comes to our physical health, the result can be devastating.  If we make a poor choice when it comes to our spiritual health, the result can be just as devastating, only this devastation can last for all eternity.  If we refuse to listen to our spiritual brain, if we reject God’s will for our lives, if we choose to reject a close relationship with Jesus, we have chosen spiritual death over life. 

         It has often been said that people do what they want to do.  When it comes to your spiritual life, what do you want to do?  Do you want to listen to your spiritual brain and act on the will of God that the Jesus reveals to you?

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #57 (The Body’s Members–4)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         Okay.  You’ve repented of your sins, asked God to forgive you and placed your eternal future into the hands of Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  You’ve decided to become a participating part of the Body of Christ.  You’ve decided to seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit to determine your gifts, talents and calling from God.  You’ve found a local congregation with which to worship.  Now what?  Now I challenge you to make the commitment that you will regularly associate with the other disciples in that local congregation.

         I ran into a rather disheartening statistic recently during a forum designed to instruct and equip pastors of small churches for ministry in their respective communities.  Across all Christian denominations in this country, an attender to worship services is considered a regular member if he/she is present 1.6 times a month.  Let that number sink in—1.6 times a month.  That’s obviously less than half the time if the local congregation meets an average of four times monthly.  (Many meet more often than that.)

         This brings into focus a very serious question—Why do people who claim to be disciples of Jesus not earnestly seek every opportunity available to worship God in a corporate setting?  The answer to this question could be presented as being quite complicated.  However, allow me to present one approach to the answer that might be simpler than expected.

         At the end of the first paragraph of this letter, I challenged you to commit to something.  That something was to regularly associate with other disciples in a local congregation.  I do not mean to say that regular association involves attending worship services 1.6 times a month.  In fact, I mean to challenge you to attend more often than that.  Associate with other disciples of Christ every chance you get.

         Why would I urge you to do this?  Associating with disciples of Jesus does more than place you in an atmosphere of worship.  It brings encouragement into your life from people who are experiencing the same trials and joys you are experiencing.  It gives you a place to ask questions, receive advice and to give advice to others.  It opens to you new opportunities to serve in the local body.  It also puts you in a position to experience new things in life in general as you interact with folks who know things you don’t know or do things you don’t usually do.

         Worship is great and should be experienced every time possible.  Joining in with other disciples to be encouraged in your faith and to receive ministry or to be a blessing to others should never be underestimated.  Worship is essential to your Christian walk.

         Meeting with other disciples of Christ for worship and other activities is important as you all learn to live for Jesus in a world that does everything it can to keep you from doing that.  Be aware that the devil wants to keep you from joining others in worship, Bible study or just living life together as Christians.  He will distract you, put more to do in a day than you can do while awake, place numerous temptations in your path, bring persecutions against you and delay answers to prayers whenever he can.  Satan will do anything he can to keep you away from other disciples of Jesus.

         He wants to isolate you from any source of spiritual strength.  Satan knows isolation yields spiritual weakness.  He knows worship, Bible study, prayer meetings, etc. bring you victory over him.  He knows corporate spiritual strength spreads to the individuals present and becomes personal spiritual strength.  And Satan does not want you to be spiritually strong.

         This is why I challenge you to commit to do the associating that will give you the faith and spiritual power to overcome the enemy of your soul.  This is why you need to do everything you can to be in attendance at the local congregation more than 1.6 times a month.  Be in attendance on a regular basis that surpasses that statistic.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #56 (The Body’s Members–3)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         When you are born again, you become part of the overall body of Christ, the body which makes up the church Jesus is building.  As part of that body, you have been chosen by God, called through the drawing of the Holy Spirit and given a new spiritual birth through the cleansing, creative power of the blood of Jesus.  The same Holy Spirit that drew you to Christ also places in you gifts, talents and anointings that are to be used to bring glory to the name of Jesus.

         God doesn’t bring salvation into a life and stop working in that life.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God gives you the abilities and opportunities to expand your ability to bring Jesus glory through what you do and say.  That doing and saying is where the gifts, talents and anointings come in.

         Some people are given special skills that develop into ministries that include being an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher so the overall body of Christ can be built up, developed and empowered to go into the world and share the good news about Jesus.  Others are given special abilities to give generously, to administrate and direct others, to sing, to speak God’s message to others through unlearned languages or interpretations of those languages, to bring healing to the sick, to be encouragers for the hurting, to perform miracles in unusual circumstances, or to do any other number of activities as directed and anointed by the Holy Spirit.

         Let me make something clear at this point in this letter.  No gift given by the Holy Spirit to a member of the body is more important than any other gift.  Our physical bodies operate properly when all the parts operate properly.  The lungs need the nose for the flow of oxygen.  The stomach needs the teeth for properly chewed food.  The eyes need the eyelids.  Each part, regardless of how small, is important.

         This same concept holds true for the body of Christ in the local congregation.  Each member operating properly adds to the proper operation of the whole congregation.  The person who cleans the front sidewalk after mowing the grass is just as important as the one who prepares the music selections for a service.  The intercessory prayer group leader is just as important as the pastor.  They have different responsibilities, but they all are needed for the congregation to fulfill its calling in its community.

         Another reminder at this juncture—All of these gifts, talents and anointings come from God’s Holy Spirit that is in complete agreement with God the Father and God the Son.  The Holy Spirit has other responsibilities, but He is the one who gives individual disciples these gifts as He chooses.  Men do not give these gifts to other men or women.  They come from God and are to be used to bring glory to God as the members of Christ’s body fulfill their individual callings.

         As each member becomes actively involved in the operation of the body, the body operates as it should and will bring Jesus to the forefront of everything that happens because of the words and deeds of the individual members.  This holds true for the overall, worldwide body of Christ, His church, and it holds true for the individual congregations that are made up of members of that body of believers.  Each congregation that is operating with its members fulfilling their callings from God will have the same result as the overall body of Christ when it does its world-wide job.  Jesus will be lifted up.  Lives with be changed  through faith in the creative power of Jesus.  The Kingdom of God will increase.  This happens in the local congregation, as much as it happens throughout the world.

         One of the primary reasons for a member of the local body to seek God’s anointing, power, gifts, talents, wisdom, discernment, etc. is so that member can help the local congregation become all God intends for it to be.  When the individual members are operating under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the local body matures, grows and becomes highly effective for the cause of the Kingdom of God.  Without the local member operating and fulfilling his/her callings, the local body becomes ineffective, and that hinders the overall body of Christ being effective on a larger scale.  

         The individual member can discover his/her gifts, talents and anointings through prayer, fasting, studying God’s word and simply listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He directs his/her life.  Seeking the Kingdom of God in one’s own life will help a person to discover just what his/her job is in the local body of disciples.  No two people will have identical gifts, just as no two people will have identical ministries and no two congregations will have identical ministries.  Some things may be similar from one local body or member to the next, but they will not be identical.

         Allow me to encourage you to invest some serious time in asking God to reveal to you what He wants you to do as one member of the local body.  Look for opportunities to apply your skills and talents in ministry within your local congregation.  Talk to your pastor about your interests and seek his guidance in filling a need within the local congregation if it falls in your areas of interest.  Talk to mature disciples and ask them how they became involved in ministry within the local congregation.  And as always, pray, pray, pray, and then listen and let God speak to you.

         Remember that God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified.  He will qualify the called.  (God will get you ready for what He wants you to do as an individual member of the local congregation.) 

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #54 (The Body’s Members–1)

    Dear Small Church Congregation

         If you are a disciple of Jesus, you belong to His church, His bride, His body of believers.  As a member of that chosen group, you have been called to operate in much the same fashion as the various parts of a physical body operate.  Paul compared the relationship that exists between the members of Christ’s body to that between the members of our human body.

         Allow me to remind you that, as a member of Jesus’s body, each of you has been designed, chosen and anointed in a different fashion from the other members so the whole body will function correctly as each different member accomplishes the purpose for which it (he/she) is designed.  When people gather for the purpose of worship, every person present has a particular function in that worship.  But there is something I pray you will realize—none of the body’s members is designed to be just a spectator.

         Spectators watch what is happening and respond emotionally to what is happening, but they are not involved in what is happening.  They are not part of the process of actually creating the worship experience.  I’ll restate that—A spectator does not help create the worship.  They simply observe the worship, without any direct connection to the worship.  As the Bible study “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman indicates, they’re in the bleachers, so to speak, not on the field of play where all the action occurs.

          I have seen that it is possible to enjoy hearing good singing, hearing fervent prayer, donating to the financial responsibilities of a congregation and listening to an inspiring message without intentionally being involved in the worship experience.  It is possible for a person to enjoy being in a worship service without actually becoming part of the worship that is happening.  When that happens, that individual, the spectator, is not experiencing worship.  The person is experiencing entertainment that originates in a religious service and makes no spiritual impact on the person other than to help him/her “feel good.”  (I’ve run across the term “worshiptainment,” and I must agree with the intent of the term.)

         The person who is made to feel good through worshiptainment is not functioning as a member of the body of Christ.  That individual is not fulfilling his/her function as a disciple.  A disciple of Jesus was not designed to be entertained. 

         Disciples are designed to operate together as a unit that produces glory directed toward God.  Disciples are designed to fulfill their individual calling so the whole body can magnify Christ through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  Disciples, learners of Christ, have been chosen and anointed to share the good news about Jesus before, during and after a worship service.  When each disciple is fulfilling his/her intended function, worship does occur as the whole body operates with a common purpose.

         You, the individual member, have a special reason for existing.  That reason is to help create a whole group of disciples who fulfill the Great Commission and complete the Great Commandment.  You are part of that church Jesus said He would build.  You are one member of Christ’s Body.  Refuse to be a spectator.  Get out of the bleachers and onto the playing field.  Be a member. 

    (I pray you will forgive the repetition used in this letter.  The concepts are that important.)

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #53 (The Body of Christ)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         I have one of those “duh” questions for you—Who makes up the body of Christ?  Your first inclination might be to say—the church.  And you would be correct.  But who or what constitutes the church?  Who or what is identifiable as belonging to the church?  (Keep in mind that I am not referring to a building.)

         If Jesus is building His church, then the who or what makes up His church would be someone/something He brings into existence.  That means people are not the ones who create the church.  My science teacher long ago showed me that people can manipulate matter, but people cannot create matter out of nothing.  Since we cannot create something out of nothing, like God can do, then we cannot claim to be the ones who create or own the church.  (Letter #52)

         We are told in scriptures that the body of Christ has many members and that each member has its place and usefulness in the body, just like our physical bodies are made up of many parts that are all quite important to the overall function of the physical body.  But these members are not brought into existence by people.  They are created and placed into His body by Jesus as He puts His body together, as He builds it.

         If Jesus is putting His body, His church, together and placing the individual members where He wants them to be and giving them their functions inside His body, it would be Jesus who is empowering those members to perform their functions in His body.  He would be the one who decides what their functions would be and how they would operate within His church.

    (Bear with me.  I’m going somewhere with this basic stuff.)

         People generally consider anyone who places his/her eternal future into the hands of Jesus by believing He is Messiah and Redeemer of mankind, asks for forgiveness for sins and strives to live according to Jesus’s teachings to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  These individuals have been born again spiritually through their faith in Jesus and have publicly declared their allegiance to Jesus.  They would then be considered a member of Christ’s church, His body.    

         This whole process of believing, having faith, being born again spiritually, etc. is something Jesus accomplishes in individuals so they can become part of His body.  If you are a disciple of Christ, this process has occurred in your life.  You are now a member of the church Jesus is building.

         When a person says he/she is a member of a particular church that belongs to a particular denomination or fellowship, the membership is a concept we mortals have developed to indicate where the people attend worship services and the organizational structure with which the people identify.  That kind of church membership is man-made.  It is created by people to group or classify people according to doctrines and traditions developed since the creation of the original group of disciples, a group which was chosen by Jesus Himself.

         Humans, being what we are with all our preferences and fallacies, have a tendency to identify ourselves as belonging to that man-made church system, rather than to the church Jesus is building, to the body of Christ.  When this happens, when we say, “I belong to __________ Church,” we put our membership focus on the man-made church system, and not on the universal spiritual church (ekklesia = assembly; called out ones) Jesus owns.  We have an inclination to become faithful to and promoters of that physical group in which we call ourselves members instead of the spiritual body into which we are placed when we were born again spiritually.

         There is absolutely nothing amiss in belonging to a particular group of disciples.  I encourage anyone who has faith in Jesus to seek out and connect with a local group of Jesus’s followers who regularly worship together.  I also recommend you read a little book by Thom Rainer entitled I Am a Church Member.  It speaks to belonging to a local body of believers.

         However, please, please do not become so wrapped up in your local church that you forget that it is a small part of the very large church Jesus is building.  His church is made up of many millions of disciples who gather in homes, in small and large buildings, under trees, along meadows and sitting on rocks around the world.  His church, His body, is His creation.  Remember where your church membership really lies.  Please remember you are a part of the body of Christ.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #52 (It’s Jesus’s Church)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         In the last letter I proposed that there are people who have forgotten who owns Christ’s church (assembly, disciples, body, bride).  That forgetting has prompted them to think they own the church—not just the building, but the whole thing—the people included.  They act as if they should be able to determine everything that goes on inside a church house, who should be able to be involved in those activities and who should get the recognition for anything the congregation achieves “in the name of Jesus.”  They essentially believe they have earned the right through their work, finances and faithful attendance over the years to be the ones making decisions about what, how, when, why and where things happen in “the church.”

         However, this is not the case with those who constantly remind themselves of who they are (the church) and whose they are (the owner, Jesus).  These disciples remember that what Jesus accomplished on Calvary as he died in their places is the payment that redeemed them, that bought them out of slavery to sin, that purchased their souls, that arranged their salvation from the wrath of God against evil and placed them into the family of God as heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus.  They remember they are no longer their own.  They remember who they are as born-again disciples and whose they are as members of the church Jesus said He would build.

         The disciples of Christ who remember whose they are act differently from those who have forgotten.  They are willing to submit their entire lives to Christ as their owner.  They don’t just show up on Sundays to be in God’s presence.  They worship and pray at home and show up at prayer meetings and worship services because they want to constantly be in contact with their owner.  They don’t just tithe regularly.  They give generously, many times sacrificially, to the needs of those less fortunate than themselves, to missionaries and to special projects designed to reach out to the sinners in their communities.  They volunteer to help anywhere there is a need that they feel they can help meet.  Essentially, they remember who redeemed them and will do whatever it takes to demonstrate that they remember who Jesus is to them.

         The spiritual atmosphere in a congregation in which the attenders fully understand who they are and whose they are is different from other churches.  There is an openness to the moving of the Holy Spirit.  There is a unity, not just in worship, but in action, also.  There are shared goals and dreams and agree-upon plans to achieve those goals and dreams.  There is a feeling that “we need to do as much as we can for Jesus as soon as we can so we can take as many people as we can to heaven with us.”

         When the people remember who they are (the church, the disciples, the body, the bride) and whose they are (they belong to Jesus), there will be fruit produced in the form of new disciples brought into the kingdom of God.  That fruit will appear, grow and become mature because the people understand that their job now is to help other people be redeemed from slavery to sin, to be bought back from the curse of death and judgment, to be born again through faith in Jesus and what He accomplished through His death, burial and resurrection.

         I learned something years ago that stunned me.  I learned that there were several congregations in our geographic area that had not had a new salvation reported from the ministry of those churches in ten years.  I realized, after looking at their situations, that they had forgotten who they were and whose they were.  They had turned inward in their ministry, were trying to control the ministry and had stopped lifting up Jesus to new people.

         Every time I saw lasting growth in the congregations I was privileged to pastor, that growth came because Jesus was being lifted up to new people.  The congregations were focusing on whose they were and were introducing new people to their Owner, their Lord, their Redeemer—Jesus.

         Remember this—It’s Jesus’s Church.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #51 (Whose Church Is It?)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         I saw a t-shirt recently with the statement, “I Love My Church.”  I thought, “how nice.”  The person “loves” attending a worship service at that church facility.  Or does the person “love” the people who worship there?  Or does he/she “love” the activities or the youth group or the music team or the style of preaching from the pastor? 

         Just what constitutes “loving my church?” 

         As I thought about this question, I remembered a situation that occurred in the city of Corinth in the New Testament.  Some of the attenders were associating their faith with the apostle Peter.  Others were connecting with the orator Apollos.  Still others were saying they were following Paul.

         Paul asked a simple question of the people:  (Paraphrased)  Did Peter or Apollos or I die for you?  He did this to refocus the people on who it is who should be the center of their worship.  Paul pointed out that only Jesus should be followed and worshipped.   

         Let me get back to the t-shirt.  Is the church a facility, a set of programs or a following of one particular pastor?  Your automatic answer should be an unqualified, “NO.”  The church described in the New Testament is not a place or a building.  The church is not a denomination or a fellowship or an association of congregations.  The church is not a man-made construct.

         The church originally began as a synonym for all the disciples of Christ.  It was the assembled believers in Jesus.  It was referred to as the bride of Christ.  It was what made up his “body” on this earth after Jesus ascended to the father and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the believers.  It was the physical,  living, breathing, ministering group of people to whom Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel (good news).

         The “church” did not belong to a human.  It belonged to Jesus, because he paid for the people who made up His church with His blood sacrifice on Calvary.  It (everyone in the world who believes in Jesus, has repented of sins and been forgiven through faith in His name) still belongs to Jesus.  The church is His!

         That means it’s not ours.  The body of disciples is not ours to do with as we please.  It is not ours to control, to manipulate or to regulate to a set of rules. 

         Since the church is not ours, how should we approach the concept of being part of the church?  Allow me to recommend something to you.  Stop equating the world-wide group of people who follow Jesus with a building or a denomination or a certain pastor.

         A bit of history so we can get this concept into perspective—the disciples of Jesus did not construct buildings into which to gather for services for about 200-220 years after Jesus ascended.  (ChristianityToday.com)  Fast forward to the early settlers in North America—buildings were constructed for general community uses, and those uses included worship, education and civic meetings.  Many towns during the expansion westward had buildings dedicated to worship, buildings which doubled as the local school because they were used to teach people how to read scriptures.

         As time passed, the buildings were called “church houses,” and later the “houses” part was dropped and shortened to “church.”  That one word was then used to represent the followers of Jesus in general, not referring to the building, but to the people.  However, the term eventually took on the location meaning instead of the people who met there.

         Back to today.  The vast majority of the people who attend worship services refer to “the church” as the location of the building and not the people in the building.  They say they are “going to church” when they actually mean they are gathering at a location for worship.  But the worship has been overshadowed by the location.

         Many I have encountered are more concerned about the building, the programs, the events and the pastoral staff than they are about being a part of the body of Christ, the church of the living God, the bride of the coming King. And that concern has prompted people to take ownership of the building, programs, etc. because they have invested their time, talents and treasures in constructing and maintaining these things in what they consider important aspects of spreading the gospel of Christ to all the world.

          People begin to look at anything they invest themselves into as being “theirs.”   I fear it is for this reason that some say, “I love my church.”  They mean they love being part of a particular group in a particular building promoting a particular doctrine under the leadership of a particular pastor because they have invested significant amounts of time and money into the upkeep of that building, administering the programs, cooking meals, cleaning the bathrooms, mowing the lawns, playing the instruments, sitting on the pews/chairs, attending business meetings and a multitude of other activities that focus on where they are instead of who they are and whose they are.       

         I’ll say it again—I fear some have forgotten what the church is and whose church it is.  We’ll look at congregations who remember the “who” and “whose” in the next letter.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #49 (First Impressions–2)

    Dear Small Church,

         In Letter #48 I introduced the idea of creating a first impression based on the facility and general atmosphere we want to create for a first-time visitor.  This letter goes into the actual worship service and how it can impact the first impression. 

         We want visitors to return and become regular attenders and, hopefully, integral parts of our ministry as we endeavor to fulfill our calling as a group of Christ’s disciples.  Therefore, we must determine a few things about the service that will influence their first, second or third impressions of our congregation and ministry. 

         Our primary questions deal with why we attend worship services in the first place.  Are we attending as participants to give praise and honor to God, to minister to each other and to receive ministry from the body of Christ?  Or are we attending as spectators to be encouraged through religious entertainment and an uplifting message from a motivational speaker called a pastor?  If a visitor attends for the first question’s answers, he/she will be disappointed if he/she experiences the answers to the second question.  The service must be geared to fulfill the answers to the first question, not the second one.

         According to information from Gallup polls and Barna Research Group trends, people who attend worship services are seeking a real encounter with God.  They want to experience God’s presence in their lives.  They want to find out if God truly cares about them and can be active in their affairs.  Essentially, people are looking for a spiritual connection they feel is missing in their lives, and they have decided to go to a worship service to see if that connection can be found there. 

         That being said, we must prayerfully (Notice that word “Prayerfully”) approach how a service flows, what is included in a worship service, and what our intended outcome is for the ending portion of the service.  If we have no spiritual goal for why we are doing what we are doing, if we do not have a direction of worship and outcome expected for the culmination of the service, we will not arrive at the end of the service with any appreciable positive spiritual results.  (Please understand the Holy Spirit can override our lack of spiritual preparations and create a great spiritual experience for visitors in spite of our inadequacies and poor choices.  But you don’t need to expect Him to do that on a regular basis.)

         Allow me to caution you here—since you are advertising your worship service schedules, please be prepared for the services when they occur.  Worship involves important aspects of the Christian life.  To throw something together at the last minute without praying or seeking God’s guidance and anointing is perpetuating a travesty on the disciples who gather for worship.  I have to admit I have been guilty of that travesty, and the outcome was not what it could have been had everyone involved in the service had come prepared for their part in the overall experience. 

         As you decide on what needs to be included in the service, remember that worship involves much more than just singing.  Offering prayers, supplications and intercessions to God is involved.  Waiting on God to speak to hearts is involved.  Generosity in tithing and giving offerings is involved.  Hearing the Word of God read and explained in sermons is involved.  Giving testimonies to God’s working in a life is involved.  Encouraging each other is involved.  Giving thanks to God is involved.  Sometimes eating together is involved.  Attending as participants, not just spectators, in worship is involved.  These concepts are just the tip of the iceberg that makes up worship.

         Allow me to share a story about one area of worship from a missionary I know.  He serves in a region where Christian voices are often silenced through social pressure, traditions, laws and even violence.  His ministry involves radio and TV programs that are produced and aired over stations that almost exclusively promote that area’s predominate religion.  However, he never mentions that religion in his broadcasts.  He only talks about Jesus and what Jesus can do in a life that is dedicated to His teachings.  He does not condemn, slander or otherwise denigrate the dominant religion.  His ministry is quite successful and reaches several million listeners and viewers weekly.

         Why the story?  We all have varying preferences when it comes to dress codes, music styles, scriptural translations, building decorations, service times and lengths, traditional activities and any number of other topics that are revealed through our preferences.  If all we do is condemn someone who has different preferences while we are supposed to be involved in worship, we are probably going to make a negative first impression on people. 

         Biblical doctrines speak for themselves and must remain constant in our worship services.  Those are not negotiable.   Preferences, on the other hand, can change over time.  Be sure your worship services focus on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and not on preferences.

         Keep in mind that a worship service is an opportunity for someone to repent of sins and ask for forgiveness.  It is an opportunity for someone to be born again spiritually.  Make every effort to give that someone the chance to see Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit working in Christ’s church, for His people and through His people.  If you do that, the worship experience will have fulfilled its purpose.

         A worship service that directs visitors to experiencing God in the fullness of His glory and power will make a good first impression.  Pray that that is your church’s first impression on visitors.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #48 (First Impressions)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         Example #1: I recently walked into a church building foyer and looked up to see how high the ceiling was. (I’ve spent a good deal of my life involved in construction, and noticing wall height is just something I do out of habit.)  There in that decorated space for an entrance, above the immediate eyesight of most people, was something that desperately needs to be repaired.  An area almost two feet square is water damaged, stained, cracking and with part of the ceiling texture missing, revealing bare sheetrock.  I politely mentioned the ceiling to someone I know who attends there.  The individual was not offended and stated, “Oh, yeah, we’ve been meaning to fix that.”

         I have a question for you:  What kind of a first impression would a damaged, unrepaired ceiling that is known to exist make on someone who had never entered the foyer and looked up?

         Example #2: An evangelist friend related how he had gone to a church recently to minister for some special worship services.  The door greater was the only one who had spoken to him as he had entered and had told him the pastor would be out soon and for him to be seated anywhere.  He entered the sanctuary, found a seat near the front and sat down.  Not long after seating himself, a couple walked in and approached him.  Their greeting was, “We usually sit here.”

         Another question for you: How welcome do you think that evangelist felt?

         First impressions matter.  There is a reason greeters are stationed at entrances.  There is a reason facility repairs are made in a timely manner.  There is a reason hospitality is stressed in scriptures.  There is a reason signs that direct people to commonly needed areas should be well-placed and easily readable.  There is a reason pastors encourage members to greet new people and actually talk to them.  The reason is: FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER!  (Yes, I said that really loudly.)

         People do not get a second chance to make a first impression.  When a visitor approaches a place of worship, the first few minutes matter immensely in the perception that visitor will develop of the facility and its attenders.  Some sources site anywhere from the first two or three minutes to the first seven or eight minutes as being the most important time span for a congregation to make a positive impression on a first-time visitor.  That means before a visitor has even looked at where to be seated, the first impression is forming.

         I saw an interesting parking space sign years ago that caught my attention.  It said: Reserved for Elderly and Expectant Mothers.  I believe they understand the needs of multi-generations, which means they want multi-generations.  First impression?

         I mentioned hospitality earlier.  According to the Tecarta Bible Search App, various translations of the Bible hold at least 45 verses that mention the concept of hospitality.  And folks, the amount of hospitality a congregation displays will make a huge impact on a visitor’s first impression.

         I encourage you to ask yourself just how hospitable your congregation is.  Is your entrance easy to locate?  Do obvious signs point new people to the bathrooms, the nursery, discipleship classrooms that are age specific, the sanctuary or even the emergency exists?  Do regular attenders intentionally talk to visitors or just say, “Good to have you with us today?”   Do you help new attenders find a place to sit or where to direct their children after you shake their hand?  Do you give them a 1 or 2 sentence description of what they are about to experience?

         I once filled in for a pastor who had a family emergency.  After the service, I was invited to eat lunch with one of the families.  When was the last time you invited a first-time visitor, or even a repeat visitor, to eat with you after the service?  First impression?

         I haven’t mentioned anything about the actual time of worship yet, have I?  That will come in the next letter, #49, First Impressions—2.  For the time being, just remember that first impressions matter.

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor