Look at church, ministry with new eyes
By Pastor Paul Cooper
Marshall Baptist Church (Illinois)
As church leaders, it can be easy to watch all the loss from this pandemic and think we need to lower the bar of what makes for successful church ministry. But instead of lowering the bar, what if we raised it to allow for new opportunities this season has given us?
This pandemic has taken so much from us, but it also has given us all kinds of opportunities to look at church and ministry with new eyes.
How can we adjust to better reach people and make disciples? We have to redefine what success is going to look like in the near future
Here are four ideas:
- Exit old ways that didn’t work. Often, the methods that helped our churches reach people in the past become the very obstacles that keep us from reaching people today. When I came to our church in 2007, we still made guests stand up. I’m guessing that worked at one point. But today, that practice pushes people away.
Here’s a principle to consider: Do not revive what was not alive. If something we did before COVID didn’t work in making disciples, don’t bring it back. Why would we? Exit from old ways that didn’t work.
- Make engagement, not attendance, the goal. None of us likes to admit this, but attendance has long been the big success metric of ministry. Everyone asks: “So what are you running?” I’m not anti-attendance. Numbers represent people, but attendance doesn’t show how many people we are truly reaching. Attendance only shows us how many people are showing up.
Anyone can attend something, but real discipleship begins when people engage. Attending is simply participating; engaging is committing.
- Make gatherings and content about equipping. Gathering and content are only successful when gathering and content equip people for ministry. If people aren’t being equipped when we gather, we are failing them. If people aren’t being equipped to serve when we put out content, we are failing our mission. Scripture says the church exists “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:11–12).
- Return to the priority of the Great Commission. For years, we’ve been focused on getting people back to evangelism, back to sharing their faith and making disciples. After all, that is what Jesus left us here to do. It’s the mission of every church and every believer.
God has destroyed our church calendars filled with stuff for those already saved. Let’s fill it now with reaching new people!
EDITOR’S NOTE — Adapted from an article that originally appeared at Baptist Press.
Living a life free of idols
The Apostle John told Christians to “keep yourselves from idols.”
Surely this is not the problem today that it was in the ancient world.
We don’t have images of stone, wood or metal in our homes or businesses before which we humble ourselves, worship and pray.
But Bible teacher Bill Gothard used to insist that people, possessions and position are our modern idols.
People can be idols if we choose them over God.
The Old Testament law forbade an Israelite marrying a Canaanite, but Solomon and Ahab did, with disastrous consequences.
The New Testament also exhorts Christians not to be “unequally yoked” (in marriage) with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14–15).
Possessions can be idols if we fall into the trap of seeking more and more things to make life complete.
Scripture teaches that life isn’t made complete by what we have. We must learn contentment and learn to share what we have with others in need.
Position can be an idol if we constantly seek the praise of others above the praise of God.
Surely nothing is wrong with promotions, awards and winning elections — each of these has its place.
But Jesus counseled that we’re to seek God’s kingdom first of all; then we find everything else falling into proper place.
The old trilogy is yet valid. We seek God first, make our family second and others, including our work, third.
This is God’s way to a balanced life. This is God’s way to an idol-free life.
Pastor Michael J. Brooks
Siluria Baptist Church
Alabaster, Ala.
Whatever you are facing or will face, be encouraged. … You can face it with faith and hope. Keep moving into places where God has called you.
Jesus wasn’t intimidated by His last week in earthly ministry nor the events of the week and ultimately the cross. Why? Because He’s Jesus. He knew the ultimate outcome.
We can have the same confidence in what we face. Why? Because of Jesus. … This week remind yourself of who Jesus is. Enter sacred spaces with a newfound appreciation and confidence in Christ.
Cokiesha Bailey Robinson via Facebook
Unless we want to be a regional group of Christians who only talk to ourselves, we’ll need to redouble our
efforts in evangelism and church planting to engage an increasingly secular context.
Ed Stetzer
Dean of the School of Mission, Ministry and Leadership at Wheaton College
No matter where we are or where we go, we can always share the gospel. And sharing the gospel isn’t always just with words, but also with our actions. … With how we love people.
Tim Tebow
Athlete and broadcaster
Letters to the Editor
Since the Church is a fellowship of the redeemed, the basis of our common unity in Christ is grounded in our common unworthiness.
Fellowship with one another is grounded in our fellowship with God. Yet the richness of our fellowship with God depends upon, is measured by and/or reflects our fellowship with one another.
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.
Thanks for the review of my book, “Angels at Work: God’s Providence.”
It is my prayer the book will be a word of inspiration to all who serve our Lord. He goes before us by His providential care.
When those who serve our Father come to a dead end in an endeavor, He provides someone or something to help one keep on keeping on.
In 72 years of ministry, those whom I call, “God’s Angels,” are identified by a look back, which adds to one’s praise for God, while keeping a servant on track for Him.
John “Jack” Green
Birmingham, Ala.
God is totally trustworthy.
Human expectations are untrustworthy.
Kevin Parker
Editor, The Baptist New Mexican
My wife and I were visiting one of our daughters when a series of tornadoes tore through their area. A few moments after the storms passed, the phone rang.
A family who lived nearby and was dear to them called to report that one of the tornadoes had struck their house.
The first questions were, “Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?” Back came the answer, “Our house is torn up, but we are fine. When we heard the warning to take cover we ran into the basement. We got there just as the house was hit.”
They were safe because they followed directions immediately and fully.
Jesus knows what storms are going to break over our lives and gives clear directions to help us. How quickly and fully we follow His instructions makes all the difference.
A few of His powerful instructions are:
- “Don’t be afraid.”
- “Follow Me.”
- “Rest in My care.”
If we do not hear and obey, we will tremble from fear, follow a multitude of different voices and panic our way through storm days.
Listen up! Jesus is issuing divine instructions.
Bob Adams
Retired Southern Baptist pastor
Louisiana
By intentionally grounding your outlook in what is real and what is true rather than what you see in the moment, you can accurately assess the relative size and importance of the things you face.
Authors Russ Sarratt and Rusty Chadwick
“Team Work”
Here’s what I’ve found: When you decide to follow Jesus, you quickly discover that being conservative isn’t conservative enough and being liberal isn’t liberal enough.
The answer isn’t to find some happy middle ground but to live with such an extreme love for God and neighbor that it breaks out of the conventional system.
This world can’t categorize you when you’re the citizen of another.
Peter Assad
Poemsofgrace.com
From the Twitterverse
@TheMoodyChurch
Pastor Warren Wiersbe: Jesus Christ died. He went through that experience that the Bible calls the wages of sin. He died, however, not because of His own sins, for He had none, but for the sins of the whole world.
@RogerMardis
Here’s a great reminder … train yourself to under-react, to give a soft answer and to let some words and insults go in one ear and out the other. It might just save a situation or heal a hurt.
@MartinNewton1
You will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
@haines_matt
We aren’t to love God on the basis of some perceived reciprocal benefit we will get back from Him. We are to love God because of who He is and what He has already done for us.
@jackngraham
The eternal Word of God can never be canceled … the Word of our God will stand forever.
@AdamGreenway
It really is possible to be:
— Convictional but not combative about it.
— Evangelistic but not obnoxious about it.
— Principled but not pugnacious about it.
— Cooperative but not doctrinally compromised by it.
— Engaged culturally but not politically compromised by it.
#PointToPonder
@mike_reeves
The presence of the fear of God in a leader should be sensed by the people. It should be something — perhaps unnamable but beautifully Christlike — in the atmosphere around him. He should be clearly affected by the beauty and glory and majesty and goodness of God.
@MarcHodges3
Hallelujah! Thine the glory Hallelujah! Amen Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Revive us again!
@danielsangi
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” — Hudson Taylor
@JL_Wood
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10, KJV
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