One of the first things he noticed, which has been pretty apparent, is that for some years now we have been plateaued in numerical growth. Each year we are having the privilege of baptizing new believers but barely enough to keep up with those leaving us because they have moved away or simply fallen away. One positive thing brother John noted was that our giving continues to be strong, which is a testimony to the faithfulness of the core of our church family. The two hours went by quickly, but I came away with three action points on which I want to try to follow up on.
First, we need to better define what we are aiming for so we can figure out how best to accomplish it; then evaluate if we are indeed moving toward the goal. For example, he took our mission statement, "We are going to (first of all be) make disciples who live holy lives and love others sacrificially," and he asked me what that meant. What does a disciple who lives a holy life look like? What does it look like to love others sacrificially? How are we making disciples? How are we attempting to reach our goal? How do we know we have? Is there any way to measure if we've been successful? I pushed back a bit-- in that we all know that it's hard to measure the character of a disciple-- and he agreed. However, he did suggest there are things we can do to help in the "being part," and they are related to "knowing and doing."
Nathan and I recently had a conversation, in part, about this very thing; that is, what are some things we do as a church that we consider indispensable? What will we continue to staff and support because we believe they are essential to our making disciples? For example, we believe Sunday school is one of those ministry essentials to making disciples, and so is our Wednesday mid-week gathering; but what are the others? In talking with Dr. Ewart yesterday, I believe the leadership of our church needs to clearly answer some of these questions.
Second, we need to bring our leaders together as a team to work precisely and concisely to this end. By leaders I mean our elders and all those who lead our ministry teams. In days gone by they were often called the "church council.” As I listened, I recognized with conviction that our leaders should be getting together often. Dr. Ewart recommended that church leaders get together once a month on a Sunday afternoon, to communicate, to plan, to evaluate and to pray. Again, we recently did this and the feedback was, “We need to do this more often.”
Finally, we need to develop and implement ongoing means of reaching out into the community. We do so well at welcoming those who come, but what are we doing to reach out? I know the best outreach is for us to personally and individually share our faith in Jesus and invite our friends and acquaintances to join us on a Sunday, but I also want us to do some "open door" events to help us reach out. And when folks do take us up on our outreach event, what then? How do we connect them to us that we might have a chance to connect them to Jesus, the One they truly need? I believe I know the answer to that question; I'm just not sure I'm a gifted enough leader to help us get there. Hopefully together we can.
What can all of us do? Like I said yesterday, pray! Let's be like Jesus and talk with God about this. Let's ask Him to empower us, to use us, to exalt Himself in us. After praying, submit yourself to God. Be willing to inconvenience yourself for God's Kingdom. Be willing to submit your will and your desires to Him. If you are a ministry leader, serve by leading with humility and excellence. If you are a member, be a minister. Be a servant. Be willing to change and give yourself to serve Christ by serving others. As one of our pastor/elders, I know our desire for our church family is that we might exalt Christ and be as effective as possible. Let's ask God to help us do that!
From my heart,
Pastor Jimmy
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