All to Him I Owe

Most people begin simply “attending” a church. However, over time they must move from simply being an attender to a contributor if they are going to receive the greatest benefit from the church. Here are four things that help a person transition from attending to contributing.

1. STAY – they must make a choice to stay in a church. Some people seem to sit on the edge of their seat waiting for something to happen that gives them a reason to leave. Others sit on the edge of their seat constantly evaluating all of the other churches in the area to see if they have something they would prefer to have. Instead of sitting at the edge of their seat a person must settle in with an intent to stay in a ministry in order to gain the most benefit from the church.

2. SATURATE yourself with the preaching and teaching of Gods’ Word – The unseen thread that holds the church together is the Word of God. Some treat the preaching of God’s Word as a part of a buffet of choices that they can choose from for their own feeding. Instead of choosing what you will listen to or sit under, simply decide to settle in and saturate yourself with the preaching and teaching of God’s Word that you have chosen to stay in.

3. SERVE – There are two kinds of serving that people do. One method of serving is to serve for the sake of control. This person serves in attempt to keep things within their management and desires. They serve for the sake of a title, or a position. You can tell if this person is serving for control by watching how they respond when they begin to lose control. The other kind of serving is to serve out of a heart of humility. This person serves not to control but to help with any need that is there. Churches need humble minded servants, not controlling servants.

4. SACRIFICE – A person who begins to genuinely sacrifice will begin to contribute to the good of the church in the greatest way. Philippians 4 helps us define sacrifice by “giving to the point that I have created a need within my own life.” Very few people truly live generously sacrificing to the point of creating a need. Instead, we give to the point of comfort. A person who begins to sacrifice will find that the benefits they receive from the church are far greater than anything they gave up.

Strive to contribute….not just attend!

We just finished our 2011 Missions Conference here at FBC. Throughout this past week, I have been amazed at the amount of questions I was asked concerning the “why” behind our conference. The “why” was not “why are we having a missions conference.” The “why” was “why are we doing it the way we did?”

For some in our church this was the first time they had ever seen a missions conference. For others this was a different way than they were used to. So, in a few paragraphs let me explain the three key philosophies behind the “why” of our missions conference.

1. We used the missions conference to inform and update us about missions not to motivate us to do missions. Here at FBC our congregation is excited about missions and missionaries. There is not a need to bring a special speaker in to motivate us to do  more, we are excited about missions and actively trying to do more. That is an evidence of God’s work in hearts. When people are receiving the gospel, giving the gospel, and living in light of the gospel you will find that missions mindedness is a natural result. So, instead of attempting to motivate us we choose to let the missionaries simply share their ministries, their stories, and their testimonies. We didn’t have a special speaker. Our speakers were our missionaries. We left this week with a personal glimpse into the lives of these men and women. We left with a sense of their burdens, and a knowledge of God’s call on their lives. Armed with this knowledge we are better prepared to be a genuine help to the missionaries we support.

2. We conducted a missions conference that was missionary friendly not church oriented. There is a tendency among some missions conferences to plan a week based upon what a church likes, or wants to do and then impose that upon the missionaries in attendence. It is not unusual for missionaries to leave conferences exhausted because of an intense schedule and hard tasks required of them. As we planned the week we sought to create a schedule that gave missionaries a break and allowed them to enjoy the week. Each missionary had one service they were responsible for and then they were able to just relax and enjoy all the rest of the services. One neat aspect you would have seen in the services was a time of “gift-giving.” We sought to shower each missionary with tangible, and financial gifts to put the focus on them! Three times during the week there were aspects scheduled just to help and encourage the missionaries. There was no question as we left this week that our missionaries were the focus of our week.

3. We attempted to treat our missionaries as individuals not as a part of the whole. One of our missionaries this week shared a story about an experience he had recently. He said that a church they were at was giving all of the missionaries new shoes. So, even though he had just recently received two new pairs of shoes he was told he needed another pair. He shared with me that if he had been able to he would have asked for a couple of new ties. His were thread bare and showing stains. Instead of treating him like an individual with individual needs he was treating as one of many. This last week we went individual. We tried to think individually about each missionary and to try and help them. Each service was different because each missionary who presented was different.

I’m already making plans for our 2012 Missions Conference. There is a special blessing that comes from ministering to God’s servants. I try to remember it this way, “God’s work is increased when God’s workers are encouraged.” I firmly believe we encouraged God’s workers this week!

Within our congregation here at FBC, God has graciously given us four couples that are on full time staff at Wolf Mountain Christian Camp. Last night as part of our missions conference I shared 5 things our church needs to know as we minister with them, and 5 ways we can better pray for them.

What we need to know:

1. They are a team made up of individuals. It is easy for us to lump them into a group and forget that each one of them is different and has different skills, abilities and needs. Let’s resist the urge to always treat them as a group.

2. They live on the camp property so that they can serve campers 24/7. This results in many long hours for these folks. They easily serve between 50 – 80 hours a week and are constantly on call. It should never surprise us to find that they are tired as they come through our doors. Weekends are busy times in the calendar of a camp.

3. They are supported by churches so that they can keep camper cost affordable. We won’t see these folks sometimes because they are out raising support, or presenting their ministry in churches. This means also that they are not the “richest” individuals within our congregation and sometimes a simple “green handshake” could go a long way!

4. They love camp, but they also like having conversations and enjoying stuff that isn’t related to camp. Let’s resist the urge to always talk about camp and continue to get to know them as individuals.

5. A good church family helps them succeed at the mission God has called them to. If we will strive to be a loving, caring, church family to these folks (like we should be to anyone in our church!) we will be an invaluable resource to the staff and to the camp as a whole.

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5 Ways we can pray better for Wolf Mountain Staff:

1. Pray that God will give them strength and good health.

2. Pray that God will help them find uninterrupted time with Him in His Word.

3. Pray that God will help them avoid a sense of being overwhelmed at the amount of opportunities before them.

4. Pray that God will enable them to “change the hats” of ministry that God ask of them with grace.

5. Pray that God will enable them to have grace to minister one on one in the midst of busyness.

In Acts 20:18-35 we see 10 characteristics of a Godly missionary. (These principles were part of the introduction to the sermon preached on August 14 in the AM service).

1. [vs.18-21] A good missionary serves the Lord where they are now, not just where they want to be.
2. [vs.19] A good missionary serves the Lord with a sense of privilege not pride.
3. [vs.19] A good missionary endures despite the suffering and sacrifice.
4. [vs.20] A good missionary makes the proclamation of Christ’s message of the gospel their primary task.
5. [vs.22] A good missionary believes their call to missions is God’s will!
6. [vs.24] A good missionary gives little value to his own life in comparison to the value he places on the will of God for his life.
7. [vs. 25] A good missionary is willing to sacrifice the comfort of relationships to pursue God’s call.
8. [vs.26-32] A good missionary is burdened for the spiritual condition of the people he leaves behind.
9. [vs.33-35] A good missionary truly believes that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
10. [vs.35,24] A good missionary serves with joy recognizing the tremendous privilege they have to give the gospel.

A little boy walked into our church foyer and I overheard a man say, “are you expecting a flood?” I looked and noticed what he was referring to. The little boy evidently had hit a growth spurt and his legs were longer than his pant legs. You could clearly see the top of his shoes, all of his socks and the bottom of his cute little legs. His growth spurt had created a noticeable gap between the bottom of his pant leg and the top of his shoe.

Growth often creates gaps. When a ministry experiences growth, gaps can be created that are often overlooked by those in leadership but often felt from those within the ministry. A wise leader will fervently try to stay aware of the gaps in his ministries growth and carefully manage the ministry in light of those gaps.

Let me give you just a little of our current context and the background for this article. Our church has nearly doubled in size in the last two years. We have quickly grown in the last two years and we have become very aware of the gaps that have been created by this growth. We are in the midst of addressing these gaps and much of what I am doing as a pastor is helping lead our people through these gaps. Much of our initial problem is trying to figure out where the gaps are. The assessment was and has been much harder than I anticipated. So, to begin let me give this recommendation. Ministry evaluations should be done regularly and honestly. Our leadership has had to conscientiously sit down and look hard at our ministry. That has required us to make time for it and to put some issues to the side in an effort to give this some thought. As we looked it has been hard to admit that we had “gaps.” This has required us to say “yes, that is an issue” more than trying to defend or justify our gaps.

As we have evaluated we have used the following 10 questions as our guide in the evaluation:

1. Does our growth appear to be short term or is their longevity to the growth we have seen?
2. Are we focusing on the new growth to the expense of those who we had before the growth?
3. What processes do we have that have not adjusted to keep up with the growth?
4. Can we adjust our facility to better accommodate our growth?
5. Do we have the right policies in place to adjust to this new growth?
6. Who is struggling most with the new growth we have experienced?
7. Are we properly helping our new people understand our mission and philosophy? (or, are we just putting people into positions to help us keep up with the growth?)
8. Have we outgrown our abilities?
9. Are there things we need to say no to in order for us do ministry better?
10. Is our spiritual growth keeping up with our numeric growth?

Answering these questions takes time, but the time we are taking is helping us navigate our way through this growth. We still have gaps, and probably will continue to have them. However, the assessment process is helping us manage the gaps better than we were.

Tonight in our evening service I shared a few thoughts in regards to grief. Consider them as you experience grief personally, or help those around us experiencing grief.

#1. Remember the Presence Principle of Psalm 23 – “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” Don’t forget that in times of death God promises to be very close to His people. You can experience an increased closeness to God that is very special.

#2. Remember the promise of Psalm 6:8 “…for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.” Here is the principle: God hears the tear filled requests of prayer. Though our voice may be strained through the tears and sobbing, God hears and understands our prayers during times of grief.

#3. Remember the principle of II Corinthians 1:3-4 – God is the only thing that brings comfort to our heart. Everything else is merely a distraction from the pain, but not a comfort to the heart.

#4. Remember the three primary temptations during times of grief – Doubt, Anger, and Self Pity

#5. Remember that asking or accepting help is not a lack of faith.

#6. The possibility of experiencing grief mixed with joy is hard to explain but possible to attain. (Hab.3:17-18) Joy is a choice!

Most of us would consider it foolish to send a young 4 year old who cannot read to the medicine cabinet and ask him to get a bottle of medicine and take it. That child’s inability to read and discern what is in the bottle and how it should be taken puts the child at risk.

In a similar way, a Christian who is unable to discern the contents of a book puts them in a place of danger. So, this past Sunday night we worked through a handful of principles that can be used when trying to discern the contents of a book.

Filter your book choices through these questions and use them to grow in your discernment:

Who is the author? (this can often be found in the flyleaf of the book)

• What is their background?  (ministry, training, experience)
• What is their theological persuasion? (charismatic, Calvinistic, Fundamental)
• Who is recommending this author?

Identify the major premise of the book?

• What is the authors goal?
• What does the author intend for me to do with what they are teaching?

What is their primary source?

• Do they accurately reflect scripture in their interpretation and application?
• Do they pull me away from the Bible or send me back to it?

Am I ready to read this book?

• Am I already in the Word of God?
• Have I already been applying what the Bible has taught me on this topic, or am I hoping this will provide new answers?
• Does this book help me think correctly? Or does it create a distraction in my mind?

Please remember that the only book that is inspired and without error is the Bible. Make the Bible your priority and screen your other books with this principle, “Make sure the spiritual books you are reading draw you back to THE Book the Bible.”