ScottNice/PastorsLetter

“We Have a Precedent"

September 2010

This was attached to a comment I made on Face Book a couple of months ago:

The Top Ten Signs Of…...

 10. There’s plenty of parking near the building for weekend services. 
 9. You can always get your favorite seat, or simply ask who is sitting in it to move.
 8. The music is always familiar, and never too loud.
 7. The pastor has been in everyone’s home, and knows everybody’s name.
 6. You are never asked for money. 
 5. Phrases like, “We’ve never done it that way before,” “I’m not being faithless, 
    just realistic,” “Why pray? God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do,” “If God wants His 
    church to grow it will grow – we don’t have to do anything,” and “They really should 
    do something about that” are common refrains.
 4. You can be confident that whatever change there is will be incremental, 
    insignificant, and will only happen with your direct input and approval
 3. There aren’t any of those left-leaning, evolution-believing, gay-marriage supporting, 
    Harry Potter reading pagans daring to attend; just the pro-family, Christian-radio 
    listening, fish-sticker wearing, big-Bible carrying types.
 2. The Bible is seldom taught in ways that are uncomfortable or challenging. 
 1. It is always about you – getting fed, getting ministered to, with services 
    evaluated by what you get out of it.

Yep, there you have it. The top ten signs of
...a dying church.

-James Emery White

I’m not suggesting this is the reality at Christ Reformed Church; however, it is my prayer that we will never look like this in the future! That is why after much prayer, careful planning and extensive training we are about to begin the Church Revitalization process!

What if…

1. Every local church could become a fruitful, committed community of disciples who loved God, loved others and made more disciples everywhere they went?
2. Every pastoral leader knew who they were in Christ, knew what they were called to do for Him, had the skills to pull it off- And the character to maintain their integrity throughout it all?
3. Every new church plant was established based on the “irreducible core” of Jesus’ teachings, focusing on loving God, loving others and making disciples?

I think the Bible tells us what would happen if this was the reality. It can be read about it in the unfolding events, found in the Book of Acts. The first six chapters tell us about the birth of the infant church in Jerusalem. The first geographical and ethnic expansion is told of in chapters 6-9. A description is found of the first inroads into the Gentile world in chapters 9-16. Chapters 16-19 find the Gospel moving further west into Europe, and then finally all the way to Rome (cf.19:21-28:30).

Although we tend to think of the propagation of the Gospel in terms of geographical expansion, it is really better understood as a cultural expansion. Today, in the Indian Valley, the goal is the same. Whether crossing ethnic divides, economic ones, world views or political ones, the Gospel must go forward. And forward it will! The only question we have to answer, is will we have the privilege of participating in the Kingdom work of our Heavenly Father? It’s my hope and prayer that we will earnestly endeavor to be the Church that God wants us to be, as we partner together (Koininia- fellowship of the cross) in loving God, loving others, and making disciples as we go!

Blessings,
Pastor Scott