All the Little Things!

We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.......Bro Lawrence!

I believe that one of the biggest (not the only one of course, but one of the big ones) issues facing the American Evangelical Church today is the loss of kingdom mindset. We have moved away from building God's kingdom to building great churches and some of the "little" things that the church should be focused on have fallen to the way side, in the wake of; "it does not bring people in the doors".

Now don't get me wrong I think that part of the health of a church is weather they are growing or not, but let's be honest that is only part of the equation and probably not the most important part either.

We have forsaken those kingdom minded ministries for those that build the church and thus we are on the verge of becoming irrelevant to the world today. Some of those things I would call "kingdom mindset" ministries are things like; feeding the hungry, ministering to the widows, clothing the homeless, you know all those crazy ideas that Jesus had in the gospels, being a voice for the voiceless, being known for what we stand for and not what we stand against. None of these ministries are going to up the bottom line, they are not going to put more behinds in the pews, they are not going to build us big churches, or put more dollars in the budget; at least not directly.

Indirectly the #1 most forgotten age group in the church today, the 18 year old to 30 year old adults, really value these types of ministries. I would make a hunch and even bet that I am right, that if a church really wanted to grow and strategically wanted to target, reach out to, and partner with this age group then they would be doing these forgotten kingdom mindset ministries inside the church instead of doing them with out the church or even with another religion all together.

The problem is a catch 22! Most established churches do not minister to the 18-30 year old group because they don't see the value in that group or at least as much value in that group as there is in the children's group, which good tithing families are looking for in a church. They don't see as much value in the 18-30 year old group as they see in the student ministries group, which good tithing families look for in a church. They don't see as much value in the 18-30 year old group as they do in the 40-80 year old groups which tithe and have paid their dues in the church. So this group that probably has the biggest biblical kingdom mindset out of us all has been left out in the cold and sometimes are leaving the church and Christianity all together. We will hire a children's pastor to watch over our children. We will hire a youth pastor to look after our youth; because these are the two groups that 31-50 year olds look for when they are choosing a church. We will hire a worship pastor because we need to make sure we have the right worship feel in our services (the word "feel" and "service" themselves should show us how self centered that is), but we will not even talk about the possiblity of having a Young Adults Pastor until all other bases are covered and we have a healthy enough financial book to then maybe hire with a kingdom mindset and not a church growth mindset.

Now let me clear a few things up; I 100% beleive in children's minisrty and the importance of bringing our children up at an early age with a christian wolrdview. I 100% beleive in youth minsitry, I am one for the Love and have been for 10 years! I LOVE BEING A YOUTH PASTOR! I am not saying or trying to put any of these above or below the other in some sort of importance slide rule, what I am saying is that our lack of kingdom mindset sometimes influences how we are involved in minsirty today, and the world is watching!

Statistics show that 75% of our high school aged students who profess Christ, they would say that they are a born again beleiver in Jesus Christ the son of God, are leaving the church and faith when they go off to college. Then a very small percentage of them come back to the church when they get married and have babies, in their 30's. My theory (yes it is just a theory and I understand I am not the end all say all on this subject) is that the local church has dropped the ball on this group thus they are leaving the church because there is "nothing for them" at church. We teach them from birth that the chruch has programming specifically designed for them; then at 18 we "kick em out of youth" and it is find your own programming and niche until you can tithe and are 31 or so and come back and see us. Then we as the local church have meetings and lunches about how the 18-30 year old generation is walking away from church.

If this is the most kingdom mindset group in the history of the church, which statistics show that it is, they do more service oriented ministry, more care oriented ministry, more homeless, more feeding of the hungry, more being a voice for the voicless ministry then any other generation in a long time, maybe ever, then how can we continue to call ourselves kingdom mindfull until we as a local church start to become strategic about reaching out to and partnering with this generation of young people!

How close is too Close and does it matter?

HA HA HA, I am back! Sorry I have been away for so long. I have been up to my ears with both travel and programming! There has been so much going on now that I am back to "normal" I don't feel "normal" at all! Life just does those funny things at times, where it shows who who is boss! LOL

Today I want to get a post going about the aged old question: Wesleyan Arminian or Calvinst. To me the bigger question is does it matter? I want to just get this one going and then comment on people's comments.

I will start off with this though: I am and have always maintained that I can with my own free will decide when and where to willfully walk away from God, but he never walks away from me. I fully and with my own free will decide and choose that I will follow God with all my heart, but He makes the decsion to draw me close and open up the mysteries of the gospel to me. I know that deep down inside my heart God will never leave nor forsake me, but I can choose my actions and words, but does that in effect decide where my salvation lie? My heart will forever be the Lord's, but my thoughts and actions sometime teater on the world?

How do we justify these thoughts? Does it matter? Are we really as far apart as we think?

Let's get ready to RUMBLE! In the love and respect of the Lord of course! :-)

I look forward to your posts!

Glad to be back!
Hof

If Jesus loves ALL the little children, shouldn't we do the same?

OK guys here we go with my first try at this thing. Let me start off by saying in no way shape or form do I think I have all the answers or even some of them for that matter. I am just trying to learn more then I teach in this lifetime. I just have thoughts that run in my head and I need somewhere to spew them out, for lack of a better term. I started this blog to get people talking. A conversation is two sided. When in a conversation remember, to attack someone else in that conversation, makes it now an argument and not a conversation. We are not here to argue but to discuss. I hope that we can learn from each other and help each other grow.
Now on to today's question:
If Jesus truly loves the little children, ALL the little children of the world, as the Sunday school/VBS song has taught so many of us, then what is with the phrase hate the sin but love the sinner. Do we as Christians not understand how degrading of a phrase that is? It is putting conditions on our love. It would be like me saying my son does something that I cannot stand, but I am going to hate what he does and not who he is. In a culture where what we do so closely ties into who we are can you see where this statement is a joke. It is a sad attempt at us trying to be clever and instead of addressing an issue we saying well we love you, but not what you are doing. When what we should be saying is, we love you and want to come along side you in your journey called life. True ministry only comes inside of a relationship. It is hard to have a relationship when we continue to tell someone, man I hate what you do, but I love you.
I most often hear this phrase attached to the homosexual lifestyle. The damage here is that people who are attracted to persons of the same sex can no more cease to be attracted to the persons of the same sex as I can cease to be attracted to my wife (which I am VERY attracted to by the way...she is HOT). So for us to use a statement like hate the sin and not the sinner in this context is an attack on that person's core. The funny thing about the homosexual lifestyle is that Christians have hierarchies (if that is a word) for the sin of the world today. Don't believe me, then why is it that we cannot accept homosexuals into our churches but we have no problem with drunkards, divorcees (which Jesus speaks more harshly about in God's word, since he never even mentions homosexuality), adulterers (again one of those that Jesus speaks harshly about), idolaters (which is America's sin of choice), and basically anyone who has fallen short of the glory of God (don't get me wrong we should be accepting all of these people with the Love of Christ), but we refuse to accept those that have a same sex attraction with the same love and acceptance that we accept other "sinners" (of which I am one of the worst).
I believe that Jesus has called the church to Love without limits, serve without prejudice, worship with total abandon, and to live without being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The part that we often miss is this, homosexual or heterosexual, ALL of us have been made in the image of God. We are ALL Children and creations of the one true God. Is living in a sexual homosexual relationship sin, yes, (not the attraction, but the sexual relationship) but no more then living in a heterosexual sexual relationship outside of marriage, or being a drunk, or getting a divorce, or holding something as an idol in your life that causes your relationship with God and people to be broken. The good news is that God forgives SIN! He sent His Son Jesus to redeem the world and ALL of creation back to Him.
It is time for the Church to stop using little statements like hate the sin and love the sinner as a crutch for actually being the Church. Loving God with all we have and loving people as we would love ourselves. Let us look at each person no matter their sexual preference as a child of God, one that has been created in God's image. Love is the only true change agent!
Rom 5:6-11
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment. 10 For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God — all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.

Rom 13:8-10
8 Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's law. 9 For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting — and any other commandment — are all summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God's requirements.

What Now?

I am starting this blog as an attempt to get people talking. Anyone, everyone, no matter our race, creed, color, ethnicity, religious background, church affiliation, political views, no matter any of the insignificant things we so hold dear to us. I want us to talk. Society Rooms are as old as the 1600's. They are groups of people who would get together from all walks of life and dialogue about what was happening in society and how we can work together to make "it" work. I want this to be a Society Room about the direction of the church today, but I don't just want the church's opinion. That would be like me going to a democrat and asking them who they think should be president. Of course they will say a democrat. I want all those who want in on the conversion to be in on the conversation. Whether we have the same world view or differ in most everything under the sun. Life is a Journey that we all get the privilege to take together. That is why life is not what's next but what is happening now. We must look to the future and have a constant eye on the horizon, but life is not gauged by how long we live or by the destination we will end at, but the people we meet, the memories we make, the events that happen, the lives we effect, the choices we make, and the legacy we will leave. We have a choice where we go from here. We do not have a choice how long the journey is, only how great the journey can be, not only for us, but also for those around us. I will pose a question once a week, hopefully on Thursday, if I'm not in a place where I can post on Thursday I will try and post on Fri. You know how that goes sometimes though. Life is tough sometimes, does not stop ever, and can beat you up if you are not ready for the everyday grind. Life can also be wonderful, free, exhilarating, and sometimes more then we can hope or imagine. I happen to think that there is more out there then what we are settling for. We have been programmed to think that what we got is what we got, but I think that we are, too many times, settling for less then what God wants for us. Let's do this journey together, as iron sharpens iron, so one man can sharpen another. My one request is that no matter your world view we come into this dialogue with an open mind and the thought that, "I do not have every answer, I do not know all, I can learn from others, and hope that God (or whatever/whomever you may believe in) can teach me something new everyday".