(Message re-posted from eNews of Sept 30 and including an added note from today, October 6, 2011.)

On Sunday, Sept.25, I threw out a challenge to those in worship. By extension, the challenge goes to my whole church, whether you were there or not.  I mentioned that most churches of which I am aware which successfully “turned-around” from a place of brokenness and genuinely grew into a mission minded church did so on the foundation of prayer. No targeted ads, programs, skilled preaching or great music trumped the humility that came with earnest prayer in community as a practice of the church. I think sometimes we need to desperately seek God together before God’s blessing of growth and fruitfulness comes in ways obviously visible to us and experienced by us. We must seek him personally—and even more to the point, we must seek him together.

Read more…

Over the last several years I have seen lots of individual congregations attempt various ways to reach out to their community and offer a variety of worship services, Bible studies, and classes. All of this is done with great thought and sincerity, effort and prayer, and funds and volunteer teamwork. Yet, on the whole, the church-at-large in our area struggles to make an impact and reach people for Christ. We, the Church, do not merely struggle to reach non-Christians, but in reality we struggle to reach Christians, too, who have stopped regularly participating in the life of the Church. I cannot help but wonder, is this because we, the Church, make too much of a habit of inviting people to programs and events rather than inviting them to live a way of life revealed by Jesus?
Read more…