Redeemer Church has a golf league that plays on Tuesday evenings at Highland Hills Golf Course. Shortly after moving to DeWitt, Paul Blankenship asked me: “Do you golf?” I told him that I didn’t. To which he replied, “Go get yourself a set of clubs – the pastor always plays in the golf league.” So I did…and I have ever since.
I’m still an inconsistent golfer…but I enjoy the exercise. Maybe most of all, I’ve enjoyed the fellowship that this evening has afforded me, over the years, with so many people from our congregation that I wouldn’t have a chance to get to know as well if it weren’t for chasing that little white ball all over the golf course!
My vision team and I are reading a book called Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Bishop Robert Schnase of the Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
In his first chapter on “The Practice of Radical Hospitality,” he says: “People getting mad and leaving (the church) is not the cause of our decline (in United Methodist Churches). Members simply grow old and die, and no one takes their place. The church has a ‘front door’ problem rather than a ‘back door’ problem. People are not entering the life of the church at a rate that matches or exceeds the number maturing and dying. In many cases, we have not passed along the faith to our own children and grandchildren.”
There are many points of entry into a local church – and recreational ministries, like a golf league, is one of them. Inviting people into a life of faith does not involve pounding people with “oughts” and “shoulds.” Some people recognize their needs, and they search for something that gives their life hope, meaning and community – something spiritual. Their not looking for religious knowledge as much as simply wanting to know that God loves them, that they are of supreme value, and that their life has significance.
The church should be a school for love – a place where people learn to love each other, learn how to offer and accept forgiveness, and learn how to serve and be served. It’s a place where the Spirit of God can shape the human soul.
Who’s the last person you invited into the fellowship of Redeemer Church?
I couldn't agree more with this and its not only the Methodist Congregation...its the Christian churches as a whole. And we are not addressing the problem. The next generation of thinkers is leaving for college and fall away from the church. The statistics are mind-blowing, like 85% of our teens are leaving the faith once they leave home. We need to get back to the basics. The answer is the fam! We need to open our Bibles WITH OUR KIDS and talk about the family unit. Read what God commissions in Ephesians 6 and Dueteronomy 6. Then live that life! Paint that picture for others to see! If we begin to do this, and get back to the basics, I think we will begin to win our kids back as well as our family!
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