In his new book, Change Your Church for Good, author Brad Powell says, “Church is supposed to be a place that gives evidence to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, where people find life and hope.”
I just returned to the office today after a few days of rest and relaxation with friends at their cottage on the Lake Michigan shoreline. As my wife and I usually do when we’re on vacation, we looked for a church where we could visit and worship on Sunday. We found one – a larger congregation with a membership of about 500…who are worshipping in a new facility. We went with a spirit of anticipation.
We came away disappointed. What we experienced was a worship service that was second-rate, substandard and shoddy. It was a traditional service - targeted to “insiders,” slow, and full of audio blunders. There was a lack of warmth and only one person made an attempt to welcome three strangers. The only bright spot, for me, was the Pastor’s message – which was soft on content but delivered well. Overall, we found the service to be dull and uninspiring.
I hesitate to be critical of folks who are sincere and love their church...but as I looked at this mostly older congregation, I couldn’t help but think that all too often the church appears to offer nothing of value to outsiders.
Churches are in possession of the most profound and life-changing truth the world has ever known…but the way that many of them present this truth is superficial and boring. And because of this, a lot of people have concluded that the church has nothing to offer them. If it isn’t going to encourage, strengthen, inspire, benefit, and fill them with hope – why would they want to attend? People have enough turmoil in their lives without adding a depressing church experience to their weekly schedule. Who can blame people for making the choice to stay away?
Any given church is simply a reflection of those who attend. Each church reflects the ideas and principles that the people who attend regularly value and love. How are we doing believing and proclaiming God’s power and promises? Is Redeemer “a place that gives evidence to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ…where people find life and hope?” Are lives being changed and is God being honored? I’d like to hear what you think…
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
A Father's Love
Once I became the father of three children, Father's Day came to mean a lot more to me than it used to. I always appreciated my dad; now I just marvel at how he and my mom raised three boys into healthy, successful adults.
Someone has said, "A father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without anesthetic." I like Paul Harvey's observation: "Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough, so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody else's."
My mother and father have been married for almost 65 years. Their marriage has had the normal ups and downs that most of us go through as we deal with all the pressures, changes and circumstances that life brings our way. Yet I am grateful that they persevered and for the lessons they taught by example.
I talk to lots of people who live with the scars of never knowing that they were loved. Not so in our household. There were times when we didn’t have a lot of this world’s goods…but we always knew that we were loved. We also were nurtured in the Christian faith – from the time we were infants - dedicated to the Lord. I believe that it was easier for me and for my brothers to appropriate God’s love in our life because we experienced it in our parents.
Psalm 103: 17 says: “The love of the Lord remains forever with those who honor him. His salvation extends to the children’s children.”
I’m grateful for parents who, by their words and deeds, loved God, who taught us the truth of God’s Word, and who showed us the love of our Heavenly Father. Jan and my prayer is that we have been able to set that same example for our children and now for our grandchildren.
Someone has said, "A father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without anesthetic." I like Paul Harvey's observation: "Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough, so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody else's."
My mother and father have been married for almost 65 years. Their marriage has had the normal ups and downs that most of us go through as we deal with all the pressures, changes and circumstances that life brings our way. Yet I am grateful that they persevered and for the lessons they taught by example.
I talk to lots of people who live with the scars of never knowing that they were loved. Not so in our household. There were times when we didn’t have a lot of this world’s goods…but we always knew that we were loved. We also were nurtured in the Christian faith – from the time we were infants - dedicated to the Lord. I believe that it was easier for me and for my brothers to appropriate God’s love in our life because we experienced it in our parents.
Psalm 103: 17 says: “The love of the Lord remains forever with those who honor him. His salvation extends to the children’s children.”
I’m grateful for parents who, by their words and deeds, loved God, who taught us the truth of God’s Word, and who showed us the love of our Heavenly Father. Jan and my prayer is that we have been able to set that same example for our children and now for our grandchildren.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
What Do People Need From the Church?
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’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?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
We belong to God
Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny is a book for children of all ages. It is the story of a little bunny who dreams about running away from home, only to find "home" wherever he ends up. His mommy does not stop him from running away, but she does not leave him either. When he climbs a tree, the tree is in the shape of Mommy. When he travels the ocean, the wind is in the shape of Mommy. When he joins the circus, the trapeze artist is shaped like Mommy. Finally, Bunny gets the point. "Aw, shucks!" he says, "I might just as well stay home and be your little bunny." Which he does.
Whether we are bunnies or sheep or people, we cannot run away from God. God is our home, and like the Israelite’s Ark of the Covenant, God travels with us wherever we go. The Apostle Paul reminds us that "nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord…neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation."
The Bible offers us several images of God as home. God is both shepherd and host, pasture and valley, mansion and fortress, still water and open gate. Whatever the circumstances of our lives, God is with us -- in peace, in war, in hope, in fear, in life, in death, in joy, in suffering. When we are at home with God, even the most difficult days are infused with abundant life.
Sometimes, when I’m sitting with a family that has just lost a loved one – as I did twice in the last couple of weeks – I think to myself, "Dear God, what can I possibly say to these hurting people?"
The words of the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm often well up within me. Both remind us of a loving God who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Here’s the bottom line: In life and in death, we belong to God. In life and in death, we are at home in God. But the reverse is also true. God needs and wants to be at home in us. God needs and wants to abide in us.
Hope is the home within us, the home where God lives, the home where God abides.
Rest, restoration and security are the promises of Scripture. And they are promised even and especially in the midst of hostility and danger and death. But such blessed assurance comes with a price. We come to trust a dependable God only when we embrace a dependable discipline. In Acts we learn that the first century church grew through devotion and discipline. Day by day the new converts spent time together in the temple. Day by day they broke bread at home, and ate with glad and generous hearts. Day by day they praised God, sold their possessions and distributed the proceeds according to need. And day by day, God added to their number, and added abundantly to their already abundant life. Like any home, God needs our attention and honor. But once we have worshipped and been restored, we can then go out and give care and attention and honor to the world.
Whether we are bunnies or sheep or people, we cannot run away from God. God is our home, and like the Israelite’s Ark of the Covenant, God travels with us wherever we go. The Apostle Paul reminds us that "nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord…neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation."
The Bible offers us several images of God as home. God is both shepherd and host, pasture and valley, mansion and fortress, still water and open gate. Whatever the circumstances of our lives, God is with us -- in peace, in war, in hope, in fear, in life, in death, in joy, in suffering. When we are at home with God, even the most difficult days are infused with abundant life.
Sometimes, when I’m sitting with a family that has just lost a loved one – as I did twice in the last couple of weeks – I think to myself, "Dear God, what can I possibly say to these hurting people?"
The words of the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm often well up within me. Both remind us of a loving God who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Here’s the bottom line: In life and in death, we belong to God. In life and in death, we are at home in God. But the reverse is also true. God needs and wants to be at home in us. God needs and wants to abide in us.
Hope is the home within us, the home where God lives, the home where God abides.
Rest, restoration and security are the promises of Scripture. And they are promised even and especially in the midst of hostility and danger and death. But such blessed assurance comes with a price. We come to trust a dependable God only when we embrace a dependable discipline. In Acts we learn that the first century church grew through devotion and discipline. Day by day the new converts spent time together in the temple. Day by day they broke bread at home, and ate with glad and generous hearts. Day by day they praised God, sold their possessions and distributed the proceeds according to need. And day by day, God added to their number, and added abundantly to their already abundant life. Like any home, God needs our attention and honor. But once we have worshipped and been restored, we can then go out and give care and attention and honor to the world.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Come and celebrate what God is doing among us!
Do you remember when summer was a more relaxing time of year, when schedules slowed and you could catch a breath? Where did that go? Still, the approaching summer does offer some special opportunities. I hope you'll find some time for learning and growing this summer – attend worship regularly, get involved in a Bible study, read a good Christian book or even volunteer to serve in the nursery or at Vacation Bible School.
May is a busy month around the church. Sunday School ends this week but there’s lots happening in worship for the whole family to take in. I’ve just started a new teaching series called “Beyond Our Wildest Dreams” and we’re studying the birth and expansion of the New Testament church in the Book of Acts. It’s a great read! In 30 short years the church grew from an insignificant Jewish sect to a powerful force in the Roman Empire.
This Sunday we’ll talk about the story in Acts 1: 6-14 where Jesus ascends back to His Father in Heaven…and the effect that had on His disciples. We’ll also recognize those that have served in our Christian education ministry this year. Next week, we’ll talk about Pentecost – and the birth of the church – as we confirm a dozen youth into the membership of Redeemer Church. Exciting stuff! Come and celebrate what God is doing among us! ~ Rod
May is a busy month around the church. Sunday School ends this week but there’s lots happening in worship for the whole family to take in. I’ve just started a new teaching series called “Beyond Our Wildest Dreams” and we’re studying the birth and expansion of the New Testament church in the Book of Acts. It’s a great read! In 30 short years the church grew from an insignificant Jewish sect to a powerful force in the Roman Empire.
This Sunday we’ll talk about the story in Acts 1: 6-14 where Jesus ascends back to His Father in Heaven…and the effect that had on His disciples. We’ll also recognize those that have served in our Christian education ministry this year. Next week, we’ll talk about Pentecost – and the birth of the church – as we confirm a dozen youth into the membership of Redeemer Church. Exciting stuff! Come and celebrate what God is doing among us! ~ Rod
Monday, May 10, 2010
Better serving our congregation
Our Staff is thrilled about some big changes that we've been making to the website to better serve our congregation. First, we are introducing a whole new look! We've added some features for you to connect to us in a different way - a regular Blog and a link to our Facebook page. We'll also be updating many of the information pages and will communicate more of what's happening in the life of our congregation on the web.
We've kept you in mind and made the site very user friendly, but rest assured, we'll be on standby to answer any questions you may have.
Let us know how we're doing! We want to serve you.
We've kept you in mind and made the site very user friendly, but rest assured, we'll be on standby to answer any questions you may have.
Let us know how we're doing! We want to serve you.
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