Instead of taking a whole plateful, or making a long term commitment; taking a little sample can be a good way to decide if you like something.
Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
Sometimes when churches get a person who says, “I can help with …(nursery, youth ministry, hospitality, finance committee, choir…) they plunge into a black hole from which they may never return. Half a century later they receive an award for 47 years of continuous service with the finance committee. They may have felt that after a year or two, they wanted to do something else. Perhaps they were even “called” to do something else, but they were trapped and felt they couldn’t let people down. “Who would take over where they had been?”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”
It is important to find our place, to find where we want to help out and serve. It is good to do something we love in service to God.
Listen in your prayers and you will know the season. Let volunteers follow that nudge in their spirit from God. There is a rhythm to the seasons of our lives. Often times we have different things to share and give at different seasons of our lives. Be willing to make a change. Pray for your replacement, it could be someone is waiting to be called to take your place and you should not rob them of the opportunity to serve with their best as well.
This weekend was 50 days after Easter and marks another change for the beginnings of Christianity. It is Pentecost. I like the words in the song, “Come Holy Spirit like the wind.” It is an amazing experience in prayer when the Holy Spirit is invited and comes like the wind. It touches your spirit. You are certain it has happened. You are never the same. Let the Holy Spirit touch your life, now and always.
I spoke about prayer recently at a small neighborhood church in Indian Hills Colorado. The woman in the photo beside me, is my very dear childhood friend. She had not been to this church for a number of years as she lives in a different town, but came to hear the talk. She was looking forward to visiting this church again because it was the place she found God. I didn’t know that about her and her history with this church.
It was the place I found God also. I was excited to visit the church where I had met God so many years before, and started my own spiritual journey.
This is the real purpose of neighborhood church. It is a place where people find God. It is a place where they can pray. It is a place to grow in their spiritual walk and to learn about redemption and forgiveness and those really big ideas that Jesus brought for all of us. Read the rest of this entry »
This plan or strategy, is specifically for a small neighborhood church. It is grass roots and doesn’t require much of a budget. I say much, because I think there are a few things you will need to obtain, to let people know about your church and its image. You will need to prime the pump (so to speak).
I am a speaker, and visit many small churches throughout the year. I have been a member of a small church, also a medium size church (which are rare these days), and I have been on staff at a large church.
There are phrases I hear over and over from church members in my travels. There are things we speculate, some are right and some are not. I will elaborate on a couple ideas we need to consider. The numbered entries are the phrases I hear frequently, and the indented green copy is a result of my thoughts and research on the subject. Read the rest of this entry »
A vigil – from the Latin word vigilia meaning wakefulness.
While in the past 20 years some churches have grown, some are shrinking in size. All churches especially mid-size and small churches have struggled as folks who were the pillars of the congregations have aged and died off. Most churches have not had a plan to increase the size of their own church in 100 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Small community church is on my mind. What is Community Church? Since the Puritans showed up in America, we have had churches in every community. As a baby boomer, I remember there was a time when the number of churches in a community outnumbered the bars and tattoo parlors. Now it is the other way around.
Church was the place where people gathered on Sunday in Worship with music and prayers and gratitude in their hearts. It is the place we are married and buried and hopefully baptized. Those are important life events Read the rest of this entry »
