Revitalize Your Church

A young pastor once contacted me, seeking suggestions for effective ministry in his small community.  Here is my response: 1.  Think Big and Little. Too many rural pastors suffer from myopia -- small vision.  "How can anything significant happen in a little place like this?"  However, it pays to remember that Jesus launched the greatest mission in human history from rural context.  If you have the right perspective, you can touch the world from the end of it!  Refuse to be small minded. Do something special with what you have.  Go the extra mile and put some "wow" into it.  It doesn't take much more to make a huge difference.  Remember, in a small community, you don't have to be great to be spectacular. Take a risk and do something big.  Plan a significant event and invite the whole community.  (A few ideas: a dinner to honor veterans or rescue workers, a fun outreach for children, a hunting or fishing expo, a concert, the ...

The flags in town are half mast today .  It seems we've had more than our share of "half-mastings" recently. The flags represent our hearts -- they're at half mast too. As the flags go down, our prayers go up.

 "Half the harm that is done in the world,"  said poet,  T.S. Eliot , "is done  by people who want to feel important. They do not mean to harm. There  are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."  I've discovered that most of the time, people mean well. Even when  they speak or behave in troubling ways that makes us wonder -- they  mean well.   It's best to give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.  Yet, at the same time, it is also beneficial to examine our own motives, and try to understand more deeply how our behavior effects others.  Sometimes, winning the argument loses the fight. A marriage counselor once asked a distraught husband,  "Do you want to be happy, or do you want to be right?"  After a frustrating conversation one day, I thought, "What he said spoke so loud, I couldn't understand a word  he meant!"  Perhaps, the best path is mapped out by  St. Francis...

Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be canonized on October 13, wrote the beautiful and haunting hymn, "Lead Kindly Light" when he was kept far from home due to an unexpected illness and transportation issues. It has been a source of comfort to many, including soldiers in the trenches of World War 1, Betsy Ten Boom (Corrie's sister) in the Nazi concentration camp. and a group of 26 frightened miners who were trapped underground in the 1909 Stanley Pit disaster, where 168 men and boys died in an explosion of poisonous gas. Perhaps it will be a comfort to you in whatever darkness you may be facing.: Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fe...

"Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrod, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."  (from Daily Prayer  by E. Milner White & G. W. Briggs).

An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps.   "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.  "The front row, please," she answered..  "You really don't want to do that," the usher said. "The pastor is really boring."  "Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired. "No," he said.  "I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly.  "Do you know who I am?" he asked.  "No," she said. "Good," he answered. 

I teach a discipleship class called Deepen at Alive Wesleyan Church on a regular basis.  In this teaching on prayer, I share Six Steps to the Throne, which is adapted from   In The Day of Thy Power , by Arthur Wallis. In 2 Chronicles 9:18 we read that there were six steps to the throne of King Solomon.  And in our prayer life, there are six steps to the throne of God:  The King of Kings. Step 1:  Abiding in Christ John 15:5-7  I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. This means being connected to Christ -- living in Christ - being at home with him.  There is a huge difference between saying prayers and being a person of prayer. Two ways we become disconnected:  Disobedience (Ps, 66:18) and Neglect.  Is Jesus your spare tire or your steering wheel? Step 2: In the Will of God 1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approachin...