Today’s discussion is going to be lighthearted and friendly.  I need a break from the heavy lifting.

What is your most memorable experience in a church service?

Please exclude salvation, baptism, and such.  We all should remember those and praise God daily for them.  I am talking about something out of the ordinary.

What is the funniest thing you ever saw happen in church?

We are human and should be able to laugh, even in church.  I believe God laughs at us more than we might imagine.

Please share your stories.  I am sure there are many.

Love you all

I am constantly amazed with the way God seems to enrich my life.  I have played a small part recently in the development of a young adult fellowship in my church.  It was sorely needed so that relationships, growth, and  discipleship could be established among the few couples and singles that we have in attendance.  A few of them did not have a lot of opportunities for these things in church because of worldly interference such as work and children or mission interference such as working in the children’s departments and ministries.

The new group has a name and it is The Bridge.  This name was chosen because a bridge is something that connects.  A few people in my church have looked at this new group with concern, having let their minds go to thoughts such as division, separation or even revolution.  The Bridge has none of these things as an agenda.  The Bridge is a place for fellowship, for accountability, for biblical discussion amongst peers, and simply to celebrate our King in a way that is relevant to their age group.  As a bridge it is decidedly connective.  Connecting the individuals in this group to each other and the group to the lost in the community of like mind and interest and finally to the older generations in our church are the main goals we have in mind.  As one of the group, Wayne, put it; The Bridge is an addition and not a subtraction in our church.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb 10:25NIV

As some of you already know, I used to be a loner.  I was introverted and pretty much hated everyone.  Then I met Jesus and entered his Kingdom as a child and servant of God and started the process of change.  As all of us know, God sometimes makes supernatural changes in us in certain ways immediately but he seems to do this in various ways.  Some may be miraculously delivered from addictions to tobacco for instance while another may not.  One way I was not changed was in my attitude towards assemblies, groups, fellowships, and even church.

I immediately started going to church but only for the Word of God, not for the people.  I would be the first to my vehicle when church was over, waiting sometimes not very patiently for my wife to finally be ready to leave.  I did not need anyone but Jesus and that was fine with me.  The roles have now reversed.  My wife often is waiting on me.  Somewhere along the line in my concerted attempt to love everyone, a bridge was built.  I was connected to the rest of the Body.

As the verse in Hebrews states, we all need to be connected to each other and never stop meeting or assembling with each other.  Why is this so important?

The main reason is, of course, the mission.  We are not a bunch of spiritual Rambo’s, furtively making our way through the jungles of life attacking all the spiritual forces we find aligned against us.  We are instead part of a unit of elite, trusted soldiers that must train, fight, and rest together.  The enemy is out there and he likes nothing better than finding one of us cut off and alone.  We cannot make it alone, even if God is there with us, simply because God decided long ago to work through us.  And the work he does through us is for others, not ourselves.

Another reason is the thing that brought this post about.  We need each other for the joy it can bring.  The relationships between believers enrich us, fulfill us, and mature us.  I was pretty good at being alone at one time.  But most of you probably don’t need to be told, being alone is not very fun or fulfilling.  Some of you also know the terrible, depressing feelings that come from loneliness.  I no longer fight depression.

And love is simply amazing.  Not the emotion but the true attribute called agape.  Intentional love, as it grows from being something we make ourselves do, to something we want to do, and finally to that thing we just do, does so much good for each of us individually and for the Kingdom that it just naturally spills over and flows out.  It is contagious.  It is life changing.  It is life enhancing.  It is rewarding and enriches not only ourselves but others, and especially the Body of Christ.

We need each other and even more so as we see the Day approaching because the enemy’s activities are ramping up.  I believe the final onslaught is here.  For our adversary, it is all or nothing.  We must stand and even more, continue to advance the Kingdom and we cannot do it or make it alone.

Build a bridge.  Be a bridge.  Protect your bridge.

Blowing up bridges is one way all enemies seek to divide and conquer.

Love you all

I don’t feel like I am doing much of anything.

I asked some questions on Tuesday that hit close to home.  I believe that we all have problems fulfilling the great commission.  If we think we don’t we are probably deceiving ourselves.  I have been serving Jesus for seven years now and I have personally not had one person that I have asked actually come to my church.  I have not personally led anyone to accept Christ as Lord of their lives.  I can’t even convince my kids that God is worth serving.

With my limited ability I do my best to teach two classes a week at church.  I read the bible a lot, read all sorts of forums and blogs and try to interact with both Christian and non Christian to a degree.  I pray.  I will discuss God and the Kingdom with anybody at anytime.  I write these blog articles and try to promote it and my brother’s blogs also.  I pray before meals in restaurants and in hospitals while visiting family.  I try my best not to even make a promise that I am not sure I cannot keep, much less lie.  I am not ashamed of the gospel or my Savior in any way.

But is any of this in any way really going out and making disciples?  Is it still possible to even do that in the hustle and bustle of life in the good ole USA?  (Read Mikes comment on the previous post.)

To answer my own last two questions from Tuesday is inextricably tied into my own personal mission.  If I am not doing it then to some degree my church is not and if it is not then we are not seeing the growth we should.  We will knock the seeker sensitive churches, and rightly so in a lot of ways, but if they are growing by the thousands and our growth is in single digits, what is really so bad if only ten percent of their growth is real. Ten percent of thousands is much more than 100 percent of nothing or even ten.

We live in a world and at a time that is way too busy.  But Jesus did not say “go when you have the time.” He said leave it all and follow Him before we are told to go.  Have we and are we willing to strip down to the necessities and fulfill our mission?  Are we really ready to forego some traditions and styles if it will keep the few visitors we have long enough to start the discipleship program?  I just don’t know.

Shannon talks about relationships more than anyone I ever met before.  He has it right.  In his last comment on my site he brought up the thoughts about being the church instead of doing church.  This the biblical approach.  I think I had a post in the past also about this but you will have to search the archives.  Being the church is relational at the very core.  Going out to make disciples is relational.

So I do know that it starts with relationships.  We absolutely must start new ones and grow deeper in the relationships we have.  And since we must do everything on the go, we must figure out how to do relationships on the go.  How and what would that look like?  Here is some food for thought.

The most obvious is right here.  The internet.  Reach out with blogs and forums.  There are loads of free resources out there.  Satan definitely uses the internet in a number of ways but why can’t we use it to reach out all over the world and talk about the fact that Jesus is King.  That is the heart of the gospel.  Satan has no control except when we let him.

Look at all the ways we stay in touch with everybody, all the time.  Are you texting, tweeting, IMing, emailing, etc.?  Are any of those instant communications about Jesus’ love?  Could they be?  We must engage the communications mediums of the day and learn to use them effectively.

When you go in a store or a restaurant, do you greet the cashier or waitress or do you sort of just ignore them?  These are relationships even if they are only momentary and temporary.  Being a witness, the traditional understanding of what we are to be, is much more than just praying before that meal while eating out.  Being a witness is also relational.  Letting someone know that you notice them and appreciate them is one way to impact the world even if it seems so small.  But add them all up.

Does anybody even know their neighbors name anymore?  Do we care?  There are relationship opportunities all around us.  At the mailbox, at the gas pump, at the dry cleaners, at the ball parks.

We have to develop strategic approaches to create relationships in the world of today.

Going and making disciples in our busy world will not look like it did a hundred years ago.  Life is tremendously full and busy and time still passes by at the same pace it did thousands of years ago.  I, for one, wish I had more even though I have a lot at the moment.  We have to get creative in our methods of fulfilling our mission.  We cannot afford to just let it go as we have been.

And I must start, myself.

Love you all

Thanks to Shannon and Mike for much of this post.

I know that some are starting to think I am angry or at the very least too harsh in my views.  Maybe so.  But there are many things out there going on in the body of Christ that are not very helpful to the health of that same body.  If you choose to not see this then I cannot make you look.  But I can call out in desperation for sincere inner reflection.  This is what I am doing.  And for those that read and respond that I personally know from my own church, what I write on this blog is not necessarily all aimed at you.  I do have people reading that I do not know personally and that are not even in the Church of God.  This post and all the previous ones are based on my observations of the church in general.

I have been so hesitant to speak out directly for fear of offending.  I know some of you may not think so but I have been cautious.  It is starting to come out in frustration though.  So starting in this post, which on Tuesdays usually is anyway, I am going to start asking questions instead of giving my opinion for a while.  I want to know if I am wrong.  I really want all of us, especially myself, to speak truthfully and start coming to some profitable conclusions.

“Mat 28:19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

These are the questions.  In light of the commandment and instruction Jesus left us in Matthew, I ask the following.

What are you personally doing to follow this command?

What is your church doing to follow this command?

Is your church growing from the addition of new disciples?

I really want to know.

Love you all