January 2020! This month officially marks the beginning of a new decade and it’s time for the roaring 20s! Any time a new year rolls around there’s a natural segue from the old to the new; it’s a built in turning point or a moment for reflection and renewal. We intrinsically understand that there’s no other time of the year with so many peripheral circumstances poised to support us in our new life patterns. We’re reminded to make new year’s resolutions or set annual goals. Health clubs and gyms offer deep discounts hoping to gain new customers. Social media is filled with inspirational posts encouraging us not to give up or give in! Everything around us shouts “You can do this!”
What if we took the turning of the decade to establish a renewed mission in our churches?
If we are going to understand who we want to be, we have to first understand who we are. We’ve got to have 20/20 clarity (pun intended). Here’s the truth: A lot of Christians have seen their churches experience rapid growth in the past decade, or have joined a large or fast growing church. When I think of church growth, It reminds me of when Peter preached a sermon in Acts 2, and then verse 41 says, “those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about three thousand in all.” (NLT) The church literally grew in size from 120 followers of Jesus, to 3,120 followers… over night! They kept preaching and Acts tells us that, “each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.” Everyone embraced it and rejoiced. There was no longing for the “good old days” of that 120 person house church in the upper room. It was clear to see God’s hand at work in the early church, and it’s been clear to see Him working in the global Church over the past decade.
But as much as rapid growth can be exciting and inspirational, it carries with it its own unique set of challenges. For starters, you can loose the “small town church” feel, where everybody knows your name. When you get really big really fast, it’s difficult to know who you're ‘supposed’ to know already, who’s new, and how to tell the difference! It’s easy to stop talking to people you don’t know. What if you just haven’t seen them because they attend a different service, or sit on the other side of the building? What if you introduced yourself to someone that’s attended our church for longer than you, or heaven forbid, someone who’s attended your church their entire life!?
I'm convinced that Satan likes to use fear and anxiety to paralyze us from stepping out and taking a risk. He uses our social anxiety to create spiritual separation! Satan has always been about causing division. Divide man from God. Divide bother from brother. Divide spouse from spouse. Divide the Body of Christ from each other. Jesus said a house divided cannot stand.
The good news is that God has always been about restoration and justification (bringing back together). God justified us to himself by salvation through Jesus Christ. God justifies us to each other through Jesus’ example of forgiveness, and His commandment for us to forgive one another. So if Satan wants to divide and God wants us to live in peaceful community, what’s the solution? How do our churches grow small while we continue to grow larger?
I recently ran across a post that stopped me in my tracks. The simple post rang out into the universe with everything I believe in personally, and exactly how I want all of our churches to be! I immediately had a vision of the church filled with people, filled with the Holy Spirit, . Smiles. Connection. Community. My heart swelled with hope and with joy at the very sight.
It was an ordinary woman’s post about her ordinary husband’s strategy for approaching church:
“My husband has three rules of engagement when we go to church.
An alone person in our gathering is an emergency.
Friends can wait.
Introduce a newcomer to someone else.
Let’s all be missionaries at church today!”
Oh. My. Goodness. Go back and read that again. It’s so simple. It’s incredibly clear. It’s easy. And it’s focused on our real mission. Loving God with every ounce of our being, and loving others as if we were in their shoes and needed what they need.
It’s such a simple strategy, but if you approached your church attendance with this mission, it would mean some really big things! It would mean that nobody is ever isolated from the Body of Christ. Nobody would ever bear the full weight of a burden by themself. Nobody would have to fight their own temptation without support. Nobody would feel like an outsider visiting an insider’s club. Nobody would feel the weight of being alone while surrounded by a crowd. Nobody would feel unseen, overlooked, or unwanted. Nobody would ever visit your church without experiencing the perfect love of our Heavenly Father! How great is that!? That’s Gospel level great!
Every single person that walks through the doors of a church can feel connected, cared for, and critical to the mission.
All it takes is you and me, the Body of Christ. If you attend church but feel like you’re not involved/plugged in/connected/know what’s going on/how you can make a difference, in 2020, now you have a mission.
Follow the three rules of engagement of when you go to church:
An alone person in our gathering is an emergency.
Friends can wait.
Introduce a newcomer to someone else.
Can you imagine what it would be like if churches were filled with people that came to church every Sunday with those three rules of engagement on the forefront of their minds? Can you imagine what it would be like if you went to church with the three rules on your mind, and in your heart?
2020 is going to be an incredible beginning to a new decade, where the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to lead people into salvation.
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