Put out into the deep. Jesus challenged Peter to put out into the deep water and cast down their nets. They had been out all night and caught nothing so why should they go out again. Peter was a career fisherman and knew how to fish. He figured that Jesus was a teacher and probably didn’t know a lot about fishing, yet he was willing to trust Jesus and do as He said. As a result, they caught so many fish they had to call for help to haul it all in. The church today feels that unbelievers don’t want to know Jesus, yet many have never heard of Him and are seeking something that doesn’t move in our unstable society. The Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even satanic societies reach out to them and they join them in search of help, but none offer them what they need. Jesus asks us to put out into the deep and reach people where they live. He said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” He knows where the people are that need Him and He wants us to go tell them about Him. If Jesus asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense, maybe He just wants to teach us to trust Him.
Archive for the ‘Pentecost’ Category
First Sunday of Pentecost-B-June 8
Organizing For Ministry–We often think that the church cares for its members and decades ago that was true in small churches but today, even small churches have problems ministering to their members. Previously, small churches usually drew from a small area and everyone knew each other outside church as well as in the church. In addition, many members were active in a lot of church activities. As a result, they felt free to call on each other in times of need. Now churches draw from a wide area and few know each other outside church. In addition, because of the distance, few members are active in church outside of Sunday morning. As a result, many do not feel they know other members enough to call on them in times of need. The church needs to group its people by area and provide activities in the small groups where members can socialize outside Sunday morning.
First Sunday of Pentecost-A-June 8
Not just for Pastors-Many people think that only preachers can lead people to Christ, but Jesus said to His disciples, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. While there have been times when evangelists like George Whitefield and Billy Graham have risen to call God’s people to repentance, the main response has come mainly from within the body of believers. Few outside the church responded until revival had swept through the church and unbelievers saw the change in the life of believers and wanted that life. When the church has had a highly trained and highly paid clergy, the church has generally not been very effective in reaching the lost because members leave evangelism to the clergy. The greatest inflow of unchurched people occurred during the early church before they had paid clergy, during the Wesleyan revival when Wesley organized small groups of converts under lay pastor’s, and in the American wilderness when believers gathered to pray and study the Bible while waiting for the Lord to send them a pastor. Although John Wesley and George Whitfield preached extensively and circuit riders rode throughout the American wilderness establishing churches, members of those churches continued to reach out to those around them, inviting unbelievers to hear the traveling preachers. It has been said that church isn’t a haven for saints but one beggar telling another where to find bread.
Fifteenth Sunday of Pentecost-Aug 25.
Neighborhood Bible Studies-The sad fact is that today, very few churches have Bible Studies. Many have dropped adult Sunday School and have teaching for young children during church. As a result, few adult church members have much knowledge of the Bible or how it applies to their everyday life. There may be families in your neighborhood who attend a church but have no real Bible knowledge. Neighborhood Bible Studies often include people from a variety of denominations united in the common interest of getting to know more about the Bible. While some passages may refer to beliefs held differently by different churches, most of the Bible is not controversial. You either believe it or you don’t. There are good Bible study guides available. It will help if the leader studies the material ahead of time and refers to a good commentary to help understand the study guide. It is also good to ask members how they feel the information will benefit them. Due to busy schedules, the group might feel that once a week is too ambitious and the group may consider twice a month during the school year and once a month in the summer. The church might group its members together that live near each other but live at a distance from the church to form the core group in the beginning but should plan for growth as new members are brought in and the group split when it gets over 12-15. If the group gets too large, members might not feel comfortable sharing and are not likely to invite their friends.
Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost-Aug 4
Many churches have large Vacation Bible Schools in their church but often only those from church come. Usually there are only a few visitors unless the church makes a great effort to reach those in the immediate area of the church. Kids can not come without transportation and often parents are busy or not interested. In addition, churches often have difficulty getting enough volunteers to staff it. By having small neighborhood VBS at homes of members, it enables members to reach the children in their neighborhood. More children can attend because they don’t need transportation. Since they can walk to it, their parents don’t have to take them. Parents are more likely to let their kids go and kids are more willing to attend since it is in their neighborhood and those attending are from their neighborhood. It also requires a lot less volunteer staff. The church member hosts it and can help with it and those who feel called to teach can conduct several VBS sessions on different weeks in different areas. Members can also get to know their neighbors as they hand out invitations. It also costs less because kits can be ordered as needed rather then planning for a big group that may or may not show up. In a neighborhood VBS, you have a good idea ahead of time how many are coming so you don’t have to order a lot of extra.
Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost-July 28
Children’s activities My wife and I have lived in Trailer parks (now called Mobile Home parks) throughout our marriage. Previously, trailers were usually small and easily moved and many residents moved frequently. People rarely bother to get to know their neighbors because they would move soon although more trailers are becoming bigger and harder to move. There is rarely anything for the kids to do. Many parents let their children roam the neighborhood without any supervision and they often get into trouble trying to create their own activities. The same goes for large apartment complexes where there are a lot of families. Parents and managers of mobile home parks and apartment complexes are often happy to see someone organize supervised activities for children to keep them out of trouble. Managers may be reluctant if an outside group wants to start it but are more willing if it is headed by a family in the park. Other managers may just be glad someone wants to start it. Many mobile home parks and apartment complexes now have community rooms for activities but they are seldom used because there is no one to organize activities. Such activities draw kids and provide contacts with their parents that open the door to developing a relationship with the parents. People in general are becoming more isolated from those around them, even in neighborhoods o permanent houses. Many neighborhoods have become more dangerous and parents don’t want their kids running the neighborhood without supervision and keep them cooped up in the house. As a result, many people in permanent housing neighborhoods are becoming as isolated as mobile home parks and apartment complexes and need children’s activities as well. Such activities should be out of concern for the lost, not just to keep the kids out of trouble. When I first went to work with the Salvation Army, I saw a lot of clients from a low-income housing project. I knew from experience that there was little for the children to do and little contact between mothers and so I organized an after-school program for the kids during the summer. I enlisted a church nearby to run it and enlisted a woman from the church to assist me in visiting the mothers to organize a mother’s club. The after-school program attracted a lot of kids who eventually started attending the church’s Wednesday night children’s program. Unfortunately, the church did not support the work to reach the mothers in the complex. It also dropped the after-school program once they got a good number of kids from the project attending their Wednesday night program. Unfortunately, while having active children’s programs make churches look good, the programs are expensive and not very effective if they don’t work to reach the parents as well. It has often been difficult getting churches to support the trailer park ministries. Many churches don’t do outside ministries because they don’t want “THOSE” kind of people (the unchurched) in their church and unchurched kids are often unruly since they weren’t raised by Christian parents.
Tenth Sunday of Pentecost -Jul 21
Reaching the Lost in your neighborhood-Pentecost is a good time to renew your resolve to reach those who have never heard the Gospel. While many Christians still think of the United States as a Christian nation, since the 1960’s, many children have grown up with no contact with the church. Many families don’t attend church and usually won’t send their children to Sunday School but will allow them to attend neighborhood activities. Many members have no idea that many of their neighbors have no church connection. The best place to start is where they are. Now is a good time to begin planning ways to reach those in your neighborhood who have never heard the Gospel. While many Christians feel that unbelievers are generally resistant to the Gospel, most have never heard the Gospel and see no reason to attend church, but would if they had a reason to. Possibilities for getting to know your neighbors include visiting neighbors to get to know them, starting a neighborhood children’s Bible club, having a backyard BBQ for the neighbors, and many more. You won’t know who doesn’t go to church until you meet them. While some may attend church somewhere, the chances are that the majority have no church connection, let alone actually attending. They can start by getting to know their neighbors and inviting them to cookouts in the back yard or other activities where neighbors can get to know each other and do things together. Once they get to know the church family in their neighborhood, they may be more open to attending church and even more so as some of their neighbors begin attending the church. Many people in neighborhoods are becoming isolated and have little interaction with neighbors. With families moving a great deal, they often have no family nearby and the only cheap entertainment available is to go to a bar or neighborhood parties where beer is often abundant. Church families can start family friendly get-togethers to help neighbors get to know each other.
Ninth Sunday of Pentecost-July 10
Personal Outreach People today are surrounded with appeals. Many have learned to tune them out. As a result, advertising and promotions which have been effective in the past no longer move people. Years ago I was out of work and got hired by a telemarketing group to recruit volunteers for non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, the Cancer Society, and similar organizations. They had found that traditional advertising didn’t work as well as before and began hiring companies to contact individuals on a block looking for someone who would mail out appeals to their neighbors on the block, because people responded to a letter from a neighbor more readily than from an organization. Often when people see a letter is from an organization they don’t belong to, they will throw it away and not even open it. A letter from a neighbor will make them curious. The church has always been effective because of the relationships of members with those around them. That is even more important today as people become increasingly isolated emotionally. It has resulted in large numbers of people feeling lonely even in the middle of a crowd. Door-to-door canvasing is better than media campaigns but not nearly as effective as neighbors visiting neighbors. The vast number of people visiting a church today do so at the personal invitation of a friend or neighbor. However a single visit is not nearly as effective as when members build a relationship through ongoing contacts with their neighbors. Members need to build a personal relationship with their neighbors to gain credibility. It is easy to say you care about someone but talk is cheap. Continual visits show that you really do care about them and aren’t just out collecting people to fill the pews. Trust is in short supply because they see so many people, including churches that are just out for their money. It will often take several visits before they begin to see that you are sincere and that they can trust you. Once they begin to trust you, they will be more willing to listen to what you have to say.
Eighth Sunday of Pentecost-July 7
Personal witness-The most effective way to reach those outside the church is through the personal witness of members. As members fellowship and interact with other believers, their lives are changed and they grow into the likeness of Christ and become the witness God desires. As members are changed, those around them will notice the difference and desire that kind of life. Unfortunately few church members today grow spiritually because the churches have drifted away from Christ and have become little more than social clubs. Members may attend church together for years and never get to know those around them. There is no close interaction of members with spiritual leaders to enable them to grow spiritually through watching spiritual leaders in action. There needs to be active mentoring of new members by those who are spiritually mature. Unfortunately, many church leaders are chosen for their business ability, not their spiritual maturity, so they do not provide good spiritual role models to follow. Up until the middle of the last century, the church was often the center of the community. It held Vacation Bible Schools, church dinners, and concerts where many in the community attended. However, few outside the church attend church activities today. If the church is to reach the lost, it must go where they are. In addition, church members must be trained to reach out to those around them and establish contacts that will enable them to recognize needs and respond to them. The early church attracted new members when unbelievers saw the love they had for each other and those around them, however the church today has isolated itself and does not provide opportunities for unbelievers to see that love.