Thursday, September 16, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Where are our priorities?
I was browsing through various web pages looking at the news when I came across this opinion piece on the NY Times homepage. The title of the op-ed was "Congregations Gone Wild" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08macdonald.html?_r=1&hp). The NY Times does not give a whole lot of attention to matters of the church so my curiosity was piqued. I chose to ignore the provocative inference in the title and see what the writer was talking about.
The first sentence is "THE American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show." Now I was really interested!
The article goes on to talk about the challenges of reaching an America that is more and more skeptical toward faith. That sounds about right. What's more, Pastor's are apparently burning out trying to keep up with the latest fads in communications and technology in order to entertain their congregations. That also sounds about right.
We need to get back to the basics. Our churches need to be focused on glorifying God and discipling believers. The key is God honoring and Bible focused. There's nothing wrong with doing things with excellence, but the packaging is far less important than the content.
The first sentence is "THE American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show." Now I was really interested!
The article goes on to talk about the challenges of reaching an America that is more and more skeptical toward faith. That sounds about right. What's more, Pastor's are apparently burning out trying to keep up with the latest fads in communications and technology in order to entertain their congregations. That also sounds about right.
We need to get back to the basics. Our churches need to be focused on glorifying God and discipling believers. The key is God honoring and Bible focused. There's nothing wrong with doing things with excellence, but the packaging is far less important than the content.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Free to Serve
Late last week my Blackberry failed for the 4th time. Since I had several hours of "free" time while waiting for my phone to get fixed I decided to walk into the used bookstore. I was thrilled to find a $5.00 copy of the 700 page autobiography of Billy Graham's life and ministry called "Just as I am".
I'll confess that I haven't finished the book yet, but have thoroughly enjoyed everything so far. One of the things that I've noticed in reading the book is the relative freedom that Graham feels to serve the Lord as he is given opportunity. At the same time there doesn't seem to be any question that Graham is following God's call for his life.
There is an interconnected relationship between doing what you love and doing what God has made you to do.
Sometimes I see people become so anxious about making the right choice that opportunities for ministry pass them by. If you move outside the will of God He will work to move you back, otherwise enjoy the freedom to serve God by doing what you love to do.
- Aaron
I'll confess that I haven't finished the book yet, but have thoroughly enjoyed everything so far. One of the things that I've noticed in reading the book is the relative freedom that Graham feels to serve the Lord as he is given opportunity. At the same time there doesn't seem to be any question that Graham is following God's call for his life.
There is an interconnected relationship between doing what you love and doing what God has made you to do.
Sometimes I see people become so anxious about making the right choice that opportunities for ministry pass them by. If you move outside the will of God He will work to move you back, otherwise enjoy the freedom to serve God by doing what you love to do.
- Aaron
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Church Equips, The Disciples Do
This past Saturday five of us from Franconia began the 13ish-hour journey from Alexandria, VA to Orlando, FL for the 2010 SBC annual meeting. None of us had ever been to a SBC meeting before. Throughout the 26 hours in the car, 2 days of the pastor's conference, and the annual meeting one thought continued to reverberate. What are we supposed to be doing here at Franconia Baptist Church? What is our role in the fulfillment of the Great Commission?
I believe that the local church exists primarily to glorify God by making disciples (Eph 4:12). A new disciple is made when a sinner hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 10:13-14; John 3:16) and yields to the calling of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:30). Disciple making was never intended to stop with conversion. In the second verse of the Great Commission Jesus explicity commands the disciples to teach these new disciples His commands. This is the transformational process that Paul describes as the "renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:1-2).
So what is the responsibility of the local church then? We are called to assist in the transformational process of equipping the saints (Eph 4:12). As the disciples are equipped they are then sent out into the fields to advance the boundaries of the Kingdom of God by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through their words and their actions.
We were standing around, way to late at night, talking with Jonathan Leeman from 9Marks. He summarized the distinction well with an analogy of the church compared to a college. An engineering school trains and equips engineers to go out and engineer things. The church brings glory to God by training and equipping the disciples to God out and make other disciples.
This may seem obvious, but I assure you that the way many of our churches function does not reflect these principles.
-Aaron
I believe that the local church exists primarily to glorify God by making disciples (Eph 4:12). A new disciple is made when a sinner hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 10:13-14; John 3:16) and yields to the calling of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:30). Disciple making was never intended to stop with conversion. In the second verse of the Great Commission Jesus explicity commands the disciples to teach these new disciples His commands. This is the transformational process that Paul describes as the "renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:1-2).
So what is the responsibility of the local church then? We are called to assist in the transformational process of equipping the saints (Eph 4:12). As the disciples are equipped they are then sent out into the fields to advance the boundaries of the Kingdom of God by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through their words and their actions.
We were standing around, way to late at night, talking with Jonathan Leeman from 9Marks. He summarized the distinction well with an analogy of the church compared to a college. An engineering school trains and equips engineers to go out and engineer things. The church brings glory to God by training and equipping the disciples to God out and make other disciples.
This may seem obvious, but I assure you that the way many of our churches function does not reflect these principles.
-Aaron
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Exciting things at Franconia Baptist
I thought I'd take just a minute to let everyone know about what God is doing at Franconia Baptist these days.
This past week marked the final day of our preschool and Kindergarten for the regular school year. They will be having 3 weeks of summer camp and then a summer break.
The preschool will be finishing up just in time for Franconia's first Vacation Bible School in a number of years. We will be using the Lifeway Saddle Ridge Ranch materials for what should be a great time of sharing Christ with the kids.
God continues to bring wonderful new people to our church! We have added to our numbers each month including two by baptism. It feels like we are really making a difference in our community.
This weekend we're going to have a mini retreat at the church to talk about a vision for Franconia Baptist that is rooted in making disciples for the sake of the Kingdom.
- Aaron
This past week marked the final day of our preschool and Kindergarten for the regular school year. They will be having 3 weeks of summer camp and then a summer break.
The preschool will be finishing up just in time for Franconia's first Vacation Bible School in a number of years. We will be using the Lifeway Saddle Ridge Ranch materials for what should be a great time of sharing Christ with the kids.
God continues to bring wonderful new people to our church! We have added to our numbers each month including two by baptism. It feels like we are really making a difference in our community.
This weekend we're going to have a mini retreat at the church to talk about a vision for Franconia Baptist that is rooted in making disciples for the sake of the Kingdom.
- Aaron
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)