Another Christmas has come and gone. Perhaps your December, like many of your friends and neighbors, has been busy again this year. For the last few weeks we’ve been hearing those famous words, “Tis the season…” People attach different words to the end of that phrase now-a-days. I remember when it was, “Tis the season to be jolly.”

Perhaps one of the appropriate terms today would be, “Tis the season to make our lives busier.” It is true. We speak all year of how busy we are, and that we cannot fit another activity into our busy schedules.

Yet, in December, some way Americans find fifteen more hours to shop, fourteen hours at social functions (work parties, church socials, etc.), four hours at Christmas pageants, plays, and cantatas, four hours baking, sixteen hours more with family and close friends, and six hours wrapping presents, decorating the tree and house. That is 59 hours!

Aren’t you glad December has 59 more hours than the other months so you can accomplish all these extras? Think of what we could accomplish if we each had 59 more hours the other eleven months?

We couldn’t use the time the same in the other months as we do in December, though. For one, the gross national consumer debt would skyrocket. All the sales might help the economy, but it sure wouldn’t help our personal pocketbooks and checking accounts. And what would we do with Christmas trees all year long? Take one down at the end of each month and put up a new one? Stockholders in electric companies would certainly be pleased.

Spending the extra time with family and close friends would be a plus. I wonder though, how many of our family members might say, “Enough is enough. Go home!”

Perhaps we could take part of the extra time each month and simply relax. Sit down and enjoy God’s wonderful creation and the wonderful life and opportunities He has given us that month. That would be nice wouldn’t it?

Think of the extra ministry (serving others) we could accomplish with 59 more hours every month. Man, could we get some things done for God then!

Let’s face it most everything listed in the previous four paragraphs is about as likely to happen as Donald Duck coming to life. It is not going to happen. If we had more time we would only find more ways to spend it in the busyness of our hectic lives. The truth is we are not going to get more time in any given month. Nor do we have 59 extra hours in December.

We must treasure the time we have. Life is but a vapor and we must be good stewards of the time we have and make the most for God. As for the month of December, we do find the time to do all these extras – 59 hours of time carved out to take part in the events and activities that are important to us and the things we want to be involved in.

Have you ever said, “If I only had more time I would…” You have the same amount of time in December as the other months. You accomplish those extras because you want to. If you can carve out the time in December, why not the other eleven months? Place God first in your life and make every month December. What can we accomplish? What can you accomplish? God only Knows!

December is a busy month and for most it is a fun month. For some the joy of the season becomes overshadowed by sickness and loss. December is a month filled with shopping, visiting with friends and family; a month with parties and get togethers; a month of giving and receiving.

And it all began to commemorate and celebrate the greatest gift of all – the gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son.

If Jesus had not left His throne and all the splendor of heaven to be born of a virgin, Mary, you and I would not know the victory and peace of having life in heaven after this life on earth is finished. Nor would we enjoy many of the blessings and wonderful memories we share today.

December is a month full of memories. What memories do you have of Christmas? Each one of us in December whether intentionally or not spend time reminiscing of Christmases past. And that is okay. God gives us memories to encourage and bring a smile to our face.

Think for a moment of one or more of your favorite Christmas memories. Does your memory include a gift or a person?

Even if your thoughts were of a gift, my guess is you also thought of who gave that gift. You see though some of our memories are of gifts or things received, I believe memories are predicated on relationships. The things that you treasure, the memories you recall, are based on relationships.

In your memories of Christmases past, do you have memories of Jesus and what God has done in your life? Not thoughts of your depiction of the manger scene – but of God in your life?

Look with me at Luke chapter 2 verse 19. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. (HCSB)

What was Mary treasuring? What was her treasure based on? 

I believe Mary was treasuring what the shepherds told her and Joseph about the angel’s visit and the proclamation of the angel that this was the Christ-child, the Messiah.

More importantly than the story being told, I believe Mary was treasuring every thought that she was so blessed to be in the presence of the long awaited Messiah. Mary understood that she was truly in the presence of God.

I believe she was treasuring every word of how the angel came upon the shepherds in the field and she was trying to absorb, soak in every word spoken by the angel about this night and the son she was blessed to give birth to.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mary was also placing these treasured moments in her memory bank right along with the visit she received from the Angel less than a year prior to this special night.

Mary was building a chest full of treasures, wonderful God-filled memories of which nothing can compare.

God is gifting you today with blessings of treasures. Your treasures today may come from being with family and friends. Your treasures may include a quiet few moments sitting and enjoying the lighted Christmas tree. For Mary it was in the visit from the shepherds whom she had never met. Where is God blessing you today? Where is He giving you treasures of blessing?

Don’t pass them up or overlook them with the worries and concerns of the day. Listen, observe, and believe in the treasures of the day. The greatest treasure of all is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ – who’s Birthday we celebrate today.

All is well, All is Well – Go and tell.

Angels and men rejoice

Lift up your voice and sing.

Christ has come – Go and tell!

 My prayer for you today is a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England but came to the United States at age 12, eventually settling in Wisconsin with her parents. Helen had a reputation of being a brilliant singer. She studied private voice for four years in Germany. In the early 1900’s she regularly traveled giving concerts in many churches.

She married a European who was quite wealthy. She taught voice at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago before teaching in Los Angeles. During her lifetime of 98 years she composed over 500 hymns and poems and even authored a children’s book.

It was during the middle years of her life that things changed dramatically and she was dealt a couple of big blows to her faith. Helen became blind and her husband abandoned her. Life became a struggle for her and would have challenged anyone’s faith.

In 1918 a missionary friend gave her a pamphlet that was titled “Focused.” Inside it contained some very impacting words for her – “So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full in His face and you will find that things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.”  These words had a great impact on her.

Helen recalled later, “I stood still and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition, but nonetheless dictated by the Holy Spirit.”

That song was “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The chorus is “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Helen suffered with blindness and a husband leaving her. Through it all she turned her eyes to Jesus knowing that only He would not fail her or leave her in any situation or circumstance.

The Christmas season does not come without its challenges. For some this is a lonely and depressing time of year. If you find yourself to be in one of these scenarios why not turn to the one for whom we celebrate the Christmas season. As Helen Lemmel found out, even in blindness, the light of day is beautiful and blessed if you will only “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.

My prayer for you is that God will make Himself known to you in a special way this Christmas season. Turn Your eyes upon Jesus and see that He will make the things of this world grow strangely dim.

God bless and Merry Christmas.

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their families that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday’s dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of the salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping, and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped her set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 for the damage we did. Are you okay?”

She nodded through the tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister…” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then he slowly made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”

Do people mistake you for Jesus?
That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life, and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit. Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.

In the the hurried, busyness of Christmas, will people see Jesus in your actions? Think about it.

John and Kari had visited several churches. One, in particular felt warm and friendly. The members seemed friendly. Several spoke to John and Kari each Sunday. A couple of ladies in the church even asked one Sunday for Kari and John to visit their Bible study class.

John and Kari enjoyed the music and the pastor’s messages. After a few weeks they joined the church. It wasn’t long afterward until the seat where John and his wife sat every Sunday were once again vacant. Some members questioned among themselves about the whereabouts of John and Kari. No one knew.

This scenario is played out week after week in churches around the United States and your church is not exempt. Sometimes we do a good job with “courting” visitors. While they are checking us out, trying to find a comfortable fit, we treat them like true guests. Yet, once they join we leave them to swim on their own. The difficulty is they are in uncharted waters – uncharted for them at least. It would be similar to taking a common man of the street who has never seen the inside of a cockpit and sitting him in the pilot seat of a space shuttle and expecting him to fly to the space station and back.

Other times, we go through the motions of telling people we care and we are glad they are here, but we never truly let them in. We do not always realize it. After speaking to guests we become so involved with our own friends and longtime church “buddies” that we forget what it is like to be new. Guests, visitors, and new members do not have the advantage of knowing all the ins and outs of your church. They do not know how to get plugged in, and we assist them in their fog by not helping them.

We recognize and even speak friendly to visitors, but we treat them like visitors, not guests. A guest is someone you are expecting and you desire them to stay. You have prepared for them ahead of time and you take care of them, waiting on them as a host or hostess. A visitor is someone who shows up on your doorstep and you are cordial to them. All the while you are wondering when they are going to leave.

They ride the bubble for a while and eventually they end up as John and Kari – gone – and no one knows where or why. Nor does anyone attempt to rescue the drowning new member.

Visitors and new members need to be needed. It is important that we open our circle of influence to include new members, allowing them to be all that God has called them to be. After all, by not allowing someone to be all God has created them to be, we are not being all that God has called us to be.

Every person God places in our lives, He places for us to in some way edify and that through him/her the Holy Spirit may in some way edify us. How do you personally go the extra mile to make those new people in your life feel welcome and needed?

For more information on this topic contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

Every shepherd has a sheep that he calls the bellwether. And everywhere the shepherd goes he’s with him. The bellwether soon understands the heart of the shepherd, and the bond between them grows everyday. In every way.

And the bellwether walks with the lost sheep. Spends time with those who have roamed. And when he returns to the shepherd, one by one they follow him home.

God’s only Son left His throne to become our bellwether. His life He gave to seek and save the lost sheep. The perfect lamb who knew no sin said, “Here am I, send me”. I’ll lead the way so those who’ve strayed can follow. Follow me home.

Now He waits for me and you to take them the good news. There is a path that leads them home to safety. They’re hurting and scared, scattered everywhere. They need to know – with open arms He’s waiting.

And the bellwether walks with the lost sheep. Spends time with those who have roamed. And when he returns to the shepherd, one by one they follow him home.

These are the words to a song written by Eddie Carswell for the Christian music group NEWSONG from a few years ago. It is a beautiful song with beautiful words and music score.

After hearing this song, I purchased the CD, read the words, and began researching ‘bellwether’. The words of the song are true and what a powerful word picture for Christians. The bellwether becomes a leader, mentor and guide for the other sheep. He is the lead sheep for a shepherd, with a bell around his neck.

By spending time with the shepherd he learns the desires of the shepherd for his sheep. The bellwether follows the shepherd and his wishes. The other sheep in turn follow the bellwether. If any of the sheep go astray or roams away from the flock, the bellwether goes to them, spends time with them, and leads them back to the flock and to the shepherd.

The picture I get is the bellwether goes to the lost or stray sheep not in a rage or in anger but in gentleness and love of the shepherd. The bellwether does not rebuke in sheep talk, rather he lovingly leads the sheep back to the shepherd, not forcibly but quietly and sensitively.

What a great picture Eddie has so beautifully painted with the words to “Bellwether” for Christians today. Notice also, how the picture unfolds. First, he describes to us what a bellwether is. In the second verse, he illustrates how Jesus is our bellwether. Then,  in the third verse he explicates how we as Christians are to be the bellwether to our flock and our community.

Now He waits for me and you. To take them the good news.There is a path that leads them home to safety. They’re hurting and scared, scattered everywhere.They need to know – with open arms He’s waiting.  

And the bellwether walks with the lost sheep. Spends time with those who have roamed. And when he returns to the shepherd, one by one they follow him home.

Are you a bellwhether creating more bellwethers? What will you do this week to be and to build a bellwether?

Listen to the song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIpJBNXhA4c and I encourage you to purchase the CD! Thank you Eddie Carswell!

One of the virtues of scripture is it is God’s Word to reveal to us what to pray and how to pray. I enjoy praying scripture, not only the prayers found in scripture as stated in the previous post on this blog. Praying the prayers of scripture affects my life on various levels and enhances my spiritual walk. There are many prayers in scripture that we can pray, applying them to our lives. One I pray quite frequently is the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Here is a man otherwise obscure in all of scripture. However, his prayer is noteworthy enough to God that He, God, stops the roll call of the genealogy of the Hebrew people to list this single prayer. Right in the middle of 500 names is this prayer of this otherwise unknown man.

“O Lord, bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, and keep your hand upon me. Keep me from evil that I might not cause shame.”  I Chronicles 4:10

When I pray the prayer of Jabez I am not praying for God to give me more wealth or material things. God provides all my needs and more. When I pray the first line of this prayer, I do not desire more material possessions. I count as my greatest blessings from God the opportunities to do something for Him. Every time I can serve God by working with Him, I am truly blessed and have a joy well up inside me that no amount of wealth or material possessions could compare.

As a young child my family would go to visit my grandparents just outside of Lewisburg, Kentucky. On Saturday afternoon my grandfather would take one or two of us kids and drive down to the local country store (Well’s). This was a highlight of the whole visit. And so, each visit, when I knew “Papaw” was getting ready for that afternoon trip, I would be following him around the house, hoping he would pick me to go with him. It was such a treasured time I still remember it today some fifty years later. When I pray that first line in the Jabez prayer, I am asking God please, let’s do it again. Only now I am no longer eight, I am fifty-eight and I want more. I want to go again and again. The more God takes me along, the more I want to go and do. The blessing is in getting chosen to go with God, and that is what leads to the next line of the prayer.

Enlarge my territory. Again, this line is not asking God for more land (although I wouldn’t mind having a few more acres). With this request I am asking God to allow me even more time with Him. Why? Because I am blessed when He allows me as revealed in the first line of this prayer. I am blessed so much that I not only want to go again and again, I want to go more. I want to do more with God. If blessings could be measured in gallon buckets and going with God on one venture equaled one gallon of blessing, then I am asking God, why not five gallons. Enlarge my territory.

To serve alongside God always brings blessings this world cannot measure. I do not know about you, but the greatest things in life bring pleasure and I always desire more of those pleasures. The same is true when serving alongside God. I want God to bring me into His service more, because I want more of the pleasure of His blessing.

Along with His blessings and an enlarged territory, I realize a need for caution. Jabez knew this as well. Hence the third line in his prayer.  “Keep your hand upon me.” Jabez knew that even in the midst of God’s presence and doing His work, it is easy to get sidetracked and self-reliant. If God brought me to it, I do not want to try to accomplish it in my power. I will surely mess it up. Instead, like Jabez, I ask God to keep his hand on me, so that I will not mess it up. The blessing comes in doing things God’s way. “Keep your hand upon me.”

The fourth and last line of Jabez’s prayer is precautionary. The third line was for God to keep His hand on me. The fourth line is ‘and don’t let me stray’. Whenever doing something good for and with God, someone will be upset. If not someone you see, certainly Satan, the devil himself will not like it. And He will attempt to keep you from serving God and accomplishing God’s assignment. Satan is very conniving. And he can be very convincing. He is the father of lies and will stop at nothing to cause you to stumble and fall when serving God.

I add to Jabez’s fourth line when I pray this prayer. My prayer is, “God, keep me from evil and keep evil from me that I will not bring shame.” I will even extend that line of thought to say, “I do not want to bring shame against you, your church, my church family, my family, my wife, or me.” I know that without God’s hand, His guidance, and protection, I am prone to fall. I want all God’s protection and defense against the flesh, worldly pleasures, and Satan himself.

“O Lord, bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, and keep your hand upon me. Keep me from evil that I might not cause shame.”  I Chronicles 4:10

Enrich your life. Pray scripture. Pray the prayers found in scripture. Write to me and let me know how prayer affects your life.

For more on praying scripture contact George Yates and be sure to visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries on the web.

Enhance Your Prayer Life, Pray Scripture

I enjoy praying scripture. Not only the prayers in the Bible, but praying other parts of scripture. Reading scripture can be very revealing and inspirational in my life. Praying scripture is even more inspirational in my life. It can be yours as well. I enjoy praying particular scripture passages for several reasons. Especially a scripture that speaks to me and a certain part of my life as I read it. Oftentimes a scripture passage will reveal something I need to change or correct in my life or something that is missing. Other times I am reminded how blessed I am to personally know the living God.

When a scripture passage speaks to me this way I will transform those words into a prayer for my own life, or the life of my church. Here is an example: Psalm 41:1“Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will save him in a day of adversity.” After reading this verse my prayer might be, “Lord, I want to be counted among those who are blessed for caring for the poor. Help me to understand this and practice caring for all those you put around me, according to your word and will, regardless of their situation in life. I can’t help every poor person in my path. Show me those I can and how you would have me to invest in them.”

One Saturday night while reading through the book of Jeremiah, God revealed to me what scripture to read and pray in my pastor’s prayer time in the worship service the following morning. I was reading Jeremiah chapter 3. The Supreme Court had earlier in the week made a, in my opinion, very immoral ruling. Speaking to the nation of Israel Jeremiah states in verse one, “But You! You have played the prostitute with many partners – can you return to me? This is the Lord’s declaration.”

God troubled my heart with this scripture. As I continued reading this chapter God’s Spirit showed me other verses to include in my prayer the next morning.  I felt compelled to begin my prayer time with the congregation using that statement from verse 3, applying it to the condition of our nation today. Not to the nation as a whole, or the unbelieving people of our country. My prayer was concerning me and the church, God’s redeemed. What the Spirit had revealed to me that night was that it was us, believers, who had prostituted God’s work and His moral standards. My prayer began, “God forgive us, me, and your people, for we have prostituted your…”

While I have not untaken a study on the topic, and I am not sure if I could say that a majority of scripture could be used in our prayers for application in our own lives, I do know there is enough of scripture to pray that would keep us busy praying for a lifetime. Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with passage after passage that can reveal a need or a blessing in our lives. Every one of these and more can be prayed for your life and mine today.

In the New Testament, John chapter one beginning with verse one scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I am thankful for the understanding of this verse. My prayer today in reading this verse is, “Lord, thank you that The Word, Your Word was with You from the beginning. Not only was it with You, The Word is You. Help me to not only know this truth but to come to a deeper understanding of the meaning of this verse and also to live it and demonstrate it in front of others.

And near the end of John’s gospel in chapter 21, verse 22 Jesus says, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? As for you follow me” My prayer of this scripture has been, “Lord, if you want John and Missy to have this, what is that to me. Help me, O lord, to follow you.” Or perhaps I would pray,  “Lord, as you said this to Peter about John, let me take hold of it in my life. Help me not to be so concerned with another believer that it hinders my work for you. I have enough taking care of my own life and followship. Forgive me where I have failed you in this way.”

Scripture can speak to us in so many facets of our life. When you read scripture do you grasp it, take hold of it, let it speak to you, then pray that scripture for your own life? If not why not try it, start today.  If you want to enhance your prayer life, pray scripture. Pray earnestly as God reveals to you when you are reading His Word.

For more on praying scripture and related topics contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries on the internet.

In the book, “Reaching the Summit: Avoiding and Reversing Decline in the Church” I identify five phases of decline a church can fall through. The third phase is Denial of Reality. A church moves into phase three when the evidence of decline becomes obvious to those inside as well as outside the church. In this phase church leaders often enter a stage of denial. It is hard to ignore when church attendance drops from 300 to 200 or from 125 to 84.

If Sears lost one third of its customer base, someone in leadership would take notice. In an organization such as Sears, action would be taken long before this size loss occurred. Yet in some churches the realization of the denial phase may not happen until the church has lost up to half their attendance on an average week.

Jim Collins states, “There is a tendency to discount or explain away negative data rather than presume that something is wrong with the company (organization).”[1] In the church this is all too common. Church leaders are busy. With weekly services, visiting the sick and grieved, ministry programs, committee meetings, and sermon and teaching preparation, there is so much going on in the ministry of the church that it is hard to accept the data declaring decline.

In the church one way we attempt to explain away the obvious data is to blame outside sources. “It is the economy,” or “since that big church moved in down the street,” It is much easier to pass the blame onto outside influences that we have no control over than it is to accept our role in the decline of the church. We need to accept responsibility for the ministry effort and the community to which God has called us. Great leaders shoulder the responsibility rather than pass the blame for decline in the church.

Though denial has actually been a characteristic of church leadership in phases one and two, in phase three denial becomes apparent as some church leaders become vocal in rejecting the obvious. Denial becomes a pattern. This is a point where first the leaders, then the members of the organization need to address the blunt reality and facts of the situation, what I refer to as having a vigorous face to face summit with reality ( see Reaching the Summit, chapter seven A Vigorous Face to Face Summit With Reality). Unfortunately, we often see denial of the truth of the church’s situation and a refusal to conduct an open and honest assessment of the ministry’s decline.

Regardless of how long your church has been in decline, even if it was ten years or more before your arrival, it is your watch now. You are directly responsible for what happens on your watch at your church. One of the first steps of becoming a successful leader is to accept responsibility (as Nehemiah did) for the present situation and then work to resolve and reverse the declining trends. Whether you are the pastor, paid or volunteer staff, or a layperson in your church, begin as Nehemiah did in chapter 1, verse 4 and then pray as he did in verses 5-9.

Nehemiah accepted responsibility for a mess that he had nothing to do with.  What steps will you take today to be like Nehemiah and accept responsibility to get the ball rolling in reversing or staving off declining trends in your church?

For more information on this and reversing declining trends contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

[1]               How The Mighty Fall, pg. 81

Most people affiliated with a New Testament, Bible believing church will agree that the people are the church. The church is not made of buildings and property, but of the people who attend and carry out the functions prescribed in scripture. A few years ago I began asking a question to church groups. In regards to church, what is the difference between being and doing? I do not go any farther in describing what I mean so as not to taint the discussion.  Some say being is more important with references as, “We must be the church before we can do church.” Others say, “We can’t be the church without doing what the church is supposed to do.”

Naturally, debates can go back and forth on this issue with these two lines of thinking and others. Which is right? I believe there must be a balance between the two. You can be First Community Church all day long without doing, and you can do all day long without being the true church of The New Testament.

On the one hand, churches fall into decline due to the busyness of doing, instead of being the church. This happens when programs, events, and bureaucracy (administration) overtake spiritual preparation and ministry to the community. Many of our churches across North America today have slipped into maintenance mode. In reality people of these churches do not even realize what is happening in their church. They have become program focused instead of ministry (Great Commission) focused. Some churches find themselves doing “things” in the name of ministry, when in actuality it is only business, something to make us feel good.

On the other hand churches can “be” the church all day long without ever “doing.” Your church can have Bible study and worship services every Sunday morning, again on Sunday evening and Wednesday, fulfilling all the traditions of the western world church and yet never fulfill the Great Commission.

How can any church be this blind or not able to see the trap of falling into either of these scenarios? Like the vacationer on a raft in the water at the beach who allows the water and breeze to lull him into a state somewhere between consciousness and sleep,  so the church has allowed ourselves to be lulled into a similar state. We believe we are a good church as everything seems to be okay. Yet, like the vacationer, we have drifted far away from our beginning point and where we think we are.

While the church is theoretically designed to be self-feeding for spiritual growth, it was also instituted by God to feed the spiritual needs of the community. Therefore, we could say the church is a two-fold feeding station. It is 1) to feed spiritually and grow the members and regular attendees and it is 2) to reach out to meet the needs of the community, guiding them in spiritual matters and decisions as well.

To achieve and maintain a proper balance of “being” and “doing” requires prayerful, strategic planning. When done properly as described in the book of Acts and The New Testament in general, a church will experience four areas of results. The first of these four every church  will experience spiritual growth. If as individuals and corporately as a church you are not experiencing spiritual growth, there is an issue. Without continual spiritual growth in a church, can we really expect to accomplish God’s purposes? What are you doing personally to experience spiritual growth in your life? What are you doing to lead your church in spiritual growth?

For more information on being vs. doing and how to move your church in the direction for a proper balance contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries. Reaching the Summit and Turnaround Journey are both excellent tools to assist you in achieving the balance needed for effective ministry.