IF JOHN WROTE A LETTER TO THE CHURCH TODAY…

“Write this to the angel of the church in the city of Smyrna: ‘The One Who is First and Last, the One Who died and came to life again, says this…’”  (Revelation 2:8 NLV)

In the book of Revelation, John includes a lengthy passage addressed to seven churches, commending some and correcting others. The letter affirms service, patient endurance, courage, faithfulness, aliveness, sacrifice, and passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The letter also tells the truth about lukewarm commitment, poverty of spirit, waning love, lost focus, conflict, and division. The churches are invited and encouraged to come back, turn around, and return to their former passion and mission. Each of the seven churches is addressed personally in ways that are contextual, authentic, and tailored to its own circumstances. The tone is both pastoral and prophetic, positive and critical, encouraging and honest, building up communities while also holding them accountable. 

…Suppose your congregation received such a letter. What would the letter say? What characteristics, spiritual qualities, practices, and ministries would be commended, worthy of praise, affirmed, and celebrated? And what characteristics, spiritual qualities, practices, and ministries of your congregation would be prophetically challenged, called into account, pierced by the spirit of truth? What truth would you be asked to confront? How would your congregation be invited to change? 

-- Bishop Robert Schnase, excerpted from his “Five Practices Blog”

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CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF CONGREGATIONS

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Back to Church Sunday” is this weekend. It is to call the Church back to its mission and to extend an open invitation to those who’ve never attended or have been away. It’s one Sunday -- always the third Sunday in September -- set aside for churches to rally together, welcome their communities, and remind people that hope is found in Jesus and in a church family that cares.

CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF CONGREGATIONS

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV)

Consider the impact of congregations on your own life. Suppose someone could extract from your life all the influences that God has had on you through faith communities.  Imagine if you could pull out of your mind and heart all the thousands of sermons you have heard, the tens of thousands of hymns and praise songs you have sung, the Scripture readings and pastoral prayers that you have heard.  Remove all the people from your life and memory whom you have come to know and from whom you have learned and with whom you have worked -- the pastors, friends, colleagues, laypersons, youth leaders, Sunday school teachers.  Extract from your soul all the work projects, the meetings, the conversations, the service initiatives, the soup kitchens, the mission trips, hospital visits and support from others you have experienced.  Extract all the weddings, funerals, volunteer hours, stewardship campaigns, prayer vigils, children’s programs, mission fairs, camp experiences, and youth ministries.

If you could remove from your life all the influences congregations have ever had on you, who would you be? You’d be someone substantially different from who you are now.  The congregations to which you have belonged -- their people and pastors, their ministries and teachings, their small groups and programs, their worship and service, their music and rituals, their communities and caring -- these have been the means God has used to form who you are.  They have shaped you.       

Congregations are a primary means by which God reaches down into our lives to work on our behalf.  God uses congregations to create us anew, to claim us as God’s own, and to call us to God’s service.  It is through congregations that God’s spirit shapes how we understand ourselves, how we relate to our families, how we view community, and how we participate in the world. 

-- Adapted from Robert Schnase in his blog “The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations”

ON CHURCHES BEING OPEN TO GOD’S PRESENCE

Jesus said to His disciples, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  (Matthew 18:20 NIV)

What I have consistently noticed in almost all thriving congregations is that what makes the difference is the extent to which the community is open to God at its core. Many churches aren’t simply open to God. They let the will, ego, and purpose of the dominant voices in the congregation, whether the pastor’s or that of a few strong members, drive the agenda. Instead of seeking God’s call and purpose, they argue over who is right and wrong. Declining churches tend not to be open to God’s presence. They worship, meet, and engage in ministry and mission, but their sense is that God is in heaven, we are on earth, and all that matters is doing good deeds so that we can get into heaven. The congregants have no sense that Christ is in their midst, and that this presence of Christ can bless them and make them a church of love. So they continue to engage in the practices of the church, but they don’t expect an encounter with Christ. Finally, these churches have no awareness that God’s grace and power can work in their midst. They have no awareness of the Holy Spirit. They are unaware that when we become open to God, God’s Spirit flows through the church to make miracles happen. 

-- N. Graham Standish in “Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence and Power”

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