photo credit: jenny jamesNot too long ago I mentioned that our church was presented with the opportunity to merge with another church. Both of our churches are relatively small in number and a merge might perhaps allow us to be of greater effectiveness in our community for the gospel and kingdom of Christ. The glory of God in the gospel of Christ would be the only reason that we'd ever consider merging with another church. It's not always a given, but a group of 70-80 might perhaps be more effective than two smaller groups. To be able to pull personnel and resources together in order to be more effective in gospel ministry would be fabulous. And so we are pursuing this opportunity.
Yesterday we took another baby step in this direction. Our church went over to the other church's property and we worshipped together. Since we are taking baby steps, our primary goal was simply to meet and greet the members of their church and to minister to them through the preaching of God's Word. The Pastor of their church and I agreed that I would preach on this Sunday and lead the congregation in a few songs of worship.
Each and every week I pick out the music that we'll sing on Sunday morning. My first consideration when picking songs to sing has to do with the content of the sermon. Since I preach verse by verse, I typically know what the theme of the songs are going to be from week to week. I try to have the song content match the sermon content so that there is one uniform theme in the service. It's not always easy to do this, but generally it's not a problem because the gospel is central to all of Scripture. Being that my next passage of Scripture was from Matthew 20:29-34, where Jesus heals the blind men, I picked two hymns that hopefully the other congregation knew: Be Thou My Vision....and Amazing Grace (was blind but now I see). A brother in the Lord asked me if I chose those songs because of the other church...and the answer was partly "yes." I wanted us to be united not divided this Sunday and so I tried to pick a couple of songs that hopefully everyone knew. Turns out that the other church was not familiar with "Be Thou My Vision." We tried. But again, my first consideration in song selection has to do with sermon content before any other consideration.
Because their Sunday School class meets in the main auditorium, we had only a couple minutes to do a sound check. So the vocals didn't come out that clear. Of course, these things are minimal issues and have little to do with spiritual significance. I know that technical difficulties and sound issus are big deals to some people, but to me they really don't matter.
After an opening prayer and an initial song, we recited Romans 5:18-21 together. Again, I wanted us united and what better way to be united than to recite the gospel together and remind ourselves of the grace we've been given. I am a firm believer that the gospel unites when preached properly. I read recently and I forget where, but someone said that the NT letters basically shows that the answer to all problems in church is the gospel. That is the problem solver for all issues in the church. And I say "AMEN" to that.
The version of Amazing Grace that we sang was Chris Tomlin's version. The added chorus is fairly simple to sing and I was quite sure that our sister church would be able to pick it up fairly quickly.
Before the sermon, the offering was taken and there was about a 10 minute greeting period. The length of this time was probably longer than normal because of the sheer amount of new faces we were being introduced to. It was nice to be able to do that. There's no doubt that I'll never remember all those names this first week. But again, it was a chance to begin a new relationship. Prior to the greeting, the Pastor had my family stand so that his church could see us. Then he had our entire church stand so that we'd be identified. This brief line of division was drawn so that it could be quickly erased. It was not done to embarrass, but to help us see who we should be intentionally meeting during this time. Helping to identify who was from what church would enable everyone to go and meet those they didn't know. It seemed to have worked.
We took the offering, then sang another song together. Then it was time for me to preach. The text I selected was an easy choice. I merely picked up from where I had been preaching for the past year and a half. I did this for a couple of reasons. I wanted their congregation to know that I didn't come with any agenda on my mind other than to bring the Word of God to them. Preaching the next passage in succession would let them know that I was being subservient to the Word of God, not my own ideas, preferences or hobby horses. Whatever the topic was, based on the passage, would be fitting for all since all of God's Word is pertinent all the time.
My message was titled, "Was Blind But Now I See." There were three main points that I derived from the text: (1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is The Messiah, (2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mericful, (3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save.
(1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Messiah: The blind men called Jesus the Son of David. The OT prophecied that when Messiah came He would open the eyes of the blind. Calling Jesus the Son of David didn't necessarily make Him that, but His miracle proved that what they said was true. Knowing that Jesus was the Son of David, the text called for us to believe that fact. The question arises, "How can we believe that when we didn't see the miracle?" The answer is that the authors of the NT were concernded with truth telling. There are varying accounts of this passage that some would say are contradictory, but they are not. Rather they are differnt vantage points from which the authors witnessed this miracle. Their varying stories show that they were only concerned with reporting what they saw exactly as they saw it. If there were a conspiracy to fabricate truth then we would expect all of their details to be exactly the same. So we must believe their report. Christ did heal these blind men. Therefore, He is Messiah. Believe His message. Believe in Him.
(2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Merciful: In this point I contended for God's Sovereignty over His mercy. Just as He is Sovereign over His grace, so too, He is over His mercy. The importance of grasping this is equal to grasping the importance of Sovereign Grace. We have no claim on God's grace or mercy. To say that God is duty bound or obligated to give us either is to erase the very foundation of what it means to be saved by grace. If mercy is earned or required of God then it is not mercy, but merit or wage. That leaves room for boasting in self. Soli Deo Gloria cannot be a reality if God is required to give mercy. Yet He freely gives it to show His glory. I later pointed out that as those who have been shown mercy, we must too show mercy. To be a bitter, unmerciful, unrelenting, punishing Christian is an oxymoron. A merciless Christian is no Christian at all and I dare say that such a person has understood their sin and the gospel properly. As God has relieved our physical and spiritual misery through mercy, so we must relieve physical misery, but more importantly, spiritual misery through the preaching of the gospel.
(3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save: In this last point I contended for the doctrine of total depravity, although I did not use that phrase. Just as a dead man cannot give Himself life...and a spiritually dead person cannot give themselves spiritual life, so neither could a blind person give themselves sight. My point was that we are spiritually blinded by our own hearts, the deception of Satan and the curse of God from Adam's sin. God must come and relieve our spiritual blindness if we are ever to see our sin condition, see the magnificence of the cross and resurrection and trust in Christ to save us. The fact that God opens our eyes in order to cause our salvation is marvelous. Therefore, we are to be worshippers, lover and those who treasure the Lord Jesus.
We had a final hymn after the sermon and a final prayer of blessing and benediction. Then a family from our church, my family, the pastor's family and a couple other families from their church went out to lunch to fellowship. We had good conversation and we were able to talk a little about our first meeting together. The door is open for us to meet together again although we have not decided on when to do this. We will talk later in the week to set a date. For the time being, we both wanted to talk to our respective congregations to get their input and concerns, if any.
Last night we met up at a church member's house and had some food and talked with several of the families in our church. We primarly talked with those who had children because that is one of our biggest concerns. We intentionally chose to keep our children with us in the service because we wanted their church to see us--"warts and all." I hope you know that's a figure of speech and in no way do I consider children "warts." Our kids are a blessing to us and our church. That's just my way of saying that I wanted them to see us "as we are, with no pretentions." During lunch that afternoon, I talked with Pastor and asked him if the next time we met if it would be alright to have a children's class where they could learn on a level appropriate to them and so that the children from both churches can begin to know each other. The reply was a resounding "YES!" That told me that they are indeed a flexible and "other-oriented" fellowship and not just concerned about themselves. What a blessing. I did inform our church of this last night and they were pleased to hear that. We want our adults and children to be taught in the best way possible during the little time we have together. Although we sing together, pray together, recite Scriptures together and take communion together, for the young ones we feel it is appropriate to teach on a level that they can appreciate, apply and come to know the gospel. That is our goal...not to make them show off their best manners in church by sitting stiff during the sermon. I'd rather have saved children who loves the Lord and coming to church than ones who are struggling to understand and hate coming. Please understand me...I am not advocating a program-driven church, but rather teaching in a way that everyone is able to feed on the Word of God.
The rest of our time together, during dinner, was spent sharing each other's thoughts on our first service together I few questions were asked. Some dreams were shared about what could be. This was good, but I wanted to assure everyone that we are taking baby steps and that their big dreams were just a tad ahead of where we are right now. It was great to hear of their big dreams. That means that their hearts are hungry for God to do great things through us. That is the spirit that we want. I believe that is the heart that God wants, not one of negativity and griping and selfishness. I didn't sense any negativity or concern or poor attitudes. I think that everyone was able to see the potential of what could happen versus the actual condition of our churches. I did try to stress that very much: actuality versus potentiality. We are not...and they are not what we COULD BE if we lovingly come together to serve each other, to serve God and to serve our community. Like a marriage, there will be things that bug us about each other, but we will no doubt compliment their weaknesses and they will no doubt compliment our weakeness. That is why I said that our churches should merge if it serves God's kingdom purpose better.
I left that house last night feeling very relaxed, excited and confident that God has some fun stuff planned for us. Of course there will be some pain. There is always some pain in change. But babysteps will help. Slow is good. God is not in a rush. He's got it all under control. His plan is unstoppable. We're not going to mess it up. So we're going to take a deep breath, continue to pray, move forward deliberately but slowly and we'll continue to see what God does and if this is His will.
At this point, I'm wondering if I should call ABC or NBC to do a reality show on us called, "WHEN CHURCHES MERGE." If you have a better title, let me know. I kid. I kid.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
Yesterday we took another baby step in this direction. Our church went over to the other church's property and we worshipped together. Since we are taking baby steps, our primary goal was simply to meet and greet the members of their church and to minister to them through the preaching of God's Word. The Pastor of their church and I agreed that I would preach on this Sunday and lead the congregation in a few songs of worship.
Each and every week I pick out the music that we'll sing on Sunday morning. My first consideration when picking songs to sing has to do with the content of the sermon. Since I preach verse by verse, I typically know what the theme of the songs are going to be from week to week. I try to have the song content match the sermon content so that there is one uniform theme in the service. It's not always easy to do this, but generally it's not a problem because the gospel is central to all of Scripture. Being that my next passage of Scripture was from Matthew 20:29-34, where Jesus heals the blind men, I picked two hymns that hopefully the other congregation knew: Be Thou My Vision....and Amazing Grace (was blind but now I see). A brother in the Lord asked me if I chose those songs because of the other church...and the answer was partly "yes." I wanted us to be united not divided this Sunday and so I tried to pick a couple of songs that hopefully everyone knew. Turns out that the other church was not familiar with "Be Thou My Vision." We tried. But again, my first consideration in song selection has to do with sermon content before any other consideration.
Because their Sunday School class meets in the main auditorium, we had only a couple minutes to do a sound check. So the vocals didn't come out that clear. Of course, these things are minimal issues and have little to do with spiritual significance. I know that technical difficulties and sound issus are big deals to some people, but to me they really don't matter.
After an opening prayer and an initial song, we recited Romans 5:18-21 together. Again, I wanted us united and what better way to be united than to recite the gospel together and remind ourselves of the grace we've been given. I am a firm believer that the gospel unites when preached properly. I read recently and I forget where, but someone said that the NT letters basically shows that the answer to all problems in church is the gospel. That is the problem solver for all issues in the church. And I say "AMEN" to that.
The version of Amazing Grace that we sang was Chris Tomlin's version. The added chorus is fairly simple to sing and I was quite sure that our sister church would be able to pick it up fairly quickly.
Before the sermon, the offering was taken and there was about a 10 minute greeting period. The length of this time was probably longer than normal because of the sheer amount of new faces we were being introduced to. It was nice to be able to do that. There's no doubt that I'll never remember all those names this first week. But again, it was a chance to begin a new relationship. Prior to the greeting, the Pastor had my family stand so that his church could see us. Then he had our entire church stand so that we'd be identified. This brief line of division was drawn so that it could be quickly erased. It was not done to embarrass, but to help us see who we should be intentionally meeting during this time. Helping to identify who was from what church would enable everyone to go and meet those they didn't know. It seemed to have worked.
We took the offering, then sang another song together. Then it was time for me to preach. The text I selected was an easy choice. I merely picked up from where I had been preaching for the past year and a half. I did this for a couple of reasons. I wanted their congregation to know that I didn't come with any agenda on my mind other than to bring the Word of God to them. Preaching the next passage in succession would let them know that I was being subservient to the Word of God, not my own ideas, preferences or hobby horses. Whatever the topic was, based on the passage, would be fitting for all since all of God's Word is pertinent all the time.
My message was titled, "Was Blind But Now I See." There were three main points that I derived from the text: (1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is The Messiah, (2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mericful, (3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save.
(1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Messiah: The blind men called Jesus the Son of David. The OT prophecied that when Messiah came He would open the eyes of the blind. Calling Jesus the Son of David didn't necessarily make Him that, but His miracle proved that what they said was true. Knowing that Jesus was the Son of David, the text called for us to believe that fact. The question arises, "How can we believe that when we didn't see the miracle?" The answer is that the authors of the NT were concernded with truth telling. There are varying accounts of this passage that some would say are contradictory, but they are not. Rather they are differnt vantage points from which the authors witnessed this miracle. Their varying stories show that they were only concerned with reporting what they saw exactly as they saw it. If there were a conspiracy to fabricate truth then we would expect all of their details to be exactly the same. So we must believe their report. Christ did heal these blind men. Therefore, He is Messiah. Believe His message. Believe in Him.
(2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Merciful: In this point I contended for God's Sovereignty over His mercy. Just as He is Sovereign over His grace, so too, He is over His mercy. The importance of grasping this is equal to grasping the importance of Sovereign Grace. We have no claim on God's grace or mercy. To say that God is duty bound or obligated to give us either is to erase the very foundation of what it means to be saved by grace. If mercy is earned or required of God then it is not mercy, but merit or wage. That leaves room for boasting in self. Soli Deo Gloria cannot be a reality if God is required to give mercy. Yet He freely gives it to show His glory. I later pointed out that as those who have been shown mercy, we must too show mercy. To be a bitter, unmerciful, unrelenting, punishing Christian is an oxymoron. A merciless Christian is no Christian at all and I dare say that such a person has understood their sin and the gospel properly. As God has relieved our physical and spiritual misery through mercy, so we must relieve physical misery, but more importantly, spiritual misery through the preaching of the gospel.
(3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save: In this last point I contended for the doctrine of total depravity, although I did not use that phrase. Just as a dead man cannot give Himself life...and a spiritually dead person cannot give themselves spiritual life, so neither could a blind person give themselves sight. My point was that we are spiritually blinded by our own hearts, the deception of Satan and the curse of God from Adam's sin. God must come and relieve our spiritual blindness if we are ever to see our sin condition, see the magnificence of the cross and resurrection and trust in Christ to save us. The fact that God opens our eyes in order to cause our salvation is marvelous. Therefore, we are to be worshippers, lover and those who treasure the Lord Jesus.
We had a final hymn after the sermon and a final prayer of blessing and benediction. Then a family from our church, my family, the pastor's family and a couple other families from their church went out to lunch to fellowship. We had good conversation and we were able to talk a little about our first meeting together. The door is open for us to meet together again although we have not decided on when to do this. We will talk later in the week to set a date. For the time being, we both wanted to talk to our respective congregations to get their input and concerns, if any.
Last night we met up at a church member's house and had some food and talked with several of the families in our church. We primarly talked with those who had children because that is one of our biggest concerns. We intentionally chose to keep our children with us in the service because we wanted their church to see us--"warts and all." I hope you know that's a figure of speech and in no way do I consider children "warts." Our kids are a blessing to us and our church. That's just my way of saying that I wanted them to see us "as we are, with no pretentions." During lunch that afternoon, I talked with Pastor and asked him if the next time we met if it would be alright to have a children's class where they could learn on a level appropriate to them and so that the children from both churches can begin to know each other. The reply was a resounding "YES!" That told me that they are indeed a flexible and "other-oriented" fellowship and not just concerned about themselves. What a blessing. I did inform our church of this last night and they were pleased to hear that. We want our adults and children to be taught in the best way possible during the little time we have together. Although we sing together, pray together, recite Scriptures together and take communion together, for the young ones we feel it is appropriate to teach on a level that they can appreciate, apply and come to know the gospel. That is our goal...not to make them show off their best manners in church by sitting stiff during the sermon. I'd rather have saved children who loves the Lord and coming to church than ones who are struggling to understand and hate coming. Please understand me...I am not advocating a program-driven church, but rather teaching in a way that everyone is able to feed on the Word of God.
The rest of our time together, during dinner, was spent sharing each other's thoughts on our first service together I few questions were asked. Some dreams were shared about what could be. This was good, but I wanted to assure everyone that we are taking baby steps and that their big dreams were just a tad ahead of where we are right now. It was great to hear of their big dreams. That means that their hearts are hungry for God to do great things through us. That is the spirit that we want. I believe that is the heart that God wants, not one of negativity and griping and selfishness. I didn't sense any negativity or concern or poor attitudes. I think that everyone was able to see the potential of what could happen versus the actual condition of our churches. I did try to stress that very much: actuality versus potentiality. We are not...and they are not what we COULD BE if we lovingly come together to serve each other, to serve God and to serve our community. Like a marriage, there will be things that bug us about each other, but we will no doubt compliment their weaknesses and they will no doubt compliment our weakeness. That is why I said that our churches should merge if it serves God's kingdom purpose better.
I left that house last night feeling very relaxed, excited and confident that God has some fun stuff planned for us. Of course there will be some pain. There is always some pain in change. But babysteps will help. Slow is good. God is not in a rush. He's got it all under control. His plan is unstoppable. We're not going to mess it up. So we're going to take a deep breath, continue to pray, move forward deliberately but slowly and we'll continue to see what God does and if this is His will.
At this point, I'm wondering if I should call ABC or NBC to do a reality show on us called, "WHEN CHURCHES MERGE." If you have a better title, let me know. I kid. I kid.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
1 comment:
Praise God. That is amazing. I'm thrilled for you guys.
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