And That's Not Bad!

Tomorrow at Freedom we will be celebrating 28 years as a church. On January 31, 1988 4 families met in my home and we prayed about the possibility of starting a new church. For 28 years now we have met every Sunday and sang, prayed and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. What keeps a small group of people going for so many years? It truly isn’t of our own power or desire for doing the same thing for 28 years expecting different results is the definition of some word that I won’t mention here. Some may view what we have done as being an exercise in futility, especially since the size of the church has remained pretty close to the same for the vast majority of its 28 years. We have watched some of our children grow up in the church, go away, come back, and have children of their own. When you think about it, it’s kind of a neat thing to see that happen with one constant being there for their entire lives, this little church. And that’s not bad.

Have we done fantastic things? Have we changed the world? Has the Day of Pentecost broken out? Is our little church the last vestige of truth and spirituality in this cold, fallen world? No to all of those questions: we know we haven’t changed the world and actually we have passed through this world with little attention paid to us. But you know what? We’re not the worst church you’d ever attend; we’re safe, we’re stable, we love the truth and we let you be free to make your choices to follow the Lord. And that’s not bad. We believe the truth and try to surrender ourselves to following the truth wherever it may lead us, and we praise the Lord for 28 years of faithful, loving service that truly belongs to Him. We are but trophies of His grace; we are nothing as a church other than what He desires to do with us. And that’s not bad.

For most of these 28 years I have worked full time in different jobs so I have truly filled the role as a bi-vocational preacher. Last Sunday in 2 Corinthians 10:8-9 we meditated on the working pastor: “I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.”

There are advantages to a church to have a working pastor: he’s more independent and free to lead; he rubs shoulders with non-church people every day in the business world; he hears and sees what is going on in the culture that he could never see in the friendly confines of his local church; you don’t have time to attend “fellowship meetings” and engage in petty ministerial fights; and the church is less burdened in supporting a full-time pastor and can channel its resources in other directions. On the other hand, there are some real pitfalls to the working pastor: not being full-time makes the pastor feel like a 2^nd-class minister (he’s not good enough as a preacher to be full-time); he has to juggle the details of the ministry in half the time that full-time pastors have; he has to make difficult decisions with his time that results in some feeling snubbed, whether his family or his church members; and the sense of isolation he has in not being able to cultivate friends among other pastors is a real problem. So we see that there are pros and cons to being a bi-vocational pastor, and that’s all right too. When I made the decision to go to work back in 1989 I did so because of the cost of medical insurance on our church, and look what that little issue of medical insurance has become today. It is arguably the biggest social, political and financial issue of our time, and it touched my life very early on and continues to do so. So like Paul, we work so as not to “be a burden to you,” and you know what? And that’s not bad, either

So I say God bless the small church, God bless the working pastor, and God bless us one and all as we celebrate 28 years as a church. We will sing, worship, learn, fellowship, eat and reflect on where God is leading us. And that’s not a bad way to spend a few hours on a Sunday (Greg C)

Being Children of Grace and Gratitude

It’s the first Sunday of the new year and we look forward to the coming year with anticipation and hope. Of course we know bad things will happen, which we do not wish on any of our friends and neighbors, but we also know many, many good things will also happen and we must be the children of grace and gratitude for the coming year.
We are continuing our study of 2 Corinthians this Sunday and we are in chapter 9 for this Sunday.
2 Corinthians 9:11-13     You will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,
The more this principle is understood the more giving is blessed by God (“enriched”) and generosity will spread with more and more giving thanks to God for what His gracious provision
The contagious nature of the giving of thanks will spread to all God’s children; when the bulk of God’s children are filled with the giving of thanks directed to God it will be a wonderful world
Vss 14-15              while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
The teaching of Paul on giving in chapters 8 and 9 ended where it began: with the grace of God. We have nothing other than what God has graced us with, and we are to honor Him in whatever He has given in our spiritual attitudes and conduct
“They” referred to the Jerusalem Christians who would receive the offering and then pray for those that gave, benefitting the givers because they were being mentioned before God in gratitude and prayers
There is a relationship between giving and praying, then: to assist a believer with giving is the same as praying for them and to pray for them is the same as giving them an offering. Placing praying and giving in the hands of God is the best way to go