Sharing my thoughts, experiences and passions about church ministry and life in general. More than likely what you read here will be worth what you paid for it.
Christians, Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we could use Him as a means to bully and look down on others who don't know or share our beliefs. He came so that we might tell others about his Amazing Love, Compassion, Grace, Forgiveness and Eternal Life.
When you talk about your faith, if you aren't telling others about the Love and Compassion of Christ, and showing them what that looks like, what are you really doing, and what do you honestly expect from them?
Condemnation and finger pointing will get you nowhere, expecting spiritual conviction and righteousness in someone that doesn't even have a relationship with Jesus yet is foolish. Jesus said in John 8:7, "...Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone..."
It is not our job to judge and condemn unbelievers, but to show them the love of Christ, to be authentic and do our best to tell them who Jesus is and about His love for them.
I don't want to always sound like I'm chewing church people out, I'll preface this post by saying I'm equally guilty of everything I'm going to be talking about in this post. So let's just shoot straight for a minute, which is easier; talking to a person you know and like, or a complete and total stranger? Obviously for most people that answer is the person they already know. Talking to strangers is awkward at best for most people, mix it up and make the setting a church and you've got a whole new bunch of obstacles to make the encounter even more uncomfortable... but it doesn't have to be, and it shouldn't.
A saying from my dad, "You only get one chance at a first impression," this statement is never more true than inside a church. You only get one shot to show people who you are, as a church when they visit. If they don't like it, they are moving to the next church on their list. So the first impression they get of you starts early, with the people you have greeting them when the enter the doors of your church, or as they drive their cars onto your parking lot (I'm a big fan of having parking lot attendants directing visitors to the "easy to find and close to an entrance" visitor parking).
We talked about it today in an impromptu staff meeting, what do you say to someone if you aren't sure they are a visitor? You don't want to offend someone who's been coming for years, and don't want to ignore a possible visitor... what to do? Get creative, here is an example of an easy and friendly question, "Good morning, how are you doing etc," followed up by a, "Now, how long have you been coming here?" Either they are a visitor, or you've just connected to someone in your church you haven't connected with before. It is a Win-Win.
As a church, we cannot afford to not be friendly, especially to visitors, what kind of Jesus Christ does that convey? "We are only friendly to people we know..." ? That's not the way Jesus rolled. I encourage you to extend a warm welcome to unfamiliar faces in your church this week, whether you are on the "Greeting Team" or not. As Christians we are called to be Christ-Like, He wouldn't ignore someone, so you don't either (myself included).
So I'm always playing the bad guy, the devil's advocate or whatever you want to call it. My question about all churches is, "Are you reaching the lost? Are you doing outreach? Are you practicing 'Evangelism' outside the 4 walls of the church?" For some churches the answer is, "Absolutely!" for others, there is pause...or even a "kind of" answer. By my standards...which I feel line up with those of Christ, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," I feel like it is unacceptable for us to not be reaching out to those who don't know Christ!
Currently our church is in the midst of a restructuring of our Outreach and Evangelism Ministries. Previously we had a full blown church/ministry that's sole purpose was community outreach and evangelism. They, through the Lord's blessing and excellent leadership, were so successful that they are now their own sovereign church. The outreaches we currently have revolve around our Bus ministry for our Children's and Youth Ministries on Wednesday nights, and our Men's Basketball Ministry on Monday nights. Outside of that, we aren't reaching out to bring the lost in....so what to do? In a few minutes I'm about to be in a meeting with a few leaders that are going to be helping our church launch a new Outreach and Evangelism focused ministry. What are we going to do? I'm not entirely sure, but I promise you, we are going to be connecting with individuals who don't know Christ, connecting with church visitors and newer believers to engage them in Discipleship, and most importantly telling each of these people about the love of Christ as well as showing them first hand what it is.
What's one of the road blocks? The Word of God tells us that the Harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few, what does that mean? It means that there is LOTS of work to be done, ministry to do, and people to be reached, but the people willing to do that kind of ministry, and ministry in general are few and far between. On top of that is the fact that all of our outreach minded volunteers are already plugged in at our former outreach church. So what now? We develop new leaders, ministers, volunteers, etc. God has called us to reach the lost...all believers, not just some of us, or the Pastors, or the Rich people, or those with an "amazing" testimony, but all of us. You are called, serve your church by being a part of the ministry that is reaching out to the lost, its the Heart Beat of God.
I'll give you an update as our ministry expands and lives are changed, I'm believing on it.
Sorry that I haven't been blogging lately, kind of been a little behind with church stuff and have been playing catch up all year so far. A young man got saved this past week and it really just stayed on my mind and I wanted to share about it.
We have a Discipleship Ministry at our church on Wednesday nights, WednesdaysOnPurpose. The ministry consists of discipleship classes that last about 90 minutes. Right now we have 4 different classes going on, to learn more about the ministry, visit our site: WednesdaysOnPurpose.com. Right now we are in the 2nd round of "Man Up", a men's class. Well the teacher of this class and his two sons took a first time visitor (who I'll refer to as Young Man) out for pizza after church. The class, as far as I know, went just fine and was engaging and interactive as always. The men of our church just love the class. Steve Gann, the teacher is one of the best we got. I digress, back to the heart of the story, Steve and his sons took this young man out for pizza after church and continued to minister to him, speaking life, testifying about all the great works that Christ had done in their lives, and the importance of living for God. The young man obviously was looking for God to show up in a big way. I met him before church, very polite and pleasant, I shook his hand, said hello, and moved onto what I had "going on" that night, I was too busy or caught up in my own schedule to really take the time to realize what God was about to do in this young man's life. But these guys, Steve and his 2 sons...they went the extra mile...the young man sat in church that night listened to the message God had for him, then some "church people" asked him to come join them after church for some fellowship time. They continued ministering to him, outside the walls of the church, after church was over, probably past a time that was convenient for their "schedule". Long story short, that night, at the pizza place...they led this young man to the Lord. He accepted Christ, came to church Sunday Morning, came to my Sunday school class (new believers class), and as far as I know came to church Sunday night and I'm pretty sure is planning to come back to church this Wednesday. Steve and his family are continuing to lift this new believer up and encourage him. I'm praying God continues to show up in this young man's life in a new and awesome way. My whole reason for posting this is to encourage any of you who might read this, to realize that Christianity isn't just coming to church, sitting down, clap a little, put a tip in the offering plate, then go home. Christianity goes beyond the walls of the church, it goes beyond our personal agendas, it takes us outside of our comfort zones sometimes. We need to daily be praying that God helps us to recognize the opportunities he gives us to minister to the hearts of those who are searching for Him. go the extra mile...
Rev. Ryan & Tiffany Rose serve as the Associate Pastors at Evangel Temple in Fort Smith. They serve the ministries of the church and have a passion to equip leaders to reach new heights. They also own their own small business, Rose Auto Sales.
