I personally like change. I like seeing things evolve, moving toward the perfect. I also realize that I will never attain perfection in this life, nor will I see every change that I would like to see actually take place. I am called to do what I can with what I have where I am. Thankfully, God does not allow my actions or my abilities to be the end of the story. He wants me to depend upon him to be the foundation for the change that brings about the best. He wants me to expect him to deliver with the stuff that he and I both know I cannot accomplish. I, we, need to dare to pray for the big stuff.
The idea of praying for miracles is basic to Christian life. We pray for healing that is beyond medical skills. We pray to be delivered from natural disasters (I pray a lot for hurricanes to stay out in the ocean!). We pray for the needs of family, friends, country, and world. Miracles are something we want. They represent the hand of God active in our world. They reassure us that God has not forgotten us. They remind us that it is not all in our hands. Miracles represent the big stuff.
When the widow went to the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1ff), she knew she was demanding something she could not deliver for herself. She had to have help from a greater source. Jesus said that she received what she wanted because of her confidence that the judge had the power to give her what she wanted and because she had the persevering spirit that would never let him forget it. She went after the big stuff.
I look at my churches. I hear their dreams. I listen to their prayers. Rarely do I hear them praying for the big stuff, the kind of stuff that only God can do. Where that does come into play, it usually involves keeping some saint out of heaven or at least out of pain. That may be seen as as worthy prayer and in many cases something only God can do, but our prayers for the big stuff should never be limited to physical needs.
When do we pray for the matters of heavenly importance and concern? Jesus said that our Father already knows about our earthly needs. How much time do we spend praying for Kingdom righteousness? How much time do we spend praying for transformed lives and churches? How much time do we spend praying for things that have eternal significance? That's the big stuff.
Here are some prayer topics I'd like to hear in our prayer meetings. Boldness in sharing our Christian testimonies in the marketplace. New Testament moral guidelines for political decisions. Families committed to having Christ in the center of their homes. Walls of prejudice destroyed in our lives and communities. Courage to make the Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12 the personal rule for our lives. True grief over the lost condition of so many souls around us. The demand for power would be surrendered to the desire to serve. Material bounty would be seen as a blessing to help those with less. Secular jobs to be seen as missionary opportunities. Higher emphasis upon church members at work in the fields and less on sitting in the pews. And yes, the list could go on.
This is the big stuff, the transformation that only God can perform. You have to be courageous to pray for the big stuff. When God answers those kinds of prayers, he usually demands that we be part of the answer.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
People Investments
I have a retirement program into which I make regular financial investments in preparation for a future that may or may not ever arrive. By most that is considered wise planning. I wish I could invest more, but there is no chance of a future unless I also take care of today.
Whether we realize it or not, we are all investing in the people around us. Sometimes that is intentional. Many times it is not. You can call it mentoring, teaching, directing, or simply influencing. Whatever name you give it, you are investing in people.
As couples we are investing in our spouses. As parents we invest in our children. As workers on the job we invest through our efforts and work ethic in the lives of employers, coworkers, and employees. In our churches we are investing in our membership. As leaders we do it with a high level of intentionality, but everyone does it to one extent or another. And it all relates to our present and our future.
Investing in people should be intentional. As followers of Christ we should always be seeking to influence others in a way that will point them to the relationship they need with Jesus. Our daily actions will influence others as they watch us and interact with us. Our speech will reveal the priorities of our hearts. Our words, tone, and body language will convey a desire to build up or tear down. No matter what we do, for better or for worse we will be investing in people.
Jesus invested his ministry in his followers. He chose twelve to walk with him. He chose three to share in his most critical moments. As church leaders we would do well to follow such an example. The next generation of leaders will look to someone to see what to do or what not to do. If they can see the positive in you, then your investment in their lives will be to the benefit of many yet to come.
Paul's command to his young disciple in I Timothy 4:12 is clear wisdom for all of us. Set an example for the believers in speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Be intentional in pouring yourself into the life or lives of one or more who will carry the mantle after you are gone. Your name is not important, only Christ's. What you have received from others is very important. Share the teaching and set the example of a crucified life in this world, faithfully carrying out the work of the Master until he returns to claim his own.
Whether we realize it or not, we are all investing in the people around us. Sometimes that is intentional. Many times it is not. You can call it mentoring, teaching, directing, or simply influencing. Whatever name you give it, you are investing in people.
As couples we are investing in our spouses. As parents we invest in our children. As workers on the job we invest through our efforts and work ethic in the lives of employers, coworkers, and employees. In our churches we are investing in our membership. As leaders we do it with a high level of intentionality, but everyone does it to one extent or another. And it all relates to our present and our future.
Investing in people should be intentional. As followers of Christ we should always be seeking to influence others in a way that will point them to the relationship they need with Jesus. Our daily actions will influence others as they watch us and interact with us. Our speech will reveal the priorities of our hearts. Our words, tone, and body language will convey a desire to build up or tear down. No matter what we do, for better or for worse we will be investing in people.
Jesus invested his ministry in his followers. He chose twelve to walk with him. He chose three to share in his most critical moments. As church leaders we would do well to follow such an example. The next generation of leaders will look to someone to see what to do or what not to do. If they can see the positive in you, then your investment in their lives will be to the benefit of many yet to come.
Paul's command to his young disciple in I Timothy 4:12 is clear wisdom for all of us. Set an example for the believers in speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Be intentional in pouring yourself into the life or lives of one or more who will carry the mantle after you are gone. Your name is not important, only Christ's. What you have received from others is very important. Share the teaching and set the example of a crucified life in this world, faithfully carrying out the work of the Master until he returns to claim his own.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Bivocational Ministers - Precious Servants
Last week my wife and I attended the annual state convention small church/bivocational ministers retreat at one of our conference centers. The setting in the Uwharrie Mountains was beautiful and the testimonies of these servant leaders left me both inspired and humbled. These pastors and directors of missions may be partially funded but they are definitely fully involved in their ministries.
The Apostle Paul said that the man of God is worthy of his hire, but he was also one to say that he proudly worked to pay his own expenses. He took the offerings of churches such as that in Philippi, but he saw these as extra blessings from God that served more to reward the givers than himself as the recipient. Paul worked a secular job because it set him free from any unnecessary ties to a local congregation. Financially he was free to come and go. He was in the middle of the society he was trying to reach. He proved himself to be a man of integrity that was beholden to no one but God.
Bivocational ministers represent a growing class of Christian servants in our society. With the coming demise of the builder generation that paid most of the bills for our churches, new sources of support for our ministers must be found even as we seek to teach younger generations the biblical basis of tithing. The bivocational ministry lifestyle represents one of the most positive. One denominational leader recently has said that within a few decades perhaps half of our pastors will need to be bivocational. New church planters are being told that bivocational status may be a necessary part of their work if they are to have a healthy church plant.
The blessings of a bivocational ministry setting include many that are limited or ignored by being a fully funded minister. Among these are being involved with the secular world on an ongoing basis. Fellow workers, employers, and employees constitute a relational family different from the church, opening doors to ministry that would otherwise be closed or unknown.
Church members are required to see themselves as ministers because the "paid" staff will not always be available due to work schedules. The lay leadership must step forward and get the work done instead of waiting for the pastor to take care of matters. Spiritual gifts takes on a more obvious and critical role as the church membership must become the church in action.
The finacnial situation can bring additional blessings as the bivocational minister receives income from a source in addition to the church. This financial support might include extra retirement and health insurance that the church would be hard pressed to provide. These church funds then become available for other ministry and mission needs.
I have often called these men and women in bivocational ministry "God's Jugglers". They must find time for secular jobs, church ministry, personal spiritual development, and THEIR FAMILIES. As the congregation supports their bivocational pastor, they must provide that encouragement to make personal family time a priority. If the church family will understand and cooperate, there is no reason for a bivocational minister's family to feel any ill effect from the minister' work.
In associational work we must applaud our bivocational ministers, we must pray for them, and we must support them in every way we can. Without them a lot of churches would never get started and a lot of developing churches would close their doors.
The Apostle Paul said that the man of God is worthy of his hire, but he was also one to say that he proudly worked to pay his own expenses. He took the offerings of churches such as that in Philippi, but he saw these as extra blessings from God that served more to reward the givers than himself as the recipient. Paul worked a secular job because it set him free from any unnecessary ties to a local congregation. Financially he was free to come and go. He was in the middle of the society he was trying to reach. He proved himself to be a man of integrity that was beholden to no one but God.
Bivocational ministers represent a growing class of Christian servants in our society. With the coming demise of the builder generation that paid most of the bills for our churches, new sources of support for our ministers must be found even as we seek to teach younger generations the biblical basis of tithing. The bivocational ministry lifestyle represents one of the most positive. One denominational leader recently has said that within a few decades perhaps half of our pastors will need to be bivocational. New church planters are being told that bivocational status may be a necessary part of their work if they are to have a healthy church plant.
The blessings of a bivocational ministry setting include many that are limited or ignored by being a fully funded minister. Among these are being involved with the secular world on an ongoing basis. Fellow workers, employers, and employees constitute a relational family different from the church, opening doors to ministry that would otherwise be closed or unknown.
Church members are required to see themselves as ministers because the "paid" staff will not always be available due to work schedules. The lay leadership must step forward and get the work done instead of waiting for the pastor to take care of matters. Spiritual gifts takes on a more obvious and critical role as the church membership must become the church in action.
The finacnial situation can bring additional blessings as the bivocational minister receives income from a source in addition to the church. This financial support might include extra retirement and health insurance that the church would be hard pressed to provide. These church funds then become available for other ministry and mission needs.
I have often called these men and women in bivocational ministry "God's Jugglers". They must find time for secular jobs, church ministry, personal spiritual development, and THEIR FAMILIES. As the congregation supports their bivocational pastor, they must provide that encouragement to make personal family time a priority. If the church family will understand and cooperate, there is no reason for a bivocational minister's family to feel any ill effect from the minister' work.
In associational work we must applaud our bivocational ministers, we must pray for them, and we must support them in every way we can. Without them a lot of churches would never get started and a lot of developing churches would close their doors.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Freedom and Security
Several years ago while on a mission trip to Ukraine, I heard our interpreter make a rather disturbing comment about his nation. In brief he said that many of his countrymen would gladly go back to the days of the Soviet dominance in return for a guaranteed job, paycheck, and pension. This idea that security is to be preferred to freedom is repeated in a quote by H.L. Mencken from the book Why You Do the Things You Do by Clinton and Sibcy. Mencken says, "The average man does not want to be free. He wants to be safe." (p. 15)
Having just come through another Independence Day holiday season, I am reminded again of the struggle we must continually face and the tension in which we must live to have what we call a free country. Our history is fraught with this dilemma of freedom versus security. The more we have of one the less we have of the other. At what point are we willing to sacrifice one to guarantee the other?
A significant percentage of colonials did not feel the war of rebellion against the mother country was worth the social risks. Yet even those who cried out, "Give me liberty or give me death" knew that there could be no liberty without the order that only law could provide, hence limiting the very freedom for which they were willing to die.
I have often thought that America contains within its breast the seeds that could easily spell its doom and destruction. To be free brings its own risks. Social man has never shown himself able to handle freedom in a manner that is both responsible and non destructive. Freedom can only be sustained through the use of power; yet power, and the control it provides, is the one thing that freedom cannot tolerate.
Tony Campolo, former professor at what once was Eastern Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, said that the use of control and love must always be inversely proportional. The more one seeks to control the less love can be shown. The more one loves the less control will be exerted. Perhaps only in the parent - child relationship can we approach the positive use of both. Perhaps only in the Divine Father - mortal child relationship can control and love both be practiced in perfection.
Scripture rather clearly states that man was born to serve. Only in his sinful bent does he dream of the idea of being his own master. In truth his only free choice is who his master will be. Perhaps our churches and the Kingdom of God would be better served if we preached more on the divine plan of human security under the Lordship of Christ and less on the human need for freedom. Ask any member of the persecuted church in countries we deem less free than our own. Would they rather have the American dream of political freedom or the knowledge that they can be free only as they find their freedom in their slavery to Jesus Christ?
Having just come through another Independence Day holiday season, I am reminded again of the struggle we must continually face and the tension in which we must live to have what we call a free country. Our history is fraught with this dilemma of freedom versus security. The more we have of one the less we have of the other. At what point are we willing to sacrifice one to guarantee the other?
A significant percentage of colonials did not feel the war of rebellion against the mother country was worth the social risks. Yet even those who cried out, "Give me liberty or give me death" knew that there could be no liberty without the order that only law could provide, hence limiting the very freedom for which they were willing to die.
I have often thought that America contains within its breast the seeds that could easily spell its doom and destruction. To be free brings its own risks. Social man has never shown himself able to handle freedom in a manner that is both responsible and non destructive. Freedom can only be sustained through the use of power; yet power, and the control it provides, is the one thing that freedom cannot tolerate.
Tony Campolo, former professor at what once was Eastern Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, said that the use of control and love must always be inversely proportional. The more one seeks to control the less love can be shown. The more one loves the less control will be exerted. Perhaps only in the parent - child relationship can we approach the positive use of both. Perhaps only in the Divine Father - mortal child relationship can control and love both be practiced in perfection.
Scripture rather clearly states that man was born to serve. Only in his sinful bent does he dream of the idea of being his own master. In truth his only free choice is who his master will be. Perhaps our churches and the Kingdom of God would be better served if we preached more on the divine plan of human security under the Lordship of Christ and less on the human need for freedom. Ask any member of the persecuted church in countries we deem less free than our own. Would they rather have the American dream of political freedom or the knowledge that they can be free only as they find their freedom in their slavery to Jesus Christ?
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