How Will You Use the Summer of 2016?

August is nearly half over. School starts in less than two weeks for the traditional folks. Summer pastimes are just about that – past! The summer of 2015 is ready for the history books, but what does that mean for the summer of 2016? Is it too early to think about those special months almost a year from now?

It is not too early if what you wanted to do this summer wasn’t possible because you didn’t plan ahead. When you think you have only nine months to get ready for the summer months of 2016, you realize some of the things you want to do then need to be in the early planning stages now. This is especially true if it will involve other people, money, and reservations.

As a believer in Jesus Christ how can you use the time in which you will have the greatest opportunity to do more than get up, go to work, come home, rest, go to bed, get up, go to work, etc? Summer for most adults will not be all vacation, but it is a period when most leisure time is used. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day here in the United States, most families take vacations, enjoy extended weekends, and recognize special occasions by taking time off from work.

A few guidelines from the Holy Bible might both inspire and guide in thinking about ways you can get the most out of those summer days coming in only a few months that will glorify God.

Psa 24:1 The world and all that is in it belong to the LORD; the earth and all who live on it are his.

When we recognize the world belongs to God and we are only stewards of it, then our concern for it should be reflected in our care for it. Summer months are a great time to plan a community clean up. This could involve roadsides, community parks, vacant lots, and a neighbor who needs help.

Psa 102:18 Write down for the coming generation what the LORD has done, so that people not yet born will praise him.

School may be out for most students, but summer school can be a fun occasion for children. Maybe you can be involved in a Vacation Bible School, help a younger child catch up in a difficult school subject, or spend time reading Bible stories to a child who needs to know someone cares.

Mat 25:34-40 Then the King will say to the people on his right, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.' The righteous will then answer him, 'When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'

Planning events that will provide random acts of kindness for others will make an impact upon the participants, the recipients, and the community. No pay is involved. Nothing is required but the willingness to give and receive as we seek to meet these basic human needs.

Jas 1:27 What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.

Help those who cannot help themselves. God did it for us. We should do it for others. In this way we show the world we are the children of our heavenly Father.

End of Summer. Begin the Programs. Really?

Schools will soon be starting. Summer vacations are wrapping up. One last party fling is planned for Labor Day Weekend at the beginning of September. The time has come to go back to work; fun time is over.

Is the church ready to go back to work? Did it stop? Stop it did. Many churches changed weekend schedules between Memorial Day in May and Labor Day. Some dropped an extra worship service and combined everything into one. Others eliminated their education programs for the children and combined the adult classes into one or discontinued them altogether.

Choirs were given a summer break as were children’s missions programs. Mid-week fellowship meals stopped to give cooks a vacation. Training classes on Sunday evenings stopped. Summer sermon series became shortened to two or three while Sunday evening services were cancelled. The church practically came to a stop.

Was it because the people refused to come? Did communities empty of their residents? Was there no one to whom a church might minister? Did the needs disappear with the people? The reality was the church limited itself for the summer.

Now the end of summer has arrived, and it is time to begin the programs and return to regular schedules. Everyone is rested and eager to get back to work. The tried and true ministries await the starter button to be pushed at which time everything will jump back into full motion. Or will it?

Ask any public school teacher how much time is taken each fall to get students back into learning mode and go through refresher lessons related to what had been learned the year before. When extended breaks are taken, critical time is lost as everything is brought back up to expected operational level when the break is over.

We face the reality our regular membership misses more church activities during the summer than any other time of the year. To avoid the frustration of low attendance churches modify or outright cancel services and programs. It is not to accommodate their members. It is a reaction to their members.

Members are given our blessing to short circuit their spiritual connection to the family of God and perhaps to God himself. What we emphasize so much for nine months of the year we delegate to silence during the three summer months. We dare not put too much pressure on our membership or make them feel guilty.

Is this being too harsh? I don’t think so. I’m sure you have heard the old refrain, “God doesn’t take a holiday from watching over us. Why should we take a holiday from being his salt and light in the world?”

During the summer do we attend church when we are out of town? Do we make sure we maintain our daily devotional time of Bible reading and prayer? Do we engage in discipleship development and spiritual disciplines? Do we use vacation time to serve in intentional ways the Kingdom of God?

I am glad to say many of our people can answer yes to most or even all of the above questions. For these people the summer months offer opportunities for personal spiritual growth and service for the Kingdom of God not available at other times of the year.

These people feel the following verses do not apply just to the autumn, winter, and spring seasons. They apply all year long.

Rom 12:10-13 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

2Ti 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Heb 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Don't Waste a Perfectly Good Summer

You would never have believed that the program you are watching on this hot summer evening is a rerun you have already seen at least seven times (to use a good biblical number!). Stop for just a moment. Look around you. Is the scene in which your life has been momentarily captured also a rerun? Is this summer becoming a repeat of last summer, and the summer before that? My advice is not to waste a perfectly good summer by turning it into a rerun.

Near the end I'll get to a few sage words for the pastors in my association, so be warned you non-pastoral readers. Before then I intend to point my finger at myself and tell me what I had better do to keep my own summer from being a boring repeat. Some reruns are both entertaining and enlightening which explains why I like to rewatch The Lord of the Rings (all twelve hours!) ever so often. Likewise it never hurts me to read the same passage from the Bible over and over. However, as time grows short for me to experience every item on my bucket list, I cannot afford a rerun summer.

1. Learn something new. No, I don't mean how to keep from getting lost while driving in Raleigh or Charlotte though that is helpful. I do mean taking advantage of the internet, the local community college, or visiting one of the many fine local museums to gain knowledge on a subject in which you have an interest but have never taken the time to study.

2. Read a book, and not just one book, but at least one each month, and at least one of which will have nothing to do with my ministerial vocational career. History and archaeology, biography, writing and literary classics, and politics are all subjects that grab my interest.

3. Meet a community leader. Living in a community as I do, there are lots of them around. Every one of them knows something I don't. Every one of them has a perspective on this community different from my own. Every one of them can enrich my life by spending even a little time with them.

4. Grow something. Sure my garden is already well under way, but there is plenty of time to grow something else and experience the wonder of life increasing. This need not be a plant. If blessed, I can find the opportunity to help an individual grow by investing some time in that person's life.

5. Invest quality and quantity time in those people most important to you. Do it during the summer and every other season!

Each of these ideas is as applicable to a minister as it is to anyone sitting in the pews on a Sunday morning. The first step is always the hardest. Change is not always intentional, but it can be a lot more productive if it is. Deciding to make this summer different is that important first step. As for you pastors,

1. Meet your church members. I mean meet them somewhere other than at church or at a church function. Meet them on their terms on their turf. Let them show you how they live when not in Sunday best, either clothing or attitude.

2. Meet the administration at the public school closest to your church. They are a part of your community. You should know each other on a first name basis.

3. Celebrate a community group. Begin planning this summer to have a special recognition service this fall in your church for one of those public servant groups: police, firefighters, social services, emergency medical team, military units, local school administration and faculty.

4. Volunteer for a community project. Habitat for Humanity, a local thrift store, or a free medical clinic always needs volunteers in the summer when so many of their regular helpers are taking vacations. Such an experience sets an example for your church members.

5. Innovate. Give yourself some time to consider completing the question: "What if..." Dream beyond the normal, the average, the expected, or last year's events. Don't limit yourself to material resources as you dream. Let reality spoil the fun after you have dreamed, written those dreams down, outlined their purpose and the good they could do, and then think about how they could still be brought into reality with the resources you have in hand. Perhaps God will show you that you have more resources at your disposal than you had considered. God can do that with dreams.

Summers only come once a year. Don't waste it when it does.