Rev. Rob Henderson
Shelby Wesleyan Church
https://www.angelfire.com/mi2/robhenderson/
robnaomi@oceana.net
Philippians 2:1-5
August 13, 2000 pm
In July, 1999 God led my family and I to this community and church. We have strived to acclimate ourselves to our new surroundings and have endeavored to build relationships among the congregation and community. We have enjoyed our life here and desire to remain as long as God allows.
My goal this evening is to share from my heart what I believe is a course of direction that Shelby Wesleyan Church needs to consider. Just as a ship needs a next port I suggest to you that this church needs to look at where we are going and how to get there.
This past June I asked Pastor Richard Fairbrother to share a message with us during a morning service. He was in town that weekend so it worked out quite well and I was able to sit and to be ministered. He made a comment that challenged me. His statement was to the effect that our church should be running three or four or five hundred in attendance. We were once one of the largest churches in the district. And now look where we are.
Last January I commented that we have been on retreat for thirty years and that I wasn’t sure how we were going to turn this thing around but that my Leader did not call for us to retreat.
And now here I stand before you. I have asked myself so often “How do we turn this thing around? How do we begin to add to our numbers daily as the early church and yet minister to those who are already here? How do we become a church that is a growing church that is adding to the kingdom?”
In light of Pastor Fairbrother’s query in saying that we should be a church of three or four or five hundred I have asked rhetorically this question: “What are the signs of a growing church?” I have three that I trust will be understood and that we will apply to this ministry as soon as possible.
1. A GROWING CHURCH IS A PRAYING CHURCH.
There can be no question on this point. Look at any church in the world that is a growing church and I will show you a church that has prayer as its number one priority. Prayer does change things. Prayer changes attitudes. Prayer changes people. Prayer changes situations. Prayer works because we are involving God who is bigger than our problems and larger than our faith.
Just a few weeks ago I shared a message with you I called “Worry Warts.” At the end of the message I asked for those who had worries and concerns to write them down, come up front and put them into our worry box. I was not sure how you would respond. What I saw was an outpouring of your faith as you came forward. More importantly, God saw your faith. I did not read any but I am sure that among the many that were tucked into that box were the names of loved ones that you are worried about, situations that are beyond your control, and personal issues that you might be struggling with. My big three were these: Church finances (I don’t know a pastor who doesn’t deep down inside worry about this), church unity (another issue that every pastor is concerned about), and my own personal relationship with the Lord.
God is not looking for a church to do great things. God is looking for a church with the faith to pray for great things. Great things like seeing this church effect the commnunity with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Great things like building a ministry that reaches not only our community but the world. Great things like seeing your own sons and daughters and grandchildren come home to Jesus Christ.
What do I suggest? I am suggesting that we continue with our Saturday Nite Prayer meeting and keep the time the same but shift our focus. Rather than focus on the various ministries on Sunday I would like to see this as a time of praying for our lost children and loved ones. Just as the Shunnamite woman received her son raised to life because of her faith we need to pray that our lost sons are raised to new life in Christ. Just as the father saw the prodigal son return home we need to pray with faith believing that God will return your children home. Let’s make our Saturday Nite Prayer a time of focusing on the lost in our families and communities. And pray.
2. A GROWING CHURCH IS A DISCIPLING CHURCH
Again, I don’t believe anyone can argue with this assumption. We are commanded by Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all men. Anytime you abserve a growing church you will also see effective discipleship take place.
When I became a Christian my discipling amounted to an elderly lady handing me a devotional guide. Times have changed because the issues I faced were just as real then for me as they are real for someone else today who is being barraged with all sorts of trash from all over.
Do you know who I admire in our community? I admire the Jehovah’s Witness. They are on the move and are unafraid. They did not even quiver when they found out that I am the pastor of this church. She asked questions and proved to me that we are not doing our job.
How many of us can defend the principles of the Trinity? How about the fact that God’s grace saves us and not our works? Can we defend those things that we hold dear in our holy huddles? Do we have any answers for our friends who are being wooed by this cult? Are we concerned that these same people we scoff at are effectively and routinely drawing some our own away? Are we concerned that these same people are after your own children and grandchildren who live in this community and other communties?
Our enemy is not the Jehovah’s Witness. Our enemy is not any other cult or sin that comes knocking on our door. Our enemy are the forces of darkness in the heavenly realms. The enemy is Satan and he wants to reach into our community and create muddy waters of unbelief.
I suggest that our Christian Education Committee begin to look at long range planning and come up with creative ways of teaching the sound doctrines of our faith. I hope that we would begin to look at various means of not only deepeing our faith but furthering the kingdom through our teaching. Sharing opinions is interesting and talking about issues is important but we cannot ignore the fact that such groups as the Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing a better job than we are. May God help us to maintain the faith and disciple others that He has given us.
3. A GROWING CHURCH IS A SOUL-WINNING CHURCH.
I do not believe anyone can argue this point either. Most churches that are truly growing are doing so because of new births in the kingdom and not because of a church split or merger. We are called to build the kingdom not transfer it.
So how do we evangelize? Do we just prop the doors open on Sunday and hope a sinner staggers in by accident?
George Barna asks this question: “How many lives have been irrefutably changed in the past year as a direct result of your church’s ministry?”
A very challenging question to us that we cannot affirmatively answer. But it does cause us to take a few moments to consider our state and direction and what we are to do.
Everybody has a story:
-Friendship evangelism. Develop a relationship with your neighbor. Sip coffee with him, mow her yard, shovel their snow, take them a pan of cookies- anything. Reach across the cultural and ethnic divide and build friendships with the undesirables. At some point God will open the door for you to share your story. Every Christian has a story of how Jesus saved them.
-Servanthood Evangelism. Get together with someone and do a good deed in the name of Christ for someone- maybe even someone you don’t really like very well. That is tough. Some examples of servanthood Evangelism would be passing out free drinks at the pavilion near the Bike Trail, washing car windows, or even babysitting your neighbor’s kids for free. Being a servant of others- that’s the name of the game for the Christian.
-Door-to-door Evangelism. Knock on somebody’s door and share Christ. That is tough- but the Jehovah’s Witness do it! And with results. We need to be willing to do anything to see souls won to Christ.
-Worship Evangelism. Provide a worship service that allows the non-Christian the opportunity to see Christians worship in spirit and in truth. As Rick Warren wrote, with our “heart and our mind.” This kind of evangelism is real and easy. Invite your friends and neighbors to special events where they can be around Christian fellowship. Bring those neighbor kids to Sunday School. “Bring them in from the fields of sin.” We can just as effectively have people “come and see” as well as “go and tell.” Jesus used both ways rather well.
We need some desperation. Sure, we are concerned about the lost but are we really desperate to see souls changed for the kingdom? Are we really willing to step forward and do whatever it takes to see a soul won to the kingdom?
A growing church is a soul-winning church.
What do we need to do? Be relevant to the time and culture that we live in. The sons of Issachar understood the times they lived in and knew what to do. We need to do the same. We live in a fascinating world
Conclusion
God has called me to this church to be your pastor, shepherd, teacher, and leader. I feel extremely unqualified in light of so many who have come this way with the college degrees and experiences. But one thing I do know and that is that with the power of the Holy Spirit I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.
This church has been through tumultuous times and difficult disagreements. It seems that Satan has done all he can to destroy the ministry that many great men have worked hard to build. We can dwell on the successes of the 1960’s where record attendances were the norm and great things were happening; we can dwell on the disagreements and harbor ill-will towards one another; we can sit and aim for nothing and hit it everytime. But I believe that we need to have the attitude of Paul: “forgetting what is behind and straining towards that which is ahead.”
We are a church that has opportunity. If opportunities were money we would never lack what we need. But I believe that opportunity is greater than money. We still have the opportunity to reach the lost with the gospel, we still have the opportunity to raise our family in a Bible believing church, and we still have the opportunity to pray for our lost children. Someday our opportunity will end. One day, we will no longer have a chance to take advantage of the opportunities that are at our doorstep. We must take advantage of what God has provided for us and by the power of the Holy Spirit we will grab a hold of the opportunities that God sets before us. We will rescue the perishing, we will work for the night is coming, and we will surrender all because “my life is not my own, I’ve been bought with a price.”
There was a man who desperately saw the spiritual needs of his people. He saw the moral decay all around him, he saw the hopelessness that prevailed and the sin that devastated lives. His heart was broken for his people. If his head were a fountain of tears, he would weep like the weeping prophet Jeremiah. So he desperately prays for God to intervene.
One night Paul lays down to sleep. He and his entourage of missionaries are at a crossroads: do we continue going east and minister to those in Syria and Persia or do we go west. In his sleep, Paul meets a man from Macedonia who weeps and begs that Paul and his group would come to Macedonia and bring the gospel.
Folks, we live in a Macedonia. There are people here who are desperately wanting to throw off their drug addictions, and the abusive lives that they live. But they need missionaries. They need people like you and me to reach into their homes and lives and hearts with Jesus Christ. Some of these desperate people are your very own children and grandchildren. Who will go? Whom will God send? “Here we are, Lord! Send us!”
I have come to Shelby Wesleyan Church for such a time as this. And these are desperate times and I’m a desperate preacher. For such a time as this I have been called to bring the good news to our church and community.
You have been called to Shelby Wesleyan Church for such a time as this. And these are desperate times and you are a desperate people. For such a time as this you have been called to bring the good news to your children and community.
When I look ahead to the future of this ministry I see that our decision today will greatly influence who we are tomorrow. The hey dey of the 1960’s were the result of the ministry of not just those in the 60’s but of those prior to that era who were men and women of integrity and grit. Some of them were you or your parents or your grandparents. Let us put off everything that will hinder us from achieving the potential that God has for us and let’s run the race with perseverance. Let’s build a today for tomorrow’s young people. Let’s reach the lost today so that the lost of tomorrow might have ministers reaching to them.
The easy way is to go to church. The hard way is to be the church.
The easy way is to play church. The hard way is to be the church.
For such a time as this God has called us. Are we willing to take up our cross and follow after Him? Are we willing to forsake all others and materials to do the will of God and be the church?
The challenge is clear. Our purpose is the priority. Let’s reach the lost for Jesus Christ. Let us do so as Paul charged the Philippians: One in Spirit and Purpose.
