Are You Ready To Stop Playing Church?

Let’s talk. I need to share with you today from my heart. I will be sixty years old this year. I have been a pastor for many years. Can I confess something very important to you? Much of that time I’ve felt I was playing church. There is such a profound disconnect from what I see in most modern churches from what I read in scripture. In the early church the Christians were willing to follow Jesus anywhere he led. Some of them even followed Jesus to the Roman coliseum where they were eaten by the lions. We’ve all read about martyrs who have given their lives for God. But somehow we see these as special heroes who really have nothing to do with ME.

Why is it that we think that Jesus really didn’t mean it when he required his followers to follow him--to take up our cross? Why is it we think we can count ourselves followers of Jesus when we fail to follow him? Is it because we are surrounded by others who call themselves followers of Christ who aren’t really following the example of Jesus? Hello!

I have decided that I’m too old and have too little time left to play church. I want to be a true follower of Jesus.

I’ve been talking with God a lot lately about what thius means for me as a pastor. His answer has been---can you guess?--- “Follow Me.” Surprise!
“But, God,” I’ve said, “What does that mean?”
God keeps responding, “How did Jesus spend most of his time?”
“Hummmmmmm. I guess he spent most of his time coaching the twelve disciples. Then sent them out with the great commission”
“Bingo!---- and they went out coaching others who coached still others until the lives of millions have been touched.”
“Yea, God. That’s our church strategy: Connect, Coach, Commission.”

So, here goes. I believe God is showing me that nothing is more important than to spend time coaching a small group of people who have made a commitment to become obedient disciples of Jesus Christ and who will, in turn, coach others. Nothing I could do with my time is more important. This is God’s strategy .

This means that I’m looking to CONNECT with a few good men or women. We’re COACH one another and GROW together. Only the serious should apply. After a period of sharing and spiritual growth we will all be COMMISSIONED to go out and connect with others. It all starts with COMMITMENT.

Are you ready to let God really transform your life? Are you ready to make a serious commitment to follow Christ? Are you ready to discover God’s purpose for your life? Are you ready to find the amazing joy of making an eternal difference in the world? Give me a call-- let’s get together and talk about it.

Are you ready to stop playing church?

Fill The Jar Before You Leave

I grew up on a farm where hard work was expected from everyone, including the children. The boys began driving the mules or the tractors at a very young age. My first hand at the wheel came when I was no more than six or seven years old, steering the tractor between bales of hay while my older brothers loaded the trailer. I began “chopping” cotton when I was not much older. My dad had a heart attack when I was eleven years old. The next summer he assigned me one of his primary tasks. It became my job to drive our truck through the Indian Reservation to gather “hands.” I picked them up, took them to the fields, worked them all day, paid them their wages, then took them home.

Chopping cotton on a farm in Mississippi gets to be hot work. In the edge of one field stood the old original farmhouse with its well in the front yard. There was a hand pump with a quart jar of water kept sitting beside the pump. The water in the jar was used to prime the pump.

Now the problem was that if the pump had not been used for a while the seals would become dry. There was a bit of a trick when this happened to get the pump primed with just a quart of water. My father, however, warned me never to drink the water in the jar. If I did this there would be no chance to prime the pump.

You have probably heard the story of Desert Pete. A man was lost in the desert, dying for water. He came upon a shack and saw an old rusty water pump. Beside the pump was a jug of water and a note: “My friend, you have to prime the pump with the water in this jug. P.S. Be sure to fill the jug again before you leave.” It was signed Desert Pete.

The man was faced with a decision. What if he used the water in the pump but it failed to provide water? He decided to trust the note. At first there were only squeaks. . . but finally cool, clear water began to gush from the pump. He refilled the jug, drank all he wanted, then left the jug filled with life-giving water for the next person who might come along.

Jesus tells us in Luke 6:38, “Give and it will be given unto you.” God has given so much to you and me. He calls us to pass it on to others. Many of the blessings God has bestowed on me have come through others who were willing to be used by God. God wants to bless others through you and me.

Are you willing to give your time, talents, and treasure that others may be blessed? That is exactly what it means to be a follower of Christ!

Into The World

Mike Slaughter is pastor of Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist fellowship in Tipp City, Ohio, 16 miles north of Dayton. When Mike went there 29 years ago the church was a small 104-year-old country chapel on a quarter of an acre of ground with less than 100 people. Today it is one of the largest and fastest growing churches in the country. How did Mike transform a small dying church into the thriving congregation this church is today? He briefly explains in an article in the current issue of Circuit Rider, a clergy magazine published by The United Methodist Publishing House:

Ginghamsburg did not have quality music, facility, or space for adequate parking when people would start to come. There was no way that we could compete in quality with the larger churches around us. We decided to be the one thing that Jesus calls us to be. We could love in practical need-meeting ways and work at closing the gaps of disparity for the “least of these.”

Mike’s church organized a food pantry and clothes closet, later adding a car and furniture ministry. These ministries have grown over the years, serving nearly 40,000 people in 2007. They began an after-school tutoring program with at-risk elementary children in surrounding neighborhoods.

Mike continues to explain in the article:
One of the most transforming endeavors for our church has been our commitment to live more simply through the experience of sacrificial giving at Christmas so that others may simply live. We challenge each other to have a simple Christmas and to give an equal amount or more than our family would normally spend on ourselves toward a critical current missional need in the world. Over the last three years, our people have brought over $2.8 million at Christmas to invest in The Sudan Project (www.thesudanproject.org) through our partner sister organization the United Methodist Committee On Relief.

Ginghamsburg Church is a church known around the world for its exciting, contemporary worship, its use of graphics and modern technology, and its cutting edge advertising. But in this article the pastor who has led this church to be one of the most progressive congregations in the world is giving most of the credit for their growth to their commitment to mission and ministry, in the community and around the world.

Mike Slaughter insists that “The true greatness of any local church is measured by how many people are serving the marginalized.” He states in this article that it’s all about our mission to make disciples. “The business of the church is to engage and empower disciples of Jesus in meeting the needs and closing the gaps of disparity for the least of these.”

I totally agree. What do you think?