Growth of a church = people getting saved + people from other churches – people leaving

People will come from other churches, stay for awhile and move on. Also, a lot of people get saved but leave after a bit.

So cancelling them out means that the equation can be simplified down to:
Growth of a church = people getting saved (and staying saved)

So with reaching a community:

• People are in their homes or at the shops.
• Mail-outs will attract some people
• But ultimately it boils down to somebody talking to them and explaining the gospel.
• Once all the people have had the gospel explained to them (regardless of their decision), the community has been reached.

It’s not rocket science.

So in our marriages, church, ministry and lives I think we need to be like Jesus and focus on the positives! Its easier to focus on the negatives of your wife (trust me – just ask my wife) but it is not worth it!

As I was praying this morning I was praying and asking God what do men in church need? Do they need someone to baby them? Someone to put a rocket up their bum or someone who can always be there when needed?

I personally think men need a mixture of these depending on the situation they find themselves in. Sometimes they just need the encouragement to tell them that God has already justified them and they do not need to live in the guilt of their sin while others need a few rockets…

As I was questioning this God told me to read how Paul dealt with Timothy, so now once I read my homework I will write what I find out from it here. In the meantime please write down what you think Men need in todays church in the comments below.

OK if your still reading. Quick question – How do you battle being bored by church? Have you ever battled being bored by church? Have you sat or stood (depending on the denomination) in church and asked yourself “what am I doing hear?”

I will admit, I have been there and even get there at times now but the question is, what do you do? Do you just leave and blame the church? Or do you do something about it?

First of all let me say that you being bored is not the churches or Gods fault, its yours… You do not change the church, you need to change your mindset!

How do we change our mindset?

If you have any ideas/ suggestions or how you changed your mindset, please write them down below in the comments field.

Hear are some quick questions…

1. Are you serving and following Jesus or yourself?
2. Are you going to church to serve yourself or others?
3. Why are you going to church?
4. Are you growing as a Christian?
5. Do you have hidden sins you are not dealing with?
6. Do you have real (ie: David & Jonathan) Christian friends?

Ok you ma be asking what that has to do with the price of eggs, let alone the title of this post.

Back in at the end of 2009 I decided to put away my dream of running my freelance business to follow my wives dream of owning our own house. The job I landed at lasted three months until they went bankrupt, two months later of living off the one wage still trying to save for our house, I landed another job with less pay but 20 times more responsibility and it drained me big time.

After feeling like I was switching my calling from God to trying to keep my boss happy I prayed to God and said if this job is taking over you, take it away from me. Guess what? He did!

I then landed another job one week later at my last job. Again at an even lower wage but to get this house, I needed a job asap so I can get my 6 months probation over so we can get our loan approved by the bank. One week before the bank would have approved our loan, I lost the job!

Now they gave reasons why and I do not want to rubbish any of the companies as I learned a lot from all these jobs but each ‘reason’ I got for why I lost the job was rubbish and a total personal attack. So now I am jobless again for the third time in 1.5 years.

I have a fear and that is to be a failure, I fear failing my wife, my God, myself and fear people seeing me as a failure… Yes I have problems, welcome to the club!

On top of the job fiasco’s I also feel my ministry being pulled from me which has had me questioning myself and what I thought my calling was. At my local church I do mens ministry and ‘run’ a bible study/ small group and both have been a struggle at times. All up it has me questioning myself and feeling like a failure. Yes you can see a common trend cant you?

Now I have a great mate in Canberra who is like a mirror image of me (or maybe I am a mirror image of him) which is kinder scary and in taking to him recently he said four words that God recently spoke to him and they spoke loudly to me and they where “Let Me, I Will“.

I hate waiting on God and letting people in, I struggle being accountable but maybe this is why, maybe God is just waiting on the outer waiting patiently and that I need to let God take control of this situation and when I let God have control he will have his hand over it. I am not saying that God is my magic genie (it would be nice) as you look at the bible and people much more Godly than I went through worse than me.

What I am saying is that Gods blessing (which means favour) will be over me, that no matter what happens  I have faith that God is there…. So now comes the hard bit, to let God have control of my current situation.

Personally I like the idea of Keith Green, where he gave away his records and let the consumer give a gift of what they wanted for payment. Or the idea of having a second cassette (back in the day) attached with the idea of giving it to a friend (source: Wikipedia). Now why do not other Christians do this?

We know about the Kingdom vision (Or Great Commission) that Jesus gave us in Mark 16:15-20 (scripture below) but what about the Vision that gets preached and teached at churches which usually happens in February at every church? Is this the Kingdoms vision or is this church vision? Should they be the same or are they different?

I just did a dictionary search for Vision and this was one meaning which jumped out at me: the stated aims and objectives of a business or other organization.

By this you would say Vision can be focused on the way the church does things. What do you think? Should the vision be about the building of the church or should it be about the building of Gods Kingdom?

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Let me first state what a churchy is:

1. A Church Kid: Someone who was raised in church and still lives off their parents or grandparents salvation. Someone who has yet made a personal commitment/ decision to follow Jesus.
2. People who attend church as you would attend a sporting event – best described as using the church as a hobby.

First of all, I responded by saying that you ignore them and focus on the people that want to be lead and discipled. However who determines what a churchy is? I then was challenged by God by him reminding me that at various times I was one of those annoying church kids and playing hobby church. What however change was people sticking by me through pray and words of grace and love.

So if I was asked the question again I would respond with:

With Churchies you handle them differently than someone who is eager to learn/ study or be discipled. You need to treat them with kid gloves, you make them feel welcomed BUT you need to let them know that church is not a hobby, a life style or even just a place to hang out. Its a life commitment and NOT something you wear or live for a season.

1 John 2:15-17 (KJV) 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Now maybe I am old fashioned but should we not see the difference between a Christian and someone unsaved (or of the world)? In reading the bible, you see words like “Ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20)”, “Salt of the World (Matthew 5:13)”, “light (Matthew 5:14)” and “city on a hill (Matthew 5:14)”.

Matthew 5:13-16 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Why then when you go to church or a church event, the people look, drink, party, behave and speak like they are taken straight from the pub or nightclub? How can we be the light, difference or hope when we are not any different?

Seems about right hey? He made us human and as humans we make mistakes, it is not that that God hates or frowns upon. It is the covering up, lying and feeding the sinful flesh of us that God hates, not us!