Who is the church for?

Every Sunday morning I go to the weekly gathering for my church. I have been wondering lately though who that gathering is for.

• Is church for people who are seeking about who God/Christ are?
• Is church for people who already have a relationship with God/Christ?
• Is church for people who are comfortable and confident in their faith, or for those who have questions they are working through?

Can a single Sunday morning service or church community be a meaningful place for all the groups above?
Is there a difference between what can be offered in a single worship service as compared to what a church community can offer?
Can even small churches (which is the most common church in America) offer meaningful things for a variety of groups?

What is my role as an active member of a church both in helping my church look at who they are reaching and being a part of programs that reach out to groups we are not currently sharing with?

What are you giving your all to?

In the well known Christmas carol the Little Drummer Boy, a boy tells a story of being invited to come before a newborn king to play his drum.

Come, they told me, our newborn King to see
Our finest gifts we’ll bring to lay before the King
So to honor Him when we come.

Baby Jesus I am a poor boy, too 
I have no gift to bring that’s fit to give a King
Shall I play for you, on my drum?

Mary nodded, The ox and lamb kept time
I played my drum for Him, I played my best for Him
Then He smiled at me, me and my drum.

He played his drum for Christ, he played his best and gave it all he had.
What are you giving your all to? Is it for God’s glory?

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

Why should God give you more?

Every day I tend to go to God and ask him to do something for me or help me with something. I am learning to stop though and ask myself, “Why should God give me more if I haven’t been faithful with what he has already given to me?”

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10) What if I am not using my gifts to serve others? My selfishness often kicks in and I want someone to give to me or I want some pay back for what I do. I want to be a selfless giver, but honestly I am not.

Christ told us a parable about using what we have been given. In the parable there were two different types of people. Those that were faithful with what they had been given and those that weren’t. To those that were faithful “ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ” (Matthew 25:21). To those that were not faithful he called them wicked, lazy servants.

As this Christmas season is upon us we will be faced with numerous decisions about what we can have, what we can do for ourselves, or what others could give to us. I want God to hear my prayers, to know my desires, and to answer me when I cry out to him. He wants me to be faithful with all the answers and blessings he has already given to me. He has every right to call me a wicked, lazy servant, but I hope that today I am learning one more piece about what it will take to one day hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Truth or a belief to be neutralized?

I have asked this question before, but I keep coming back to it. How do we know truth? How do we know that what we think, believe, see, feel, think, etc. is right? Every day people are in conflict with others because both sides are convinced they are right. This affects our view of God and our understanding of how to have relationship with him tremendously.

“And don’t kid yourself! Within us all are poisonous beliefs that need to be neutralized. Our faith cannot help being soiled in a drug-filled, self-obsessed world such as ours. We may never turn our backs on God, join a cult, or handle a snake. But we are all victims of poisonous ideas that distort the image of God and negate our faith. Though we tell ourselves we would certainly be able to escape the most toxic levels of faith, we would do well to remember that the headlines often describe people “just like us” who thought they were in touch with reality – but who ended up with a compulsive addiction to a false and hurtful religion.” (Toxic Faith by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton)

What is your view of God built upon? It is a structurally sound view? What would happen to your beliefs if a few holes were punched into them? Are your views of God built upon a foundation that is strong enough to withstand being rocked? Broken? Crumbled? What is it that could cause your beliefs to be shaken? What beliefs do you hold that need to be neutralized, and what are you doing about them?

Giving Thanks

 Our national holiday was started by grateful hearts that desired to celebrate and recognize their rich blessings. Is that what your expression is on Thanksgiving? For many our holiday has become a time to gather together with people we know and are connected to, and the activities revolve around football, eating great amounts of food, and in some cases investing in relationship building activities such as games, or specific customs. We close ourselves up in our homes only sharing with those few select people that are a part of the day’s activities.

How much of the day is about being thankful? How much time is spent investing in meaningful relationship with others?

What if we rethought our day of thanks and made being thankful the focus of the day? What could we fill the day with that truly expressed our thanks? What could we do for others to show our grateful hearts? How could we influence our family, friends, and community with a heart of thanks?

Will your day of thanks be a day only filled with football, food, and maybe a little fellowship, or will it be a day where a grateful heart chooses to celebrate and impact others by recognizing your blessings and acknowledging the blessing of those around you?

Defining sin

What is sin? According to some dictionaries it is: transgression of divine law, any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle, or any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.

Do we as Christians sometimes minimize what we classify as sin? Do we believe that unless the Bible clearly says something is wrong that it is not a sin?

Recently I have been reading over some other verses and have been reflecting a lot more on the second and third definitions of sin. For example in these verses, sin appears to be lack of faith and doing something that causes another to stumble.

• Romans 14:23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
• 1 Corinthians 10: 32-33 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God – even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

Are we responsible when someone gets offended or hurt by our actions, even if those actions are not a “transgression of divine law”? If so, how can we seek the good of many in a healthy way where we are not subject to the moods, attitudes, and sins of others? How can we balance our needs, the needs of the many, and the needs of someone who might be in the minority in their feelings or views as compared with others?

This requires a tough balance and a heart that desires after loving people and caring for them as God does.

It’s time to consider a radical understanding of “going to church”….

“I suggest that it’s time to take a hard look at what really gets passed back and forth in our relationships and to ask what is being withheld that, if given, could change our lives. It’s time to consider a radical understanding of “going to church” that centers on releasing the power to change lives that God has placed within every member of the Christian community, a community Christ calls his body, a community made up of lots of people connecting to a few others.”  (Connecting by Larry Crabb)

Larry offers a challenge that we take a hard look at what we share in our relationships, and even more at what we don’t share. Does what you share in your relationships change lives? If people in your life weren’t there tomorrow would your life be lacking because of the absence? Would other’s lives be lacking if you were missing?

What if we changed how we did relationship and interactions with each other?
What if our whole idea of “church” changed?

God wants relationship with us. Christ called us to relationship with each other.

Is there power in your relationships? Are your relationships changing things?
How are your beliefs about relationships and others keeping you from having relationships that change both those involved in the relationship, and even more those around you?

A charity evaluator

A while back I asked for recommendations about organizations that are worthwhile charities. I have continued to do some looking, thinking, praying, etc. about where to use and share the resources I have and if I am supposed to give money to any organizations beyond my church and the couple organizations I have supported for a long time.

Yesterday I learned of an organization called Charity Navigator. They refer to themselves as America’s Largest Charity Evaluator. They provide information about charities including the organizational efficiency, organizational capacity, revenue, expenses, leadership, mission, and privacy policies.

If you have questions about organizations, if they will use your money wisely, and what the exact mission of the organization is this website is a great tool to do that. They only evaluate organizations granted tax-exempt status under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and ones that have been in existence for at least four years, so some worthy causes and great organizations may not be listed on the site, but it is a great tool to use to verify what your money is going to. God has given us valuable resources, sometimes that is in the form of money. We can bless people tremendously by sharing what we have, but we also need to be wise about it and give generously in the places it will make the most impact. This is one tool that might help you along that path!