The Presbyter's Page
Electronic Edition – June 2002
Original articles published March 1996
Section 12 - LA
District UPCI
Donald Bryan - Presbyter
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Sermon Thought: The
Breakpoint of a "Suddenly"
Sermon Thought:
The
Breakpoint of a “Suddenly”
Acts 16:26
"And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately
all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." -- Acts16:26
(KJV)
“Suddenly’s” are always disruptive and never come neatly packaged. But, why does God wait and wait and then “suddenly” move? Throughout the course of time come moments when God reveals His power (Psalms 110:3) and when He hides His power (Hab. 3:4). All these moments serve to establish the community of the faith. These anchor the people of God to a stable and bedrock assurance of a God who reveals Himself to His own.
The challenge for the child of God is to resist the temptation to reduce God to a form of rigidity that denies the very freedom of His own Being. If everything were fixed, Abraham would not have needed to walk by faith. This God of glory who revealed Himself to Abram did not reveal all of Himself. God leaves enough mystery to be intrusive, disruptive and surprising. Why? By this, He shatters our tendencies to predictability. God is not a genie in a bottle. He wants us to walk by faith.
In the seasons of God there come many “suddenly’s.” As Malachi 3:1 says theses “suddenly’s” can’t be predicted, but can be anticipated. Whether it is the “suddenly” of Gabriel visiting Zacharis, the “suddenly” of the heavenly host appearing to shepherds; the “suddenly” of the mighty rushing wind in Acts 2; or the “suddenly” of a bright light on the Damascus road, all of these disrupt the normal prevailing arrangements.
For Elizabeth, the power of barrenness was broken by a sudden act of God. Years of forgotten prayers returned from heaven with a sudden surprise, reversing a seemingly final issue. The “suddenly” of Acts 2 changed the Levitical priesthood and the rules.
How do you encourage a “suddenly?” Although we may not know how the time of a “suddenly,” there are some things that can help facilitate them. First, for a “suddenly” to shake us, it must first agitate our internal world. Our expectations should be consistent with God’s intentions. We must become sensitive to the fact that there are new ways that God can move. And as happened to Paul in dark night, new visions came into the night.
If we are to be prepared for a genuine “suddenly,” we must be willing to see Him in ways we are not used to seeing Him. It is absolutely essential that we have in us the willingness to be brought to a new place of discernment relative to the ways of the Lord.
And when Paul and Silas were in a place of defeat in Acts 16, rather than surrendering, they precipitated a breakpoint! They sang and celebrated! Then “suddenly,” when God moved at a breakpoint it is too late for the powers of darkness. For the Lord whom you seek has come suddenly. Look for Him! He still moves!
When Brethren Disagree
How do you handle disagreements among brethren? The following article appeared in Brother T.F. Tenney’s book, “Advice to Pastors and Other Saints.” It gives excellent advice concerning how to get along.
1. Keep the disagreement in perspective. Don’t reject the person because he or she has a different opinion. A variety of opinions are the spices of life.
2. Do not transfer the disagreement to other areas. Do not generalize. A two-color piece of literature is more attractive to the world, not when we are monotonously uniform, but when we function as the body of Christ, where one is the eye, another the hand and another the foot. The world will be impressed by our agreement to cooperate and compliment each other, not by all of us being the same, acting the same, or even speaking the same.
3. Do not question the motives of the person with whom you disagree. If you assume the right of questioning another’s motive, remember you must permit him or her the same privilege.
4. Do not assume that personal differences are sinful. They are usually due to different cultural, intellectual, and doctrinal positions. Remember this, a person does not necessarily have to be in fellowship with you to be in fellowship with Christ. Some people do not think it’s smoke unless it comes out of their stack.
5. Remember that compromise is not sinful as long as it does not involve moral or basic doctrines. The hand does not sin in compromising because it accepts the guidance of the eye. They just agree… compromise… their function.
6. Don’t hesitate to say, “You may be right and I may be wrong. I must do what I consider to be right, but I’ll respect you for doing what you believe to be right.”
7. Don’t think disagreement is something new among Christians and especially Christian workers. Read Acts 15:39.
·
If you think your people are negative, then you better check your
attitude.
·
The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract.
·
If you think the people you attract could be better, then it’s time for
you to improve yourself.
·
People cannot give to others what they themselves do not possess. Followers simply cannot develop leaders.
There are a number of reasons why a church may decline and confront the prospect of ministry death. Some of the causes are outside the congregation’s control. Others are a direct result of what the people are doing (or not doing) within the church.
Listed are reasons why churches close. The wise leader will recognize where his
congregation is and prevent the loss of a church.
1.
Loss of population base within the community. A
significant factor confronting many churches located in isolated rural areas is
the decline within the community at large.
As the children become adults, there are not enough economic bases to
support them. As the population of the community
decreases so do the opportunities for the church outreach and growth. New people, having no ties to the community,
may travel to a larger metropolitan area to attend a church that has multiple
programs.
2.
Demographic change within a community. Demographic changes alter the cultural setting of the community.
Churches that do not adapt to these changes can find it difficult to minister
to the new cultural setting. Because
small churches tend to be homogeneous, they are often the last to change when
transitions occur in the demographic setting.
Unwilling to change, they soon become isolated from the mainstream of
the community.
3.
Changes in society. There are several changes
within society that have significantly impacted the small church and
contributed to the decline of some congregations. In the past, the church was a social center of not only the
people who attended, but also the whole community. People came to church to see their neighbors and friends. No longer is the church this social center;
instead people have multiple social centers, which draw them away from the
church. Consequently the church no
longer has the influence within the community it once had. The downside of this is that people no
longer attend church for social interaction, making it more difficult to
attract new people. Another factor has
been the mobility of people.
People will drive past many churches to attend the church of their
choice. No longer is there the true “community
church” where everyone in the community attends because it is the only church
available. Now, because distance is no
longer an issue, people have multiple choices of which church to attend. A third change in society is consumerism. Previously people attended a church because
of their loyalty to the congregation and community. Even if the church was not “ministering to their needs” they
remained because of their sense of duty.
Now people hop from church to church depending on their particular needs
and availability of programs within the church to minister to those needs.
4.
Conflicts within the church. Because of its smallness,
internal problems not only have a greater impact, but they are more
visible. When one family becomes upset
over the actions of another within the church, it influences the whole
congregation. If one family chooses to
leave, it often results in several families leaving. Since the church is small, the loss is felt by all. Within a small community, the image of the
church becomes marred in the whole area.
Even if the conflict happened years ago, people will still perceive the
church to be a “fighting” congregation.
5.
Turnover of leadership or poor leadership. Two
types of pastoral changes can decimate the congregation. The first occurs when a pastor resigns too
soon. A critical question pastors must
ask before leaving is, “What effect will my leaving have upon the congregation,
especially the people who started attending after I arrived?” Secondly, since everything rises or falls
upon leadership, sometimes a church declines simply because of poor leadership
on the pastor’s part. He is simply not
a leader and because of his actions, directions, etc., he causes people to
leave until the church attendance reaches a point where it can no longer
survive.
6.
Loss of evangelistic vision. A church can become ingrown
to the point where it no longer strives to reach others and resists new people
wo attend. While they may welcome their
attendance, it is made clear that the new attendees cannot hold any office and
their new ideas are not welcome. They
have lost their love of Christ that compels them to reach the lost. They uphold the traditional doctrines of the
church and maintain active ministries, but their passion for the cause of
Christ has been diluted. They are more
concerned about maintaining past traditions and organizational structures than
they are about reaching the lost with the gospel of Christ.
7.
Unchecked sinful behavior. Scripture indicates that
deliberate rebellion and disobedience within the community of God’s people can
significantly affect the overall well-being and effectiveness of the group (see
Joshua 7). In the book of Revelation,
God warns the church that unchecked sin can cause the removal of God’s work
within the congregation.
8.
Cumbersome organizational structure.
When
a church has declined, especially from a middle-sized church to a smaller
church, the failure to change the organizational structure can further hamper
the effectiveness of the ministry. When
it tries to maintain all its programs and organizational structure from “its
glory years” instead of adapting to the present congregation, it can overload
people with the task of maintaining the structure instead of freeing them to
reach out to win their neighbors and friends.
While there is no set method for determining the right structure for any
size church, a rule of thumb should be that the congregation should have the
simplest organizational structure necessary.
9.
Low morale. The attitude people have
regarding the church significantly impacts the ability of the church to attract
and keep new people. When the
congregation becomes discouraged, they stop inviting people and they are less enthusiastic
about programs and ministries. The
tragedy of discouragement is that it breeds discouragement. As a small church loses members, the morale
becomes weakened which causes more people to leave and less new people to
attend. Thus the cycle continues until
the church closes its doors.
10.
Never established a large enough base of members. Some churches close, because despite the efforts of
the pastor, the church never achieved a large enough size to survive. All the burdens of operating a church
continually fell upon a small group who simply could no longer bear the burden. These burdens might include the cost of
operating a church, continual ministry load upon the same people, or never being
able to own a building.
While there can be a number of reasons why a church begins to decline,
it is important for the leadership to determine the factors which have
contributed to the decline so that they can make the necessary action to
rejuvenate the congregation.
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