If you are a Christian I am guessing that you are embroiled in a battle with sin. You wake up as I do most mornings with that resolution that today will be better, today I won't lose it with the kids, today I won't think those unkind thoughts about the people in the shop, today will be better than yesterday.
That is a good thing, we do well to remember the words of John Owen that we should be sure to be putting sin to death or else it will be putting us to death. My question isn't are you fighting sin so much as why? Why are you bothering?
Its a question I have been thinking about for a little while now and a passage I read in a book today really struck a chord with me. The book is entitled "Your future self will thank you" by Drew Dyck.
Dyck draws inspiration from two classic tails, firstly Homer's Iliad where Odysseus embarks on a journey home form the Trojan war. One of the gravest dangers he will meet on his journey are the sirens who sing sweet songs enticing sailors closer to the shore only eventually leading to the death of the sailors.
He knows the risks so in order to counter this risk he decides to lash himself to the mast of the ship and instructs his crew that no matter how strong his pleading he is not to be loosed from the mast. To protect the crew Odysseus puts beeswax in their ears. Sure enough they sail past the sirens and their song draws Odysseus in and he pleads with the crew to untie him. Odysseus sees the danger coming and prepares.
The second story comes from the Argonautica, in which the Argonauts must sail past the same sirens faced with the same dangers but they choose to escape with a very different method. They sail past they hear the singing but instead of self restraint they opt for the approach of having Orpheus on board, a legendary poet and musician. As they sail past the sirens he brings out his lyre and plays a sweeter song to them and they are saved.
If I am honest my approach to fighting sin all too often falls into the first category, my approach to fighting sin falls into the if I do this thing then God might get me, if I do this then God will be displeased with me. And of course this is a fine strategy for fighting sin.
However how much better to have our ears filled with the sweeter song, when confronted with sin to think not if I do this God will punish me but rather to think this thing has no lasting value, I am loved by the God of heaven in his son Jesus Christ, I am an adopted child of heaven.
Next time the siren song of sin fills your ears fill them with the sweeter song of Christ.
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Monday, 3 September 2018
Five Reasons Church Plants should support Established Churches
This blog comes off the back of an excellent blog written by Ed Stetzer which can be found here. My point in writing this article is to no way detract from church planting, I have nothing but admiration and respect for my brothers in the Free Church who are planting churches across the nation of Scotland. They have faith and courage which I often find lacking in myself, my point in writing this is to merely highlight that what many perceive to be a one way street (established churches supporting church plants) should actually be a two way street of mutual support and encouragement.
So allow me to borrow from Mr Stetzer and highlight how his five points can be equally applied in both directions:
1. Established churches reach lost people.
As I look around my congregation on a Sunday morning and evening there are people that I know who are not Christians which is something I would say that would be common across most churches. Established churches can be more effective at reaching an older generation with the gospel because the established church comes with comfortable baggage and labels that many church plants are keen to avoid (on the balance of probability rightly so).
However it is a mistake to assume that only something new, something fresh will reach people with the gospel and will reach lost people with the gospel established churches are as capable of doing that as church plants.
2. Revitalising established churches follows a biblical pattern.
I will admit that I am perhaps on more of a loose footing with this point but it remains valid I think. As we consider the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, which I take to be written to a literal seven churches but with lessons that are applicable throughout the ages, what do we see?
We see churches that are in danger of falling away from their first love, we see churches that are in danger of having their lamp stand removed, in danger if you like of being de churched and the solution is never well just close the door.
The solution isn't shut down and start again the solution is to go back to our first love, the solution is to go back to doing the things that the Christians in these places did at first. If that was the solution that Jesus provided to the churches in Asia would it not seem wise to follow that solution today?
Often the solution today seems to be that we are happy to close this one place and plant somewhere else or else replant the church in the same location.
3. Church revitalisation is necessary for survival.
The figures quoted by Ed Stetzer in his article are that if a denomination wants to break even then churches have to be planted at a three per cent level. All well and good great if we are planting churches at a three per cent level.
Yet the question that leads to is what is the point of planting churches at a three per cent level if in the meantime we close churches at a five per cent level, if local churches which are struggling are closed to make way for new churches then we haven't actually gained any new churches at all, we could plant at a three or five per cent level and still end up worse off than when we started.
4. Church revitalisation benefits the planted church.
When the planted church is full of new Christians who have all been reached with the gospel what greater benefit could there be to that church than to go and help a church along the way which is struggling?
What a benefit to the church that is needing revitalised to have a group of people come from a church and sacrifice their comfort to help a body of believers better reach out to the community around them. Not by insisting that everything is done the way the church plant does it but by supporting the leadership of the local church through this change.
5. Church Revitalisation is necessary to reach Scotland.
Stetzer uses North America as his example but for me it has to be Scotland, the land of dying decaying churches, the land where church buildings have been turned into nightclubs, into Indian restraunts, into anything you can imagine really.
Imagine if instead of letting those churches wither on the vine we revitalised them, imagine if instead of being allowed to drift to 15, 10, 5 people we said lets work hard and makes these churches hubs of the community again.
Scotland will never be reached without planting more churches, we should give thanks to God for men like Tom Muir, Neil MacMillan, Ali Sewell, Jonathon DeGroot, Andy Robertson, Chris Davidson, Iain Macaskill and all of our other church planters who are stepping out in faith and planting churches throughout our land.
However lets also give thanks for men who are stepping out in faith and revitalising what was dying, seeking to fulfil the great commission in different ways. Church revitalisation and established churches are as nessecary to the churches mission, to reaching the land of Scotland as church plants are. Lets give thanks and celebrate both, lets work together not against one another to see in the grace of God what the LORDs plans are for Scotland.
So allow me to borrow from Mr Stetzer and highlight how his five points can be equally applied in both directions:
1. Established churches reach lost people.
As I look around my congregation on a Sunday morning and evening there are people that I know who are not Christians which is something I would say that would be common across most churches. Established churches can be more effective at reaching an older generation with the gospel because the established church comes with comfortable baggage and labels that many church plants are keen to avoid (on the balance of probability rightly so).
However it is a mistake to assume that only something new, something fresh will reach people with the gospel and will reach lost people with the gospel established churches are as capable of doing that as church plants.
2. Revitalising established churches follows a biblical pattern.
I will admit that I am perhaps on more of a loose footing with this point but it remains valid I think. As we consider the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, which I take to be written to a literal seven churches but with lessons that are applicable throughout the ages, what do we see?
We see churches that are in danger of falling away from their first love, we see churches that are in danger of having their lamp stand removed, in danger if you like of being de churched and the solution is never well just close the door.
The solution isn't shut down and start again the solution is to go back to our first love, the solution is to go back to doing the things that the Christians in these places did at first. If that was the solution that Jesus provided to the churches in Asia would it not seem wise to follow that solution today?
Often the solution today seems to be that we are happy to close this one place and plant somewhere else or else replant the church in the same location.
3. Church revitalisation is necessary for survival.
The figures quoted by Ed Stetzer in his article are that if a denomination wants to break even then churches have to be planted at a three per cent level. All well and good great if we are planting churches at a three per cent level.
Yet the question that leads to is what is the point of planting churches at a three per cent level if in the meantime we close churches at a five per cent level, if local churches which are struggling are closed to make way for new churches then we haven't actually gained any new churches at all, we could plant at a three or five per cent level and still end up worse off than when we started.
4. Church revitalisation benefits the planted church.
When the planted church is full of new Christians who have all been reached with the gospel what greater benefit could there be to that church than to go and help a church along the way which is struggling?
What a benefit to the church that is needing revitalised to have a group of people come from a church and sacrifice their comfort to help a body of believers better reach out to the community around them. Not by insisting that everything is done the way the church plant does it but by supporting the leadership of the local church through this change.
5. Church Revitalisation is necessary to reach Scotland.
Stetzer uses North America as his example but for me it has to be Scotland, the land of dying decaying churches, the land where church buildings have been turned into nightclubs, into Indian restraunts, into anything you can imagine really.
Imagine if instead of letting those churches wither on the vine we revitalised them, imagine if instead of being allowed to drift to 15, 10, 5 people we said lets work hard and makes these churches hubs of the community again.
Scotland will never be reached without planting more churches, we should give thanks to God for men like Tom Muir, Neil MacMillan, Ali Sewell, Jonathon DeGroot, Andy Robertson, Chris Davidson, Iain Macaskill and all of our other church planters who are stepping out in faith and planting churches throughout our land.
However lets also give thanks for men who are stepping out in faith and revitalising what was dying, seeking to fulfil the great commission in different ways. Church revitalisation and established churches are as nessecary to the churches mission, to reaching the land of Scotland as church plants are. Lets give thanks and celebrate both, lets work together not against one another to see in the grace of God what the LORDs plans are for Scotland.
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
The most foolish sage in Christendom
The following words form the Apostle Paul have been on my mind in recent times and they come from 1st Corinthians:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
There have been no shortage of people in recent days, highly intelligent people lining up to tell us what Jesus would say about this or that topic. Sadly however much of it disagrees with what Jesus himself tells us in the Bible.
The very danger is that we buy into the world's view of wisdom, the world lauds us for our intelligence, our understanding and our progressive outlook. When we are tempted by this it is good to come back to the words of Paul.
The message of the cross will never be acceptable to the intellectual elite, it is after all the message of murdered saviour, the wise things in the world have been shamed by the things that are not. This is not to say that Christianity is a religion that will not bear scrutiny and test. However it is not a religion that will be proved by our own understanding alone.
I am happy to be considered an intellectual Pygmy and to preach the message of the cross which I do because I know that in preaching that message truly I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
One Year On
Tomorrow marks the day when I will have been ordained into the position of minister of Dumfries Free Church of Scotland. I have had cause to reflect over the past weeks about the past year and some of the things that I have learned:
i) I am a great sinner who needs the grace of Jesus Christ every day. People assume that the ministers have it together and sometimes we do however most of the time we dont. Most of the time we are sinners who are doing their best to minister to other sinners. I still get it wrong I still have those wrong thoughts and still get angry and still...fill in every sin that is in your life because it probably is in mine as well.
This is designed to constantly throw me back on the grace of Jesus Christ because without him I can do nothing, without the working of the Holy Spirit we will achieve nothing. The day that I forget this the day when I think I have it all together is probably the day when it is time when I am in greatest danger.
ii) Not every sermon will change the world. If we are honest when we are at college we imagine preaching sermons that will change the world, that will draw thousands in, the sermons that in 50 years time people will still be listening to.
The reality is that few of us will ever reach those heights, few of us are called to exercise such an influential and far reaching ministry. However we are all called to be faithful in our station to preach to the best of our ability week by week and we leave the rest to the LORD.
iii) Not every sermon is useless, see above. The most discouraging thing in ministry is to think that the word is doing no work, that your sermons are nothing but 30 minute epilogs which have no effect. Yet in reality sometimes the word is working in people's lives in ways we cannot see or appreciate. People who are becoming slowly but surely changed from one degree of glory to the next.
iv) Ministry is hard work we are constantly giving of ourselves, giving of our time and our energy to serve the people of God and of course that is what we are called to do. However many people assume that what they see on Sunday is the result of five minutes work on Saturday night when the reality is that it is the result of study during the week coupled with concern for Mrs. Jones who is in hospital, Mr. Brown who has just been bereaved and a worry about so many things that happen in the church during the week.
I say this not to have some kind of pity party but until you have been there in the coal face of the ministry it is impossible to imagine the emotional burden and weight that your pastor carries round, the stress and anxiety that he is under.
v) Sunday night tea is a terrible idea...by Sunday night I am exhausted I have poured myself into preaching twice emotionally and physically I am drained, you get to the end of the service and people want to talk to you about their bunions. If I have seemed grumpy on a Sunday night this is why not because I dont care but because at that point I have no energy left.
Ministry is a great privilege, it is great to be allowed into people's lives to speak the word of God to them but what we remember above all is that we are all sinners saved by grace until Christ returns none of our churches will be perfect but until he does we strive to love one another better and to live lives worthy of the calling we have received.
i) I am a great sinner who needs the grace of Jesus Christ every day. People assume that the ministers have it together and sometimes we do however most of the time we dont. Most of the time we are sinners who are doing their best to minister to other sinners. I still get it wrong I still have those wrong thoughts and still get angry and still...fill in every sin that is in your life because it probably is in mine as well.
This is designed to constantly throw me back on the grace of Jesus Christ because without him I can do nothing, without the working of the Holy Spirit we will achieve nothing. The day that I forget this the day when I think I have it all together is probably the day when it is time when I am in greatest danger.
ii) Not every sermon will change the world. If we are honest when we are at college we imagine preaching sermons that will change the world, that will draw thousands in, the sermons that in 50 years time people will still be listening to.
The reality is that few of us will ever reach those heights, few of us are called to exercise such an influential and far reaching ministry. However we are all called to be faithful in our station to preach to the best of our ability week by week and we leave the rest to the LORD.
iii) Not every sermon is useless, see above. The most discouraging thing in ministry is to think that the word is doing no work, that your sermons are nothing but 30 minute epilogs which have no effect. Yet in reality sometimes the word is working in people's lives in ways we cannot see or appreciate. People who are becoming slowly but surely changed from one degree of glory to the next.
iv) Ministry is hard work we are constantly giving of ourselves, giving of our time and our energy to serve the people of God and of course that is what we are called to do. However many people assume that what they see on Sunday is the result of five minutes work on Saturday night when the reality is that it is the result of study during the week coupled with concern for Mrs. Jones who is in hospital, Mr. Brown who has just been bereaved and a worry about so many things that happen in the church during the week.
I say this not to have some kind of pity party but until you have been there in the coal face of the ministry it is impossible to imagine the emotional burden and weight that your pastor carries round, the stress and anxiety that he is under.
v) Sunday night tea is a terrible idea...by Sunday night I am exhausted I have poured myself into preaching twice emotionally and physically I am drained, you get to the end of the service and people want to talk to you about their bunions. If I have seemed grumpy on a Sunday night this is why not because I dont care but because at that point I have no energy left.
Ministry is a great privilege, it is great to be allowed into people's lives to speak the word of God to them but what we remember above all is that we are all sinners saved by grace until Christ returns none of our churches will be perfect but until he does we strive to love one another better and to live lives worthy of the calling we have received.
Monday, 18 June 2018
Everyday ethics: Exposing The Divide
At the gym this morning I was listening to a BBC Radio Ulster programme entitled "Everyday Ethics" a weekly programme discussing as it suggests the ethics of the modern day world. Last weeks edition focused largely on the decision of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to ban from membership all of those who did not have a credible profession of faith.
I have to say that I largely enjoyed the programme and the back and forth nature of the debate but it did expose some of the divisions that exist within the P.C.I and to be fair any broad church and that divide focuses on scripture and God's revelation of himself.
One of the contributors Rev. David Latimer made the following statement "that the great commandment of the Christian faith is that we love our neighbour as ourself." This is of course quoting the very words of Jesus himself I mean what could be wrong with that? Well that is the whole problem isn't it? The words of Jesus just quoted above are divorced from their original context.
A teacher of the law has just asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the law and Jesus answers you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Focusing on the second commandment that Jesus gives here removes the focus from the first our love for our neighbour is an expression of our love for God. By nature we are creatures who seek our own good we are selfish the only way this can be changed is when we love God who reached out to us in His son Jesus Christ.
Rev. Latimer also makes the astonishing claim that the bible did not know anything about homosexuality which is just a staggering claim. The law makes clear that the bible knows about homosexuality:
Leviticus 18:22 states "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination." Now there are several things to say about this firstly this command comes amidst a long list of sexual sins all of which are condemned. Sometimes as evangelicals we can be focused on same sex marriage and ignore perhaps our own sexual sin or the sexual sin of others.
It should also be stated that this is an Old Testament text and some will say that the New Testament has nothing to say about same sex relationships yet again that is just basically not true. We see Paul is Romans 1:27-27:
"For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their woman exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."
Whatever we want to say about this we can say that basically same sex attraction is condemned here it is a symbol of God's judgement, it is a symbol of God giving them over to their passions, it is a symbol of God's judgement on their suppression of truth.
Again we quote Paul in 1st Corinthians 6:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
What does Paul say here? That some in the immoral city of Corinth were men who practiced homosexuality and yet they were washed, they were cleansed in Jesus Christ. Notice Paul doesn't say to them keep on doing what you are doing, keep on living in this sinful lifestyle. Rather he says no now that you have been washed and cleansed now you must live a different life.
Whatever we say it is simply erroneous to say that the bible doesn't mention homosexuality both the New Testament and the Old Testament are clear that homosexuality is something that God condemns. Which brings us to the central problem here.
Is the Bible the word of God or not? Is the Bible the revelation of God or not? If it is then we are bound to live by it however society says the church should respond. If it is then it doesn't really matter what we think it matters what God thinks. If the bible isn't the word of God then we can live any way we want.
However if the bible isn't the word of God then we have no hope of right relationship with God, the bible stands or falls as a whole we cannot say that we want the bits of the bible that talk about Jesus and talk about love of God but not the bits that call us to to repentance.
Friday, 15 June 2018
Book Review: A Preachers Catechism
I am grateful to netgalley.com and Crossway for an advance review copy of this book. This is a great little book covering some 200 odd pages and sets out for preachers the questions which they ought to be asking themselves week by week as they preach.
This book follows the traditional style of catechism with a question and answer. The questions themselves are largely taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the answers and sometimes the questions slightly altered to reflect that this book is primarily written for preachers.
There are 43 questions in the book split into four sections and each chapter would take maybe five minutes to read but those five minutes do pack quite a punch. I have been preaching now for around 10 years and each of the questions spoke to me and challenged me. Who am I preaching for? Who do I want people to see? Me or God? Do I sometimes use the pulpit? Do I sometimes abuse the pulpit?
The most helpful thing in all of this book was for me the emphasis first and foremost the preacher himself must know God and must remember that he is loved by God regardless of the sermon that he has just preached. He must remember that the sermons he preaches however good or bad make him no less or no more loved in the eyes of God than if he weren't a preacher at all.
One slight issue I did have with the book came towards the end of the book when the author talked about the supper and how often we come to the LORD's table at the end of the service when people are full of the word. Whilst I can see the point that he is making my understanding would be that we come to the sacrament through the word, the sacrament without the word has no meaning and would just be an empty symbol. That however is nit picking in an otherwise excellent book.
Who would benefit from reading this book? Young ministers who are perhaps setting out on the journey to give them a realistic expectation of what ministry will be like. Slightly older ministers who have been preaching for a while and are perhaps becoming weighed down by the day to day of sermon prep. Even ordinary church members in the pew week by week will get something out of reading this book.
Whilst I read this book over one or two sittings I think the book would be better enjoyed perhaps once a week with time to mull over and think about the things the author says.
This book follows the traditional style of catechism with a question and answer. The questions themselves are largely taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the answers and sometimes the questions slightly altered to reflect that this book is primarily written for preachers.
There are 43 questions in the book split into four sections and each chapter would take maybe five minutes to read but those five minutes do pack quite a punch. I have been preaching now for around 10 years and each of the questions spoke to me and challenged me. Who am I preaching for? Who do I want people to see? Me or God? Do I sometimes use the pulpit? Do I sometimes abuse the pulpit?
The most helpful thing in all of this book was for me the emphasis first and foremost the preacher himself must know God and must remember that he is loved by God regardless of the sermon that he has just preached. He must remember that the sermons he preaches however good or bad make him no less or no more loved in the eyes of God than if he weren't a preacher at all.
One slight issue I did have with the book came towards the end of the book when the author talked about the supper and how often we come to the LORD's table at the end of the service when people are full of the word. Whilst I can see the point that he is making my understanding would be that we come to the sacrament through the word, the sacrament without the word has no meaning and would just be an empty symbol. That however is nit picking in an otherwise excellent book.
Who would benefit from reading this book? Young ministers who are perhaps setting out on the journey to give them a realistic expectation of what ministry will be like. Slightly older ministers who have been preaching for a while and are perhaps becoming weighed down by the day to day of sermon prep. Even ordinary church members in the pew week by week will get something out of reading this book.
Whilst I read this book over one or two sittings I think the book would be better enjoyed perhaps once a week with time to mull over and think about the things the author says.
Tuesday, 5 June 2018
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
So said Mark Twain allegedly quoting Benjamin Disraeli of the three kinds of lies there are, or perhaps if you are less well educated you may prefer the Simpsons version that you can make statistics say anything you want...83% of people know that.
Sunday 13th May was the annual day of Free Church congregational statistics collection and on the surface of it our results look quite encouraging. Our biggest age profile of members is under 35 which given the bigger picture of ageing congregations is quite remarkable. When we consider where the congregation was a few years ago this is all the more remarkable.
How can we explain this rise? What things have we done differently in the past while that we haven't done before? Quite simply nothing we have preached the word, tried to get to know people in the community and share Jesus as best we can.
At the deacons court meeting last night we read this passage and it was such an encouragement to us:
"Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:8 ESV) Truly as we look back over the past year we can say the LORD is our help and he has richly provided for us as a congregation.
We have had seven baptisms in the past year which has been another tremendous blessing to us as a congregation and we value each of the six children baptised and the one adult. Whilst this has been a great blessing it does present some challenges as household which were formerly D.I.N.K.Y.'s (double income no kids yet) have been reduced to one salary and therefore understandably their ability to contribute to the church has gone down. As a congregation we face significant financial pressures in the year ahead.
Our next biggest age category is the over 70' of whom we have 8 it is great to have these faithful saints with us but again looking forward this reliance on older believers is not sustainable. The category of member we are missing are those from 35-60 who perhaps are empty Nester, who have more disposable time and income they could share with us.
On the surface of things our statistics are not impressive, we are a small fellowship in a small denomination but given where we were truly we can say the LORD has been good to us. But are we happy to rest on our laurels? I hope not we haven't begun to scratch the surface yet we are 30/40 people in a town of 30,000 we live in the council area with the joint lowest church attendance in Scotland. So quite simply we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, quite simply we need to keep multiplying and making more disciples.
That is where you come in...how can you help us? 3 ways:
i) Pray intercede on our behalf before the God of the universe the God to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. Ask that resources would be found, ask for blessing our work and witness within the town itself. You may not be able to give you may not be able to go but you can certainly pray.
ii) Give as was mentioned our congregational income v expenditure remains a challenge however given the age profile of our congregation I think there is reason to be hopeful for the future. If you feel led then you can give money to our Stewardship account which would be a tremendous encouragement to us.
iii) Come I know its a big ask to move to a new town but don't underestimate the encouragement that one family could be to the congregation, don't underestimate the difference that one or two people in the age category we are missing could make to the life and witness of the congregation. The gospel as we are told in Acts turns the world upside down and our desire is to see Dumfries turned upside down with the gospel, could you consider serving by moving here? By coming and sharing what God is doing with us.
If you would like any more information please don't hesitate to contact me on trevordkane@gmail.com .
Sunday 13th May was the annual day of Free Church congregational statistics collection and on the surface of it our results look quite encouraging. Our biggest age profile of members is under 35 which given the bigger picture of ageing congregations is quite remarkable. When we consider where the congregation was a few years ago this is all the more remarkable.
How can we explain this rise? What things have we done differently in the past while that we haven't done before? Quite simply nothing we have preached the word, tried to get to know people in the community and share Jesus as best we can.
At the deacons court meeting last night we read this passage and it was such an encouragement to us:
"Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:8 ESV) Truly as we look back over the past year we can say the LORD is our help and he has richly provided for us as a congregation.
We have had seven baptisms in the past year which has been another tremendous blessing to us as a congregation and we value each of the six children baptised and the one adult. Whilst this has been a great blessing it does present some challenges as household which were formerly D.I.N.K.Y.'s (double income no kids yet) have been reduced to one salary and therefore understandably their ability to contribute to the church has gone down. As a congregation we face significant financial pressures in the year ahead.
Our next biggest age category is the over 70' of whom we have 8 it is great to have these faithful saints with us but again looking forward this reliance on older believers is not sustainable. The category of member we are missing are those from 35-60 who perhaps are empty Nester, who have more disposable time and income they could share with us.
On the surface of things our statistics are not impressive, we are a small fellowship in a small denomination but given where we were truly we can say the LORD has been good to us. But are we happy to rest on our laurels? I hope not we haven't begun to scratch the surface yet we are 30/40 people in a town of 30,000 we live in the council area with the joint lowest church attendance in Scotland. So quite simply we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, quite simply we need to keep multiplying and making more disciples.
That is where you come in...how can you help us? 3 ways:
i) Pray intercede on our behalf before the God of the universe the God to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. Ask that resources would be found, ask for blessing our work and witness within the town itself. You may not be able to give you may not be able to go but you can certainly pray.
ii) Give as was mentioned our congregational income v expenditure remains a challenge however given the age profile of our congregation I think there is reason to be hopeful for the future. If you feel led then you can give money to our Stewardship account which would be a tremendous encouragement to us.
iii) Come I know its a big ask to move to a new town but don't underestimate the encouragement that one family could be to the congregation, don't underestimate the difference that one or two people in the age category we are missing could make to the life and witness of the congregation. The gospel as we are told in Acts turns the world upside down and our desire is to see Dumfries turned upside down with the gospel, could you consider serving by moving here? By coming and sharing what God is doing with us.
If you would like any more information please don't hesitate to contact me on trevordkane@gmail.com .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)