The long-term pastor

 One of the best statements about pastoral ministry I've heard or read came from H. B. London, Jr. He wrote that if you are serving in a good, strong church it's because someone stayed there and made the church that way. If you are serving in a church that is not so good or strong, perhaps God is calling you "for such a time as this." He has you there that you might build it into a better church. I believe there is much wisdom in those words.

I served my first church for 20 years before accepting a call to our Region staff. Before I went to the church, the average pastoral tenure over several years was 12 months. That was the average! The church was not healthy when I went there. I was told later than the church had considered closing but decided to try one more pastor. Perhaps if I had known that before I went I would have reconsidered going there, but I'm glad I didn't because those 20 years were some of the best years of my life.

Virtually every study done on strong churches find that they have had long-term pastoral leadership. The pastor had planted roots in the church and community. People came to trust his leadership. He or she had built relationships with members of the congregation. The pastor and congregation truly loved one another, shared a common vision and worked together to fulfill that vision.

This does not happen in churches with revolving-door pastorates. When a church has pastors who leave every 2-3 years they begin to wonder what's wrong with them. A low self-esteem can begin which limits what the church believes it can do. It doesn't take long before a new pastor picks up on that belief causing him or her to begin searching for another church. Nothing changes until a pastor decides to stay and move the church out of the negative rut they are in. It will be a slow process, and many pastors will decide it's not worth the trouble. But, those who stay and begin to rebuild the church will find that all the trouble and pain was well worth it.

Some pastors will retire after a 40 year ministry, but when they look back they will find they didn't have a 40 year ministry; they had 10 four year ministries and never really accomplished very much. How much better it might be if they had invested those 40 years in just one or two churches. 

Easter Sunday

 I want to invite everyone who does not have a church home to join us at North Madison Baptist Church, 1906 Orchard Street, Madison, IN for our Easter service. Our worship service begins at 10:30. The Bible is clear that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith. It is no surprise that Satan has done everything possible to cause people to doubt that Jesus rose from the grave. In my message I will prove why it is reasonable to believe in His resurrection and why it matters. We would love to see you.

Dealing with unrealistic expectations in ministry

 The first of the Four Spiritual Laws reads that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." Someone has changed that to read, "God loves you and everybody has a wonderful plan for your life." This is especially true for those us serving in ministry. Your church may have a job description for the pastor, but if you are serving in a church of 100 people there are 100 different job descriptions you are expected to meet. We seldom get into trouble for not meeting the official job description, but many pastors have got into trouble by not meeting the other 100.

In yesterday's post I addressed the need for pastors to find balance in their ministries and their personal lives. But, how does one do that with so many expectations that people have for their pastor? When some of these expectations are unrealistic it makes it even more difficult.

As a young pastor I struggled to tell anyone no. That got me in a lot of trouble. I was soon like a stray dog at a whistler's convention. I didn't know where to go or what to do next. Eventually, I became better at telling people no. I couldn't attend every event people wanted me to attend. I couldn't make every visit someone thought I should make. Some requests made no sense. Our small, rural church had a Sunday morning and evening service. About 55 attended the morning service, around 12-15 came on Sunday night. A lady asked about starting a Wednesday night service, and I told her we would not do that until the evening service attendance matched the morning attendance. She responded that we would probably never have a Wednesday night service, and I told her she was probably right.

Some readers might think that serving a church of 55 people shouldn't have been that much of a deal, but at the time I was bivocational working full-time in a factory and working on my college degree. It was a big deal if I wanted to maintain any sense of balance in my life.

Where do these unofficial job descriptions come from? Somewhere in these person's lives a minister met those expectations, and it was assumed that all ministers would in the future. Dr. Phil says that we teach people how to treat us. I believe it's true. When we agree to something that is outside the boundaries of what we should be doing we are creating expectations, not only for our future but also for the future pastors who will serve there. 

Every pastor will have people come with ideas for new ministries. They usually want the pastor to lead these ministries. What many pastors now do is to affirm the idea and suggest that since God has given them the idea for this ministry they are the best person to lead it. Our role is to equip and resource you (Eph. 4). Then ask, how can I help you get this started. You will often find that these folks will really run with this, and your church will have a new ministry that is being led by someone else.

Our challenge in many traditional churches is that the members were brought up at a time when the pastor did lead everything in the church. We have to begin to correct this wrong concept of ministry. Our role is to equip and resource, not lead everything. Our members will never become disciples if they are only expected to sit and give. We have to teach them that God has called them to do ministry, and our role is to help them in that endeavor. If we do this well, we will change the expectations that people have for the pastor and help prepare the church for a more healthy future.

Balancing the work of ministry

I sometimes like to tell people that pastors are invisible six days a week and incomprehensible on the seventh. It usually gets a laugh, but it does point out something very real about pastoral ministry. Many people do not know what we do, and this makes it very easy for a pastor to fall into two errors.

One is pastors can become rather lazy. As a resource minister with our judicatory I once had a pastor who played golf 4-5 days a week. He couldn't understand why people in the church had a problem with that. I finally told him one day that he needed to decide if God had called him into ministry or if he should get his PGA pro card. He left that church in less than a year and took a position as an associate pastor in another church. At a seminar one day his senior pastor confided to me that he could not get that young man to do anything without being told. I told him his associate was like an old Harley-Davidson. You had to kick start him to get him going.

This young man is an extreme example, but it is easy to let pastoral duties slide. Most of the time people do not know where you are or what you are doing. They assume you are ministering somewhere to someone, but nobody really knows. This can be true for those of us who have been in ministry for some time. The old sermon barrel can look pretty comforting even though those old sermons may not really be applicable today for your church. Some of those old messages can be repeated, and some of them probably shouldn't have been preached in the first place, but using them saves a lot of time in preparing a new message.

The other extreme are those pastors who work too much. A fully-funded pastor can easily work 50-60 hours a week, and some work more than that. Once you exceed that 50 hour mark you are probably sacrificing time that should be spent elsewhere...like maybe with your family. I realize that some weeks may require more hours than that. There are unexpected events such as hospitalizations and funerals that can take more time in a given week, but when pastors regularly schedule too many hours on their calendar, there is a problem.

When I served as a pastor I scheduled family time on my calendar. A date night with my wife was a weekly occurrence, and it was written on my calendar. If someone wanted me to do something during that time I told them I already had an appointment for then. There was never a problem. If a true emergency came up, then we would reschedule the date, but this seldom happened. I had set times for reading and sermon preparation, and I tried to protect those times from those who just wanted to see the pastor for a few minutes. (Have you ever noticed that people who have nothing to do want to do it with you?)

Every pastor needs to find a balance in his or her ministry. We have been called by God to an exciting, fulfilling task, but it is not a task that should consume our every waking minute. Even Jesus took time to go off by Himself and rest and pray. Many pastors could have avoided burnout if they had just created more balance in their lives and ministries.

Leading change in a small church

I told our congregation recently that no one likes change except a wet baby. They all laughed because it's a funny line and because it's true. Congregations do not like change, and neither does the pastor for that matter. Change is often hard and always challenging. It's easier to keep doing what makes everyone comfortable, but this seldom leads to growth. People do not grow by doing what they've always done and neither do churches. When pastors serve a church that is change-resistant or has not experienced any change in a long time, what is the best way to proceed?  S-l-o-w-l-y.

This a challenge for me. Patience is not one of my spiritual gifts, but I have learned that anything important that needs to change in a church will take much longer than I think it should. Some pastors get too far ahead of their congregations which can lead to an early exit.

One important thing to remember when leading change is to start small and let the church get some wins under their belt. When that small change is accomplished, celebrate before moving on to the next challenge.

In my first church we needed to do something that would cost the church about $1,600.00. The church did not have that much money so we began raising the funds for the project. It took us a year to raise $1,600.00, but we were able to do the project. The congregation felt good about their success so we were ready to move on to the next project that needed done. Guess what, that one would also cost &1,600.00. We were able to raise it in about 9 months. Now we had two small victories that we could build on which we did. More changes were introduced into the church, most of which were successful leading to a more positive image the church had of itself.

Notice I said most changes were successful. Some of the ones we attempted failed, but because we had more victories than losses, those losses did not have a negative impact on the church. We were able to look at it as an effort to change something that didn't work without feeling defeated.

The second thing to remember when introducing change is to create a sense of urgency. Failing to create a sense of urgency is one of the major reasons most change efforts fail. There must be a reason for the change, and the more urgent the reason the more likely the church will support it. If there is no urgency, it becomes easier to put it on the back burner for another time.

Change does not have to have an negative impact on a church. When properly presented pastors often find their people are not as change-resistant as they might have thought.

 

The permission giving church

For too long there has been a disconnect in many churches regarding ministry. It has long been thought that the ordained minister in the church is the minister. Every ministry was done by the trained professional while the congregation watched, took notes and made sure the minister knew when he or she had failed. However, that is not the biblical understanding of ministry. Ephesians 4 makes it clear that the congregation is called to do ministry, and the ministerial staff's role is to equip them to do ministry. For this to occur, the congregation must be given permission to do ministry.

Here is how this would work in the ideal church. A member of the church would feel that a specific ministry was needed. Perhaps it would be a ministry to unwed mothers, or single mothers or to those caught up in addictions. In a permission giving church, this member would discuss this with the pastor or staff who would then help that member begin such a ministry. Maybe this specific ministry has never been done in the church before, but that doesn't matter. If the person presenting the ministry has the spiritual gifts and the passion for the ministry, then he or she must be given permission to begin that ministry. The pastor's role then, according to Eph. 4, is to equip and resource this individual.

Think of the impact this mindset could have on the church. New ministries could begin in the church that are lay-led by people who feel a passion for the ministry. How might this impact the growth of the church? More importantly, how might this impact the growth of the Kingdom of God?

One of our responsibilities as pastors is to help people identify their spiritual giftedness. Many believers cannot tell you how God has gifted them for ministry. There are many resources that can be used to help them identify their gifts. Once those gifts have been identified, the next question has to do with their passions. What would they like to do in ministry? What gets them excited? When the giftedness and passion match needs in the community, they can be encouraged to begin their ministries.

Some pastors will feel threatened by this. Having been trained in seminary that they are the minister, some pastors will not want to give up ministry to untrained lay-people. Perhaps they will make mistakes. So what? I don't know any pastor who has done everything perfectly in his or her ministry, so why not give permission to our laypeople to make mistakes as well. My guess is that they will make fewer mistakes if we are faithful in our equipping roles.

I encourage every pastor reading this post to begin challenging your people to pray about how they can best serve God. I like to remind people that their baptism was their ordination to ministry. Let's quit simply asking people to serve on various committees in the church and begin asking them to consider how God has gifted them for ministry and what they feel passionate about. Let's encourage them to work in those areas of giftedness and passion. 

The pastor's family

When I began my pastoral ministry in 1981 I met with an older pastor in our association. He was telling me about some of his experiences in ministry. One that he struggled with was his relationship with his family. He said his children seldom came to see him because he had ignored them so much while doing ministry. He further admitted that his wife nearly had a nervous breakdown, and he wasn't even aware of it until later. His pastoral work took precedence over his family.

Sometime later I was sitting before an ordination council. This pastor was on that council. A question was asked about my ministry/family priorities, and I explained that my family would come first. He challenged that comment which was confusing to me. He had admitted several months earlier the decisions he had made concerning his family and the negative impact they had on his relationship with his family, and now he is suggesting I should make the same decisions!

Years ago pastors were often told by denominational leaders and others to focus on your ministry, and God would take care of your family. IMHO, that is one of the dumbest things I ever heard. Scripture is clear that if one does not provide for his family he is worse than an infidel. Nothing in that passage says anything about pastors being excluded.

Your church has probably had many pastors before you, and if the Lord tarries, it will likely have many pastors after you. But, you are the only husband or wife your spouse has. You are the only father or mother your children have. You have an obligation before God to meet the needs of your family. One statement I have often made to pastor groups and to churches is that I will not sacrifice my family on the altar of ministerial success.

Part of this is that I have never placed expectations on members of my family because I was a minister. When my kids were growing up I told them that they did not have behave a certain way because I was a pastor; they should do the right thing because it was the right thing. When one church commented that my wife would be the head of the church's mission circle, I told them she would not. My wife prefers to not be in leadership roles, and part of my responsibility is to protect her from the expectations of others. She is free to serve, or not to serve, in any area of church life she wants.

Churches can place unrealistic expectations on the families of their pastors. We cannot allow that to happen. When beginning a new ministry, the minister needs to make it very clear to the church the roles his or her family will play in the church. 

Contrasting worship

 Back in the mid-1980s I went to Haiti for a mission work trip with a group from our Region. The first several days we worked to rebuild a youth center that had been burned. For a couple of days we toured some of the mission efforts our denomination supported: a hospital, a seminary, an agricultural center and others. Each of them had an impact on me and others in our group. But, for me, the greatest impact came from two worship services I attended.

The first was a 7:00 AM service held in Creole in one of the churches we sponsor. When we arrived, the building was already full. They were in the process of building on to the back of the building and only had the rafters and roof over that area. People were sitting in the rafters! People were seated on the platform around the pulpit, not in chairs but on the floor. People were moved from the front pew so their mission guests would have a place to sit. The singing was lively. When the offering was received, those who were tithing were asked to come forward and place their tithes in the baskets. (Try that in your church!) When they finished, the ushers were around to receive the financial gifts from others. The service last about 1 1/2 hours. As we were leaving, people for the 10:00 service were already arriving, many carrying chairs from home to ensure they would have a seat.

The second service I attended was that evening at the missionary compound. It was done in English and was similar in many ways to what I was used to. What struck me was the prayer right before the message. The person prayed for the church in America. He prayed that the church's eyes would be opened, that people would be moved from their apathy, that the churches would have a burden for those who were lost and hurting. As he prayed, I was deeply ashamed. These men and women had sacrificed so much to fulfill the work to which God has called them. They were doing incredible things with very limited resources while our churches were doing very little with abundant resources. 

It is my understanding that due to the current political climate in Haiti our missionaries have relocated to the Dominican Republic and working with Haitian refugees who have fled there to escape the turmoil in their country. They continue to work long, difficult hours with still limited resources. I ask you to pray for them, and for all missionaries around the world.

I also want to ask you to consider what your church is doing to address the spiritual emptiness felt in many lives in your community. If your congregation committed to seeking and saving those who are lost? Is it externally focused or internally focused? Do you do ministry from a mindset of abundance or from a scarcity mindset? I have worked with hundreds of churches over the years, and I've heard all the excuses why they can't do more. Reflecting back this evening on my time in Haiti I'm reminded once again that they are just that, excuses. Unfortunately, I have to confess that I've made the same excuses in the past.

Scripture tells us that God gives seed to the sower. He does not give seed to the hoarder. If we are on mission with Him, He will give us all we need to accomplish the work we've been given to do. When we are on mission with Him, then we will be free to worship in spirit and in truth as I experienced in Haiti.

The mission field around your church

 Approximately 100 churches in North America close their doors each week. Many of these are smaller churches. For years, they have watched their congregations grow smaller and grayer. Income dropped as the attendance decreased. It became increasingly more difficult to find pastoral leadership. Often, savings accumulated over the years was depleted in an effort to keep the doors open as long as possible. Eventually, the lights were turned off for the last time.

The question that must be asked is: why? Why did the church have to close? One report I've read is that a minimum of 50 percent of the people in every county in the United States is unchurched, and in some counties it can be as high as 90 percent. We now know that the United States is the largest English-speaking mission field in the world surpassed only by India and China. Churches do not close due to a lack of work that needs to be done; they close because they have lost their vision for ministry.

When a church's primary focus is on survival and not mission it is well on the road towards closing. God never intended His church to be concerned about surviving. The church is called to mission, and if a church has no mission beyond survival it has ceased being a church. It may be an organization that meets weekly to sing songs, pray and hear a message, but it is no longer a church.

Many struggling churches may not have to go more than a mile from their building to find enough unchurched people to double their membership. The problem is that they do not know the people who live within a mile of the church. The larger problem is that those people do not know that church exists.

Back when I first began serving as a regional minister I was scheduled to meet a pastor search team from one of our churches. The small church was located in a rural area. Other than an initial sign on the highway, there were no signs directing anyone to the church. This was before GPS devices were common. I was hopelessly lost and even stopped at two houses to ask if they could direct me to the church. Neither family was familiar with the church. It was now dark, and I was already a half-hour late for the meeting. I decided to turn around the first place I found and try to find my way back home. The place I found to turn around in was the church parking lot. That church was no more than a mile from either of the houses I had stopped for directions!

Your church is in the midst of a growing mission field, but those individuals are not going to come to you. For too long, we've unlocked the doors of our church buildings on Sunday morning and said, "Y'all come." Nobody came. The Great Commission tells the church that we are to GO into the world and tell people about Jesus. In order to do that, we've got to connect with our mission field, build relationships with them, and earn the right to tell them about our Lord.

How can you best do that in 2024? I encourage you to discuss that in your next leadership meetings.

The challenge of ministry in traditional churches

So much of ministry depends on traditions. Older pastors, like myself, were taught to do ministry a certain way that may have applied to people in previous generations and in previous contexts. I recently blogged about ridding my library of a lot of books. Many of them reflected the thinking of the past and were really outdated for the 21st century. (Some were outdated for the 20th century!) When I told someone I had tossed them into a dumpster I was asked why I didn't give them to a young pastor starting out. I responded that they would be of no value to that young pastor or to the church he or she might lead.

Existing churches struggle to find pastoral leadership, especially smaller and mid-size churches. One reason for this difficulty is that many younger pastors want to serve in more non-traditional settings. They feel led to new church planting to avoid the growth-limiting traditions found in many existing churches. Some are drawn to churches after the planter leaves to start another church. Few desire to go to a 150 year old church with few or no young people. Others are unwilling to deal with the challenges of ministering to three or four generations who have different expectations of their minister. We may not agree with their thinking, but it is the reality that older, existing churches face.

Pipe organs, hymnbooks, liturgies, denominational Sunday school literature still meet a need for some people, but the numbers of those people decrease every year. One church with two services each Sunday, one contemporary and one traditional, see fewer numbers each year in the traditional service. A gentleman I know who attends the traditional service in that church asked me once what they could do to see that service grow in attendance. I responded that no one in that service is having babies, so the only way I knew of was for them to begin inviting their unchurched friends. He was not encouraged because his circle of friendships was growing smaller each year, and the ones who were left all attended churches. I imagine this story could be said of many churches.

I have read one church growth person who suggested that churches should close down after 50 years. I can understand his reasoning, but I don't think it's necessary. What is necessary is that churches, and pastors, may need to reinvent themselves to better reach the younger generations. This will impact how we preach, the music we use in worship, our worship styles, the way we structure the church, its outreach and discipleship ministries, and virtually every system in the church. Traditions that limit our ministry effectiveness need to be abandoned. Other traditions can be used as foundations upon which we can build new ways of doing ministry that will impact people's lives and the Kingdom of God.

The pastor's prayer life

 The Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more.” While this is true of all Christians, it is especially true for pastors. Unfortunately, many pastors, myself included, often find it difficult to spend the time in prayer we need.

Young pastors sometimes feel they have been trained and equipped through their education to lead a church. While they may say they are committed to prayer and following God's will for their church, that is not always the case. They may be more committed to following the latest fad they learned from a book or a recently attended conference. Those with a CEO view of ministry may want to focus on management skills they've learned, and these skills can often lead to some success, but they do not necessarily take the church where God is wanting to lead it.

Older pastors may want to depend upon their experiences in ministry. The longer one is in ministry the more one learns, both good and bad. Those experiences can help both the church and the minister, but, again, they may not lead the church to the place God wants it.

It is only when we spend time in prayer seeking God's vision for our churches that we can move in the direction He wants. As I write this I must confess that I struggle here as much as many pastors I've met. Too often my life prayer has been an after thought. I've asked God to bless my plans rather than seeking His will. I've asked Him for guidance, and then went my own way without stopping to listen to His leading. I read about some of the great prayer warriors in ministry and then overload my schedule with things to do without setting aside time to pray and worship.

Anyone who has pursued a doctoral degree knows that there is a lot of reading required. When I was in my doctoral studies I marked time on my calendar for reading. I would set aside an hour or two at least once a week to devote to reading. It was on my schedule. I had an appointment. Why do we not do that with our prayer lives?

I find myself spending more time in prayer these days now that I've gotten older. Life really hasn't slowed down, but I find more time to pray. I'm glad, but I do regret the former years when I didn't pray as much as I should have. I can only imagine the blessings I've missed because of it.

The impact of a long-term pastor

A number of years ago a church went through another major conflict. Denominational people had to be called in to resolve the conflict. When things returned somewhat to normal one of the deacons addressed the congregation and stated, "We can never do this again."

One of the reasons for the problems this church had was they had a series of short-term student pastors from a nearby seminary. These pastors seldom stayed longer than 2-3 years which meant they were never leaders in the church. The real leaders came from the four primary families who made up the majority of that church. A member of each family had to be represented on every board and committee in the church. Unfortunately, these families were often at odds with one another. Sometimes there was turmoil within a family which also spilled out into the church. The pastors were helpless to address any of this and could only watch, and run, when conflicts rose up. To say the church was unhealthy would be an understatement.

The church finally called a pastor who was not a student. He accepted the role of full time pastor of the church. He was able to build relationships with each of the families. The people liked him and trusted him. More importantly, he stayed and eventually became the leader of the church. Each of the families were still actively involved in the church, but with a long-term pastor there was no longer a leadership void to fill. When problems occurred, as they will in any church, they were able to work through them because of the influence of their pastor. He has now served this church for over 30 years, and it is a much healthier church with a good ministry.

George Barna reported years ago that it takes a pastor between 3-11 years to develop an effective ministry in a church. I've stated elsewhere that it took me seven years in my church. It also had a revolving-door of student pastors who stayed for an average of 12 months. There was a huge leadership void in the church which resulted in many problems. After my 7th year as pastor, it began a significant turn-around and begin to enjoy a much more effective ministry. 

Pastors are called to lead churches, but, except in the larger churches, they are not going to be given the authority to lead until the congregation knows they can be trusted. A congregation must first know their pastor loves them, and, secondly, that they can be trusted. Depending on a number of factors, that can happen within a short period of time or a much longer period of time. I can tell you that once a pastor crosses that trust threshold, ministry become much more enjoyable.

The problem is that pastors today stay at a church for an average of only four years. That number can fluctuate a little according to whose studies you read. But, if Barna's findings are correct that means that most pastors never stay long enough to earn the trust they need to lead the church. The pastor moves on, usually to a larger church, and the church is left wondering what is wrong with them that no one wants to stay and lead them.

I can hear someone now saying that some churches won't let a pastor lead, and I agree with that. There are a lot of toxic churches out there that do not deserve a pastor. When I served as a resource minister in our denomination there were a couple of churches in my area that I refused to help find a new pastor. I told them I would work with them to become a healthier church, but I would not sacrifice another good pastor on the altar of their dysfunction. Neither of them took me up on my offer to help them become healthier.

While there are toxic churches out there, there are also a lot of good churches truly seeking someone to come and love them and lead them. Once you earn their trust, you will be amazed at how they will allow you to lead them into the next phase of ministry. Yes, you can go to a larger church that someone else has grown, or you can have the satisfaction of seeing the church you now serve grow to become a larger church.

One of the mantras I've adopted in life is "It's always too soon to quit." I apply this to everything I do. I encourage you to consider this as you consider your next phase of ministry.

 

The local church and world missions

 March is the month that American Baptists receive the America for Christ offering. This money helps our denomination support various ministries in the US and Puerto Rico. A percentage also goes to each ABC region to help support their ministries. It is one of four special mission offerings the denomination receives each year. 

In recent years there has been an emphasis on churches having a missional mindset. Such a mindset challenges churches to see their community as a mission field. This is appropriate, and I have challenged churches for years to develop this mindset. I encourage members of the congregation to stop seeing themselves as simply members of the church but to see themselves as missionaries gifted by God to impact their community. I also encourage them to stop seeing their church as merely a church, but to begin to see it as a mission station placed in the midst of a rapidly growing pagan culture.

Unfortunately, some churches, trying to adopt that mindset, no longer see the importance of global missions. Some have stopped giving to their denomination's mission work and diverted that money to local missions. I an aware of one church that had been giving approximately $12,000.00 a year to its denomination's mission work until a new pastor, who was not favorable to that denomination, convinced the church to spend that money to reach local youth. While reaching local youth is certainly a worthwhile vision, both could have been done. Local mission work and global mission support are not an either/or endeavor; it is both/and. Not only did the denomination lose the funding for mission work, the last I knew there was no increase in the number of youth attending the church.

I have long advocated that God honors churches that honor mission. The Great Commission not only challenges us to reach those surrounding our church, it also challenges us to reach persons around the world. God calls certain individuals to go to far-off places to share the gospel, but He calls each of us to help support that work financially. Some churches do that by supporting specific missionaries while others do it by giving to their denomination's mission offerings. Either way is acceptable.

American Baptists have four special mission offerings each year. These go towards different ministry objectives of the denomination, and each of them should be supported by ABC churches. Let's not tie the hands of those God has called to serve in a mission field by failing to support them with our prayers and our financial gifts.

The pain of a library purge

 This past Saturday I endured one of the most painful experiences of my life. I began to purge my library. I'm far from complete, but the pain became almost overwhelming, and I had to put off any further removal of books for a later date. I could not bear trying to count the books, but I would estimate I eliminated between 150-200 in this initial effort.

What books did I eliminate? Some were simply outdated, and any attempt to use material from them would have been useless. Some were books from my college and seminary days that no one would ever use in the real world. A few books were purchased when I was doing regional ministry, and they were more appropriate as denominational and regional resources, but they were no longer needed by me. Several were books that sounded good, but when I got them I found out they were not really what I was looking for. That's one of the problems with Christian bookstores such as Lifeway going out of business. I could go in there and check out the books to see if they were something I actually wanted. Now, we order the books from CBD or Amazon based upon someone's recommendation or a review we read, buy it, and only then learn it isn't at all what we wanted.

You may be asking why I started getting rid of some of my books? A couple of reasons. One, I'm double-stacking books on my shelves, and my study is already filled with bookshelves. When you start double-stacking, there's a good chance you'll never see the ones in the back ever again. A second reason is I'm 75 years-old. I've got plenty of books left my wife might have to deal with when I'm gone. There's no sense in her having to deal with books I haven't used in 40 years

My reasons for disposing of books makes sense, but it doesn't make it any less painful for someone who loves books and loves to read. I have more books on Kindle and NOOK, but I seldom buy books for those devices anymore. I like to hold a book in my hands, highlight passages and write in the margins. I enjoy walking into my study and seeing shelves of books surrounding my desk.

My wife walked by a few minutes ago and asked what I was going to do with the empty selves. I responded I guess I'll have to fill them up again. She was not amused!

I'll wait a few days, gather some more boxes and start emptying some more shelves. By then, the pain should have subsided!

The challenge facing Christian conservatives

 Os Guiness points out in The Global Public Square that "In 2010, for the first time, the United States moved into the top sixteen countries of the world where there was a rise in both government restrictions and social hostility toward religion." That is a staggering announcement that shows how far we have come in America as a nation that was founded on Christian values and teaching to where we are today. Conservatives, both political and religious, are under increased attack by many of our political leaders and the "woke" crowd in Hollywood and throughout the nation. The Cancel Culture is doing all it can to silence conservatives in the public square, and the courts often support their efforts.

Maybe this is one reason we see fewer and fewer people attending our worship services. When so many in the media focus on negative happenings in the church world, and so many are arguing against the core values of the Christian faith, and so many are working to promote their progressive agenda and the courts are making legal the very activities the Bible teaches us is wrong, it become easy to understand why people fail to see the importance of faith and the church in their lives.

Recently, I was watching a documentary of Nazi Germany and saw the Jews forced to wear a yellow star on their back so everyone would know they were Jews. At the time, I wondered if the time would come when Christians would be forced to wear a cross on their backs to make it easy to identify them. Perhaps that is far-fetched. Perhaps not. We live in a society that is growing in its dislike for Christianity. I see things happening in our world that I never dreamed would ever happen. So maybe my thoughts are no so far-fetched after all.

We have yielded too much ground to the woke progressive crowd. We have allowed them to have a much louder voice than they deserve, and it's time we answer back. If we are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we need to make sure people know that. It's not enough to just proclaim it within our churches to those who already believe what we believe. The public square is as much ours as it is theirs, and it's time we reclaim our part of it.