Our home is filled with the wonderful smells of recently baked cookes and bread. Presents for the grandchildren are wrapped and ready for delivery. Christmas music has been playing in the house all day. This has been a challenging year in many ways for our family, but this morning during my devotions I couldn't do anything but thank God for the blessings we've enjoyed this year. Regardless of the situations, we have enjoyed a sense of His presence throughout the year. All I could do this morning was to give Him thanks.
I also thank God for all who follow me on this blog, on Twitter, and my Facebook friends as well as the hundreds who now receive my monthly e-newsletter. Each of you are a blessing to me, and I pray that I have been to you as well this year. May you and your families have a very Merry Christmas and a most blessed 2012!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
2nd book published in Korean
I was excited to learn today that my publisher has signed an agreement with a publisher in Korea who wants to publish Intentional Ministry in a Not-So-Mega Church. This will be my second book produced and sold in Korea and my third foreign language book. In addition, I've been asked this year if I would be willing to lead workshops for bivocational ministers in Scotland, India, and Canada. There have been no invitations as yet to do that, but at least there is some interest.
Not only is bivocational ministry growing in the US, but it is very common in many parts of the world. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to develop resources that are not only helpful to bivocational ministers in this country but are seen as important to bivocational ministers around the world.
My next book, The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision, is now available for pre-order on amazon.com with a scheduled release of March 1, 2012. Pastors of all size churches will find this book helpful as they consider what they need to do in the coming years to enable their churches to have more of an impact on their communities.
Not only is bivocational ministry growing in the US, but it is very common in many parts of the world. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to develop resources that are not only helpful to bivocational ministers in this country but are seen as important to bivocational ministers around the world.
My next book, The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision, is now available for pre-order on amazon.com with a scheduled release of March 1, 2012. Pastors of all size churches will find this book helpful as they consider what they need to do in the coming years to enable their churches to have more of an impact on their communities.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Light and salt
We hear much talk today of the need for the church to adapt itself to the world if it is to effectively impact society. In fact, we hear it so much that it has almost become a mantra to many church leaders. In my devotional reading I am reading the classic, The Christiam Mind, by Harry Blamires. Published in 1963 this book still has much to say to Christians and to the church today. Here is an except from the book that speaks to today's post.
There is a limited, specialized sense in which it is true that the Church must adapt itself to the modern world. But over a whole range of controversial issues - and in the deepest and most controversial sense - it is rather true that, far from the Church adapting itself to the modern world, the modern world must adapt itself to the Church...For if the Christian faith is true, and the Christian Church the authoritative vehicle of salvation in time, then it is the most urgent, inescapable need of the modern world to adapt itself to the Church.
As I say in my workshops, one of the primary reasons unchurched people avoid church is that they consider it irrelevant to the time. In some ways, they are correct. We often spend time answering questions that no one is asking, and we do not spend enough time addressing the needs of the day. However, ultimately, the church can never be irrelevant because at its best it is answering the timeless questions that all people ask at some time in their lives. It also cannot be irrelevant because the morals, ethics, and values it teaches are timeless as well. Critics of the church say that the church must adapt to the realities of the age, but I believe that Blamires is correct when he insists that the greatest need is for the world to adapt itself to the Church.
How much more evidence do we need that the values, morals, and ethical systems of the world do not work? Read the headlines and listen to the news. As a society we are morally bankrupt, and that bankruptcy is having a much more devastating effect on society than the financial bankruptcies that are so common today. In fact, the financial meltdown of today can largely be traced back to the moral and ethical failures of those who led the various financial institutions. Millions of Americans and people around the world have been financially destroyed because of the greed and utter lack of moral consciousness of many of the leaders of financial institutions, corporations, and our government. Even worse are the stories of child abuse that are currently in the headlines. How many more children will come forward to tell of abuse at the hands of adults in whom they trusted? Even more haunting, how many will remain silent while their untold stories continue to eat away at their insides?
There is no such thing as a values-free society. The question is whose values will prevail? On the one side we have the values that have been taught by the church and on the other side are those taught by a society that opposes the church's teachings. Which values bring decency and order to society? An even greater question is which ones come from the highest authority? The values taught by the church come from God while those promoted by society come from fallen individuals. I know that those who deny God exists will reject my last statement, but that rejection is immaterial to me. It is not my job to appease non-believers; it is my job to shine light into the darkness in which they live and speak truth to them. It is my job to be salt, to live my life in such a way that people become thirsty for God in their own lives. This is the task of all of us who call ourselves Christians, and we cannot succeed at this task if we merely adapt ourselves to the world.
In 2012 how will your church be light and salt to your community? I believe that if we are going to be successful at this we will have to speak truth to our communities. We must boldly proclaim that God's Word is true and that what He has taught us about morals and values must be followed if we are to live in a society that will protect its weakest citizens and enjoy the blessings of God. It is time that the church stop worrying about what society might think or what the media might say and determine to once again become the light and salt God called us to be. Jesus said if the salt loses its savor it is useless and fit only to be cast aside. This should serve as a warning to every church that refuses to be salt and light to its community. We have spent too much time in recent years trying to adapt ourselves to the world in an attempt to be more acceptable to them. It is time that we tell the world that it needs to adapt itself to the church if it has any hope of surviving.
There is a limited, specialized sense in which it is true that the Church must adapt itself to the modern world. But over a whole range of controversial issues - and in the deepest and most controversial sense - it is rather true that, far from the Church adapting itself to the modern world, the modern world must adapt itself to the Church...For if the Christian faith is true, and the Christian Church the authoritative vehicle of salvation in time, then it is the most urgent, inescapable need of the modern world to adapt itself to the Church.
As I say in my workshops, one of the primary reasons unchurched people avoid church is that they consider it irrelevant to the time. In some ways, they are correct. We often spend time answering questions that no one is asking, and we do not spend enough time addressing the needs of the day. However, ultimately, the church can never be irrelevant because at its best it is answering the timeless questions that all people ask at some time in their lives. It also cannot be irrelevant because the morals, ethics, and values it teaches are timeless as well. Critics of the church say that the church must adapt to the realities of the age, but I believe that Blamires is correct when he insists that the greatest need is for the world to adapt itself to the Church.
How much more evidence do we need that the values, morals, and ethical systems of the world do not work? Read the headlines and listen to the news. As a society we are morally bankrupt, and that bankruptcy is having a much more devastating effect on society than the financial bankruptcies that are so common today. In fact, the financial meltdown of today can largely be traced back to the moral and ethical failures of those who led the various financial institutions. Millions of Americans and people around the world have been financially destroyed because of the greed and utter lack of moral consciousness of many of the leaders of financial institutions, corporations, and our government. Even worse are the stories of child abuse that are currently in the headlines. How many more children will come forward to tell of abuse at the hands of adults in whom they trusted? Even more haunting, how many will remain silent while their untold stories continue to eat away at their insides?
There is no such thing as a values-free society. The question is whose values will prevail? On the one side we have the values that have been taught by the church and on the other side are those taught by a society that opposes the church's teachings. Which values bring decency and order to society? An even greater question is which ones come from the highest authority? The values taught by the church come from God while those promoted by society come from fallen individuals. I know that those who deny God exists will reject my last statement, but that rejection is immaterial to me. It is not my job to appease non-believers; it is my job to shine light into the darkness in which they live and speak truth to them. It is my job to be salt, to live my life in such a way that people become thirsty for God in their own lives. This is the task of all of us who call ourselves Christians, and we cannot succeed at this task if we merely adapt ourselves to the world.
In 2012 how will your church be light and salt to your community? I believe that if we are going to be successful at this we will have to speak truth to our communities. We must boldly proclaim that God's Word is true and that what He has taught us about morals and values must be followed if we are to live in a society that will protect its weakest citizens and enjoy the blessings of God. It is time that the church stop worrying about what society might think or what the media might say and determine to once again become the light and salt God called us to be. Jesus said if the salt loses its savor it is useless and fit only to be cast aside. This should serve as a warning to every church that refuses to be salt and light to its community. We have spent too much time in recent years trying to adapt ourselves to the world in an attempt to be more acceptable to them. It is time that we tell the world that it needs to adapt itself to the church if it has any hope of surviving.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The power of coaching
Next month I am scheduled to train some UM pastors who will be coaching bivocational ministers in their district. I'm really excited about this for a couple of reasons. One, it's exciting to see judicatory leaders looking for new ways to resource their bivocational ministers. Two, I know how helpful it can be to a bivocational minister to have a coach. This will be a win for both the pastors and the district plus those who are serving as coaches are going to be blessed in ways they do not yet understand.
Over the past 3-4 years I have become convinced that there are few things more powerful in a leader's life than having a coach. I benefitted from a coach who helped me through some decisions I had to make about my life and ministry, and I've been privileged to coach a number of other ministers. We all get stuck sometimes in our lives. We all have those times when we just aren't sure of the best direction to take. Every minister has those seasons in his or her life when there is more doubt and frustration than faith. Often, in our most challenging moments, we aren't sure who to turn to or talk to about the issues facing us. In those times, having a coach come alongside to walk with you can be quite powerful.
Coaches don't give advice; they ask questions. They challenge the person being coached (PBC) to think deeply about the issues facing them and to consider possible solutions. Coaches encourage and at the same time hold the PBC accountable. They speak directly to the PBC, sometimes saying things the PBC would prefer not to hear, but it is always with the desire to help the PBC move forward in his or her life. Coaches don't dwell on the past; they help the PBC move forward in life. The best coaches want the PBC to experience everything God has planned for his or her life and is committed to helping them achieve that.
As you think about 2012, are there goals you would like to accomplish but are uncertain how to best do that? Do you see some decisions that you will have to make next year that have you really concerned? Are you fearful that 2012 will be a repeat of 2011, 2010, 2009, etc, and the thought of that bothers you more than you would like to admit? Does your life and ministry feel like a wheel in a hamster's cage, and despite all your activity you feel like you're going nowhere? If you answered yes to any of these questions you might be ready for a coach to help you move forward.
With my other responsibilities, I can only coach up to five people at a time, and I currently have openings. Virtually all my coaching is done over the telephone so it doesn't matter where you live. I've coached people from several states and Canada. Most of the people I've coached have been bivocational ministers, but I've also coached fully-funded pastors, and I am open to coaching persons who are not in the ministry but want help with some aspect of their lives. I am a charter member of the International Christian Coaching Association.
If you want to move forward in your life and ministry in 2012 I encourage you to consider having a coach assist you in that process. If you feel that I may be able to assist I would be honored to discuss that with you.
Over the past 3-4 years I have become convinced that there are few things more powerful in a leader's life than having a coach. I benefitted from a coach who helped me through some decisions I had to make about my life and ministry, and I've been privileged to coach a number of other ministers. We all get stuck sometimes in our lives. We all have those times when we just aren't sure of the best direction to take. Every minister has those seasons in his or her life when there is more doubt and frustration than faith. Often, in our most challenging moments, we aren't sure who to turn to or talk to about the issues facing us. In those times, having a coach come alongside to walk with you can be quite powerful.
Coaches don't give advice; they ask questions. They challenge the person being coached (PBC) to think deeply about the issues facing them and to consider possible solutions. Coaches encourage and at the same time hold the PBC accountable. They speak directly to the PBC, sometimes saying things the PBC would prefer not to hear, but it is always with the desire to help the PBC move forward in his or her life. Coaches don't dwell on the past; they help the PBC move forward in life. The best coaches want the PBC to experience everything God has planned for his or her life and is committed to helping them achieve that.
As you think about 2012, are there goals you would like to accomplish but are uncertain how to best do that? Do you see some decisions that you will have to make next year that have you really concerned? Are you fearful that 2012 will be a repeat of 2011, 2010, 2009, etc, and the thought of that bothers you more than you would like to admit? Does your life and ministry feel like a wheel in a hamster's cage, and despite all your activity you feel like you're going nowhere? If you answered yes to any of these questions you might be ready for a coach to help you move forward.
With my other responsibilities, I can only coach up to five people at a time, and I currently have openings. Virtually all my coaching is done over the telephone so it doesn't matter where you live. I've coached people from several states and Canada. Most of the people I've coached have been bivocational ministers, but I've also coached fully-funded pastors, and I am open to coaching persons who are not in the ministry but want help with some aspect of their lives. I am a charter member of the International Christian Coaching Association.
If you want to move forward in your life and ministry in 2012 I encourage you to consider having a coach assist you in that process. If you feel that I may be able to assist I would be honored to discuss that with you.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Growth in the small church
In my files I have a cartoon of a church business meeting. There are three people at the meeting. Behind the pastor/moderator is an attendance board that shows attendance for this Sunday at 2, attendance the previous Sunday was 2, and attendance a year ago was 2. The moderator is addressing one of the attendees and saying, "So you believe we should become a mega-church. Would you like to elaborate on that?"
I think of this cartoon every time I hear of a small church pastor who tries to copy a model that they learn from one of the mega-churches. Let me say upfront that I have absolutely nothing against mega-churches, and I believe that smaller churches can learn from the larger churches. I used to attend a quarterly prayer meeting in a nearby mega-church, and I always made sure that I took a member of our church with me. I wanted to expose them to the excellence in everything this church did. But, I never once wanted to pattern our church after this mega-church.
Some members of a small, rural church recently told me that all their new pastor did was talk about what the mega-churches do. He took several church leaders to meet with the pastor and other leaders of a mega-church in their state. This mega-church church averages between 1/3 and 1/2 of the total population of the entire county where the smaller church is located, and yet this pastor has a vision of duplicating their growth and numbers. While trying to become a mega-church pastor he is driving away several of the long-term members of the church who have become totally frustrated with this pastor's unrealistic obsession.
One of the qualities of a good goal is that while it should be challenging it must also be realistic. I applaud this pastor's desire to have a growing church. He has a passion for unchurched people and a deep desire to see people commit their lives to Christ. I have no doubt that any church he leads will grow, but it is foolish to believe that the church he now serves will become the next mega-church. His goals needs to be smaller, and as those goals are met he can begin to expand them. Unfortunately, instead of doing that he is alienating the people who have been in that church for years and rapidly losing their support. The minor growth their church has experienced is in danger of being lost.
If you are the pastor or a lay leader of a smaller church I encourage you to set some challenging goals for 2012. Those goals should include reaching new people with the gospel. However, at the same time it is important to remember those who are already part of your church family. To ignore these people or to insinuate their needs are not important is poor pastoral ministry.
I think of this cartoon every time I hear of a small church pastor who tries to copy a model that they learn from one of the mega-churches. Let me say upfront that I have absolutely nothing against mega-churches, and I believe that smaller churches can learn from the larger churches. I used to attend a quarterly prayer meeting in a nearby mega-church, and I always made sure that I took a member of our church with me. I wanted to expose them to the excellence in everything this church did. But, I never once wanted to pattern our church after this mega-church.
Some members of a small, rural church recently told me that all their new pastor did was talk about what the mega-churches do. He took several church leaders to meet with the pastor and other leaders of a mega-church in their state. This mega-church church averages between 1/3 and 1/2 of the total population of the entire county where the smaller church is located, and yet this pastor has a vision of duplicating their growth and numbers. While trying to become a mega-church pastor he is driving away several of the long-term members of the church who have become totally frustrated with this pastor's unrealistic obsession.
One of the qualities of a good goal is that while it should be challenging it must also be realistic. I applaud this pastor's desire to have a growing church. He has a passion for unchurched people and a deep desire to see people commit their lives to Christ. I have no doubt that any church he leads will grow, but it is foolish to believe that the church he now serves will become the next mega-church. His goals needs to be smaller, and as those goals are met he can begin to expand them. Unfortunately, instead of doing that he is alienating the people who have been in that church for years and rapidly losing their support. The minor growth their church has experienced is in danger of being lost.
If you are the pastor or a lay leader of a smaller church I encourage you to set some challenging goals for 2012. Those goals should include reaching new people with the gospel. However, at the same time it is important to remember those who are already part of your church family. To ignore these people or to insinuate their needs are not important is poor pastoral ministry.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Worship in a small church
This past Sunday I visited a small, rural church pastored by a bivocational minister. I always enjoy the opportunities I have to visit this church because I am blessed every time I'm there. So much is written today about everything a church needs to do to attract people that it is easy for one to assume if a church isn't doing these things it can't grow. That simply isn't the case. Yes, in some churches there is a need for innovative worship, but there is also a need for those churches who continue to worship as they have for years. And...these churches can grow. The church I visited has more than doubled in size since this pastor began there about 4 years ago.
The pastor isn't seminary trained. The church has no choir or video equipment. Congregational singing is led by the pianist. There are no worship bulletins. During the pastoral prayer people shared various prayer needs they knew about and mentioned those who were doing better since the previous Sunday. After the congregational singing ended the pianist asked if anyone had special music they wanted to do. When no one volunteered, the pastor picked up his guitar and sang a beautiful song. The message was simple but challenging. No bells, no whistles, no frills.
Some may wonder why the church has grown. I believe there are several reasons for such growth. One, the pastor is a humble man who has told me several times how surprised he is that God had called him to pastor a church. He loves the people, and they know it. Two, the people there love God and one another. One can feel the warmth as soon as you walk in the building, and at the end of the service no one is in a hurry to leave. Three, the people who attend there are willing to work hard to serve others. Several from that church recently joined other churches in their association to provide a Christmas party to a group of patients at a hospital. Because of work their pastor couldn't be there this year, but that didn't stop them. They spent an afternoon with some people who probably won't have much of a Christmas except for what these churches brought them.
There is a need for those churches who are able to offer a more modern worship experience, but there is also a need for those churches who continue to offer a more traditional experience. The most important thing about the worship in your church is not that it is modeled after the latest book but that it allows the people who attend your church to experience God in a meaningful way. I believe such services honor God, and the service I attended this week did that.
The pastor isn't seminary trained. The church has no choir or video equipment. Congregational singing is led by the pianist. There are no worship bulletins. During the pastoral prayer people shared various prayer needs they knew about and mentioned those who were doing better since the previous Sunday. After the congregational singing ended the pianist asked if anyone had special music they wanted to do. When no one volunteered, the pastor picked up his guitar and sang a beautiful song. The message was simple but challenging. No bells, no whistles, no frills.
Some may wonder why the church has grown. I believe there are several reasons for such growth. One, the pastor is a humble man who has told me several times how surprised he is that God had called him to pastor a church. He loves the people, and they know it. Two, the people there love God and one another. One can feel the warmth as soon as you walk in the building, and at the end of the service no one is in a hurry to leave. Three, the people who attend there are willing to work hard to serve others. Several from that church recently joined other churches in their association to provide a Christmas party to a group of patients at a hospital. Because of work their pastor couldn't be there this year, but that didn't stop them. They spent an afternoon with some people who probably won't have much of a Christmas except for what these churches brought them.
There is a need for those churches who are able to offer a more modern worship experience, but there is also a need for those churches who continue to offer a more traditional experience. The most important thing about the worship in your church is not that it is modeled after the latest book but that it allows the people who attend your church to experience God in a meaningful way. I believe such services honor God, and the service I attended this week did that.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Truth
My current devotional reading is the 1963 classic The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires. It's not an easy read because Blamires is British and writes in a manner not typically found in much of today's literature. The good news is this forces me to slow down my reading and really concentrate on what is being said, and that forced concentration has revealed some wonderful nuggets of understanding.
In today's reading he writes, "The marks of truth as christianly conceived, then, are: that it is supernaturally grounded, not developed within nature; that it is objective and not subjective; that it is a revelation and not a construction; that it is discovered by inquiry and not elected by a majority vote; that it is authoritative and not a matter of personal choice." He goes on to write, "The sense of an objective truth existing within the sphere of religion has been lost. Religious conviction is, for the secular mind, a matter of individual preference related, not to objective truth, but to personal need and predilection."
Remember, he wrote this in 1963. How much more true is this today than then? Since he wrote these words two generations have grown up being taught that there is no such thing as objective truth, that truth is subjective and determined by how one feels or believes about a particular thing. Even in the church the idea of an objective truth has largely been ignored which is one reason we have such difficulties in many of our churches today. Entire denominations struggle to speak with a clear voice on many issues because the idea of a supernatural truth established by God has to be approved by a majority vote. And even if the majority does vote to agree with God, the minority has to be given its politically correct option to loudly disagree and continue to push its agenda. If the church struggles with this how much more will the unchurched population struggle to accept supernatural truth?
This is why one student in a school whose parents do not believe in Christ can cause the entire school to abandon its Christmas program in favor of a holiday program. This is why it is not politically correct to speak of Christ in the public arena. Talk about God all you want, but expect trouble if you bring Jesus Christ into the conversation. This is why it is nearly impossible to bring any kind of moral teaching into any discussion of the major issues facing our nation and the world today. Let's work to eradicate AIDS, but we musn't talk about the moral issues that have brought about this horrible disease. Let's pour money into assisting children who live in poverty, but we must not mention why so many are living in such conditions: the rising number of children born to unwed mothers, the absence of fathers in the home, no-fault divorce, the rising epidemic of drug addiction, the failure of our educational system to properly educate young people so they will have the skills to provide for themselves and their families, etc. We can measure the rising crime rates, but we must be careful to not offer any biblical insights into why people commit crime or we might offend someone. We can continue to pour money into supporting those without jobs until we bankrupt the nation, but we must not point out the immorality of the greed of those who send jobs overseas or the immorality of laws that make such action profitable for those companies who do send those jobs overseas.
A few years ago a movie was made about Al Gore's efforts to promote the concept of global warming. The film was called An Inconvenient Truth. Truth as found in Scripture is an inconvenient truth for most of our population today. Until we in the church recognize that the teaching of Scripture are true and begin to structure our lives accordingly we will never be able to have the impact on society that we should have. Until we are willing to proclaim that truth regardless of the outcry that will be heard against it, we will continue to live on the periphery of society. Until we are willing to confront people with the truth about who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth we will not see their lives changed through a personal encounter with the living Savior. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me." That may be an inconvenient truth to many in today's society, but it is the only truth that will change lives, and it is the truth the church must proclaim this Christmas season and throughout the coming year.
In today's reading he writes, "The marks of truth as christianly conceived, then, are: that it is supernaturally grounded, not developed within nature; that it is objective and not subjective; that it is a revelation and not a construction; that it is discovered by inquiry and not elected by a majority vote; that it is authoritative and not a matter of personal choice." He goes on to write, "The sense of an objective truth existing within the sphere of religion has been lost. Religious conviction is, for the secular mind, a matter of individual preference related, not to objective truth, but to personal need and predilection."
Remember, he wrote this in 1963. How much more true is this today than then? Since he wrote these words two generations have grown up being taught that there is no such thing as objective truth, that truth is subjective and determined by how one feels or believes about a particular thing. Even in the church the idea of an objective truth has largely been ignored which is one reason we have such difficulties in many of our churches today. Entire denominations struggle to speak with a clear voice on many issues because the idea of a supernatural truth established by God has to be approved by a majority vote. And even if the majority does vote to agree with God, the minority has to be given its politically correct option to loudly disagree and continue to push its agenda. If the church struggles with this how much more will the unchurched population struggle to accept supernatural truth?
This is why one student in a school whose parents do not believe in Christ can cause the entire school to abandon its Christmas program in favor of a holiday program. This is why it is not politically correct to speak of Christ in the public arena. Talk about God all you want, but expect trouble if you bring Jesus Christ into the conversation. This is why it is nearly impossible to bring any kind of moral teaching into any discussion of the major issues facing our nation and the world today. Let's work to eradicate AIDS, but we musn't talk about the moral issues that have brought about this horrible disease. Let's pour money into assisting children who live in poverty, but we must not mention why so many are living in such conditions: the rising number of children born to unwed mothers, the absence of fathers in the home, no-fault divorce, the rising epidemic of drug addiction, the failure of our educational system to properly educate young people so they will have the skills to provide for themselves and their families, etc. We can measure the rising crime rates, but we must be careful to not offer any biblical insights into why people commit crime or we might offend someone. We can continue to pour money into supporting those without jobs until we bankrupt the nation, but we must not point out the immorality of the greed of those who send jobs overseas or the immorality of laws that make such action profitable for those companies who do send those jobs overseas.
A few years ago a movie was made about Al Gore's efforts to promote the concept of global warming. The film was called An Inconvenient Truth. Truth as found in Scripture is an inconvenient truth for most of our population today. Until we in the church recognize that the teaching of Scripture are true and begin to structure our lives accordingly we will never be able to have the impact on society that we should have. Until we are willing to proclaim that truth regardless of the outcry that will be heard against it, we will continue to live on the periphery of society. Until we are willing to confront people with the truth about who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth we will not see their lives changed through a personal encounter with the living Savior. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me." That may be an inconvenient truth to many in today's society, but it is the only truth that will change lives, and it is the truth the church must proclaim this Christmas season and throughout the coming year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)