Questions for churches to ask themselves

Just some further thoughts about how we think through the issue of church service timings, it may helpful to ask the following questions:

1. What days and times do people work?
2. When do non-Church goers like to go clubbing and partying?
3. What sports are big in the community? When are they on TV? And when do local professional, competitive, and fun sports leagues play?
4. What nights do teens, young children and students do their homework?
5. How many people can’t resist sleeping in?
6. Are there a lot of young children with early bedtimes?
7. What does the average schedule look like for the people we want to reach?
8. And how much ought we to fit in around these?

We also need to think about those who attend regularly what is best for them and why?  Maybe multiplying services or congregations is a better way forward that the upheaval of moving an existing meeting time and losing some people who can't do a new one.

A church that is trying reach the parts other churches don't reach?

I've been thinking about the unreached in our society, those that as churches we just don't reach.  As I've thought about it 3 particular groups come to mind, one is single parents, another is co-habiting couples and the last is those who love playing football.

I wonder how much the times we meet at influence who we reach.  We have growing boys who would love to play football but almost all the teams here play exclusively on Sunday mornings, its the same for men's teams.  Therefore by meeting on Sunday mornings we are effectively saying church is not for those who love playing football, or we force them to choose.  I wonder for how many boys growing up there is a resentment that parents made that choice for them?

Whilst not sure how that plays out for co-habiting couples, I wonder if there is a similar problem with when we meet for single parents.  If we find it hard as couples to get up, get ready and get the tribe out imagine how much more difficult it is for a single parents with only one pair of hands.  And evening church is out of the question because it is just too late and the children need to be in bed.

Interestingly when we first started we asked our non-church going friends when would be the best time for them to come to church, they overwhelmingly said it would be the morning.  But I wonder if that is the case, would an afternoon at say 4pm be easier?  Whilst it would feel odd for those of us used to Sunday mornings would it free us up to get involved in children's, men's or ladies football and have friends over to lunch before church, would it facilitate us building relationships with those that at the moment we do not reach?

In short how can we be a church that reaches the parts of the UK which other churches are not reaching?  More thinking to be done and more posts to follow.

Being Mission Minded

Spurred on by something I have to prepare for Sunday night looking at Planning for evangelism mobilising the church. I have just sat and read Peter Bolt's excellent Mission Minded book. It challenges us about whether we do maintenance ministry or mission ministry.

It contains a helpful little diagnostic table to use for churches examining the different activities we run and whether they are raising awareness of our church, creating initial contacts, pre-evangelism, evangelism and then in terms of edifying those converted; follow up, nurture and Training in Ministry. I have found it really helpful to read the book and am going to follow it up by using the diagnostic tool to analyse our evangelism.

It has fitted in very well with reading John 14-17 this week in preparation for preaching from John 16 on Sunday, as Jesus prepares to leave his disciples and ascend to his Father, he tells them not only that he is leaving, but that the world hates them (ch15) before sending into the world to proclaim him - the very thing the world will hate them for. However he doesn't send them alone he will send the Holy Spirit, the advocate, helper, counsellor to convict the world as they witness and to make Jesus a living reality for his followers.

Helpful in light of that challenge to then be thinking strategically about how we best do that as a church.

The tragedy of the school shooting

The YouTube killer, that’s what the newspapers are dubbing Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the young man who walked into his high school and shot dead 7 students, and the headmistress before finally turning the gun on himself. Pekka-Eric regarded himself as a ‘social Darwinist’ and on a home made video said “I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see as unfit.”

Today sees Finland hold a day of national mourning for the dead with their Prime Minister calling it a “great tragedy”. One distraught relative said “This is the end of our world - the end of Finland.”

Our heart goes out to the families and relatives of those caught up in such a horrifying ordeal. An act made all the more horrifying by its perpetrator, a young man of just 18. Yet this is not an isolated incident, in April 32 were killed at Virginia Tech not to mention other teen sprees.
What would lead young men to such acts of violence? What would leave them feeling so bereft of hope and to place so little value on life?

The tragedy that has unfolded in Finland reminds us of the worlds needs seen in individuals who are hurting and bereft of hope. It reminds us that the local church is the hope of world because it is God’s mean of calling people to experience his grace. It also confronts us with the awful consequences of leaving God out of life.

Barriers to evangelism

What are the barriers to evangelism? What is it that stops me from sharing the news that Jesus came to seek and save the lost?

I guess that with our friends and family most often it is fear of rejection, or fear of being thought fundamentalist (the new f-word). But what about with everyone else? What is it that stops me sharing the gospel with every one else. I wonder if it is prejudice or self righteousness.

I guess we'd all like to think we're not self-righteous but society conditions us to think we are better than others, we are subtly taught it from the cradle and it is reinforced until the grave. We may like to think we are too sophisticated to live in tribes but in reality we just have tribes with different labels. There are the big tribes based on socio-economic status, background, education, or where we live. But then within them there's the sporty sub-tribe, or the gardening sub-tribe and so on.

The danger is that we never cross into other sub-tribes let alone tribes to share the gospel. But the gospel leaves me no room for such divisions, just read Ephesians 2 where Paul says the gospel overturns the biggest social division of his day, Jew and Gentile.

The big danger with tribes is that it leads to self-righteousness and the danger is that we don't take the gospel to certain groups of people. Yet the Bible makes very clear that the gospel is not just for the religious or the middle class. So why so often is that where my and the churches evangelistic efforts are targeted?

I need to keep revisiting Luke 5:27-31 where we see Jesus eating with Levi, the good religious church goers of Jesus day are shocked "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" How does Jesus reply "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." We need to remember that and think about who the tax collectors and sinners are in our area that we need to reach and about how will we reach them? If Jesus says the gospel is for them dare I do any less than take it to them?

Another thing that will stop us is fear of what others will say, that we'll be misunderstood. Again reading Luke is helpful, in Luke 7:33-35 we see that Jesus was misunderstood as he spent time with sinners, as was John the Baptist before him. Yet both were driven by the need to reach the lost with the gospel, despite popular opinion.

What risks with the gospel does my self righteousness and fear of others opinions stop me taking?