In This Issue:
Where Are You?
Overheard
Where Are You?
One of our sons is a student at Florida State University. He leads a large campus ministry, attends all of the football games, maintains an active schedule . . . and is a good student set to graduate early. You likely heard of the shooting which recently happened on campus. Several of the students in the campus ministry he leads were in the library where the shootings took place. Like many, he was up through the night listening to news reports and checking in with friends. He opened up the campus ministry building in the morning and offered a safe place to relax and be with other students. Footage appeared later that day on the local TV station’s website showing hundreds of students gathered outside and our son and his pastor standing in the middle of them leading the group in prayer. I do not share all of this simply to say how proud we are of our son (although we are) but, instead, to raise an issue for churches to consider.
Where are we when disaster hits? There are about 1000 home fires in the US every day. There are 27,000 vehicle accidents every day with about 100 people dying in them. There are over 2,000 divorces every day. Every community is filled with hurting people who are experiencing pain and loss from violence, illness and natural disaster.
It is no longer good enough to say “hurting people are welcome to come to church”. We need to engage them before they come to church. Our members and attendees need to keep their eyes and ears open for those in need. We can partner with organizations which respond to these disasters and reach out to those affected. We can start and run recovery groups. We can provide for short-term physical needs in order to earn the opportunity to share about meeting eternal spiritual needs.
Most growing churches are moving beyond just “taking care of our own”. Instead they are viewing their community as “our own”. City Church (Tallahassee) is an example of this. Their vision is simple “For the Gospel. For the City.” How is your church showing that it is both “for the Gospel” and “for the city”?
Overheard
I heard a pastor recently say the following (paraphrased):
“I do not stand up here very often and ask you to give to church. I am standing here asking you to consider giving to this mission project which its director has spoken about this morning (a great ministry to children and their families in South Africa). We take giving very seriously. We vet the missions we support carefully. We have done research and this one is among the best that is out there. We support it from the missions budget of the church and I am asking you to consider making a special gift to help them as well.”
This was better than showing the stereotypical “missionary slide show” and making an emotional appeal for giving. This was more personal than asking the congregation to support “a program of the denomination”. The pastor helped people feel comfortable giving to an organization with which they were not familiar. It demonstrated the commitment of the church to good stewardship and helped people have confidence that their investment would be used well. How does your church help people feel good about their giving and the tangible results it produces?
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