Dead or Alive?

I recently read an article at ChurchCentral.com in which Bill Easum, a church growth consultant, identified the signs of spiritually dead churches and those which are alive.

According to Easum, spiritually-dead churches:

1. Have lost their sense of mission to those who have not heard about Jesus Christ and do not pant after the Great Commission;
2. Exist primarily to provide fellowship for the "members of the club;"
3. Expect their pastors to focus primarily on ministering to the members' personal spiritual needs;
4. Design ministry to meet the needs of their members;
5. Have no idea about the needs of the "stranger outside the gates;"
6. Are focused more on the past than the future;
7. Often experience major forms of conflict;
8. And watch the bottom line of the financial statement more than the number of confessions of faith.

On the other hand, in a spiritually alive church:

1. The church turns outward in its focus.
2. Jesus, not the institution, will become the object of our affection.
3. The Great Commission will become our mandate, and we will measure everything we do by how many new converts we make rather than whether we have a black bottom line.
4. Membership in the Kingdom will replace membership in the church.
5. Pastors will cease being chaplains of pastoral care and will become modern-day apostles of Jesus Christ.
6. And those who try to control the church with an iron fist or intimidate the church at every turn of the road will be shown the door.

To read more, click here.

Disturbing!

A prayer from Sir Francis Drake, the 16th century English sailor:

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars.

We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to push in the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."

Making Decisions by Hearing God

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, June 18 2008

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God speaks to his children in many varied ways. God has said that his ways are not our ways. If left to our reasoning, we will fail to fully walk in the full counsel of God, which leads to poor decisions.

Thus, our goal is to avoid being deceived and to develop a listening ear that hears the voice of God with confidence. Our goal is to have such intimacy with God that we can walk in the full blessing of our decisions and to be assured they are not based on our own reasoning alone. This does not mean that we do not use the intellectual and logical skills that He has equipped us with.

A.W. Tozer said that the man or woman who is wholly and joyously surrendered to Christ can't make a wrong choice - any choice will be the right one. J. Oswald Sanders explains his method of receiving guidance from God for decisions; "I try to gather all the information and all the facts that are involved in a decision, and then weigh them up and pray over them in the Lord's presence, and trust the Holy Spirit to sway my mind in the direction of God's will. And God generally guides by presenting reasons to my mind for acting in a certain way."

The apostle Paul said, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). God has equipped us with everything we need to make good decisions. Hearing His voice is the first step toward making right choices in life.

Do you have a decision to make? Submit that decision to the Lord, ask God for clarity. Ask Him to make the desires of your heart the same desires that He has for you in this matter. Await His perfect timing on the matter. Then you can be assured of making the right decisions.

Who is My Neighbor?

During June and July, the pastor is encouraging each of us to use our home as a tool to be a good neighbor. Here are some suggestions as to how you can act "neighborly."

1. Green Street's Family Picnic (June 22, 3:30-5:30 p.m.)
2. Green Street's Night at the Ballpark (July 20, 5:00 p.m.)
   
3. Prayer walk your neighborhood.
4. Neighborhood Family Cookout.
5. Connection Class Fellowship.
6. Random Acts of Kindness to a Neighbor.

The Pastor would love to hear your story. Email and tell him your experiences of acting neighboring to pastorsoffice@greenstreet.org.