Author: Ken Lytle
Why do you go to church on a weekly basis? Do you think Sabbath School class, worship service, and fellowship meal is church? Or is there something more to the word, church?
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen – Matthew 28:18-20.
Everything in church… about church… for church… is to be centered around seeking and saving lost souls for the eternal kingdom. If any part of church is not about mission, then it must be cancelled or revised. For example: Sabbath School is not only for the church members. This educational time in church must always be visitor-friendly and should include an outreach element. This is the perfect time to conduct discipleship and growth classes.
When is comes to church, we need to make sure church is interesting and exciting. This does not mean we have to water down the message or use worldly methods in the worship service, it just means what it says. If the church members are excited about the Sabbath School classes, worship service, growth and life groups, and outreach projects, they will then share that excitement with others in the community.
Every church must have a simple and clear mission statement that is advertised weekly in the bulletin and from the pulpit. Church members should have it memorized and be willing to share it with their co-workers and neighbors. A simple and clear mission statement gives the church purpose and missional direction.
My Personal Dilemma
Why do I go to church? I do not know!!! All of my local churches are mission-less and lack true leadership. On top of that, the local conference does not hold the churches accountable to the mission God has given us. People tell me to just get involved and go do outreach……… but why? If the local church does not have a discipleship program in place to mentor the new members and help them find their place in active ministry, then why set them up for failure? Why waste my precious time doing outreach and ministry if there is no healthy church to plug them into? Is my attitude healthy and correct? Probably not, but what should I do?
I believe in the Adventist Church and it’s message, but struggle with the fact that most of our churches are dysfunctional when it comes to methodology (discipleship, mentoring, outreach, and evangelism). We have clear teachings in the Word of God and Spirit of Prophecy on how to do church, outreach, and evangelism, but we just do not do it and our leaders sit on the sidelines twiddling their thumbs.
What is the answer?
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (church) – 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Change should begin in the local conferences (if not the GC on down). Local churches need to be given a ministry blueprint for missional success. This would create unity among our churches around the world. Churches could personalize the blueprint, but should be held accountable to the blueprints basics.
Every church should be visitor-friendly, family-focused, spiritually-balanced, and mission-driven.
Churches must have annual friendship and traditional evangelistic goals. To help facilitate this, every church should have discipleship and training programs in place. To make sure we are relevant to the people we are trying to reach out to, churches should be encouraged to have modern and uplifting weekly church services that members and visitors can get excited about.
The only way we are going to bring about the changes needed, is to change everything at once with a simple and clear ministry blueprint that impacts every part of church. We cannot make little changes here and there, hoping and praying things will slowly get better. No!!! We need leaders who are willing to step up and speak up when it comes to the mission God has given us in these last days.
These changes will give our church members purpose and a real reason to be in church on a weekly basis. What will you do to help bring about change? What will you do to make your local church missional and purposeful? What will you do?
Roger Metzger
February 20, 2016
Question 1.
I don’t.
Questions 2 & 3.
“Church” isn’t Sabbath School class, worship service and fellowship meal. Believers ARE the church.
Christians are focused on seeking lost souls for the eternal kingdom. Saving them is God’s work, not ours. (And we might add that some Christians are more focused than others.)
Is Sabbath School only for church members?
If by, “church members” you mean members of our denomination, the answer is that it shouldn’t be but, in many congregations, members are so accustomed to using “in-house” language, visitors can hardly help but get that impression.
Church services that aren’t “interesting” are certainly of little value to anyone but I think maybe “exciting” might not be exactly what is needed.
I’ve encountered the phrase, “water down the message” before. But what is “the message”? Is it an addition (or additions) to the basic principles of the protestant reformation? Or is it an alternative to protestantism? There are many members of our denomination on each side of that question. Until at least the members of a local congregation come to some agreement about that, they are working at cross-purposes.
The reason there is a multiplicity of Christian denominations is that the Lord has called some Christians to one or more emphases and other Christians to other emphases among the many truths about himself. When we see our roles as mutually beneficial, the entire Christian church is benefited.
What is true of denominations is also true of Christians within a given denomination. I don’t pretend to think that the Lord has called you to exactly the same emphasis or emphases as those to which he has called me. One problem with asking members of a local congregation (or a conference) to adopt a mission statement is that there are many Bible texts that could be employed for that purpose. To ask people to vote on a mission statement is to ask them to decide that certain of those texts or certain biblical concepts is/are more important than others.
Christians ARE the church. Neither the church building nor any organization of the church IS the church. Therefore, Christians don’t “go to church”. We attend worship services (or sabbath services or Sunday services). Referring to “going to church” encourages the notion that we are merely adherents of religious systems.
I’m afraid I must respectfully disagree with your statement about conferences holding local congregations accountable. It is appropriate for conference officers to serve both the pastors and the laity. It is not appropriate for conference officers to tell the laity what to believe or what to do or not do. (In situations where neither the local elders nor the pastor has any calling from the Lord, however, it may be appropriate for the conference officers to make suggestions.)
It might help you to realize that church growth is not merely numbers of people who join a given denomination. Church growth is about how people in a given geographical area are growing spiritually–how they are learning to trust the Lord. That may fly in the face of what you are calling, “traditional evangelistic goals”, but it is the reality.
My wife and I recently moved from one state to another (U.S.). We will continue to do what we have done in the past–encourage people to trust the Lord.
But you also asked what you should do.
Do you currently hold an elected office in your local congregation? If so, do your best to SERVE the other members by helping them with whatever the Lord is calling them to do. If only some of them have a personal calling, encourage the others to help those who have a calling. I would be very surprised to find that you are the only person in your congregation who has such a calling. Maybe you should ask people what they have done in the past and if they don’t have an answer, ask them what they have seen others doing that they think might have been effective in encouraging people to trust the Lord. If you don’t think any of them have a personal calling, tell them, one family at a time, about what you think the Lord is calling you to do and ask them to help you with that.
The only “programs” that work (local or conference) are those that start out with local members working together. Unfortunately, by the time a conference tries to replicate it elsewhere, something usually “gets lost in the translation”. My suggestion is to allow such cooperation to “catch on” spontaneously, i.e. don’t be in too big a hurry to get other people to do what you are doing in exactly the way you are doing it.
Our denominational organization isn’t necessary. It can be VERY helpful but it isn’t necessary. The advent movement grew and prospered before there was any denominational organization and it will continue to do so when there isn’t any anymore–not necessarily in numbers of people who call themselves Seventh-day Adventists but in terms of numbers of people who are learning to trust the Lord.