Bravely Onward!

  One of the things that happens when we follow Christ is that our worldview becomes different from those around us. As we study His Word, our perspective aligns with the Lord's. Our affections and interests change. A lot of the time this creates distance between us and our families. It can cause our friends who do not follow Christ to reject or even mock us! Jesus taught us that people would reject us because of Him (John 15:18-25). Sometimes being a Christian can be a lonely road. This is one of the big reasons for the local church. Church members share a common view of Scripture and have a shared belief that Jesus Christ is Lord. We come to realize just how important it is to be with people who share our most treasured beliefs, who see the world with a similar world-view.  The Bible uses the term fellowship  to describe this affinity and friendship between fellow church members. Though Christians may not share the same DNA or background, there is a kindred spirit ...

 Last week my family read a fictional story about children who visited a palace in ancient Egypt. The children were stunned by the wealth and magnitude of the home. Seeing the luxury that the wealthy Egyptians enjoyed, they asked one another, "Would you wish that you could live here in such extravagance?" One of the children replied, "Not at all." The others were surprised at the response and asked, "Why not?" The child who answered spoke up and said, "Have you seen the sad faces of the Egyptian children? They have everything in the world, but it's still not enough. They never lift a finger. Only servants tend to their clothing and belongings. The servants cook all their meals. The children look bored and dissatisfied."  Christians today can suffer in the same way as these Egyptian children. Many Christians see their faith as a religion where God exists to give them what they want. They see the church as a place to go to receive goods and ser...

Imagine this: Crisis strikes your family. You are unsure how things will turn out, but one thing you do know is that you need the Lord's help. Who do you call for prayer? For some, this may be an easy question. For others, this question draws a blank because you don't have a lot of praying friends or family.  This scenario is one of the reasons why it is so important for you to be engaged in a growth group. Growth groups provide an opportunity for Christian community, and this involves praying for one another. You will know if you are in a good group if the members take prayer seriously and regularly and fervently pray for one other (and not just during emergencies). Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is expressing faith. When we pray for each other, we are talking to God for one another. E.M. Bounds says, " Talking to men  for  God  is a great thing, but  talking to God  for  men  is greater still."  When we pray for one another, we show we ...

Growth is difficult work! This is true if you are trying to learn a new skill, become an expert about some topic, or get in shape. It is very hard to overcome the status quo and rise to new levels. We face tremendous resistance to personal growth because of our comfort. For this reason, many of us fall short in our desires to grow. We are more likely to grow in something if we have accountability built into the process. This is the reason why schools reward grades for performance on assignments. GPA is a great motivator and it helps students to learn. There is a reason why Weight Watchers  works for so many people. Weekly weigh-ins are a part of the program and they compel participants to exchange their comfortable eating habits for ones which support health and wellness. Caring and non-judgmental accountability is an important ingredient for growth. Accountability is also necessary if we want to grow spiritual as Christians. You could argue that this is one of the primary reasons ...

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is Acts 9:26-30. In it, the apostle Paul is a young believer, having been miraculously converted on the road to Damascus. One problem Paul ran into as a new Christian was that the Christians in Damascus were afraid of him. The reason is obvious, he had been hunting down Christians until his sudden conversion to Christ. Believers were hesitant to believe he was really a changed man. His conversion could have been a trick to lure them out of hiding. When Paul came to Jerusalem to join with the disciples, he ran into the same problem. The Christians did not believe he was a changed man. Paul was stuck. Yet, God brought a person into his life to help him past the obstacles he faced. Barnabas was a generous and godly believer from Cyprus who was well respected in the Jerusalem church. God led him to advocate for Paul.  Barnabas took Paul under his wing, encouraged him in his young faith, and lent him credibility. Ultimately, Barn...

So when we think about small groups, we usually think Bible study first. This is appropriate. In fact, for years people have called small groups Sunday School . A lot of churches simply refer to them as Bible study .  School and study imply learning. In small groups, we learn about the Bible. For those of us who have grown up in church, we would expect that studying a passage of Scripture should be the primary purpose of a small group.  Small groups are the best place to learn to know the Word of God. Most likely you will grow more in your knowledge of the Bible in small groups than you will by only attending the worship service. The reasons for this are that small groups allow more time for digging into passages for meaning and they allow for questions and discussion. Consider that when Jesus taught the crowds about the parable of the sower, the disciples understood it only after they were able to ask Jesus questions in a small group format (Mark 4:1-20). Another benefit of s...

When I pastored in Colorado, I remember visiting one of the families in our church.  The wife and children were very involved on Sundays and throughout the week. On Sunday mornings, they came early to be a part of Sunday school classes (this was our small group ministry). Then they stayed for the worship service.  The husband, however, never participated with the small group ministry. He never was a part of a Sunday school class. Rather, he came later and joined the family in the large-group worship service. While I was at their home, I asked him, "Have you ever thought of joining a small group?" I'll never forget his response. He said, "No, I'm just not a Sunday School guy."  In the years since this visit and the husband's response, I've met countless people who think that small groups are unnecessary in their Christian lives. I've always been baffled by this. The reason is that the New Testament demonstrates that small groups were clearly and r...

At the Southern Baptist Convention last month, the Executive Committee (EC) presented to the messengers Vision 2025 for adoption. This vision statement articulated five critical steps which Southern Baptist congregations must focus on over the next four years if we want to reverse the present decline in baptisms and membership in our churches. The fourth step listed read, to "turn around our ongoing decline in reaching, baptizing, and discipling 12 to 17-year-olds in the prime of their teenage years."  The reason why the EC listed this item is that our churches have seen a decades-long slide in youth baptisms. In recent years, we are not seeing as many students saved and discipled. Specifically, baptisms in this age group have decreased 38% since 2000. If someone were looking for a major reason why Southern Baptist total membership has dropped from over 16 million to just over 14 million in just 10 years, the best reason to suggest is that we are not winning our children to ...