I don’t know about you but it seems to me that every day I hear yet another news story that tells about something else each of us must do in order to remain physically healthy. I mean-not only are we told to exercise and eat right and get enough sleep…In addition to that there’s always some new vitamin discovered that they say we need to take or some new kind of tea they say we need to drink.This week I heard a news story that told of Dutch researchers who have proven that being overweight shortens our life span. They even figured out how much you shorten your days for every pound you are overweight. I also read about doctors who say there are HEALTH benefits to be obtained from the saliva of a vampire bat and about others who say it benefits our hearts if we drink one glass of wine a day.
Now-mankind does all these expensive research studies-and we pay attention to their findings because everyone wants to follow Mr. Spok’s advice. I mean, we all want to LIVE LONG and prosper-so PHYSICAL health is something we’re all interested in.
Well-what about CHURCH health? I mean, what do you think it takes to preserve the wholeness and vitality of a local CHURCH-like ours here at Redland? In his newest book, Courageous Leadership, Bill Hybels, addresses this issue. In fact he answers this question by first reviewing several of the things that many people over the years have said are in fact KEYS to a church’s health.(1) First of all he points out that many pastors and church leaders have said that the secret to church growth and vitality is LOCATION.
And location IS important. Our seminary church was land-locked with no visibility and no room for growth so they sold their facility and moved out on the beltway. Since then they have grown significantly. But LOCATION obviously isn’t everything because there are churches that have grown in some very unlikely places. This summer we worshiped in Kenya at the Nairobi Chapel-a church with a terrible location situated on a back street of that impoverished city-a place where unemployment and AIDS is rampant…yet the church is healthy and strong and growing. Their members fill each of the church’s SEVEN services and have a paid staff that supervises numerous vital ministries. In fact this church has committed to starting 300 new churches in the next 20 years and are already seeing that goal come to fruition. And there are other growing, healthy churches like this all around the world that have very poor locations, so, contrary to what some people might think, LOCATION isn’t everything.
2. Other church growth experts say the key to church health is DENOMINATION.
But if we step back and look at churches across denominational bounds we see this is not always true either. I mean no single evangelical denomination seems to have the corner on growth. Even here in the D. C. area-where Christians attend a very diverse group of churches, we see phenomenal growth and health in all kinds of congregations: Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Independent-name the denomination and I’ll show you a growing group of believers working to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission. So-denomination isn’t the key to church health.
3. Some have said PREACHING is what makes a church strong.
And that’s easy to believe because all we have to do is turn on our TV’s and we will see that several preaching-centered churches DO in fact attract LARGE crowds. But if we looked closer I think we’d find that the impact these churches have on their communities is often negligible. You see, a church that FOCUSES only on good preaching may pack the pews on any given Sunday but are usually empty and lifeless during the rest of the week. Hybels writes, “Sermon junkies tend to STAY in their comfortable pews, growing ever MORE knowledgeable while becoming ever LESS involved in the surrounding community…the [church] body is being fed and satisfied in a corporate teaching setting, but that’s about all that’s happening.” Well, Hybels is right. The fact is good teaching and preaching are important but ALONE they do not insure church vitality.
4. And then, some pastors teach that the key to a church’s health is FACILITY.
Now having a well-equipped, attractive, worshipful facility is a WONDERFUL thing. But if we were to step back and look at the churches that make up the Kingdom of God, we’d see that there are growing, vital bodies of believers meeting in very unsatisfactory facilities: places like: barns and theaters, hotels and double-wide trailers-in fact growing, healthy groups of Christians meet in every imaginable kind of inadequate facility, so facility isn’t the key. Well if the secret to a church’s health is not location or denomination or preaching or facility, what is it?
4. I would agree with Hybels and several other church leaders who say that the MAIN contributing factor to church health and growth-is a God-given VISION.
And this goes along with our text from Proverbs which says, “Where there is no VISION, the people perish.” Or as one paraphrase puts it, “Where there is no VISION, the people are unrestrained…they can’t focus, can’t reach their goal, can’t follow their dream-they can’t be HEALTHY.”
Now, if you are skeptical about this, let’s do a little review of history so that we can see the POWER vision can have when it comes to motivating groups of people. In 1774 a man named JOHN ADAMS boldly declared his vision of a new nation, a UNION of 13 states independent from the parliament and the King of England. The people of America caught that vision and worked to bring it to fruition and because they did, against great odds, his words became true.
Within two years of his prophetic proclamation, the United States of America was born.
In 1789 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE stood before the British Parliament and eloquently cried out for the day when men, women and children would no longer be bought and sold like farm animals. Each year for the next 18 years his bill was defeated, but he continued his tireless campaign against slavery. And finally in 1833-just four days before his death-Parliament passed a bill completely abolishing slavery in the British Empire.
In the 1940’s a young evangelist named Billy Graham had a radical dream. He and a few college buddies envisioned packed stadiums where people far from God could hear the proclamation of the gospel. Well, as of this year 210 million people have heard Billy Graham preach live, while over ONE BILLION have heard him present the gospel via television and radio.
And who can forget 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. and shared the vision of a world without prejudice, hatred, or racism. Do you remember his words?
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Although Dr. King was cruelly assassinated, his dream still lives on-his passion still guides our nation as racial barriers fall-though many times they don’t fall as quickly as we would like.
So the obvious fact is that VISION is indeed an incredibly POWERFUL motivational force. Hybels writes, “Vision is the fuel that leaders run on…It’s the energy that creates action…It’s the fire that ignites the passion of people…It’s the clear call that sustains focused effort year after year, decade after decade, as people offer consistent and sacrificial service to God.”
Now-Hybels has come up with what I think is a good definition of VISION. “VISION is…a picture of the future that produces passion.” And, this morning, I’d like to give you all a PICTURE of Redland’s future-specifically of the next twelve months…in the hopes that it will produce PASSION in each of our hearts-passion to be all that God has called our church to be in the coming year. These things I will be sharing are the results of not only my prayers and study-but also that of our church council as we met on our annual planning retreat last fall.
Now we review our God-given VISION once a month so you should know it by heart. What has God called us to be? “A grace-driven church for a grace-needing world.” We take this vision from 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 where it says, “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.”
Years ago we took the word “grace” and made it into an acronym to help us remember the five purposes God has given us as a church. And this morning I want to frame our vision for the next twelve months according to those five purposes: Worship, Outreach, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Ministry, in the hopes that we will all get a PASSION to do everything God’s GRACE drives us to do in the coming year. Okay, do you remember the first part of the acronym? What does the “G” in grace stand for? If you need to, look at the back of your bulletin.
1. GROW in the Love of Christ-which refers to: DISCIPLESHIP
Now the best-organized discipleship program we have here at Redland is Sunday School but I want to be honest with you. As your pastor I’m concerned about our Sunday School. You see, in 1997 and 1998 and 1999 and 2000 and 2001-the past five years-we saw our Sunday School attendance continually grow. But in 2002 we’ve seemed to reached a plateau-because growth has leveled out.
At the same time I’ve noticed that attendance at worship is up-we hit at 400 or better most weeks while SS attendance averages about 325. And that’s not good. You see, if we are to be HEALTHY here at Redland-if we are to grow in Christlikeness-we can’t make the mistake many churches are these days and focus ALL our efforts on worship. Our church requires more than corporate worship to be healthy-we also need to study the Bible together in small group settings-and the best place to do that is in SUNDAY SCHOOL.
The truth is we live in a sick society-a fallen world where moral standards are quickly becoming a thing of the past. And the best way to protect ourselves from being polluted with the world’s way of thinking is to CLEANSE and renew our minds by studying God’s Word-the Bible. When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus he used this analogy by saying: “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, CLEANSING her by the washing of the water through THE WORD, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
Studying the Bible and applying it’s truth to our lives has this effect on us. It cleans our minds so that we think clearly-so that we see things as they really are. I mean, think how healthy a church would be if it’s members had their minds cleansed of all the worldly debris that blocks their best intentions. Imagine a group of Christians, who every time they encountered a person who was treating them unfairly, their first thought would be to pray for them. Imagine how strong our church would be if every time we were challenged or anxious, our first response would be to turn to God for strength. Imagine the peace-keeping potential of a group of believers who genuinely learned to love their “enemies.” This is what it means to have minds that are “washed by the water of THE WORD.” This is why it is so important for us to “let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.” And this is why a growing SS is vital if Redland is to remain healthy and strong.
Well I want you to know that one of our goals this year is to turn things around and get our Sunday School growing again. Al Uy, our Sunday School Director, and I will be working together to do all we can to make this happen. We may change curriculum-we may even change the name of our Sunday Morning Bible Study hour but we are going to get Sunday School growing again. So, if you’re not coming to Sunday School, START! We have excellent teachers, gifted by the Spirit of God who provide wonderful Bible Study each and every Sunday. And if you’re in a class that has grown too large-consider starting a new class so that more people can have the benefit of studying God’s Word in a small group setting.
But Sunday School is not the only way we grow spiritually here at Redland so this year we are going to provide several other discipleship opportunities as well.
One of the things that I am most excited about involves our taking groups of Redlanders to attend the C. S. Lewis Institutes that are held in our area. Several of us have started going to them in the past year and have found them to be very beneficial when it comes to our individual spiritual health, and I feel led to publicize the upcoming institutes so that more Redlanders can benefit.
The institutes provide a great way for us to hear excellent teaching from Christians who are well-known around the world for their spiritual maturity. In 2003 the institutes will feature people like Richard Foster and Dallas Willard and Alister McGrath and Chuck Colson and Ravi Zacharias. They are held Friday evenings and Saturday mornings and cost about $45 per person and I encourage you to stay tuned to the SOWER as we let you know about how to register, etc. By the way if $45 is too steep for your budget let me know and we’ll find the money for you to attend.
Another discipleship event we’re offering this year is a basic Marriage Enrichment Retreat.
Sue and I thoroughly enjoyed the one we led last year and so we’re repeating it for couples who weren’t able to attend. We’ll head back up to the Manor House in Gettysburg May 30-June 1 and we have room for 10 more couples. Remember, these events are not for husbands and wives with major marital problems. They are designed for spouses who have good marriages but who love each other so much they want to enrich their relationship even more.
Our burgeoning men’s ministry is also going to be trying some new discipleship things in 2003.
We’re continuing our Saturday breakfasts once a month but are adding a weekly pre-rush-hour prayer time every Friday at 6AM at Perkins family restaurant in the Rio.
And then this fall we plan on hosting a church-wide retreat. If you remember-we tried this last fall but had such a poor sign-up that we had to cancel. Talking to people has made me come to the conclusion that the problem may have been that we scheduled it too close to the summer so this fall it’s the first week of November. We’ll also get the cost affordable for more people by making it a one night event: running from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. I’m still working on a speaker but this retreat will be held at SKYCROFT. There will be programming for children and youth as well as adults. In other words we’re planning a CHURCH-WIDE retreat and I hope several families will plan to attend.
Okay, that’s all the time we have for discipleship. Let’s move on in our vision casting. What does the “R” in our GRACE acronym stand for?
2. REACH in the name of Christ-which refers to EVANGELISM.
Now, this is another area of our church that concerns me at the moment. This past year Redland has continued to grow numerically as Christians who are new to our area followed God’s leading and walked the aisle joined our church. But the number of professions of faith is down in comparison to past years, so the fact is we all MUST become more serious about personal evangelism this year.
At the retreat our church council talked about multiple FOREIGN mission trips-and we’re going to do those again this year-but we’d also like to challenge you to do a mission trip in your own community. I think we took a total of about 90 people on our trips to Kenya and Mexico and New Hampshire and Missouri last year and that’s wonderful but that leaves hundreds who couldn’t go. Well if you CAN’T GOD for one reason or another, maybe it’s because God is calling you to STAY and be on mission HERE. And there are several ways you could do that:
For example: you could sponsor a Backyard Bible School or start a Home Bible Study. Inter-Varsity Press has just published some excellent materials that are geared to a husband and wife who want to start a Bible Study in their home for people who are interested in Christianity. These studies are called GROUPS INVESTIGATING GOD. Here are some of the titles:
- Finding God-How Can we Experience God?
- Following God-What difference does God make?
- Sex-What does God have to do with it?
- Spirituality-What Does it Mean to Be Spiritual?
In a few weeks we’ll have a service in which we challenge you to go on a mission this year either here or abroad and if you commit to go on mission in your community, we’ll provide the materials and training.
On March 15th we are also sponsoring a SOCCER SKILLS CLINIC for children. We need your help in publicizing this. We’ve hired a man who is well-known for doing clinics like this-he’s someone whose name soccer coaches will recognize. And the idea is through this clinic people will hear of our church. We’ll be able to develop relationships with families who bring their kids and funnel them into graded choirs etc and perhaps lead them to the Lord.
We also plan to do some more MASS MAILERS like we did this past Christmas-including one very soon to invite our community to join us for Holy Week.
One evangelistic tool we have always needed is a QUALITY BROCHURE about our church. Well, Shelia Woofter has agreed to work with Linda Edwards and Brenda Egeland this year to produce one, so you will have something you can hand a neighbor or friend that will tell them about our church.
And…as I said, we ARE repeating last year’s multi-mission trip emphasis. Not only did those trips benefit the people we ministered to-they also benefited our church. Many, many people who visited our church last year and attended my 101 classes said they were very impressed that a congregation our size would take the Great Commission so seriously. Well, God has once again provided us with a $15,000 gift through a very generous individual that will help with the cost of these trips. At this point we are still in the planning stages as to exactly where to go. But here are some of the possibilities that our Outreach and Evangelism Committee is considering:
One potential team could go to Romania. We may go there this summer to work with Jimmy and Peggy Morse, doing construction, leading a VBS, and participating in street evangelism. I hope to send another team to Delaware in partnership with the Delaware Baptist Association as they start a new church in the Milford area-about 30 minutes south of Dover. When my dad died, in leu of flowers mom, asked that people give money in dad’s memory to new church starts-many of you gave to that fund. And they’re taking that money and using it to plant a church. I’m meeting with Jim McBride, DOM in Delaware, on January 22nd to find out how we at Redland can be involved. I’m going to try to get him to fill our pulpit March 2nd to tell us more. I hope this doesn’t sound selfish but I would love to be a part of that new church start. And I think it would be relatively easy for many of us to do that. It’s only a couple hours East of here and a family could go over and for a day of prayer walking, or to distribute flyers, or to do a religious census, or to help with a BYBC.
And then we also plan to go back to Puebla, Mexico. I’ve asked CHARLIE BRINKMAN, chairman of our Outreach and Evangelism Committee-to tell us more about that trip.
Okay, there is ONE MORE mission trip possibility in the works. We all met Paul and Jade Phan this year-residents of our furlough house and Paul has invited us to come to the Philippines to do a MEDICAL mission Trip. We could set up a temporary dental or medical clinic to minister to those families who live in the garbage dump Paul mentioned, and at the same time conduct a VBS. I’ve always felt that one reason God has sent us so many medical people here at Redland: doctors and physician assistants and nurses and dentists, is so that we could staff a trip like this.
I know nothing about this of course and so God will have to call one of you to head this up-but I think this is an opportunity where God is inviting us to join Him in His work.
Our Outreach and Evangelism Committee will finalize all these plans shortly and then in a few weeks we’ll have a special time for you to commit to being a part of one or more of these trips.
Okay…what does the “A” in grace stand for?
3. Affirm in the body of Christ-which refers to FELLOWSHIP
Now, I believe that FELLOWSHIP is probably the most important of each of these five tasks that you see listed in our acronym. For, to the outside world, the way Christians relate to one another is a “litmus test” proving whether or not we have actually experienced the grace of God. The plain truth is people are attracted to a local body of Christ whose members affirm one another. But the opposite is also true….people are repelled when this quality is painfully absent. Jesus of course knew this and so He gave us a special, vitally important commandment-one that is second only to our command to love God. Our Lord ordered us to embrace a fellowship that reflects His grace-filled love for each of us when He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another IN THE SAME WAY that I have loved you…by this all men will know that you are My disciples…” (John 15:34-35).
To help the wonderful fellowship we enjoy here at Redland to continue to be healthy we’re doing several things:
First of all, we’ll be doing a new PICTORIAL DIRECTORY this spring. Dona Kaufman and Brenda Egeland have agreed to head up this major task. We are also lowering the cost of our Wednesday Fellowship meal to make it possible for more of you to come. The adult price will stay the same-$6-but we’ve lowered the child’s meal to $3 and the family total from $20 to $16. I’d also like to encourage you all to join us for this meal. If you don’t like the food or if the price is still too steep, bring your bag supper or stop at MACS…but come and fellowship with us.
We have also decided that this year we’re not put all our “fellowship eggs” in one basket. So, in addition to the Super-bowl party and the Memorial Day and Labor Day picnics (which are often rained out) from time to time we’ll have a few SOUP POTLUCKS like last fall, immediately after the morning service. Plus-we are planning on having a continental breakfast at 8AM-just prior to our 8:30AM service.
This is also going to be a year in which we have to talk about building-how best to use this land God has given us-so I’ve asked the chair of our FUTURING COMMITTEE to come.
Okay, what does the “C” stand for?
4. CARE in the nature of Christ…which refers to MINISTRY
I love the words to this hymn, “Because I have been sheltered fed by Thy good care, I cannot see another’s lack and I not share, my glowing fire, my loaf of bread, my roof’s safe shelter overhead that he too, may be comforted. Because love has been lavished so upon me Lord, a wealth I know that was not meant for me to hoard, I shall give love to those in need, shall show that love by word and deed; thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.”
Well, as a Grace-driven church, we are well-aware that we have been given much and that because we have, we must minister to the needs of others. In addition to Deacon Benevolence and our participation in the St. Martin’s Soup Kitchen we’re doing three other types of ministry in 2003.
First off, I want us to do more with Habitat for Humanity. Last year several of us gave a Saturday or two to build the house in Poolesville…and this year in addition to working on a house I would like us to PAY at least part of the cost of a new house. Perhaps we can use some of our 2002 Budget surplus, but God has sent us Rick Edwards, head of Habitat for Humanity for our County and I think that is God’s way of inviting us to join Him.
In the next two months we will also be working with the Shady Grove Crisis Pregnancy Center to help them raise necessary funds. They’ll give us baby bottles for us to take home and fill with change and those funds will go to help this center preserve the sanctity of human life.
And this year, Steve will once again be taking our youth to minister to needy families by repairing and or building homes July 12-19 through the WORLD CHANGERS Project, in Watertown New York.
Okay, what does the “E” stand for?
5. EXALT in the glory of Christ…which refers to: WORSHIP
In his book, The Life of the Church, Lavonn Brown writes, “Worship is to the church like breathing is to the human organism; it is an absolute necessity. The church must worship to live. But it must not stop at worship. Worship provides the inspiration for everything else the church does.”
This is so true-worship is vital if we are to remain healthy as a church. It is that weekly place where we embrace God’s vision once again and are inspired to keep working to complete it. And we are going to do all we can this year to keep our understanding of worship balanced as we use it to inspire us to do all that God has called us to do as a church:
Well, do you have the PICTURE in your mind? Won’t it be wonderful to do all these things God has called us to do in 2003?! You know, I can think of no better Sunday for a Christian who is looking for a church home to attend. Because today you have heard exactly what kind of church God is calling us to be. And if after hearing all this, you feel God leading you to join us in fulfilling this vision, then we invite you to walk forward during our closing hymn and ask to move your membership here. Others of you attending this morning may not be Christians, and you are seeking purpose and meaning in life. That is only found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We invite you to make that decision this morning and to share it with us. Won’t you come as we sing?