People Count

One of the favorite things that people like to say to church planters is, “don’t worry about numbers, just be faithful.” And one of the things that church planters like to say is “I don’t care about the numbers, I just want to be faithful.” I have planted a church from scratch and I can tell you that they are probably lying. :>)
 
Numbers tell us a lot. In Acts 2 after the Holy Spirit had descended on the early Christians and gave them the power that God had promised, Peter very courageously preached about the risen, living Christ and we are told “those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” How did they know there were three thousand? Where did that number come from? SOMEONE COUNTED THEM.
 
You count people because PEOPLE COUNT. We have done that from the very inception of Jordan Presbyterian Church. (We are actually required to report those numbers to the denomination) It is interesting. Counting doesn’t mean “all you’re interested in is numbers.” Counting is one way of evaluating the effectiveness of ministry and one thing to consider when looking at a church’s efforts and resources to see if they are well spent. But numbers aren’t, nor should they be, the driving force of ministry. The gospel is the driving force. Numbers are just one thing to consider.
 
For the past four years we have had basically the same average attendance in church. That’s not to say we haven’t grown. We actually have. What I mean specifically is that while we have had many people move away our numbers haven’t really decreased. For example a small but significant deaf congregation used to attend here and they left, but our numbers stayed the same. For a period a number of the folks at Gospel Presbyterian worshipped with us. When they left our numbers didn’t really decrease. Two years ago we had nine High School Seniors graduate and they have largely scattered but our numbers are about the same. What this means is that more and more people are coming and finding a loving, Christ-centered fellowship of believers here.
 
We have something wonderful to offer. We have Jesus. I want to personally encourage you to invite and encourage people that you know who do not already attend a Biblical church to come and find what you have found here. Jesus did not reveal Himself to you so that you could keep it secret. His whole purpose for saving sinners is so that God will get glory. So give it to Him. Tell people how great He is and tell them where you are learning about Him. One place should be your church.
 
There are a number of opportunities to invite people to this summer. VBS, a church dinner, a women’s dinner, an ice-cream social, just to name a few. Don’t evaluate these things based on whether you like chicken or ice cream or women’s events. Rather think, “Do I know someone who might enjoy this?” We do these in part to give you opportunity to invite people. Not to mention we have weekly worship and Sunday School. So I encourage you just like always, if you’re in town and not sick come to church. That’s what Christian’s do. And bring someone with you. We’ll count them because each one of them counts. Your circle of people matter to God.
 
Serving with you,
Tim

Staying Alive

I have been told that the way they teach CPR now is to do the chest compressions to the tune of the old Bee Gees song, “Staying Alive.” It works out really well. As you hum it in your head you get the rhythm and the goal all at the same time. 

The Lord Jesus has made us alive. He did this by His own resurrection. The power in Christ’s resurrection is power that makes the dead come to life. Jesus went from completely dead to completely alive. And He is “staying alive” to continue to rescue people to worship God. 

To do that, the Father and the Son have sent the Spirit who is called the life-giving Spirit. Spiritually speaking, we were completely dead and now we are completely alive. And we are “staying alive” by the same power that brought Jesus back to life. 

 “Staying alive” is the rhythm and the goal of the Christian life. It is the idea that your relationship remains vibrant and joyous encompassing all of life. The same gospel that saved you, keeps you living and thriving as a Christian.  

It is not that staying alive should be our goal as Christians. Staying alive is Christ’s goal for us. He is fully committed to you and will not settle for anything less than you flourishing as a Christian. That should give you tremendous confidence and security.  And in order to make sure you thrive, He has gifted you. 

So Christ’s goal is that you live abundantly. And to accomplish His goal He has created a rhythm to the Christian life. It is consistently, regularly, rehearsing the gospel to each other. It is giving and receiving forgiveness. It is enjoying God’s provision. It is celebrating our mutual relationship to our Father in heaven. It is working together to expand Christ’s kingdom. And it is serving one another in love. If you embrace the rhythm then the life is vibrant. If you don’t then “church” becomes boring. But that can be easily remedied. 

Christ made you alive. The Holy Spirit then gifted you to serve in a local body of Christians. Again, I encourage you to ask God, “In what ways would you like to use me?” Some of the new ideas that are coming out of our recent “Network” class are things like a more intentional mercy/outreach/serving ministry, more fully developed children’s ministry, greater strides in music ministry just to name a few. 

Where do you fit in? Pastor Jon or I would love to talk with you further about this. I just want you to understand that “staying alive” in Jesus’ idea is actively, intentionally giving yourself unreservedly to the One who made you alive in the first place. It is blooming where you are planted, embracing who God has made you to be. 

Easter is fast approaching. Jesus is alive to give life. So are you. How will you use life to give life to others in His Name.

Serving With You,
Tim

Ministry Multiplication

For those of you who participated in the Network Study, this story will be familiar, but it’s worth repeating:

Once upon a time... right after creation... all the animals got together and formed a school. They established a well-rounded curriculum of swimming, running, climbing, and flying.

The duck excelled at swimming. In fact, he was better than the instructor! But he only make passing grades in climbing and was poor in running. He was so slow, he had to stay after school to practice running. This caused his webbed feet to become so badly worn he became only average in swimming.

The rabbit was at the top of her class in running. But after a while, she developed a twitch in her leg from all the time she spent in the water trying to improve her swimming.

The squirrel was a peak performer in climbing, but was constantly frustrated in flying class. His body became so worn from all the hard landings he did not do too well in climbing and ended up being pretty poor in running.

The eagle was a continual problem student. She was constantly disciplined for being a nonconformist. In climbing class, she would always beat everyone else to the top of the tree, but insisted on using her own way to get there.

In a couple of weeks we are holding an informational meeting to talk about my and Pastor Tim’s roles at JPC. All the elders have met and we are really excited about our plan! Earlier this year many of you went through the Network study. This study had a big impact on the discussions that Tim and I had as we talked about our roles at JPC. We realized that we don’t share the same top spiritual gifts, we have different styles, but we are united in our passion. So our question was, how do we both work in the areas where we are gifted. Or, in other words, we don’t want to be like rabbits trying to fly!

We believe that when everyone is are using their spiritual gifts in a way that fits their personality, for God’s glory, our efforts will be multiplied. And we need to multiply our efforts. God has given us something good–the knowledge that the power of sin is broken and that he is restoring broken, sinful people to himself. As a church we want everyone in this valley to have the opportunity to hear this good news, and there is a lot of work left to be done. This is an effort that is too big for just one person, or even one church. But we serve a God who took a few loaves of bread and two fish and fed 5,000 people. We are excited for this journey! Are you ready to join us?

Serving with you,
Pastor Jon