Archives for August 2013

Scott Clark writes:

… well-meaning religious people have often been pests about their faith. The truth is, religious people have often adopted sub-Christian ways of trying to communicate the faith to others.

[READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE]

1 September 2013 — 10 AM Worship

1 September 2013 — 3 PM Worship

I recently read an interesting article entitled Eight Confessions of Church Spies. Churches can hire a consulting outfit to send “spies” (like “mystery shoppers”) to evaluate and critique them. It’s thought provoking article and a helpful reminder that we need to put ourselves in the shoes of visitors and be considerate of showing them the Lord’s hospitality. In a nutshell, the 8 confessions were:

1. Church websites are often outdated, boring … and useless.

2. Churches are not friendly.

3. Church facilities are not generally marked well.

4. Churches aren’t prepared for guests.

5. Churches are poorly equipped for protecting children.

6. Worship through music often needs improvement.

7. Preaching is often weak.

8. Churches are not always clear in “what to do” in response to worship.

I think #2 is especially where a congregation like ours can easily deceive itself. We love one another; we enjoy fellowshipping with each other; we each have friends in the church. But if a person is a visitor, especially if he or she is a bit shy about inserting himself or herself into a conversation, such friendliness may be perceived as hard-to-break-into cliquishness. It may not be intended that way, but it can feel like unfriendliness to outsiders. I believe that our Lord would have his redeemed children take the initiative to welcome newcomers and introduce them to others. So put your antennae up every Lord’s Day; keep a sharp lookout for visitors; consider how you might serve them and make them feel welcome; and mean it. Or, in other words, love your neighbour as yourself.

J.I. Packer writes:

The Holy Spirit’s distinctive new covenant role, then, is to fulfil what we may call a floodlight ministry in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. So far as this role was concerned, the Spirit “was not yet” (John 7:39, literal Greek) while Jesus was on earth; only when the Father had glorified him (see John 17:1, 5) could the Spirit’s work of making men aware of Jesus’ glory begin.

I remember walking to a church one winter evening to preach on the words “he shall glorify me,” seeing the building floodlit as I turned a corner, and realizing that this was exactly the illustration my message needed.

When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are so placed that you do not see them; you are not in fact supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained. The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it would not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you see it properly. This perfectly illustrates the Spirit’s new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Saviour.

Or think of it this way. It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us.

The Spirit’s message is never,

“Look at me;
listen to me;
come to me;
get to know me,”

but always

“Look at him, and see his glory;
listen to him, and hear his word;
go to him, and have life;
get to know him, and taste his gift of joy and peace.”

~ from Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God

The “Christian Curmudgeon” writes:

The church is too often a place where we “play pretend”, because we dare not do otherwise. [KEEP READING]