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SUNDAY MORNING from the pastor July 13, 2003 It is a bright a sparkling morning, dominated by sunshine and morning dew. Orange and yellow lilies are splashed all against the house these days. And at a few minutes before 7 this morning, nature already seems beyond the peacefulness of the night and into the busyness of the day. We have an important church council meeting this evening at 7:30 and I hope that all council members and any other interested persons will make an effort to attend. We will be talking about Grace Church and evangelism. Let me share a little background about this meeting. A couple months ago, 30 active people from this church filled out a survey to help us measure the strengths and weaknesses of our congregation. We critiqued ourselves in eight areas: worship, leadership, volunteers, small groups, spirituality, evangelism, administrative structure, and caring relationships. Our maximum score was for our small groups. Our minimum score was evangelism--more specifically, need oriented evangelism. There have been thousands of churches which have taken this survey, and each one has a maximum and minimum score. Churches are encouraged to spend the year working on their minimum score, take the test again, and then spend the next year working on the new (or returning) minimum score. So--what is "need-oriented evangelism," and why did we score so low on it? The word "evangelism" literally means, "good news." NEED ORIENTED evangelism is the good news that is relevant to the needs happening in people's lives. A church that scores high in "need oriented evangelism" has four qualities. First, it is a church that is in touch with the needs of people (including those not connected with any church). Second, it is in touch with God and the gifts God offers people in need. Third, it is aware of the importance of the church for bridging the needs of people and the gifts of God. And fourth, it is a church that is intentional about developing and executing programs that will connect people with the church--which will connect them with God--who will bless them at their points of personal need. Unfortunately, evangelism has often taken on a negative connotation with people. We may think of scandalous "T V evangelists." Or we may think of people who self-righteously peddle their brand of religion on others. Or we may think of someone who rudely brings up a "private matter." We also sometimes think of evangelism as one more effort on the part of the institutional church to "get something out of people." Whatever the reasons for our low score, evangelism is critical to the integrity and health of the church. Without it, we are not much more than a country club or another organization that places demands on people's time and money. So join us tonight as we examine this topic, as we talk about the future of Grace Church, and as we seek God's plan for us in that pivotal role of the church: bridging God's grace and people's current needs. --Mike |
