Time

Ever had that feeling there isnt enough time? Maybe it's not quite that as much as it is the things to do keep rolling. There's time to get it done, but it seems like each day passes faster.

We had a great time with Brother Kulothungan of Maharashtra Village Ministries. Starting with the Evangelism Resources Dinner in Wilmore on Saturday night, it seems we have been doing lots of praying and singing and dreaming of how not nonly to advance missions to unreached groups in India, but how what Indian Christians know can help us in an American context that is a kind of secular Hinduism--pluralistic, syncretistic.

When I stop and think of all that we have before us to complete the mission of Jesus Christ--the Gospel will be preached in the whole world (Matthew 24:14)-- organizing children and youth ministries, preparing Christians to witness to their Lord, planting new churches... the things to do keep rolling. Tomorrow will be another full day. So praise God, the only thing to do it to take care of today!

Disturbing. Be Sure You Know What Youre Doing If You Watch This

This is a video I got from twitter. It is hands down the most graphic and violent thing I have ever seen. This is the death of a Christian in Afghanistan.

A few questions. If we believe the Gospel, Latif is our brother, his widow our sister, his children our children.

And then, what is it about the Gospel that has inspired such responses over time?

Do not click on the link if you cannot handle it. I believe that you have probably never seen anything this brutal.




Click here

Olney Lullaby, part 1

You know John Newton and William Cowper from two great hymns they wrote, "Amazing Grace" and "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood" respectively. But did you know they were close friends and wrote many, many hymns?

Newton was an Anglican priest (after his long experience as a sailor) and Cowper was a parishioner. They would meet together for prayer, and would write hymns for these meetings. Michael Hughes turned me on to this after I asked him to learn a hymn I love, "Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder." The hymns, of which "Amazing Grace" and "There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood" are a part, are called The Olney Hymns, from the village they were in.

I plan to delve into this a little more, as Michael Hughes has put music to two of the hymns, "The Lord Will Provide" and "The Good Samaritan," and the words are just too much, touching the soul.

But to the point: "Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder" has become a lullaby for Nay Nay. And it is just so sweet to see her curled up in my arms, about to go to sleep. I suppose not simply the tune, but also the words are peaceful:

"Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior's Name.
He has hushed the Law's loud thunder,
He has quenched Mt Sinai's flame."

Of course, "hush" is the point of a lullaby. but what peace to the soul! The Law's loud thunder and Mt Sinai's flame are equivalent and mean the Ten Commandments. Mostly we think of the Ten Commandments as basically good advice. But are you aware of their awesome power? They are what the New Testament means when it talks about The Law. The Bible tells us that all the Ten Commandments can do is condemn you!

Yes, they are great advice--if we would or could live them!!

As it is, when we hear that we should not make idols, we are condemned for all the idols we have made-- anything that takes the place of the Lord in our hearts. When we hear that we should not commit murder, Jesus reminds us that anger is enough--the heart is where the terrible passions that spill into open sin come from.

So the Law condemns us. It is loud thunder and powerful fire. But praise God, Jesus has taken the punishment meant for us. On the Cross, He took the Law into His own hands-- and feet, as it were. And so indeed He has hushed its loud thundering against our souls and has quenched its burning flame.

And in its place has brought us His righteousness so that where we, in the natural body and mind might desire to follow the Ten Commandments yet find that we cannot, now under the discipline and power of the Holy Spirit, we can follow the Ten Commandments by following Jesus, by trusting that He will lead us.

I think this lullaby is more for me than for Nadia.

Evangelism Tactics

You knock on doors and pass out cards during the day pretty much to NOT meet anyone. That sounds strange, but... You will meet a few people, and get to talk to them, but generally, you are looking to get out as many cards as you can, to let people know when you worship, where you are, etc. You're trying to get them to recognize the church when they see you later (because you'll go back won't you? Who goes out visiting just once!?!?) or when they hear something about an event at the church or see your people working on a Habitat House... Get the word out, savvy?

You take a stack of cards with you walking through neighborhoods of an evening for the people you will meet. This is slower but more fruitful.

As I was going out today, I noticed that Pizza joints and Chinese restaurants put stuff on people's doors. Is what they have worth more than Jesus?

I heard from a church member today that he went door-to-door for two months to get his business started.

Here's a secret: I can go out and visit and knock on doors all day long. But that won't bring as many people in as if each family in the church would pray and then invite a friend to come to worship with them. So, who will you invite to church?


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Flashback

We have to go back to about this time of year, 11 years ago. I had just arrived at my first appointment as a United Methodist pastor, at Dunaway UMC, in Clark County, KY.

It was a small church, and to be honest, I was not sure what to do! Other than that my mentor Howard Willen had instilled in me the value of visitation-- in homes, hospitals, jails, wherever. So I made a card with basic info and hit the road. I had a map of Clark County and was intent on visiting every house in my end of the county. And I I'd. Each house once, many houses twice, a few, when led by the Spirit, as many times as I felt I needed to!

But pretty quick into my time there, I kept finding that someone had been there before me: Ark of Mercy Church of God! They even left a card at the parsonage!

They had a real dynamo of a visitation person, Sister Anna. She was a spry older lady. I would tell Dunaway that I was so sick of hearing about Ark of Mercy! I wanted them to hear that Dunaway had got there first! (Now, I was not really sick of them! I admired them!)

But one day they really got me good. Sister Anna came out of a house in a hurry-- she had seen me working the other side of the road. "Brother Aaron! Come quick! There's someone in here who has accepted the Lord! You need to pray with them!"

I was rejoicing, but I was also wondering, when will the Methodists get this serious?!?!

So now here I am in Morehead, having a flashback. Two families I have seen out and about that I have invited to church tell me they already have a church, Crosspoint. I have the sinking feeling they are going to be Morehead's version of Ark of Mercy. I don't know that they have a a hard core visitation going on, but it seems that lots of folks go there.

I don't know what they do to be so successful. Don't care. I admire them for reaching people with the gospel. But rather than worry about it or imitate it, this is what I want to see: the people of Morehead UMC to simply invite friends and family and total strangers to worship. If each family-- not even each individual-- invited one person, we would not have room!

It's just that simple.

Years Of Struggle, Part 2

The reason I am not bummed by the coming crisis for the Church, the reason why others I know are not bummed, is because we have faith. Not a faith that means thinking everything is going to work out just fine. Listen to me now and hear me later, I do not expect God to pour money into our current system to keep it afloat. I fully expect that in many, many deep ways, the current system will be scrapped. And what will have power, what will have resources, is the plain work of the Gospel.

More than that, I am totally pumped when I think of what is coming. Sure, I can look at the pain that we will face, the continuing sense of shame and inadequacy clergy will feel as they watch what they have known and worked for slip away, or rather, just be ignored in the "marketplace of ideas."

But what keeps me going, what gets me excited is to know that apostolic times demand apostolic ministry. We are living in times that are more like what the apostles faced than at any time in 1800 years (speaking of Western Christianity). We live in a world that does not believe there is only one God or only one way of salvation. We live in a world of multivalent sexuality. A world of growing inequality between rich and poor. A world that does not believe in such a thing as truth. Yes, we live in a world Paul, John, James, and Peter would know all too well.

That's what excites me! Faithful Christians will get to have a ministry like the apostles did. Full of hardships and persecution, but also full of signs and wonders, the power of the Holy Spirit; full of bold ministry, marked by repentance and conversion. Becoming a Christian will be like having your eyes opened after years of blindness! And we will get to see and participate in that!

There is one coming reality, but multiple options.

Wait and see, and you're done.

Try to fix the finances, and you're done a bit more slowly.

Accommodate the culture, and Jesus will spit you out.

Or you can live and pass on what is of first importance, that Jesus died to save sinners and was resurrected on the third day. It's that simple, but we have not yet seen how powerful it is!

Years of Struggle, Part 1

This post is one of a series, maybe just two, but who knows.

There are some years of struggle ahead for churches. Many churches now don't see it-- things are going along fine. But I guarantee you, denominational leaders see it. The big question is, will we do anything about it? Will we make changes and take initiatives while we can control the outcomes, or will we have difficult measures forced on us?

The problem appears to be financial, but it is really not. It looks like we have about 10 years before there is a severe drop in giving. Most giving comes from people over 60. In some way, that is only right; their earning power is generally greater, and with kids out of the house, their income is more "disposable." But as you go down in age, not only does giving decrease, there are fewer people in each age group in church. There are not enough 50 year olds to replace the current 60 year olds. Get below 30 years of age, and you can see that if 60 year olds are our best givers, there will not be much left of the United Methodist Church in 2040. It will be a precipitous decline. But, we have been watching it happen for years. In some sense, we are in the middle of it. It looks bad, but it's not so bad yet that we feel like we have to do anything drastic to alter course. In fact, there are people starting ministry now who will be able to finish their careers without seeing too much pain of decline in their ministry. There will always be growing churches. The denomination as a whole may be croaking, but there will be exceptions, and each Annual Conference, there will be people flocking to figure out what the growing churches did. Sadly, the power of the guru will grow.

I said the problem only appears to be financial. I guess I should say that if we try to solve it financially, it will only drive us further into ruin. We may drag it out a little longer, but that's it. Sure, we will have to cut salaries, staff, buildings, programs, denominational spending, but we probably won't do any of that until we have to, and it won't be in ways we can control, ways we can downsize with an eye to be more effective. We will be forced to change, with little time to think, even though we have seen this coming for forty years...

If we look at it only financially, we will be trying to preserve the form of the institution, not the work of the Kingdom of God. We must recapture our love for the mission. We must have a zeal that compels us out of the walls of the church to find those who don't know Jesus and tell them of His great love and salvation.

If we look for new members thinking that will affect the bottom line (which it will, but watch out, that is Judas thinking), then we wont be making disciples. And if we're not making disciples, God will be done with us. He'll let us go.

But if we return to our first love, saving souls, everything will be fine. More than fine. the Holy Spirit will have His way in our churches and we will find our institutional forms lining up with His purposes. We may not have the money we want in the places we seem to want it now, but we will have the sources for the work God would have us to do. We will be "aligned" with The Lord's purposes. And then, sometime in the future, after we have again become complacent, someone will have the same problem we have, pushing against a ponderous institution that cannot clearly see, articulate or implement mission in Jesus' name.

All that said, sounding negative and pessimistic, tune in for why I (and others I know) are not discouraged, but rather are pumped up and ready to roll!


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