I've been recovering from a running injury. I tweaked my knee in early fall, so I'm now in the process of regaining my form, feeling comfortable with my stride, and getting accustomed to the miles. It's not easy. But my greatest struggle doesn't happen at the beginning of the run. Starting out is no problem. It's near the end of a run that I struggle most. When I hit the final hill of my course today, I was physically and mentally beaten. My mind said, "Stop. It's time to walk. Take it easy. You've done enough."
As you get closer to Christmas, your mind may be crying out the same things: "You've worked hard enough. You've done plenty. It's time to lay back. It's time for YOU. Indulge. Moderate preparation will be fine. Take a break from focusing on integrity. Stop."
It's near the end of a spiritual journey that most struggles surface. You may be tempted to fizzle out just days before the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. You may be tempted to throw in the towel as you enter the second half or final quarter of your ministry. You may feel like you've put in your time as a believer and it's time for others to take over.
As the Apostle Paul entered the home stretch of his ministry and knew he would encounter ever more challenging trials, he summed up his focus this way, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:24).
Paul wasn't going to stop. It was crunch time and he was going to finish.
How did he do that? Was it because he was so well trained? Was it due to his high energy level? Was he one of those overachievers who is never behind in his e-mail?
Acts 20:28 gives the answer. Paul said, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers."
The key to living as a finisher? The Holy Spirit. Zechariah 4:6 says, "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."
In these days before Christmas you need the Spirit saturated Word of God more than ever. In the home stretches of life as a believer, you need the gifts of God in Word and Sacrament. YOU can't finish. But the Savior who died and rose again can finish for you. He is, after all, the finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2).
For inspiration, for staying power, for joy, for faithfulness, for new beginnings, for all you need to keep going, the Living Savior will bring you home. Living as a finisher means living in His Spirit and His grace.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Too Small or Too Big to Reach Out?
The mission church barely had 100 people in worship. Attendance was declining. The pastor had accepted a call and moved on. The community seemed unaware of the church's existence. Now what? How in the world could this dwindling group of people do anything?
That's when Marty, Al, and Richard--leaders in this mission congregation--decided to do something. "We've got to reach out," they said. "We'll die if we don't get outside ourselves."
So they reached out. The congregation decided to help launch a church. They dedicated 2% of their annual income, over and above their tithe to District and Synod missions, to help start Iglesia Luterana La Santisima Trinidad. It was located on the southwest side of Chicago in the "Little Village" neighborhood. Along with their offerings, they began a weekly food collection for a food pantry at the fledgling church. They organized workdays with the core group at La Santisima. They threw themselves into reaching out with time, talent, and treasure.
The result? Two churches started to grow. The focus on missions expanded in both congregations. These days Marty, Al, and Richard help lead a church that is still a mission congregation--even though worship has swelled to nearly 1000 people. The congregation is working to reach 200 nations around the world by 2020 AND is helping to launch two more new church plants. La Santisima Trinidad has sent five young men into pastoral ministry and has transformed countless lives in the city of Chicago. One of those pastors is raising up a new generation of leaders who start new churches and ministries.
Conventional wisdom would have told both of these churches that they were much too small to do anything. Conventional wisdom didn't listen to Jesus talking about mustard seeds.
I was visiting with a pastor who just returned from a meeting with church planters in Argentina. The pastor told me that when a congregation in Argentina reaches 100 in worship, they send a worker to start another church. That worker is supported for about three months until he can find a job. The worker immediately reaches into the community and starts gathering with people in Bible study. He raises up leaders. He seeks the lost. When his groups reaches 100 people in worship, guess what happens? The church has grown up! It's time to send more workers to start more churches--to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. These pastors are bi-vocational and tri-vocational. Many are strategic about their jobs so they can connect with people in the community. One delivers bread to homes so he can ask the people who live there about the bread of life. Another repairs bicycles and speaks with his customers about The Way.
If in our culture we think that small churches are too small to plant churches and big churches have too many internal ministry commitments to plant churches, how will new churches and ministries ever begin? How will the lost hear about Jesus? Who is telling us that we're too small or too big? It doesn't sound like Jesus.
Ask Marty, Al, and Richard. They'll tell you how faithful God is when you get outside yourself.
That's when Marty, Al, and Richard--leaders in this mission congregation--decided to do something. "We've got to reach out," they said. "We'll die if we don't get outside ourselves."
So they reached out. The congregation decided to help launch a church. They dedicated 2% of their annual income, over and above their tithe to District and Synod missions, to help start Iglesia Luterana La Santisima Trinidad. It was located on the southwest side of Chicago in the "Little Village" neighborhood. Along with their offerings, they began a weekly food collection for a food pantry at the fledgling church. They organized workdays with the core group at La Santisima. They threw themselves into reaching out with time, talent, and treasure.
The result? Two churches started to grow. The focus on missions expanded in both congregations. These days Marty, Al, and Richard help lead a church that is still a mission congregation--even though worship has swelled to nearly 1000 people. The congregation is working to reach 200 nations around the world by 2020 AND is helping to launch two more new church plants. La Santisima Trinidad has sent five young men into pastoral ministry and has transformed countless lives in the city of Chicago. One of those pastors is raising up a new generation of leaders who start new churches and ministries.
Conventional wisdom would have told both of these churches that they were much too small to do anything. Conventional wisdom didn't listen to Jesus talking about mustard seeds.
I was visiting with a pastor who just returned from a meeting with church planters in Argentina. The pastor told me that when a congregation in Argentina reaches 100 in worship, they send a worker to start another church. That worker is supported for about three months until he can find a job. The worker immediately reaches into the community and starts gathering with people in Bible study. He raises up leaders. He seeks the lost. When his groups reaches 100 people in worship, guess what happens? The church has grown up! It's time to send more workers to start more churches--to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. These pastors are bi-vocational and tri-vocational. Many are strategic about their jobs so they can connect with people in the community. One delivers bread to homes so he can ask the people who live there about the bread of life. Another repairs bicycles and speaks with his customers about The Way.
If in our culture we think that small churches are too small to plant churches and big churches have too many internal ministry commitments to plant churches, how will new churches and ministries ever begin? How will the lost hear about Jesus? Who is telling us that we're too small or too big? It doesn't sound like Jesus.
Ask Marty, Al, and Richard. They'll tell you how faithful God is when you get outside yourself.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
How a Gen-X Church Revolutionized an Over 80 Crowd
Hilda was nearly 100-years-old and confined to a wheelchair as a double-amputee, but she had a sparkle in her eye and the witness of Jesus on her lips. She showed me a new large-print Bible and a cute stuffed animal.
"They were gifts from my church," she said.
Wait a minute. I thought I was her church! I visited her regularly each month. We had teams of people visiting with her each week. What was this church she was talking about?
"A church in the area comes every Sunday and has worship and Bible study for all of us," Hilda continued. "We sing, hear a sermon, and even have fellowship afterward. I won the stuffed animal in a game. The pastor gave me the Bible as a gift."
The church she referred to was a newer gen-x church in the outskirts of suburban Chicago. It was a "hip" church, "cutting edge," the place to be. What were they doing in a nursing home?
Hilda told me. They were caring for many people who were otherwise forgotten. They were reaching the lost with the Good News of Jesus. They were reminding every resident of the nursing home to reach out with Christ. They were making it clear that Hilda and her friends were not alone.
Hilda couldn't get to church anymore. Now church had come to her. "Her church" was now happening in her new home. The gen-x church saw the mission field, became humble servants, and started to reach people who needed Jesus.
Hilda was a pastor's daughter. Her dad was an LC-MS preacher in rural Iowa. Hilda used to regale me with stories of life in a pastor's home in the early 1900's. In his entire career her dad didn't have a telephone. People simply stopped by the house to bring the latest news. A trip to the local hospital meant hitching up a horse to a wagon or sleigh. Her father served this congregation for his entire life--up until the moment he breathed his last breath one Advent morning as he lay beside his wife in bed. There was no Christmas tree in church that year--the first time that ever happened in history. Instead, there was a Christmas funeral.
Hilda loved her dad and loved to serve the Lord. She was an active witness for Christ every day. Her mission field was a tough one. It was a nursing home. In the midst of her own pain and loss she lifted up the name of the Savior. She reached many people. Why shouldn't she have a church nearby? Why shouldn't she be encouraged by the living Word and the power of the Cross? Why shouldn't she be able to have fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ? Why shouldn't she be united with fellow servants to reach the lost?
An area church decided to become humble and active and launch a satellite where she lived.
Is there a "Hilda" waiting for you and your church?
Next week: Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
"They were gifts from my church," she said.
Wait a minute. I thought I was her church! I visited her regularly each month. We had teams of people visiting with her each week. What was this church she was talking about?
"A church in the area comes every Sunday and has worship and Bible study for all of us," Hilda continued. "We sing, hear a sermon, and even have fellowship afterward. I won the stuffed animal in a game. The pastor gave me the Bible as a gift."
The church she referred to was a newer gen-x church in the outskirts of suburban Chicago. It was a "hip" church, "cutting edge," the place to be. What were they doing in a nursing home?
Hilda told me. They were caring for many people who were otherwise forgotten. They were reaching the lost with the Good News of Jesus. They were reminding every resident of the nursing home to reach out with Christ. They were making it clear that Hilda and her friends were not alone.
Hilda couldn't get to church anymore. Now church had come to her. "Her church" was now happening in her new home. The gen-x church saw the mission field, became humble servants, and started to reach people who needed Jesus.
Hilda was a pastor's daughter. Her dad was an LC-MS preacher in rural Iowa. Hilda used to regale me with stories of life in a pastor's home in the early 1900's. In his entire career her dad didn't have a telephone. People simply stopped by the house to bring the latest news. A trip to the local hospital meant hitching up a horse to a wagon or sleigh. Her father served this congregation for his entire life--up until the moment he breathed his last breath one Advent morning as he lay beside his wife in bed. There was no Christmas tree in church that year--the first time that ever happened in history. Instead, there was a Christmas funeral.
Hilda loved her dad and loved to serve the Lord. She was an active witness for Christ every day. Her mission field was a tough one. It was a nursing home. In the midst of her own pain and loss she lifted up the name of the Savior. She reached many people. Why shouldn't she have a church nearby? Why shouldn't she be encouraged by the living Word and the power of the Cross? Why shouldn't she be able to have fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ? Why shouldn't she be united with fellow servants to reach the lost?
An area church decided to become humble and active and launch a satellite where she lived.
Is there a "Hilda" waiting for you and your church?
Next week: Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
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