Article for the local paper...

Church Resolutions?

It’s that time of year when we sit down and think about the coming year and what “will” be different.  Maybe we write down these resolutions, blog them or even preach about them to do something physical that might give us some accountability to actually keep them. 

From the source www.usa.gov, here is a list of the common New Year resolutions made year after year.

·      lose weight

·      volunteer to help others

·      quit smoking

·      get a better education

·      get a better job

·      save money

·      get fit

·      eat healthy food

·      manage stress

·      manage debt

·      take a trip

·      reduce, reuse, and recycle

·      drink less alcohol

Do any of these look familiar to you?  I have tried and failed quite a few of them over the years.  I have found that a major change usually doesn’t come at a specific time of year but at a time in life when you are awakened to the need to change.

What about the church?  Does the church need some resolutions?  Not that these would just come at New Year’s but that the church was awakened to a need to change.  I was recently at a conference in East Lansing, MI and the speaker, Kevin DeYoung, spoke of reaching the next generation for Jesus.  I couldn’t help but think that these 5 points would be great resolutions for the church.

1.    Grab them with passion

We are natural evangelists of what we love the most.  We talk about what we love and we talk freely of it.  Right now there are a lot of natural evangelists predicting who will be at the Super Bowl in 2015.  A church resolution would be to speak with great passion about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Those attending our churches would experience people and pastors who are spiritually alive about this matter.

2.    Win them with love

All churches are friendly if you ask them.  “We are a friendly church” is something written frequently on church evaluations from those within the church.  It is okay to be a friendly church but I think it is another level to be a church of friends.  A church resolution would be to become friends with others in the congregation and those visiting rather than just being friendly to them.

3.    Hold them with holiness

Someone comes through the doors of your church and they see that you are passionate about what you are talking and singing about.  Next, they experience not just a friendly church but a church full of friends.  Now they will want to know if this is really real or just an act.  A church resolution would be to be growing in our relationship with God that it would be evident by our actions and words to others.

4.    Challenge them with the truth

A great phrase I’ve heard lately is “What you win them with is what you win them to.”  If we win them over with entertainment, then we win them to more entertainment.  If we win them over with really cool atmospheres, then we win them over to more really cool atmospheres.  A church resolution would be to give clarity, establish confidence and exhibit courage in the Word of God as what we win them with and therefore win them to.

5.    Amaze them with God

Someone comes through the doors of your church and they see that you are passionate about what you are talking and singing about.  Next, they experience not just a friendly church but a church full of friends.  The depth of what you believe is coming through that this is not just a “Sunday” thing.  The Scripture is spoken of with authority and with answers to all of life.  Now is the time to let our light shine about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  A church resolution would be to speak not of what we have done or are doing but on who our great God is and what he is doing.

There is my list for church resolutions for the 2015 year.  I am praying that it is not just because of the time of year but because it is something that we are aware of that needs to be adopted to be a church that honors God.

Pastor Adam