Phil,
I really like that.
I got done reading it, and I sneezed and tried to grab a cleanex in time,
and I bit my tung. lol.
It really hurts. I wonder if The Lord is trying to tell me something.
Love and Blessings,
Pat Ferguson
At 05:35 PM 11/7/04, you wrote:
>Measuring Dead Churches
>
>
>By Phil Scovell
>
>
> Is your church spiritually dead? Some say, "It can't be
>because more people are coming than ever before. We are having
>spine tingling worship services and the music has never been more
>uplifting. We have even had to go to more than one morning
>service because of the attendance. The offerings have tripled.
>The preaching has never been more stimulating. I feel better when
>leaving a service than when I came. Our church is growing. The
>youth ministry has never been as dynamic, the Sunday school has
>never been as large, and the parking lot is full."
>
> How can you tell if your church is growing? What biblical
>measurements can you use to make this determination? Do you count
>the number of those in attendance for the morning service? Do you
>count those coming to Sunday school services? Do you count the
>offerings? If they are steadily growing, then does this mean the
>church is growing? Do you consider the length of your music
>worship service as the indicator of the level of spirituality your
>church has obtained? Do you count how many people come to the
>alter for prayer following the sermon? Do you consider the length
>of the alter call itself? Are you certain your church is growing
>just because you feel better when you leave for home? How can you
>really tell if your church is growing spiritually? Is there any
>biblical way of calculating the degree of spirituality of a given
>church?
>
> If we examine Scripture carefully, there are only two basic
>rules we can use to judge the level of spirituality of our
>church. Jesus said, "It is written, My house shall be called the
>house of prayer," (Matthew 21:13). First and for most, if your
>church isn't praying; it isn't growing. I don't care how many you
>have in attendance; it isn't growing. In every church I've been
>in over the years as I've traveled, I've only seen one church that
>really believed in praying. All churches pray to one degree or
>another but that's all it is; prayer. They thank God for the
>blessings, they pray God would touch the sick, they pray God's
>blessings on the offerings, they ask the Lord to save the lost,
>and they ask for His blessings upon the Word as it is taught or
>preached. When a special speaker is announced, we pray that God
>would bless him when he comes and that revival would break out in
>our church. Although it never does, we never seem to notice
>because the services are so wonderful. Lots of people came, too,
>and the alter calls were good so we must have had revival.
>
> do we really pray? Oh, sure, we have a prayer meeting. In
>some cases, we meet in someone's home and a few pray together.
>Sometimes a few of us meet at church each week and pray and call
>it a prayer meeting. Is it? I ask again, do we really pray and
>has the church become known as the house of prayer? Unless
>everyone in the body of believers is praying, can we honestly say
>we are the house of prayer?
>
> What is prayer? Jesus said we would be known as the "House
>of Prayer." Are we known for this? Do other churches know we
>pray? Do others in the neighborhood know we pray? Oh, sure, they
>know we have long and loud services. They know we have church a
>lot because of all the cars coming and going. They know we have a
>food bank once a week where we give away free food. They know we
>have special singing groups in from time to time because we invite
>them to come and hear them. they know we have after service
>dinners on the ground and Sunday school contests and that we
>sometimes give away free gifts to all who attend. Do they know,
>however, we pray so much and with such authority that they can
>come over and be prayed for with the assurance that God will bring
>about an answer? Do other churches come to our prayer meetings
>just to see how we do it? Are we praying collectively has a
>church or do we have a special prayer group set aside to do all
>our praying for us once a week? Maybe we have even established a
>so called intercessory prayer group that does all of the praying
>for us once or twice a week.
>
> A few years ago, I was a member of a small church of about
>forty people. The pastor said he had been called by God to our
>area to win Denver to Christ. A few months later, after hearing
>about this special calling, I asked the pastor just exactly what
>he meant by reaching Denver for Christ. He said that he believed
>he had been called to Denver to become the pastor of Denver and
>that eventually all pastors, or most of them, would come under his
>leadership and we would become a super church. He'd already
>picked out a huge building he wanted to use for this super church.
>Later, he admitted that this meant he would become the apostle of
>Denver.
>
> One morning, in this small church, as I sat and listened to
>the worship team practicing their songs for that morning, the Holy
>Spirit began speaking to me about the true nature of this
>particular church. In a few seconds of time, he gave me a
>complete message for this church to hear. As a New Testament
>prophet, I knew I had to give this message. What really
>confirmed it to me was the promise God would give this church if
>we would do what He said.
>
> The pastor was walking around listening to the worship team
>practicing and I called him over and told him I had a message
>from the Lord for this body of Believers. He said, "That's
>wonderful." Furthermore, he said, "I have tried all week to get
>up a sermon but the Lord never gave me anything. This has to be
>of the Lord because I came with absolutely nothing prepared to
>speak." He instructed me to speak up whenever I wanted to talk
>and he would turn the microphone over to me. during the worship
>time, I was overpowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit and
>could hardly stand. Finally the Lord said it was time to speak.
>
> Taking the microphone, I was only vaguely aware of the
>message the Lord had given me but as I talked, I not only knew the
>exact message but I had a vision of what He wanted us to do which
>came with a promise.
>
> the message was simple overall. the Lord showed me that we
>would be moving to even a smaller building and I saw a small store
>front that would probably only hold fifty people. the Lord told
>me to tell these people that we would begin to pray as a body of
>Believers and that we would pray so much, we would find it more
>desirable to be at church than at home. Furthermore, the Lord
>showed me that our prayers would be heard and the pastors and
>youth pastors and assistant pastors of the city would eventually
>come to us and request we teach them how to pray and request that
>we lay hands on them so they could take what we had back to their
>own churches. Also, the Lord showed me that day that we would
>become so close to Him through our corporate church prayers that
>the sick and infirmed would hear of us and would come for prayer.
>They would not come to us for prayer because we had invited them
>but because the church that prayed was being made known by the
>hand of the Lord. they would come, we would lay hands upon them,
>and pray for them and they would recover. The Lord also revealed
>to me that many would come to Christ as a result of our prayers.
>It suddenly dawned on me what the Lord was saying. He was telling
>us that our little church was going to take Denver for Christ. We
>would never become a big church but we would be the Lord's church
>and we would be known for our spiritual authority and power
>through our corporate church prayers and that we would literally
>reach all of Denver through our intercession and petitionary
>prayers.
>
> When I sat down, after over thirty minutes of speaking, the
>pastor got up and the first thing he said was, "Well, I don't
>agree with everything Phil said." He then preceded to spend the
>next thirty minutes ripping apart everything I had just said.
>You see, the word the Lord had given to this body of Believers
>did not match what he thought God meant about him taking Denver
>for Christ. Plus, he did not appreciate the idea that his church
>might be small in number but big in spiritual authority and
>powerful prayers. In his mind, big meant in size and number. Yet
>the bible is filled with stories of the mightiness of God through
>one or by the small in number. Later this pastor began to drift
>doctrinally and began allow sin in the church in such a way that
>the church was devastated. He still pastors about a dozen people
>but he has never taken Denver for Christ and, unless he sees the
>glory of God, he never will.
>
>PRAYER
>
> The first, and foremost, test of a growing church, is a
>praying church. We need to learn what it means to pray together
>and we need to learn the ways of intercessory prayer and spiritual
>warfare. We likewise need to learn how to conduct spiritual
>warfare through our prayers and prayer needs to become our vital
>link to the throne of God in behalf of others. If you have no
>prier instruction or training on how this is done, simply get your
>church together, and as their pastor, begin to pray together.
>Yes, it is that simple. The Holy Spirit will begin to teach you
>how to pray. In most cases, unfortunately, you will discover, if
>you are a church member recommending this to your pastor, he will
>not be receptive to the idea. You may, therefore, have to meet
>quietly alone with one or two others in your home. If this is the
>case, begin praying that God would teach you how to pray and as He
>does, pray for your pastor and the church that they, too, may
>become burden to become a church of prayer.
>
>GO
>
> Another test of church growth is salvation and changed lives.
>The church I have recently been in for the last four years has had
>no one saved and stay in the church nor have we discipled anyone.
>Matthew 28:18-20 clearly instructs us to lead people to Christ,
>baptize them, and disciple them. this means personal time is a
>necessary part of discipling a new convert. We generally, in
>today's modern church, aren't interested in spending personal time
>with our new converts. We want them to simply come to church and
>learn from the pulpit. The problem with this philosophy, however,
>is that the new converts never really get to see how others live
>on a daily bases because no personal and regular contact is ever
>made with them. In other words, no friendships and personal
>relationships are established. Eventually, they drift away and
>try and find some place where they belong. If your church is not
>actively winning the lost and discipling them, your church is not
>growing regardless of how many are in attendance.
>
> This method of church growth requires "going." Literally, we
>are command to go after the lost and if we know Christians who
>have not been discipled, they need someone to "go after" them.
>Yes, once again this requires personal involved and time. Most of
>us, pastors include, think we are busy enough the way it is and
>besides, we rationalized, I'm not very good at it anyhow. So we
>allow others to do it for us and in many cases, our churches are
>small and don't have enough people in the first place. Thus, it
>never gets down. If you are not willing to go after others, be
>they lost or Christians out of fellowship with God or Christians
>who have never been discipled, then you are living your life out
>of the will of God. If you physically incapable of going, that is
>a different matter but physical disabilities does not exempt you
>from praying.
>
>In most cases, this is not the message a pastor wants to hear. So
>don't be surprised if you try and suggest these two things to him
>and he disagrees strongly with your suggestions. Most pastors
>have been train in seminary and Bible colleges to administrate a
>body of Believers. I had one class, a single semester, of
>personal evangelism (this school was afraid to call it soul
>winning) and I had literally no classes, nor were none offered in
>the curriculum by the bible college, on prayer. I wonder why and
>that isn't a question.
>
>Phil.
>
>
>I Flew Kites With Jesus
>www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
|