Local Churches must sometimes take a good hard look at themselves, especially in times of change. Peter Sammons considers.
THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE
Nothing is static. Our world is changing rapidly. Churches are in a state of flux. Too often here in the West, they are in decline. Do we understand our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?
Where do we begin in assessing where we stand and what we need to do? At the heart of all this lies prayer. Not perfunctory prayer, but sacrificial, urgently seeking prayer. We will not hear from God until we seek Him, and earnestly seek Him in prayer. Discerning the future and our mission is never about telling God what we think we ought to be doing, and then asking for His approval! Yet sometimes that is effectively what happens in our local churches!
The challenges facing the institutional churches today are far more than just focusing on Vision, and then working up from there! The threats facing ‘the church’ today are quite simply existential. New religions, new social mores, and a new hyper aggressive secularism all crowd the ‘traditional’ Christian province.
But let’s not obsess! In many ways what we face today has been common fare for Christians for nigh-on 2000 years – since Pentecost. We urgently need to rediscover that we are aliens living in a foreign land (1 Peter 2: 9-12), and to take that seriously.
In preparing for a future that will be radically different, our fundamental need is far more than ‘just’ to focus on what we do well, and then do it better. The truth of the matter is more uncomfortable and demanding. Christians need to reevaluate everything and probably to rebuild, from the ground up. Let me pose three questions that most church-attending Christians have scarcely considered:
- Jesus never heard the word ‘Jesus’ (His actual name is Yeshua). How important, or unimportant, is this? Why do we refuse to use His Hebrew name?
- “Easter” is a pagan sex cult. Why do Christians ‘celebrate’ the Lord’s resurrection via this pagan festival? (Oh, and when wasJesus raised from death?)
- It is unlikely Jesus was born at ‘Christmas’. (The clue, here, is in the name – Christ’s Mass). So when wasHe born, and was it right for the Byzantine church to effectively ‘Christianize’ the pagan Mithras festival in December?
Truly, if there is to be Christian witness in this world in the next fifty years, we may have to tear up the various ‘Christian rule books’ and attendant ‘traditions’ and get back to ………………. the Bible!
WHERE TO START?
The above issues are not our starting point, but sooner rather than later we shall need to get to grips with these matters and to resolve them, one way or another.
Linked below is an adapted self-evaluation survey originally prepared by the FIEC (Federation of Independent Evangelical Churches). If your church is struggling, or in a state of flux – and particularly if you have a Ministerial vacancy – then this is a valuable starting point to help focus on ourselves.
You do not have to be part of the FIEC! This is generic. The survey is almost what one might call a ‘SWOT analysis’, to borrow an approach from the commercial world. That is, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The survey questionnaire is very ‘intuitive’ and easy to use, and downloadable in Microsoft Word format.
May I suggest this is a helpful, and probably essential, starting point for getting real about who we are and what our Mission ought to be?
Use the link below as a starting point and deploy this resource to help inform prayerful exploration and debate. And yes, use this also as the start of a time of seeking prayer.
“God does nothing except in response to believing prayer,” is attributed to John Wesley. According to Wesley’s way of thinking, God only acts in this world when people actively and sincerely pray to him; essentially, divine intervention is contingent on prayerful faith. The fact that we find it so difficult to pray may be because we have a spiritual enemy who is afraid of prayer (and its results) and will do anything to dissuade us. So let’s get on our knees and pray!
Self evaluation is vital. The resource below is a helpful one.
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Confidential Church Evaluation, survey:
(Word document, adapted from FIEC document) Church Self-evaluation – Survey (Word)
Peter Sammons is author of “Rebel Church”, freely downloadable here: https://christian-publications-int.com/default-61.html?ID=121
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