This post is for my fellow Dulin’s Grovers. I wanted to share some things I’ve been praying through, and ask you to pray with me.
We’re cruising through those tough summer months as a church when so many (including me!) are traveling. Several of our House to House groups have taken a break, and Sunday attendance is low. This happens every year, but there’s more going on among us than just the “summer slump.”
- We’re contending with the increasing challenges and limitations of aging, leaving some isolated and lonely.
- We’re failing to engage some among our younger generation–those in their 20’s and 30’s–in the life and ministry of the church.
- Some are suffering in a variety of ways (familial, emotional, physical, financial, etc.).
- Some are falling out of fellowship with the church, and possibly with Christ.
- Some are straining under the stresses of modern American life, which leave little time and energy for devotion to our shared life in Christ, and our shared mission to reach the world with the gospel.
Of course, there are more good things going on among us than bad, and there are other issues not included in the list above, but these things have been especially on my mind lately, and I wanted to share them with you. And please don’t get me wrong. I’m not discouraged by all this. This is what church life looks like. We’ll always have various struggles and issues to pray through together. These are the opportunities for us to depend on God together.
Speaking of which, I came across a couple of sermons I wrote four years ago that seem timely: Jesus Will Build His Church and Church Devotion. I’d encourage you to read them sometime. The bottom line: “The Christ, the Son of the Living God is working on building up his chosen people. Look to him. Rest in him. Let him do his work in your heart and among his people. Jesus will build his church.”
God is awesome, and he is up to awesome things among us and through us. In Christ, we have every reason to rejoice and be at peace. But there’s also good work to be done together, even during the summer slump. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). So let’s renew our devotion to:
- Trusting and following Jesus together (encouraging one another in the faith, and helping one another live by Jesus’ teachings)
- Loving God and people together (worshiping God together, and combining our efforts to help people in need)
- Sharing the gospel and building up disciples together (spreading the good news in daily life every chance we get, meeting with younger believers to encourage them in their walk with Christ)
More specifically, let’s…
- Visit, call, or send a card to our home-bound brothers and sisters, and those who are ill and unable to come to church gatherings.
- Connect with someone who is disconnected to the life of the church over dinner or a cup of coffee.
- Check on those whom you know are going through hard times.
- Check on those whom you know have fallen out of fellowship.
- Encourage someone who is stressed out with a bit of grace and truth.
In Christ,
Matt
