Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 35

Five Questions for Churches as Worship Gatherings Become Smaller

The trend toward smaller gatherings was slow but perceptible prior to the pandemic. That trend is much more noticeable now.

Church worship gatherings are getting smaller.

Two major factors are contributing to this trend. The obvious factor is an overall attendance decline in churches. Many congregations have fewer members and attendees each year.

The second reason for smaller worship gatherings is “horizontal growth.” That means, in addition to multiple services on Sunday morning, churches are moving to multiple campuses, multiple sites, multiple days, and multiple venues. In other words, attendance is spread over potentially several different places and times.

The two reasons can be almost polar opposites. The first reason takes place in declining churches. The second reason usually takes place in growing churches. 

We at Church Answers are asking church leaders and church members five key questions regarding smaller worship gatherings. We are concerned that these smaller sizes are being used in some churches to accept decline or to become comfortable about not reaching the community. Here are our five questions:

1. Do you know why your worship gathering or gatherings are smaller? If your church has more than one service, we encourage you to follow the trends in all of the services. Of course, we also encourage you to follow the trends in a single gathering.

2. Because smaller worship gatherings are more accepted today than in the past, has your church become comfortable or complacent with attendance decline? For sure, numbers are not our ultimate goal. But if a church is losing people faster than it is gaining, it could be an indication that the church has become inwardly focused.

3. Has your church become less evangelistic as smaller worship gatherings are more accepted today? This question is similar to number two, but it focuses specifically on evangelism. We know from our research that evangelism is not a priority in many churches today.

4. Does your church keep worship attendance records? Again, the purpose of counting is not to be numbers obsessed. The purpose is to engender accountability and to be able to plan for future needs. Any church of any size can develop a system to count worship attendees each week without being a distraction in the worship services.

5. Does your church publish attendance for all members to see? This question might cause a level of concern. We know that fewer churches publish attendance records than at any point in the past few decades. Some leaders rightly say that they don’t want numerical growth to become the focus of the church. But our research indicates a church is more likely to reach people if it makes attendance records available to church members. Again, it engenders a level of accountability. We recommend that churches publish monthly averages or, at the least, quarterly averages.

Frankly, I realize I am going against the grain with some of these questions, particularly the last two questions. But we are seeing the trends. Our burden for churches is not how big the church is, but how obedient the church is to the Great Commission.

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No Longer My Own

2010, Afghanistan. Aid workers were in the midst of helping a group of remote Afghan villagers, especially mothers and their children who needed it most, with eye care and other medical needs. Suddenly gunmen appeared and lined the workers up. They shot each worker one by one, including Cheryl Beckett, age thirty-two. The only survivor was the Afghan driver, who was reciting Koranic verse.[1] Their Land Rovers were also riddled with bullets and found next to the ford of a swollen river. In an official Taliban statement in Pashto, at the time claiming responsibility, a key charge was the assertion that they’d found Dari language Bibles.[2]

According to her parents and her heartfelt journal entries, Cheryl graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University with a global passion for love and justice. Having already visited numerous countries before Afghanistan, she developed a clear call to spread Christ’s love—a call that led her to a village near Kabul in 2005.

The sponsoring group was the International Assistance Mission, a Christian charity group that had worked in Afghanistan since 1966. It reported that she had joined the medical team for their three-week trip as a translator, helpful as a Pashto speaker for the local women. Her family’s release states that “Cheryl loved and respected the Afghan people. She denied herself many freedoms in order to abide by Afghan law and custom.” 

Her father, Reverend Charles Beckett, had little doubt about her driving faith. After her death, he read her journals and reflected:

She wrote in her journal, which has been a spiritual oasis for me. Over and over again I read this theme: no longer my own, I’ve been bought by Christ, with His own blood. I want to know Him better.  

And then she wrote, “I want to die to myself.” And then she asked the question to herself, “What does that look like? How do I make that tangible?” That is what she devoted her life to, knowing Him but knowing Him by sacrificially suffering in order to show Him. [3]

“No longer my own.” The heart cry of Cheryl has been the impulse of hundreds of thousands of Christian martyrs over the centuries. No sacrifice is too large. What some people may not realize is that Christians are still dying cruel deaths throughout much of the world. Millions have given their lives since the fall of Rome, and it is estimated that today thousands die annually for their faith in Jesus. Most of these modern stories are not legendary; in fact, the majority of them are unknown. That’s why Johnnie Moore and Jerry Pattengale have sought to compile a new book of martyrs that includes contemporary martyrdom stories with ancient ones (The New Book of Christian Martyrs). By even the most conservative accounts, we are experiencing a new generation of martyrs.[i]  There were, in fact, more martyrs in the last century than in all the previous Christian centuries combined. In solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing persecution and martyrdom, we should echo them: “no longer my own.”

 

Learn more by exploring The New Book of Christian Martyrs by Johnnie Moore and Jerry Pattengale.

About the Authors:

Johnnie Moore is a popular speaker and acclaimed human rights and religious freedom activist known for his consequential work at the intersection of faith and foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. He is president of JDA Worldwide and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders. Rev. Moore’s many awards and honors include the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s prestigious Medal of Valor. He was twice appointed to the US Commission for International Religious Freedom, and in 2020 was named one of America’s 10 most influential religious leaders. 

Jerry Pattengale is inaugural University Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and holds distinguished posts at Sagamore Institute, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Waverley Abbey College (UK), Excelsia College (AU), and Tyndale House–Cambridge (UK). He was a founding scholar of the Museum of the Bible (Washington, DC). In 2021, he received the National Press Club’s Vivian Award and a Telly Award for the TV series, Inexplicable: How Christianity Spread to the Ends of the Earth. 

[1] Rod Nordland, “Gunmen Kill Medical Aid Workers in Afghanistan,” New York Times, August 7, 2010. The accounts vary slightly on details; see also Jason Motlagh, “Will Aid Workers’ Killings End Civilian Surge?,” Time, August 9, 2010.

[2] Liz Robbins, “Ten Aid Workers Killed by Taliban in Afghanistan,” Desert News, August 7, 2010.

[3] Reverend Charles Beckett in The Global Impact Bible, senior ed. Jerry A. Pattengale (Franklin, TN: Worthy Publishing, 2017), 1649. Cheryl’s testimony accompanies 1 John 3:16.

 

[i] This is a key point made by John L. Allen Jr., The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution (New York: Image, 2013). Also, see websites from the following organizations: Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, The Voice of the Martyrs, and Open Doors. For a list of how the apostles died, see David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30­-AD 2200, Part 4: Martyrology (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001). 

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The First Seven Things to Do When a Child Accepts Christ in Your Church

A child in your church decides to follow Christ. There is no greater decision!

Now what?

As a pastor, I’ve sat with numerous parents over the years and walked through the next steps. These conversations are some of the most rewarding in ministry!

Only recently did I sit down and create a checklist of items. Something I wish I had done sooner.

1. Celebrate with gusto. Your child made the greatest decision to follow Christ. Have a party! As you celebrate, point back to Christ. Make sure everyone knows this party is about what Jesus has done.

2. Purchase a Bible for your child. There are many age-appropriate Bibles, and I recommend the New Living Translation. You can look at several options in the Church Answers bookstore.

3. Mark the date. If you can’t remember the exact date of your salvation, don’t worry. You’re still saved. But there is something special about marking the date. You can bless your child by recording the date of their salvation.

4. Record a video of your child’s testimony. The video will help you remember the best details of this glorious moment. You will cherish hearing your child proclaim faith for years to come. Even more so, this video will help your child remember the greatest decision they ever made. We all go through seasons of doubt, especially when we enter our young adult years. You may find this recording helpful when your grown child deals with inevitable doubts and questions we all have about our faith.

5. Write a handwritten letter to your child. Consider giving your child this letter on their eighteenth birthday or some other occasion marking a transition to adulthood.

6. Commit to a church. Frankly, you cannot equip your child in the faith without help. Everyone needs a church.

7. Seek pastoral guidance. Make an appointment with your pastor or someone you trust in church leadership. Your church leaders will likely be able to help with the next steps. In many churches, baptism by immersion will be expected. For example, my church has a baptism class and programming recommendations for families.

These seven steps, plus four others, are contained in my newest e-book, The Greatest Decision: Taking the Next Steps After My Child Accepts Christ.

Every pastor and children’s ministry leader should have this resource. You can download it FREE and give it to as many families as you want for as long as you want.

The e-book also includes a video guide covering these eleven actional steps to help parents cultivate their child’s spiritual growth.

There is no greater decision than the one to follow Christ. I hope this free resource benefits you and your church.    

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Seven Signs You May be Losing Your Love for Your Church . . . and What to Do about It

It happens. Even those who deeply love their local congregation sometimes go through situations and circumstances that test that love. In some cases, that love slowly erodes—almost imperceptibly. Here are some signs you might be losing your love:

1. Your enthusiasm for gathering with the congregation is waning. There was a time when you excitedly got ready for church, but not now. Whether it’s a small group or a worship service, your attendance is increasingly only an obligation. You still go, but with little zeal. 

2. You pray less for your church and its leaders. That happens because your desire to support them and intercede for them is changing. In fact, you might even be struggling with figuring out how to pray. 

3. Your long-term friendships in the church seem less and less significant. You’re not even sure what’s happened, but you don’t hang out with other church members like you once did. Fun with others seems almost non-existent. 

4. You don’t talk with joy about your church like you once did. Some time ago, you naturally and passionately talked about your church. You invited anybody and everybody to join you in attendance. That zeal, though, is declining. 

5. You increasingly see only the negative in your church. Good stuff might well be happening, but you don’t see it. Something is clouding your vision—and any remaining love you have isn’t strong enough to see through it. 

6. You don’t sing during worship like you used to. You sing with little joy, low volume, and weak worship. At times, you might even only “mouth” the words rather than sing at all. Your heart just isn’t in it anymore. 

7. You just know things have changed. You can’t put your finger on it, but something’s different. Every day seems to pull you more away from your church. 

If you find yourself somewhere in this post, here are some ways to start loving your church again:

Be honest. Talk to God. Tell your pastor or small group leader. Get some other believers praying with you and for you. Confess to God if needed. Sometimes our own sin or bitterness turns our heart cold. Confession is a must in those cases. Don’t run—keep serving. Backing away is not the best way to reignite love for a congregation. Stay faithful. Keep using your gifts as an act of love for God and others—even when your heart doesn’t “feel” that way. Start looking for glimpses of what God’s doing in your church. Look for the negative, and you’ll find it; watch for God’s hand, though, and you might just see it. The latter is better. 

Let us know how our Church Answers family might pray for you.  

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Seven Considerations If You Are a Church Member Planning on Leaving Your Church

You’ve been with your church for a while now. Something is now urging you to leave the church. We will not get into evaluating your reasons. Let’s just say you have made the decision, or you are close to making that decision.

Let’s assume you are not moving to another location. You are leaving your church because you think you should make this exit.

While I do not want to judge you or argue with you, would you consider reading the rest of this article? Would you look at the following seven considerations before you make the decision final?

1. Make certain you have prayed about the decision. It is not a move to be taken lightly. Ask God to check your heart to see if the prompting is His or your own. 

2. Ask yourself if you are making the decision because of personal preferences. Perhaps the sermon seemed too long. Maybe the music is not the perfect blend that you like. Still yet, maybe you have decided “you are not being fed” spiritually. That is a common reason given by exiting members. Please know, though, the next church you attend will not meet all of your preferences and desires either. Church membership in its truest biblical form is self-sacrificing and forgiving (see 1 Corinthians 12 and 13).

3. If you are using the exit as an escape to quit churchgoing altogether, please don’t do it. We have seen church members, elders, and deacons leave churches saying one thing but dropping out of church life completely. Please remember that God gave us the local church as His plan A for His mission, and He did not give us a plan B.

4. Understand that your decision will hurt many people. In fact, such decisions are one of pastors’ greatest hurts. Many take it personally. Others in the church are discouraged and confused when members, particularly active members, leave the church.

5. Please do not leave the church if you haven’t reconciled with those with whom you have conflict. Jesus was clear and unwavering on this matter: “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God” (Matthew 5:24, NLT).

6. Don’t leave with complaints and criticisms. Such behavior is not good for the Kingdom, and it certainly reflects poorly on you. And by all means, keep your negativity off social media.

7. If you still decide to leave, give your pastor a good and honest reason why you are doing so. Don’t leave in a huff of silence. Don’t give a reason that is not the true reason. Your pastor has been your shepherd. Your pastor likely has made sacrifices for you of which you are not aware. It would be cruel and unbiblical to walk out with no explanation or a bad explanation.

Obviously, I believe that dropping out of your church should be rare and biblically reasoned. I am not questioning your motive or judging your heart. I am simply asking you to consider the seven points I just made.

Thank you for taking time to read these words. May God bless you. And may you truly be in His will.

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How Your Church Can Help the Overlooked Children Affected by Abuse and Neglect

The turning point for me occurred at a funeral. I was holding a four-year-old child I did not know. His mother had passed away after overdosing on a dangerous mix of fentanyl and cocaine. The family contacted our church and asked for a pastor to officiate the funeral. I’ll never forget the young boy’s words.

“Are you going to help bring my mommy back?”

I didn’t have words for him. Only tears.

He was placed in a foster home. Thankfully, it was one full of love and support. At about the same time as the funeral, a local newspaper headline caught my attention: “Bradenton is opioid overdose capital of Florida. And still no one knows why.”

Every year, hundreds of children are removed from their homes in our county. Over half of them are directly attributed to the substance abuse of parents and guardians. Most of the children removed are under the age of five. I did not have the right words for the four-year-old, but his question prompted me to act. I could not bring his mom back, but my wife and I could be foster parents for children in situations like his. So we got our license and began our foster journey.

Foster children are one of our nation’s most overlooked and underserved groups. Most communities struggle to find placements for these children. Local churches in the United States have more than enough homes to solve the problem, but few Christian families are pursuing fostering.

What happens when people in your congregation start fostering children?

Your church is woven into the fabric of the community. In my role at Church Answers, I’m often asked, “How can my church better serve and reach the community?” There are many ways to answer the question, but one answer is obvious. Start a fostering movement in your congregation. Caring for foster children forces you to be an active part of your community. You interact with social workers, struggling parents, judges, and police officers. Fostering weaves you tightly into the community and allows your church to be a thread pulling everyone together.  

Your church is recognized as a solution to community problems. The issues producing foster children are often the core sins plaguing a community. When people in your church foster, the neighborhood tends to view you as helpful. Foster children are the result of the worst problems in the community. Inviting them into your church homes makes you one of the best solutions for the community.

Your church is pushed outward with God’s mission. The church is not designed to be a shield protecting the Christian bubble of safety. Rather, the church is a vehicle engineered by God to send people into the darkest corners of the neighborhood. Fill your church with foster children, and your people will be filled with a desire to do gospel work.

Your church is compelled into a posture of selflessness. I hear the excuse all the time, “I couldn’t foster because it would be hard to give the child back.” I understand the sentiment. Indeed, my wife and I live in this paradox. The purpose of fostering is more than raising a child. It’s about reuniting a family. You care for children and encourage moms and dads. Fostering is a weighty burden that will bend you hard in the direction of selflessness. Is it painful? Yes, sometimes. Is it worth the stretch? Always.

When Pharaoh’s daughter opened the basket floating on the Nile, she saw a baby and said, “This must be one of the Hebrew children” (Exodus 2:6, NLT). This must be one. One child saved. Imagine the desperation of Moses’ mom, placing him in the papyrus basket and letting him drift away from the safety of her arms.

Imagine the courage of Moses’ sister, Miriam. At significant risk, she keeps watching over the basket. She is an advocate. She stays close to the crisis to help. She risks everything when she reaches out to Pharaoh’s daughter.

Imagine the audacity of Pharaoh’s daughter. She is part of the family committing genocide, but she becomes a person of power who uses her position to do what is right. The child in the basket moves her. A child in need should move us all to action.

There was a tremendous risk to all the women in this story, but it did not stop them from doing the right thing.

What if the church looked at the foster system as a floating papyrus basket? What if the people of the church opened the basket and had the same response as Pharaoh’s daughter?

This must be one.

Don’t let these children continue to drift.

Your home is the promised land for them.

 

If you want to get involved with helping struggling children and families, I encourage you to reach out to One More Child . 

 

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Four Types of Church Members Based on Their Frequency of Attendance

The New Testament, from Acts 2 to Revelation 3, is about the local church. That is a big portion of the Bible!

The local church is God’s plan A to carry out his mission on earth,  and He did not give us a plan B.

Sure, the local church can be messy. It’s made of imperfect members like you and me. We are all sinners. No local church is close to being perfect.

But God made it clear that Christians are to be connected to a local church. Anything less than our commitment and devotion to our church is nothing less than disobedience to God. 

And the base level of our commitment should be gathering. Our most common form of gathering is the worship service. But I stand amazed at how many Christians view the gathering of church members as just another optional activity. It competes with sleeping in, busyness, sports, and just plain apathy.

The watching world sees our lukewarm commitment and rightly concludes we are not committed to the Savior who gave us our churches. If we don’t take Jesus seriously, why should they?

At Church Answers, we have been engaged with church leaders for years. We asked them to discern the base level of commitment of their church members. Though these numbers are not precise, they do represent the essence of what we’ve learned. We classified church members into four categories according to their frequency of attendance. We did not include church members who never attend. They should not be on church rolls anyway.

Category                Frequency of AttendanceEstimated % of Church MembersCore                3 to 4 times a month30%Marginal                 1 to 2 times a month25%Fading                4 to 10 times a year25%Cultural                1 to 3 times a year20%

 

Core 

For the core, the local church is a priority. They demonstrate commitment more than offering excuses. This group likely provides 80% to 90% of the church’s financial giving. They are the first to volunteer and the last to complain. They are the core of the church. They are not perfect, but they are mostly a joy to many. We estimate they account for about 30% of the membership in a typical church.

Marginal

Some churchgoers might be uncomfortable with our categorization of someone who attends once or twice a month as marginal. Frankly, many churches have elders and deacons in this category. But these members are, at best, every-other-week attenders. Their commitment to Christ’s church is lukewarm. We estimate that the marginals account for 25% of the membership in a typical church.

Fading

A church member who only attends four to ten times a year is likely on the way out of the church. They will soon be in the last category, cultural, or they will drop out altogether. They are “fading” away. We estimate that the fading account for 25% of the membership in a typical church.

Cultural

In the past, this category of church members was much larger.  The cultural church members attend church sporadically, one to three times a year, just so they can say they are a part of a church. They think it is necessary to identify as a Christian or a church member to be accepted in the community for business, political, or relational reasons. Though we estimate that the cultural account for 20% of the membership of a typical number, this number is declining. Most people today do not think there is any cultural benefit to identifying with a church.

The Church’s Response

One of the major reasons for the lessening commitment of church members is, simply put, many are not Christians. They are Christians in name only. They have minimal commitment to Christ’s church because they have no commitment to Christ.

We need to be cautious about estimating if groups of church members are Christians. We cannot ultimately know their hearts. Still, based on ongoing anecdotal evidence, we estimated the percentage of Christians for each category of church members:

Core: 90% are ChristiansMarginal: 60% are ChristiansFading: 30% are ChristiansCultural: 10% are Christians

I recently wrote a book, I Am a Christian, to address this reality. While this book can certainly be used in a new members’ class, my primary purpose was to speak to those who are already church members but are not likely Christians. The book asks straightforward but biblical questions that get to the heart of an individual’s belief. 

My prayer is that I Am a Christian will open the eyes of church members who are not Christians, and that it will be a great resource of assurance to those who are Christians. Even now, church leaders have begun using this book as a next step of discipleship in their churches.

The Essence of It All

To be absolutely clear, my theology does not suggest that church membership is a condition of salvation. Salvation is by grace alone when we put our faith in Christ.

But the evidence is strong, if not overwhelming, that many church members have not truly become followers of Christ. A commitment to Christ without a commitment to His church is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament.

An inactive church member, in many ways, is an oxymoron. It is time to address the problem of marginal, fading, and cultural church members.

Because, ultimately, it is a gospel problem.

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Thom’s book, I Am a Christian, was recently released. It is specifically designed as a next step of discipleship for church members. You can get it on sale here.

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What Lottie Taught Me about the Gospel and Social Justice

I heard injustice cry from the trafficked woman who stood beside me at a train station in Asia, her pimp glaring from a few feet away. Everything within me wanted to grab her hand and rescue her. “Just grab her and run,” was all I could think. But our conversation ended abruptly, and I don’t know where she is today.

I heard injustice cry out on the edge of an African village as 10-year-old girls were “circumcised” as part of a village tradition. The village women sang in celebration, and my heart split between anger and compassion. The need for justice and the Gospel weighed heavy on my soul.

“I cannot be silent,” wrote Lottie Moon, the nineteenth-century Southern Baptist missionary who helped inspire the international missions offering that carries her name today. And I feel a similar  urgency myself. Writing as if she were a wartime correspondent, Lottie sent dispatches from the front lines. Her provocative letters asked the church to courageously send reinforcements to advance the Gospel and to compassionately give aid to those dealing with oppression. Her words were a mere whisper of the thunderous life she lived: “The needs of these people press upon my soul, and I cannot be silent.”

This woman who blazed a trail in another century still teaches today.

Be a voice for the voiceless.

Lottie entered China to teach women and school-aged girls. It wasn’t long before she collided with injustice in the Chinese culture, specifically the ancient practice of foot-binding. The custom entailed bending a young girl’s toes downward until her foot doubled and binding them tightly until they broke. The tighter, the better. The agonizing pain resulted in a deformed, three-inch foot believed to attract better marriage prospects and a higher social status. To a groom, “It is much more important for her to have small feet than a pretty face,” Lottie wrote. “As to education, that is neither desired nor expected.”

Lottie spoke out, encouraging parents to unbind their daughter’s feet and allow them to go to school. And for 40 years, Lottie lived among people whose needs altered between poverty, disease, war, persecution, famine, and the results of human atrocities. She met injustice face to face with relentless love and the truth of the Gospel. Her resolve to persist on the frontlines nearly 150 years ago inspires me to tenaciously wrestle with injustice and the Gospel in my world today. 

Here’s what Lottie’s example teaches me about injustice and the Gospel.

We must live in the tension of injustice.

Lottie proclaimed the Gospel while ministering to broken people wrapped in the brutality of injustice. The inner tension she felt was thick. She knew that unbinding the feet of a young girl came with risks. A girl with unbound feet may have become an outcast, rejected by her family.

But with feet bound, girls suffered excruciating pain, were susceptible to infection and death, and would likely become uneducated child brides. As many of us would, Lottie wrestled through her options. “Has the time come, and are we strong enough to make a decided stand on the question of foot-binding?” she asked. “Shall we make it a rule that all who come in (to school) shall unbind their feet?” Injustice binds, the Gospel sets free, and we must relentlessly minister in the tension between the two. Let us not shrink in the face of injustice but courageously fight injustice with a Gospel-informed response.

Righting a wrong of injustice is not redemptive. Christ’s presence and power is.

The Gospel breeds injustice-fighters, but fighting injustice is not necessarily proclaiming the Gospel. We are called to defend against the assault of injustice while introducing God as the one who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalms 147:5). After years of attempting to right the wrong of foot-binding, Lottie wrote of one student who chose to follow Christ but “was forced to marry into a heathen family. They used every effort to induce her to recant.”

But she would not. Her husband destroyed her Bible and demanded she leave her faith. Unrelenting, this woman fervently prayed. Twenty years later her husband chose to follow Christ. Not long after his conversion, she “prayed about the unbinding of her daughters’ feet, and when she spoke of it to her husband, she could scarcely believe her ears that he promptly consented.”

It was Christ in him that changed his perspective of right and wrong. Injustice and brokenness dwell where God’s name and glory does not. But, when His name is present, God has the power to redeem and restore justice.

Injustice dwells where truth does not.

Injustice will continue as long as the truth is suppressed (Romans 1:18). As believers, we don’t just inform people of truth, we introduce them to truth by being a living example of Christ.

When we introduce people to the Word, “many hearts are stirred,” wrote Lottie, “but these newly awakened souls are bound in the chains of old habits…. Now what these people need — next to grace of God in their hearts — is to see the life of Jesus Christ set before them.”

We can’t just do good. We must love people enough to live as a tangible gospel witness among them — yes, live among the impoverished, the diseased, the broken, the displaced, and the dejected. We can declare truth when we dwell among injustice.

Injustice is uprooted when we share the story of reconciliation.

As believers, we understand justice differently because we’ve been justified. Our story has been redeemed by our reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. Injustice is often tethered to a belief — a story — that’s a deeply rooted worldview, passed down through Generations.

Cultures may place their identity in such beliefs, anchored in religion, tradition, or societal expectations. We cannot change the narrative of a culture without giving them a better story to believe. Through Jesus Christ, God reconciled the world to Himself and entrusted us as “messengers of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

We can’t love the Gospel and not have compassion for the broken in need of the Gospel.

Ironically, a year and a half before Lottie died, she was still writing of injustice and oppression as famine claimed the lives of many around her. She wrote of men collapsing on the side of the road, their sacks of grain still beside them as they died of starvation on their way back to their families. She told of mothers sending their children away from home, just hoping someone would feed them.

Lottie fell in love with the Chinese people, and the Chinese people fell in love with her. When she died, her Chinese friends carved in Chinese letters on a plaque, “Lottie Moon.”  And underneath could be found the phrase, “how she loved us.”

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Check out a new mini-series on At The Table Podcast , where Lori and Jacki discuss some of the pressing questions around women and leadership.

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One of the Most Powerful Ways to Revitalize Your Church that Almost No One Does

Prayer walking can revitalize a church. At Church Answers, we’ve heard some incredible stories of how a church started a prayer walking ministry and experienced revitalization. The problem is not enough churches are emphasizing this spiritual discipline. Those that do are seeing powerful results. 

What is prayer walking?

The concept is simple and can be done with one person or a group of people. You walk a neighborhood with the intent of praying for those who live there. During the prayer walk, you will see people and interact with the neighbors. These encounters are your opportunity to get to know a family and ask if they have specific prayer requests.

Some people in your church may naturally prayer walk on their own. They walk the neighborhood—perhaps for exercise—and pray as they go. For example, I like to run, and I almost always pray while I run. The Holy Spirit works through these prayers, and I believe more churches should intentionally create prayer walking ministries.

Where did prayer walking originate?

The idea of prayer walking as a ministry has existed for a few decades. The origin is unknown. However, one could make an argument that it has existed since the Israelites walked around Jericho. But please don’t pray your neighbors’ walls tumble down.

Jesus’ primary mode of transportation was walking, and prayer was a regular activity. Though the ministry of prayer walking is not specified in Scripture, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Jesus prayed as He walked. The Bible commands us to “never stop praying” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, you can prayer walk.

How does prayer walking help with church revitalization?

The healthiest churches inwardly are the ones most focused outwardly. Prayer walking gets your people moving outward.

Prayer is the fuel for ministry. Prayer is the foundation of ministry. It’s a great way to fuel up! It’s a great way to strengthen the foundation.By moving outward into the community, people physically see the mission field in a new light. You can’t reach your community if you don’t know your community. Prayer walking helps you understand your neighborhood.Change can be controversial in the church, but not many people will find controversy in prayer walking.As you prayer walk, you will likely meet neighbors and get to know them. Then, once a relational bridge is built, you can ask them about prayer needs and invite them to church.The fellowship of prayer walking in small groups can unify all generations. Families can do this ministry together.

The physical movement into the community inevitably changes a person spiritually. Add prayer to this physical movement, and you have a powerful combination.

Is there a resource to help kickstart a prayer walking emphasis?

The Pray & Go outreach program was designed by church leaders to provide opportunities for everyone in your congregation to participate and experience the power of prayer in your community.

Christ’s plan was to provide hope for the nations, and His strategy was to send out His disciples. Pray & Go is an on-demand course that will help members move beyond the walls of the church. Whether your church is downtown, in the suburbs, or in a small-town rural setting, you will see gospel impact in your church and your community.

Start making your spring and summer ministry plans! Prayer walking just might be the path to revitalization in your church. 

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A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request

After almost 32 years of marriage, my wife and I adopted a rescue dog a couple weeks ago. I grew up with dogs, but Pam has never been around a dog for any length of time. Still, though, we took the plunge after hosting/fostering this dog for three weekends so he could get acclimated to people in hopes of getting adopted. 

I asked to host a young, male, active dog—and that’s exactly who we got . . . with emphasis on “active.” He was high energy and non-stop, but I fell in love with him. He and I hung out together for the weekend, and I did little work. On the day we returned him after the first weekend, my wife cried recurrently. She knew she was going to miss him, but she later told me another, more significant reason she was crying—a reason I’ve not been able to shake: “Chuck,” she said, “I’m also crying because I haven’t seen you so happy and relaxed in a long time.” 

She didn’t say it this way, but I suspect she might have also been saying, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you without a phone or a computer attached to you.”

The dog adoption actually didn’t work out after the first week, but I learned a lesson nevertheless. You see, I’m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There’s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don’t relax or rest well. I’ve even written about these issues in the past (see here), but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn’t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him. 

Despite what I’ve realized, I know I’ll continue to wrestle with saying “yes” too quickly and relaxing too infrequently. Still, though, I want to slow down, look around, see God’s work, and pay better attention to the gifts of people He has given me. 

I want to close my computer more regularly. I want to be okay with doing nothing. I want to rest more in God’s grace. 

Would you say a prayer for me today? And, if you face the same issues and want our Church Answers readers to pray for you, let us know by using the “comments” section below. 

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