We are in desperate need of reaching out into the harvest. Jesus said, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:38) If Jesus said this and felt it so strongly, then why should there be any question about it?!! He not only said it, He lived it.
When some in the church come to a point of saying, "we've tried that before" or "that won't work", then there must be a greater intensified effort to reach out to the lost. There must be effort to go into the harvest of today with today's tools. Furthermore, some of the tools never change. Jesus commissioned, "Go." That will never change!!!! He did not say this to just the pastor or the the preacher. He said it to the disciples. Are you one of His disciples????!!!!
"We want revival," we say. When concerted effort is needed for revival. . .just about anything takes their time or they find an excuse to be out of prayer meeting and the scheduled revival meetings. We don't need to come to church and shout, we need a spanking from the Lord to get us on the right path. What if a pastor confronted each one who needs to be corrected or needs admonition? How many are mature enough to be rebuked or taught? Many would be at home pouting or tranferring to another church if a pastor confronted them - albeit, with the desire to help them - not destroy them. Some remain carnally immature and will not change. . . .
The cry from our International Office is to reach out to the most needy in society. That cry has focused on youth and children. There are dozens of youth who come to the shopping plaza next to Wendy's and the Dollar Store here on Friday and Saturday nights to "hang out." When are we going to reach these youth and how are we going to reach them?
Bishop Billy Murray, former General Overseer, said, "if we do what we've always done, we will get what we've always got." He may not have been the originator of this phrase but it has stuck with me ever since I heard him say it.
Maintaining the status-quo will not send laborers into the harvest. Some feel content to come to church a once or twice a week and sit and say, "feed me preacher, feed me." We are so pitiful!!! Not the kind of pitiful that we read in the King James version of the Bible! If we had more of that pity (which is kindness in action) we would be reaching out to those without Christ.
Do we want to move up to the needed outreach methods of our time or do we want to malinger in the muddy, mediocre muck of many moons past?!!!
Dear Lord, help us to move out into the harvest. . . . . .Let us pray fervently for laborers. . .
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1 comment:
Couple of thoughts:
Several research studies show that most lasting, real, conversions, result from a period of over two years of relationship with a praying Chritian(s) who models the Christian faith to them. So any program which is not aiming to create and build such ongoing relationships is unlikely to do well.
Church websites too, therefore, should be aimed much more at demostrating that the church is a family of relationships, in which anyone can start to relate to, rather than a series of meetings. Internet Evangelism Day's church website design self-assessment tool can help churches to do this and more effectively reach outsiders.
Blessings
Tony
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