Hello Church! Happy Valentine’s Day!
About this past Sunday: it was a good weekend. We had one couple visit during the open house, and our Realtor said that they expressed significant interest. We will see! I preached at Indianapolis First FMC yesterday, one of six or so Free Methodist Churches in the Indy metro area. About 75 attended. It was nice to have Virginia and the girls with me, and we missed Andrew (who is in school in Pasadena). The church is located in a part of Indy that appears forgotten; an inner city church. A number of different ethnicities were represented. I appreciated the pastor, the ministry of the church, and the opportunity to serve.
BTW, did you know that the average size FMC in the US is between 60-70? That’s Sunday morning attendance. There are about 250 FM churches in the US that have Sunday morning attendance of 125 or more. The other 750 churches in the US have less than 125.
Today we closed the WMC (World Ministry Center, where I have an office) at 2pm because of the snow. As I write, we’ve got over a foot on the ground –much of it sleet. You can see a photo of an Eskimo we found at THIS LINK.
What else typifies the average church in the US today? It has been great to see many churches from the inside these past five years.
But… what is important? Inspiring worship? Relevant teaching? Great fellowship? All of these and more? Here’s what the FMC has identified as what makes a good church (my paraphrase):
- A church with authentic worship.
- A church that quickly includes guests, helping them to grow in their faith.
- A church that plants other churches.
- A church that regularly helps others find their way home to Jesus.
- A church participating in world evangelization.
- A church that seeks justice and shows mercy to the poor and suffering.
- A church that organizes itself to do what God has called it to do.
- A church that prays.
It’s important for me to remember that the church is not the building or the organization …or even the denomination. It’s Christ-followers… a favorite quote of mine which you may have heard before: "The local church does not exist for the members, rather the members are the church who exist to participate in God’s mission."
That ‘begs’ the question: "What is God’s mission?" Orient our lives around Jesus. Be like Jesus and follow the Kingdom way!