Recently a family member who has not been to
church in a while visited the local Seventh-day
Adventist church. I get a little nervous when I hear
this wondering how they will be received. So many
things can go wrong and before you know it, the
person has seemingly rejected God because they
have had a negative experience with church.
Second only to giving Bible studies on my list of fun
things to do as a pastor is visiting the members. Give
me a church role, preferably up to date, a free day,
and the journey begins. You never really know what
awaits you, and it’s always better if you have a friend
to join you. You find the address, pray, knock on the
door, listen, watch and learn. Before leaving you
open the Bible, read a verse and pray for the family
by name.
Visiting the members in their homes brings many
blessings. In this busy world it is so easy to have a
superficial knowledge of our fellow members and
friends. Sitting in their home meeting the family and
hearing their story with all its highs and lows really
opens a depth in your knowledge of the person.
It sounds extravagant, that every church has a team
of pastors. Who could afford it? Where would you
find that many pastors? Before you write this idea
off, you already attend a church that has a team of
pastors. Yes you do, they are called Elders!
The role of the Elder is the same as the Pastor is in
the Bible (See 1 Peter 5:1-4) In fact a Pastor is an
Elder and an Elder is a Pastor. It is a different name
for the same position. The Elders were to protect
and care for the new converts by prayerfully teaching
Scripture and protecting them from false teachers
and bringing new people to the faith (1 Tim 4:11-16).
We have made a distinction between the fulltime
Elder who we call Pastor and the part time Elder we
refer to as the local Elder.
The Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20
is something that we as Seventh-day Adventist strive
to fulfil. For generations, the Seventh-day Adventist
church in Australia has placed a lot of emphasis on
running programs.
There is nothing wrong with this, we have some great
programs with exceptional content. Programs on
dealing with depression, prophecy, diet, health, and
wellbeing. All of these topics are extremely useful and
provide really good opportunities to lead people to
Jesus.
However, is this the best way to achieve the Great
Commission?
I’m not talking about any particular food but the
idea of sharing food or eating a meal with others.
This has always and continues to have a powerful
influence upon those who participate. Just a casual
reading of the early chapters of the book of Acts
shows the power of sharing a meal.
“46 So continuing daily with one accord in the
temple, and breaking bread from house to house,
they ate their food with gladness and simplicity
of heart, 47 praising God and having favour with
all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46-47
Growing churches have a Biblical sermon at the
centre of the worship service. Have you ever
asked why? Have you ever questioned if we
should drop the sermon? What would happen?
Or, why is the sermon so important that growing
churches build their public worship service
around the sermon?
A Clear definition of Biblical Preaching
To understand why the sermon is so important
for growth, a clear definition of what Biblical
preaching is goes a long way to finding an answer.
John Stott believes that Biblical preaching “is to
open up the inspired text with such faithfulness and
sensitivity that God’s voice is heard and his people
obey him.”
Over twenty years ago, I had an opportunity
to visit one of the largest churches in southern
California. At the time they had 26 thousand
members in the one congregation, meeting on the
same weekend.
I really didn’t feel like going to church on Sunday,
and I wasn’t that excited about their theological
paradigm. But you don’t get 26 thousand
members without doing something right. From
the moment we stopped in the carpark, we were
met with friendly faces directing us towards the
church entrance, even though we arrived late,
another friendly person was welcoming us in
the foyer of the church and told us where to find
seating.
As an Adventist Pastor, I wanted to hide, so I sat
right up the back in “the bleachers”.
It is rare for the Bible to give instructions on
what Christians should do in church. Seems like
this should get mentioned a lot, but not so. The
modern church service has come to us through
the Synagogue which was based on the details
given in Nehemiah 8. The congregation gathers,
the Scriptures are read aloud by the priest who is
standing above the people on a wooden platform
(8:4) The service goes till midday (8:3) . The people
listening say “Amen!”(8:6) and importantly “They
read from the Book of the Law of God, making it
clear and giving the meaning so that the people
understood what was being read.” (8:8) That is
why we still have a preacher opening the Bible
and explaining what it means.
The Gospel is called the “power of God to
salvation” (Rom 1:16). God’s grace (undeserved
favour) is the basis of my forgiveness and
relationship with Him. I have done nothing to
earn or deserve His favour. He gives it because
He is good. The way I take hold of God’s grace is
through faith (Eph 2:8-9). Faith then becomes the
way I live (Gal 2:20). A mustard seed of faith is
enough to live a whole new life (Matt 17:20) and
through the promises of Scripture I can rise above
my nature (2 Peter 1:4) and ultimately receive
eternal life (Heb 6:12).
All this happens through prayer! Prayer is to our
spiritual experience what breathing is to the
physical body.
It is much harder than it sounds to keep things simple
in our current environment. There are so many opinions
and perspectives to consider. There is an expert on every
corner with the “secret sauce” to fix all our woes. The
complexity of life makes “keeping it simple” a dangerous
endeavour sure to offend and exclude.
But who cares, we are going to do it anyway! The secret
sauce is a very old recipe that can be traced back to the
New Testament. The ingredients are the same as always,
we just package it a little different and maybe adjust the
ratios to suit our situation. But we know it works. All this
has been placed into a “one page strategic plan”. Yes, one
page. We are trying to keep it simple.
