The following article is by Darrick Shepherd who is one of the ministers for the S.W. congregation in OKC. I thought he just did a super job of discussing some things that can really affect us and how active we are in the work of the church. It really made me think about some things and I hope it will for you as well.
Unity In The Church
For a congregation to grow, one element that is essential is the loving cooperation of all the saints that make up that congregation.
The reason for a lack of congregational cooperation and individual involvement often stems from selfishness. Let us look at some major deterrents to congregational cooperation and involvement.
1. Forgetting who owns us, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” We think in terms of our time, our money, and our desires and forget that we belong to the Lord. Belonging to the Lord means that we are merely stewards of His time, His money, and His desires. Involvement in the work of the church may infringe on our time, money and desires, but never on His. It is simply a matter of who owns us.
2. Superiority or inferiority. We can consider ourselves too important, too sophisticated, or too something else to be involved in a program of the church. Or we may consider ourselves to be too important, too inept or too inferior to contribute anything of value.
3. In either case “self” is too much in consideration. We are most valuable to the Lord when we keep self out of the picture.
Darrick Shepherd
Brother Shepherd really makes some good points in his article. Some things we really need to think about. We are in desperate need of workers in this congregation. We have been blessed by some who have stepped up to help clean our facility and by some who have stepped up to help in the office with filing of paper work and helping with the church bulletin. But, one of our greatest needs is Bible class teachers. We have some who are trying very hard to teach our younger children and we really appreciate what they are doing. But, for our older children and adult classes we are hurting. We have had some great teachers who just are not able to do it anymore because of serious health issues, either themselves or in their family. Think about it, every teacher needs a break, every teacher needs time to be taught, to sit in classes themselves to renew their spirits, to build their knowledge and ability to teach. Teacher burnout is a serious problem in the Lord’s church. What can you do to help?
Until next week, I love you all,
Dan
Unity In The Church
For a congregation to grow, one element that is essential is the loving cooperation of all the saints that make up that congregation.
The reason for a lack of congregational cooperation and individual involvement often stems from selfishness. Let us look at some major deterrents to congregational cooperation and involvement.
1. Forgetting who owns us, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” We think in terms of our time, our money, and our desires and forget that we belong to the Lord. Belonging to the Lord means that we are merely stewards of His time, His money, and His desires. Involvement in the work of the church may infringe on our time, money and desires, but never on His. It is simply a matter of who owns us.
2. Superiority or inferiority. We can consider ourselves too important, too sophisticated, or too something else to be involved in a program of the church. Or we may consider ourselves to be too important, too inept or too inferior to contribute anything of value.
3. In either case “self” is too much in consideration. We are most valuable to the Lord when we keep self out of the picture.
Darrick Shepherd
Brother Shepherd really makes some good points in his article. Some things we really need to think about. We are in desperate need of workers in this congregation. We have been blessed by some who have stepped up to help clean our facility and by some who have stepped up to help in the office with filing of paper work and helping with the church bulletin. But, one of our greatest needs is Bible class teachers. We have some who are trying very hard to teach our younger children and we really appreciate what they are doing. But, for our older children and adult classes we are hurting. We have had some great teachers who just are not able to do it anymore because of serious health issues, either themselves or in their family. Think about it, every teacher needs a break, every teacher needs time to be taught, to sit in classes themselves to renew their spirits, to build their knowledge and ability to teach. Teacher burnout is a serious problem in the Lord’s church. What can you do to help?
Until next week, I love you all,
Dan
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