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New Hope For Churches
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New Hope For Churches
On Sunday, I worshipped at New Hope Family Christian Center in Louisville, Colorado. They are about 2 years old and have 23 active members. The ministers are Jack and Lorna Sherwood. Their talented daughter led the singing. They had a praise band that included electric piano, drums, and guitar.
Jack and Lorna Sherwood have worshipped together for a very long time. Fresh out of Seminary, Jack was the young minister at Lorna's Lutheran Church when she was only 12 years old. When she was 16 years old, Jack formally asked her parents if he could "court" their daughter. They married at age 18 and Lorna got a college degree while married. They have been in ministry together ever since.
The church is located on a beautiful piece of land with mountains as a view. Their window looks out at this beautiful view. They think of this window as the "Window to Heaven."
Miraculously, they own the land and building debt free. They are not a wealthy church. Someone donated the land that included a mortgage. Their neighbors bought enough land from them to pay off the mortgage. Community members donated the rest of the money necessary for the building.
They are in a difficult mission field. Their community isn't very interested in Christian activities. They have lots of witch covens and New Age activities in the area.
This small church had 20 baptisms last year. They are doing the work of God.
They use the Bible. The service began with reading the Bible. You could hear the sweet flutter of pages turning as people read along.
Prayer was used throughout the service. Lorna has a community prayer ministry. They asked the congregation for prayer requests.
Singing is a very important part of this worship service. The praise band, led by their daughter, led us in praise choruses for 45 minutes.
The sermon was on Acts 3-4. Reverend Jack Sherwood made the point that Acts is about the acts of the Holy Spirit.
The New Hope Family Christian Center claims the power of healing and have witnessed 3 miraculous healings after the doctors had given up hope.
Jack said he doesn't "believe" in healings. He says he "knows" there are real. There is a distinct difference between believing and knowing. He personally has been healed by the power of God and no one could convince him otherwise.
He pointed out that we are given the book of Acts so we can "know" what we are capable of. We are to pray and "know" there will be an answer.
He told the story of the woman going to the church to pray for rain. The community was in a drought and yet the woman carried an umbrella. The community made fun of her but that woman "knew" her prayers were going to be answered.
The minister referenced the 4 R's that are necessary for an effective prayer life.
1. Repent - We repent from anything that is distracting us from God.
2. Return Back To God - We get our focus back on God
3. Refresh - We spend time in prayer and Bible Study and get refreshed.
4. Restoration - Our relationship is restored and God's way rules our lives.
He issued a warning. We are to do nothing until we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. If we only "believe" and do not "know," we should be quiet. He pointed out that in Acts, Peter's power came from the Holy Spirit.
"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: 'Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.'" Acts 4: 8-11 NIV
I have visited a different church every Sunday on this journey. I have visited some churches on Wednesday night. I always ask God where I am to worship and follow his leading.
Many of the churches I have visited are struggling or are in difficult mission fields.
Some churches are battling discouragement.
Some are battling financial issues. All wish they were leading more people to Christ.
I have sensed such a sweet spirit in the churches I've visited. I believe God is hand picking these churches to nurture me along my journey.
I thought about the power of applying the 4 R's to our church's spiritual health.
They could be very useful for getting struggling churches back on track. Churches could benefit by taking an honest look at themselves and adjusting to God's will. Businesses call this "taking inventory." Businesses that don't take inventory go broke. Churches that don't repent, die.
REPENT
Where does the church body need to repent? What are the weaknesses of the church?
I've listed some sample questions that come to mind. There are many others. A church could begin by having a committee create a list of questions. They could have a second committee to answer the questions. If they are very brave, they could survey the congregation and ask where they need to repent. A committee could validate the feedback.
Sample Questions:
1. Are the leaders trying to do everything themselves? Does the church leadership need to learn how to delegate and teach others to take responsibility?
Moses himself struggled with this. His intentions were good. People grow by giving service to God. At act meant as "servant-hood," could actually be "selfish" because we are denying others the chance to serve God.
"The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?'
Moses answered him, 'Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws.'
Moses' father-in-law replied, 'What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people--men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain--and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.'
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves." Exodus 13-26 NIV
2. Does your worship radiate quality to the congregation?
We are to give God our best individually and corporately. Are the people that handle the key roles in the worship service modeling quality? Are they competent? Are they prepared for worship? Does worship flow smoothly?
Businesses understand about the importance of quality. Churches are so much more important that businesses.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NIV
3. Are you putting spiritual principals ahead of strong personalities in your church? Is your church spirit led or being led by dominating personalities. Do politics, nepotism, or financial strength play a role in the filling of key positions?
"I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism." I Timothy 5:21 NIV
4. Are you focused on grace and the love of Jesus Christ or have you created a list of rules and justified them using scripture?
Jesus Christ sums up the entire 10 commandments in a simple statement of love. There is no need for churches to create their own commandments. These rules become barriers for churches and are a powerful stumbling block for people.
If the people of our congregations love God and each other, they will naturally do the right things.
Do we teach the scriptures with love instead of judgment?
"Jesus replied: `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
5. Is your theology sound? Are you focused on teaching and applying the Bible?
6. Are you balanced in your service to God?
Is your church serving God with all of their heart (emotions,) soul (spiritually), and strength (physically) equally or are there areas that are being left out?
I have visited churches that have a wonderful heart but didn't prepare physically for the service. There were mistakes and interruptions in the service.
I have visited churches that focused on the spiritual side and taught theology but had absolutely no emotion in the service. They were not warm and friendly and I didn't feel welcome.
I have visited churches where people were working so hard in church work that they had no time left to develop a close personal relationship with God.
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV
7. Are you afraid of the forces of evil around you? Do you find yourself constantly blaming problems on these? Are you discouraged? Have you lost hope?
Satan has no power in the church other than what we give him. We can "stomp our feet" at Satan and fire him from our churches.
"Get behind me, Satan!" Mark 8:33 NIV
8. Are people growing spiritually in your church? Are you focused on both leading people to Christ and making disciples out of them? Do you have programs in place that teach people? Are you baptizing new Christians? Are the people of your church spending time every morning falling in love with God?
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20
RETURN BACK TO GOD
After repenting, the church needs to put a plan together to take corrective action. This plan should be specific, have dates, and have measurable and achievable goals. Pray about each goal. Validate goals with the Bible.
Repentance does no good without change and action. It might be a good idea to ask someone familiar with secular "business plans" to head up this process.
Have regular meetings where you check the progress of your plan. Hold each other accountable.
REFRESH
Taking the time to refresh the spirit is critical. Churches need to refresh. They need to rest in the Lord. Ministers need to refresh.
Some ideas come to mind for being refreshed. There are many others.
1. A church revival led by a powerful minister of God. The minister of the church needs to be fed as well so this should be an outside person.
2. A weekend retreat led by a loving nurturing facilitator and speaker. This could be more powerful than a revival. It could be focused on ministering directly to the church members.
3. A renewed focus on individual church members spending daily time in prayer, meditation, and Bible Study.
4. A renewed focus on staff member's personal relationships with God. Ministers need to have a regular time with God that is separate from their sermon preparation time. They need to be refreshed so they can do the work of the church.
5. Letting new people take some of the responsibilities of tired and overworked church members.
6. Private retreats for ministers.
RESTORATION
After we have done the footwork, God will bless it and will act in a mighty way. The seas will part and mountains will be moved.
Like Jack said, pray and act like you "know" God will work. You will find yourself with a "New Hope" for your church's futures.
I loved visiting this sweet church today. Pray for their ministry and their mission field. Help them if you are able.
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