More on Training

Some further thoughts on "Training", prompted by Hebrews 12:1-17 in the Message...

In a recent discussion about our current situation, a word that was used often was "weary". I'd guess we're all weary right now for a lot of different reasons. But when I think back to my High School days, when I was undergoing training for football I was continually weary -- sometimes to the point I thought I could not go on. When I went through an intensive training program to prepare me for an IT certification, I was mentally weary -- to the point where I thought I could not absorb any more. In fact every serious experience I've ever had with "training" has included weariness of one sort or another.

Why would I expect anything else if God is seriously training us for the next step in the life of Bridgeway?

So why do we persevere through extreme weariness? Because the end result is so exciting, so rewarding, so valuable that it makes it all worthwhile. And it is the same with our struggles in the church. I don't know what God is bringing forth from all of this -- but I know his promises and I trust him. So I'll run that extra lap (not literally, thank goodness!) -- I'll study that next chapter -- I'll persevere in whatever is next in the history of Bridgeway because He is doing something valuable through it.

Are We Evangelistic?

Of course we are. . . Right?. . .

After all, we've always tried to be a "Willow-creek-model" church. We speak often of our heart for "seekers". We try to craft our services to appeal to people who would not normally visit a church.

All of that is true, but it doesn't really answer the question does it? Actually, I think a strong case can be made that we are NOT evangelistic. Not in heart, not in actions, not in effect. We've tended to assume that our collective emphasis on seeker-sensitivity relieves us of any need for personal involvement in evangelism.

The long-term road to health for our church must include this change -- we must shift from being individuals who belong to a church that aspires to be effective in evangelism, to being evangelistic individuals who come together to form an evangelistic church.

(I know this is but one side of the coin... or, more likely, one facet of the diamond. I don't mean to minimize other attributes we need -- I just can't address them all at once. For now, suffice to say that evangelism cannot stand apart from discipleship... which will be a topic for a future posting)

Out of the Blue

For seven years I've been doing Balloon Entertainment at Restaurants. On one (and only one) occasion I had a customer aggressively trying to evangelize me. But never before tonight has anyone simply asked me, out of the blue, whether there was anything they could pray about for me. But tonight -- at a time when my heart has been heavily weighed down with some of the decisions we may be facing (whether to lay off staff, give up our facility, merge with another church, or close our doors entirely) -- someone did.

After asking me for a Texas Longhorns balloon hat, she asked if she could pray. A little stunned, I said, "Well, actually, yes..." and told her about the state of our church. She and the eight or ten others at her table stopped their conversations and prayed for us. They prayed for our finances, for our attendance, for our spirits and our weariness, that the community would look on us with favor, and that God would bless us...

It's nice that people in another church are praying for us. But even more significant to me was this: Given the fact that I've never been asked that before, I have to believe that God either supernaturally prompted her to ask tonight or that she's a person who does that everywhere she goes and God supernaturally provided for her to be there on this weekend when I most needed that encouragement.

What it said to me is this: God still cares about Bridgeway. He has things under control. He didn't send them to pray that we would join them, but to pray that we would make it -- and not just get by, but prosper. I thought I'd been trusting God all along -- but I think He's calling for even more.

Who, What, Why. . .

Bridgeway Community Church is a church that has been through several incredibly difficult years and is in many respects a shadow of its former self and has been on a downward spiral. We want to turn it around and see it become a strong and effective hub of ministry.

I'm Scott Purcell and I'm an elder in the church. As this blog moves forward, I hope I'll be joined in posting by other Bridgeway leaders.

This blog is primarily for the leaders of Bridgeway to discuss with each other the direction we need to take and the issues before us. Additionally, we hope it will be a way of helping to cast the vision for the type of church we want to be to others in Bridgeway who may be following the blog. Finally, we welcome input from anyone else with an interest in our efforts. If you've been in a similar situation or just have some advice or suggestions for us, we want to hear it.

Thanks,

Scott

Not Punishment, but Training...

My wife, Nan, just read to me a passage from Hebrews 12:1-17 in the Message. We both found it applicable and encouraging. I hope you will too.