The Church “Crisis” and what we can do about it: Learning to Love the Church.

In the first article in this series entitled “The Church “Crisis” and what we can do about it,” I gave a brief definition of this crisis as the steady decline in church attendance since the 1960s and concluded that the key to reverse this trend is to build the church through building relationships.  In the second article, I pointed out that building the church is building the Kingdom of God, and the very first step in Kingdom building is to align our intentions with the intentions of Jesus, which are grounded in pure love.  In this third article, I am going to unpack the idea of grounding ourselves in the pure love of Jesus by exploring how Jesus loves. 

I want you to get out your Bible and read the following scriptures to see how Jesus loves: Matt. 4:23; Luke 4:16-21; Matt. 17:14-20; John 13:1-14. 

From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus encouraged everyone by preaching and teaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus worked to heal every kind of sickness; free everyone he encountered from oppression; and declared the year of God’s favor – which can also be translated as declare the era of God’s grace!  Jesus encountered imperfect followers and disciples of little faith, but he loved them, healed them, and encouraged them despite his frustrations.  Jesus served his disciples and everyone he met, and he has taught us that to follow him we must take up the mantle of service and “wash one another’s feet.” 

Each of us has an ideal version of how we think church should be, and when the church does not fit our ideal we find fault, complain, cause strife in the church, and maybe even abandon it.  This behavior causes fractures in the church and leads to broken relationships - which is the EXACT opposite of what we need to do to build the church!  To build the church, and build the Kingdom we must love as Jesus loved – accepting the church as it is, with all of its faults; encourage each other with the Good News of Jesus; work to heal the physical and spiritual sickness of the church; free those who are oppressed; declare the era of God’s grace; and despite our frustrations serve one another.  In reality, the church is our training ground for learning how to love as Jesus loves!  Let’s get to work!

In Christ’s Love, Jason

Keep up to date with Epworth UMC Online

We now have several different information streams to help you keep in touch with the events and people of Epworth UMC

You can link to us on  
facebook at https://www.facebook.com/epworthumcfallon/#
blogger at http://eumcfallon.blogspot.com/
twitter at https://twitter.com/EumcFallon
and of course our website at http://www.epworthchurch.info/

See you on the net!
Peace,
Jason

Ash Wednesday Worship Service, Wednesday 3/1 at 7pm.

Our Ash Wednesday worship service will be a time to reflect upon our lives, our place in God's creation, and our need for God's grace. We will celebrate the traditional Ash Wednesday service including the invitation to fasting and abstinence during Lent, the imposition of ashes, and the call to repentance and renewal of faith. This is one of the most meaningful services for me. I hope you will join us! In Christ's service, Jason.

Shrove Tuesday 2/28 at 6pm

Come join us for our Shrove Tuesday Celebration this coming Tuesday February 28th at 6pm at Epworth United Methodist Church.

Also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday is the last feast day before the 40 day long fast of Lent.  Traditionally on Shrove Tuesday, families would gather all of the rich foods they had - such as flour, butter, eggs, and sugar - to remove them from the house in preparation for the Lenten fast which begins on Ash Wednesday.  Families would then take these ingredients and prepare a great feast to celebrate the abundant blessings which God had given them.  This is why on the 28th when gather in the Fireside Fellowship Hall, we will be sharing the traditional feast of pancakes, eggs and sausage.  Shrove Tuesday is an evening to gather with friends and family and celebrate the blessings and abundance of God.  Come celebrate with us!!

The Church “Crisis” and What We Can Do About It: Part 2. Where Do We Start?

Pastor Jason Thornton

February 2017

In January’s newsletter, I wrote the first article in a series entitled “The Church “Crisis” and what we can do about it.”  In January’s article, I gave the brief definition of this crisis as the steady decline in church membership and attendance since the 1960s.  I concluded that the key to reverse this trend and escape the crisis is to build the church through building relationships.  Now the question is – “Where do we start?”

We must start this process of church building – or I prefer the term Kingdom building – by fully understanding WHY building our church membership is something we should want to do in the first place.  We must be very clear about our answer to WHY building our church is desirable, and we must always keep our answer to this question at the center of everything we do to build our church, because we need to avoid some dangerous pitfalls.  The dangerous pitfalls we must avoid are 1) bringing new people to church to make sure we can pay our bills and/or “keep the doors open”; and 2) encourage new people to join so they can help lighten the load of our work.  The source of both pitfalls is the same.  We must never get caught in the trap of bringing new people to church so that they can serve us and serve our needs. 

OK.  We still have the question, “WHY should we want to bring new people to church?”  The answer to this question goes all the way back to the basics.  Our intentions must align with the intentions of Jesus.  Why did Jesus want to bring people into his Kingdom?  Why did Jesus choose to live among us?  Why did Jesus give his Life for us?  I’ll let Jesus speak for himself, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Jesus tells us, “This I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:13-14 &17)

Jesus came to live among us, gave his life for us, and gave us the gift of his Kingdom out of pure Love.  And so, Love must be our singular motivation in building Jesus’ Kingdom by bringing new people to church.  

Let’s think about it this way.  Don’t you want to share the things you love with the people you love?  If you have a favorite book, or movie, or activity, or recipe – don’t you talk about it with people you love so you can share it with them?  Don’t you ask a friend to go to the movies with you, or camping, or skiing (etc.) so you can share the joy of the experience and talk about it later?  Don’t you make a favorite recipe so you and those you love can share a great meal?  Don’t you introduce your friends to other friends?  Why should church be any different?  Our motivation in inviting a new person to church should be to introduce them to the love of our friend Jesus and his Kingdom; to share the Good News, the forgiveness, mercy, healing, encouragement, and joy of the experience, so that we can talk about it later.  

So you may be thinking, “Well that’s all fine and dandy Jason!  I HAVE people I Love and I am trying my hardest to get them to come to church.  I would LOVE to share the Love of Jesus and all the blessings of church with them, but nothing I have said or done has moved them to come with me.”  I share your frustration.  There are people I love dearly that just will not come to church voluntarily.  Some people seem to have somehow become inoculated against the love of Jesus and blessings of church.  I am planning on addressing how we might be able to overcome these hurdles in a future article.  But these are advanced steps of Kingdom building.  For now, I want to emphasize that this article is only about the very first step. 

The very first step in Kingdom building is to align our intentions with the intentions of Jesus, and Jesus’ intention is pure Love.  If we let pure Love be the center of all of our thinking and doing, we will be well on our way to filling the pews every Sunday; well on the way to turning this “crisis” into a boon.

In Christ’s Love,

Jason

The Church “Crisis” and What We Can Do About It: Part 1

Pastor Jason Thornton 

January 2017

For the last fifty years or more church membership and attendance have been in decline all over the western world, and Christians in Europe and the United States have been worried.  There are countless books and theories about why the church is in decline.  When people are asked why they don’t come to church, the standard answers are “Church is boring”, “Church is irrelevant to my life”, “Christians are too judgmental,” etc. etc.

Theories about how to reverse the decline over the last few decades have tried to address these complaints, and have included attempts to 1) make church more exciting by changing worship music to more contemporary styles, adding rock and roll bands, and adding dynamic multimedia displays; 2) making church more relevant by preaching less about the Bible and more about practical solutions to our everyday problems, or conversely, preaching more about sin and hell to underscore the consequence of not following Jesus; and 3) make church less “judgmental” by lowering the requirements for membership.  And still, despite these changes, churches continue to decline.  Epworth has experienced it.  Even the Southern Baptist convention, which seemed almost impervious to decline for so long, has seen falling numbers over the last decade.  Why?

Frankly, I think we’ve been asking the wrong questions of the wrong people.  Instead of asking non-church goers why they do not come to church, I believe we need to be asking church goers why they do come to church, and why they stay.  I began doing this a few years ago and here is what I have found 1) People first come to church because they are invited by someone; 2) People keep coming to church to encounter God in worship, to hear the Good News, to be forgiven, to have their burdens relieved, to be encouraged, to gain strength, to learn more about God through Bible study (I could go on – but you get the idea); 3) People stay in church through good and bad times because they feel welcomed and they feel they are a valued contributing member of the community. 

What this tells us is that the key to building the church is building relationships.  In order for me to invite someone to church and have them come, they have to know me first, and trust that I want them to come to church because I am their friend and want to spend time with them.  People experience God in worship, feel forgiven, are encouraged etc., when they begin to understand how God is already in an active relationship with them - wooing them to participate in their relationship; how the Bible IS relevant to their lives; how – in the words of a popular Jeremy Camp song – “The same Spirit that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us!”  People feel welcomed and valued when they are heard and loved.  In other words – actively building relationships with non-church goers, God, and our church family is what builds the church.  I think Jesus summed this up the best: Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.  Love is what builds the kingdom of God.

Over the next few months I will be writing about how we can build our church through building relationships. 

May God’s Grace and Love fill your hearts and homes this New Year. 

In Christ's Love, Jason