Pastor's Message
October 2008
Greetings Children of God:
If you would ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is still humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless. -- St. Augustine
Do you know who you are? I will assume you can answer that question honestly only when you know whose you are. Humility is above all else the ability to remember we are formed and shaped out the muddy earth into God’s image. We are finite creatures with a beginning and an end. It is only through God’s grace that we are connected to that which is eternal.
When a congregation becomes more self aware it may become more grounded in the Holy One who formed them into existence in the first place. Self awareness means facing reality.
Does Emmanuel know who it is? Here are some realities facing it in the 21st century:
- We can no longer assume that people in or around a specific community belong to a congregation and/or are even nominal Christians.
- The norm for people within a particular congregation is that the majority are biblically illiterate and theologically confused.
- In an urban area there will be people who are of a religious tradition that are NOT Christian.
- Christianity no longer can claim a special status in the western world and this includes the United States.
- Most congregations have grown throughout their history through transfers from other congregations and/or through immigration without needing to bear witness to the reign/ kingdom/ dominion of God. In retrospect this now means that it has done a poor job raising up disciples as witnesses and participants in that reign/ kingdom/ dominion of God.
- In the past the institutional church has recruited and trained people to serve the local congregation with a great deal of success. It has been less successful in encouraging, empowering and training people to be missionaries in their local environment. The mission field was once seen to be mostly in a "pagan" third world nation. The mission field is now in a person’s neighborhood, workplace, and family.
- "Congregations are to help the body as a whole, as well as groups of believers and individuals, exercise their spiritual" lives. Spiritual transformation becomes one of the primary goals of the congregation and not merely accepting nominal references to God in one's life journey.
- In the past the institutional church formalized its planning process and focused on policy and procedure to assure its continual existence. Today, it is challenged to provide experiences that allow, encourage, and enhance the Holy Spirit's guidance into "active" ministry in the community and world via the congregation. It must seek to be an organization of permission giving and cooperation when it comes to active ministries as people live out the mission of the local church. Do these realities help this congregation become more self aware? Are they sobering or humbling realities?
One of Christ’s servants,
Pastor David Hendricks - Child of God