Flora First Christian Church - Flora, IN

April 20, 2008

I Thessalonians 1:1-10

One Thriving Congregation

On the outskirts of New Albany, Indiana is a thriving suburban church known as Northside Christian Church. Northside has a weekend worship attendance of 4,000. Their church attendance has doubled in the past six years since they relocated from their former home about two miles away. Ten years ago their attendance was approximately 600. I’ve visited Northside a couple of time and I’ve seen their thriving activity for myself. On one of my visits I also noticed a number of other congregations in the same neighborhood that have an average worship attendance between 35 and 100 persons. All of these churches are in the same geographic neighborhood, with the same economic surrounding, and they have the same community resources. Yet one congregation takes off, is growing, dynamic, and increasing their attendance by approximately 20% each year.
Why is it that some churches seem to be bursting at the seams and others congregations struggle to connect members to the deeper meaning of worship and evangelism? This is a question that lots of church leaders are asking.

The Church at Thessalonica

In his first letter to the church at Thessalonica the Apostle Paul gave some insights on this issue.
The church at Thessalonica was located in a seaport city at the top of the gulf between the countries that today we know as Greece and Turkey. This church was planted by the Apostle Paul and was a church in the midst of controversy. He was worried about the church and its members which were mainly converts to Christianity from pagan backgrounds. Also in the church were persons of Jewish heritage who understood that God had promised a deliverer, a Messiah, who is Jesus Christ. Paul stayed with the church in Thessalonica approximately three weeks. Later, while Paul was down the coast in Corinth working with another start-up congregation he sent a young pastoral assistant named Timothy to check on the Thessalonian church that he loved. Timothy returned with good news! The church was growing, thriving and dynamic. There were still some issues to be dealt with, however, these Christians were still standing strong in their faith. This church was Paul’s pride and joy.
As in his other letters Paul spelled out the hallmarks which made Thessalonica a dynamic congregation.
Do you know what a hallmark is? It’s no coincidence that the largest greeting card company in our country is called Hallmark, their motto is “Care enough to send the very best,” and the logo is a crown. A hallmark is a proof of excellence. In England where the term originated, the proof was generally a seal marked on an object of gold or silver.

Excellence in Ministry: Workshops & Conferences

Pursuing excellence in church ministry has produced an entire industry. At least a couple of times a month, I receive brochures about up-coming conferences, workshops or seminars on how to assist pastors and church leaders in gaining the tools to make their church more dynamic, vibrant, and effective. Churches everywhere are looking for a magic wand, a program, or an event that will produce instant growth that will have scores of inactive members and seekers coming through the doors and down the church aisles to the altar. No such program by itself will make that happen.

Being a dynamic church is not a question of size. Many smaller churches are dynamic and many larger churches are stagnant. Flora First Christian Church has a history of being dynamic. No church can rest on its past.
The hallmarks, the seals of quality of a dynamic ministry, are laid out by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul spelled out what it takes to become a dynamic church for Christ.

Let’s take a look at these hallmarks.

Being a Christian is not easy. Few of us in this country know what real persecution is like. Oh, we might have friends or co-workers who ridicule us for being a part of a church and following God’s commandments which they think are out-dated. However in the first and second century being a Christian could mean life in prison or even death for not bowing down and worshipping the Roman Caesar. In our country being a Christian is not a matter of life and death, but there are isolated spots in our world where it is.
The Thessalonians had received the Word of God in the midst of affliction and trial. It wasn’t political correct to be a Christian and its becoming that way in our culture. Yet the early Christians lived their faith with joy and courage in spite of living with persecution. Dynamic Churches Live Courageously.

Quote During the Cold War

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a saying I heard from time to time. The question was “If tomorrow it became against the law to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
That’s a good question. How willing are we to freely and naturally live our faith?

Dynamic Churches Make Stands

Dynamic churches make stands. They stand up for the poor, they aren’t afraid to speak against racism, they aren’t afraid to invite into their midst those who are different from themselves, they aren’t afraid to speak straight out in love the spiritual laws of God and how we must live in God’s ways.
The church exists today because early Christians were willing to be martyred and die for their conviction because Christ was Lord and nothing else mattered.

The Evangelism Study

Two summers ago, the results of a major evangelism study came across my desk. The results were nearly the same as studies during the past twenty-five years. The conclusion was: the number one reason someone visits a church is because they were invited. They felt the invitation was sincere and given for the right reason. After a visit to a new church, persons may become active in a church for numerous reasons. To bring persons to Christ, not to the church as an institution, but to Christ as Lord we must ask: Is our church becoming a place where people are intentionally welcomed and can connect to Christ by the way we reach out to them? This is what happened at Thessalonica. Dynamic Churches Are Made Up of People Who Evangelize Enthusiastically.

“The Church Came Through”

On a cold, dreary December evening, several hundred persons gathered at a large downtown church in Winston-Salem for several Christmas events. That evening the pastor saw a little boy who was about two years old crying at the top of his lungs as he tried to push open a massive front door. The pastor picked up the child thinking he belonged to someone at one of the Christmas gatherings. No one knew him. He rushed outside and spotted a car speeding away when he appeared. It dawned on him that the boy had been abandoned.
After a few calls the church was filled with people wanting to help. Within moments local TV stations interrupted their usual programs to ask if anyone knew the identity of the little boy. The next morning, one of the city’s newspapers had the child’s picture on the front page. Under the picture there was an article describing the events of the evening before. The reporter began his story with the striking line: “Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!”
(Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, “Someone Trusted the CHURCH,” Michigan Christian Advocate, May 5, 1997, p. 8. Illustration, Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, Michigan Christian Advocate, 1997, 0-7880-0005-5)

There is a deep hunger in our world as countless people grope for answers and help with the deepest questions of the human spirit. The Good News of Christ speaks to these questions. The root word of the word evangelism is evangel, which means to be a messenger of Good News. Lives are changed as the hearts of people are changed. EVANGELISM is no longer an option for the church.

Evangelism is not a program—it is our commission. Evangelism rarely happens without intentionality.

Bible historians tell us that the apostles and the early church leaders were effective because they lived each day as if the Lord would return. They wanted everyone to be ready and to know Christ personally.

These early Christians lived each day as though it could be their last.

This was an issue in the church at Thessalonica. There were those in the church who took the attitude “Hey, the Lord is returning soon. Let’s just go sit on a hillside and wait for him.” Some had quit working and just looked to the skies. While Paul condemns their attitude, he did not discourage them from living as if the Lord could come at any time.
His instruction was wait on the Lord, “get busy.” The command to wait on the Lord is throughout the Bible. The meaning of the phrase is like “waiting on tables,” it means to serve—not to sit around and do nothing. It is an active verse. Dynamic churches are expectant churches that serve Christ. They know that God expects them to be active doing his will and carrying out His work.

Middletown Christian Church

Middletown Christian Church is a Disciples congregation that literally stands in the shadow of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. Southeast is a church that has an average weekend attendance of 20,000 and is a half a mile away from Middletown Christian Church. However Middletown Christian’s worship attendance has increased in the past five years from 350 to 800. The congregation will tell you that they are not in competition, and their mission is simply to serve Christ and to connect persons to Jesus Christ. That’s the challenge to the church today: to wait and serve expectantly.
Lyle Schaller, considered the top church growth expert of the 1970’s & 1980’s, stated that from his study of hundreds of congregations, church growth has nothing to do with the size of a congregation, whether they are liberal or conservative, traditional, liturgical, or contemporary in the worship style—it’s all about commitment to Christ.

Transitional Ministries

Allow me to share with you that as your transitional pastor, my job is to . . . serve Christ with you. The commission which I have accepted is to teach and share with you what the Lord has taught me. Some things I have learned the hard way, some things I have learned from my mistakes, and many things I have learned from my blessings. My job as your transitional pastor is to prepare you for the future, by serving Christ and worshipping God today. I am here to serve Christ and to love every one of you. I ask you to join together in this year and a half of preparation. I’ve set May 11, Pentecost Sunday (and Mother’s Day) as Dedication Sunday for our Transition Ministry of Strategic Planning, Revitalization, and Growth. I’m giving this period the theme: “Reaching Up to Reach Out.” With our gifts, time, and energy we reach up to God through our worship, our prayers, our study, and our commitment to grow in the Spirit that we may reach out to others with the Good News.
Our ministry for Christ must revolve around people. We have long been reminded that churches are not buildings, they are people. Dynamic churches are dynamic because they are filled with dynamic people who trust in the Holy Spirit to lead them.
So . . .where does each of us stand in our Lord’s church?
Where are we courageous? Where are we evangelizing enthusiastically? Where are we waiting expectantly upon our Lord? And where do we need together to seek God’s help and guidance? Amen!