Mary Lederleitner: How to Preach and Lead During an Election Year

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September 2, 2020

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Dr. Mary Lederleitner is Managing Director of the Church Evangelism Institute at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center and is the author of Women in God’s Mission and Cross-Cultural Partnerships. Mary earned her Ph.D. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has an M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Wheaton College. She teaches as an adjunct professor at both institutions.

Key Questions for Mary Lederleitner

-When does political affiliation cross over into idolatry?

-What are the dangers pastors face regarding political idolatry?

-What practical advice do you have for pastors who are preaching and leading during this election year?

-Have you noticed any differences between the generations when it comes to political idolatry?

Key Quotes from Mary Lederleitner

“I think a lot of time political idolatry really raises its ugly head when people are afraid because most people fall into idolatry to look for a sense of security.”

“It’s easy to say we believe a lot of things…until we’re tested. And this [social tension] is testing many of us to our core.”

“Sometimes we want the gospel plus the American Dream. It’s like we conflate the two.”

“I think these trials are revealing, maybe revealing the states of our hearts.”

“We’re allowed to have strong [political] views. We’re supposed to be discerning and we’re supposed to be understanding the times, and we’re supposed to be integrating our faith into our daily lives. The problem that’s happening is hate sells.”

“There are forces trying to manipulate Christians in a pretty significant way.”

“If we’re leading people, we’ve got to check our own hearts and discern if we’ve fallen into political idolatry.”

The Risk of Asking for Help and How to Do It Wisely

By

Alison Cook

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September 2, 2020

Is there really a risk in asking for help? Recently, I asked a question on Instagram: “Why is it hard for you to ask for help?” I couldn’t believe the number of responses I received, so I copied them into a document and categorized them. Here are some of the main categories that surfaced:

Fear

I don’t want to feel like a burden.
I might be rejected.
What if no one gets it? What if no one knows how to help me?
I fear it will be used against me as leverage.

Guilt

I feel bad asking, because other people’s problems are bigger than mine.
I’m used to helping others. How can I ask them to help me?
People see me as strong. I don’t want to let them down.

Shame

I feel like I need to wear a mask to look good like others.
I don’t want to be judged
I’ll be seen as weak or a failure.
I was taught I wasn’t worthy of love. How can I believe someone will help me now?

I read your responses and also thought about the stories I hear every day. Many of you are struggling to pay the bills while single parenting; others are dealing with painful dynamics with abuse no one seems to understand. Some of you feel isolated and alone within church communities. I also hear stories from those of you so used to being depended on as “strong” that asking for help would launch a sort of identity crisis. Your narrative goes like this, “If I drop one ball, they’ll all come falling down. I just have to keep juggling them all.”

I get it.

When we say to someone, “I need your help,” we make ourselves vulnerable.

And, vulnerability comes with risk. I can’t tell you that you won’t get hurt if you decide to reach out for help. You might. But I can tell you it’s worth the risk, and you can learn to do it wisely.

For every friend who gives you a pat answer or tells you to pray more, there’s someone who will listen with compassion.

For every pastor who tells you that you have no reason to feel lonely or on the margins of your church, there’s another one who will say, “I get it. I want to help.”

For every family member who blames you for your divorce or your financial predicament, there’s a counselor, friend, or neighbor who will say, “I see your pain and how hard you’re trying. I’m with you in this.”

People can hurt you when you make yourself vulnerable in a time of need. But, please hear me say: DO NOT GIVE UP. From my vantage point as a counselor, I can tell you—for every person who minimizes your pain, there is someone who will get it.

There is someone who will listen, who will enter into your pain with love and compassion, and who will help you with practical care.

For every horrible example of “help” I’ve seen offered to suffering people, I’ve seen angels show up, in multitudes. Here are some real-life examples:

—a companion shows up just when you were ready to give up on love.

—a new boss comes in who gets you and helps you rebuild your career brick-by-brick.

—an acquaintance or neighbor emerges as an unlikely but steady, loyal rock.

—a support group or church community helps connect you to just the right resource.

—a counselor you turn to really and truly sees you.

I could go on and on. For every risk there is in asking for help, there is out there some reward. I witness a lot of pain in my work, but I ALSO witness the beautiful handiwork of angels showing up in unexpected ways. I couldn’t do this work if I didn’t.

Asking for help is vulnerable. And you should be cautious in how you seek it. You don’t want to expose your vulnerabilities to those who will exploit them. Jesus called it casting your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6).

But, if you’ve bumped up against some swine, don’t let it make you bitter or discouraged. Instead, get wise, build up your courage, and try again. Read here for tips on how to set up a support system of trusted advisers.

How have angels shown up for you?

This article originally appeared here.

8 Reasons Church Pain Can Be the Worst Pain

By

Chuck Lawless

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September 2, 2020

If you haven’t been through church pain, you probably will.

8 Reasons Church Pain Can Be the Worst Pain

We’re all fallen people—redeemed sinners—which means we sometimes still reflect our fallenness. Church pain, though, can be some of the deepest pain. Here’s why:

We expect better. After all, this is the church. God’s people. They’re supposed to act Christian. Things shouldn’t be this way.
We’re seldom prepared for it. We don’t go looking for conflict with church people. When it comes, it catches us off guard.
We love God’s people. Deeply, even. God’s people can be great. Church battles, though, mangle relationships with those same people—and the depth of our love makes that pain even deeper.
We don’t understand it. Why would God’s people act like they do sometimes? And, why would God allow it to happen? Our questions don’t help our pain.
We look to the church for peace, not pain. Church ought to be our safe place—the one gathering where we can just rest our souls. Church conflict robs us of that safety.
It affects a big part of our lives. If we’re invested with a congregation, our church becomes an investment of all we have. That means any church pain affects all we are.
It often doesn’t make sense. We elevate our preferences to the level of the gospel, guard our turf as if God’s church will disappear without us, and fight against those we call “brother” and “sister.” Church pain really hurts when the whole situation is dumb.
It just gets old. When you’ve faced church pain before and it happens again, you just get tired of it. It’s easy to wonder if being a part of a congregation is even worth it.

If you’re struggling with church pain, please know that I’ve already prayed for all my readers today. Maybe these posts will help you, too:

This article originally appeared here.

Praying Against the Coronavirus

By

Dan Reiland

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September 2, 2020

What can stop the Coronavirus?

I’m all in for:

Wearing my mask.
Social distancing.
Washing my hands.

That makes a big difference.

We also need factual and accurate information to keep learning the trends, what works, what doesn’t work, and how to be smart about this crazy season we’re all in.

Some say it won’t be over until there’s a vaccine. There is undoubtedly truth to that, but is a vaccine really the magic bullet?

I don’t know what God has in mind, but I am confident that He loves and cares about people and can shut down the Coronavirus by speaking even just one word.

What I do know is that prayer is our best, strongest, and most powerful weapon against this world pandemic.

That may seem overly simplistic and too obvious.

However, my purpose isn’t to write something no one has thought of, but to fan the flame of something we may not be fully tapping its potential.

I don’t want to make prayer complicated, but I do desire to fully engage its power.

We have an incredible opportunity to pray and thereby fully engage God in this battle against the Coronavirus.

“The most powerful form of praying is positive, aggressive, mightily outgoing, and creative. It molds things, changes things, and brings things to pass.”

Leonard Ravenhill, A Treasury of Prayer

What if we prayed that way?

Positive
Aggressive
Powerfully outgoing
Creative

Maybe you already do. But what if hundreds of thousands prayed that way?

Personal note: I have resisted writing this post.

Not that it’s controversial or anything all that special. Candidly, I told God, “What would I say? Leaders know how to pray, and they are praying. This will seem too obvious.”

But for a couple of weeks out on my daily run, the Holy Spirit seemed to keep prompting me to write on this topic. So, I have.

“Prayer puts God’s work in His hands and keeps it there. It looks to Him constantly and depends on Him implicitly to further His own cause. Prayer is but faith resting in, acting with, and leaning on and obeying God.”

Leonard Ravenhill, A Treasury of Prayer

Praying Against the Coronavirus:

1) Praying against the Coronavirus with a positive approach

Praying against the Coronavirus starts with belief.

You and I must believe that God can end the Coronavirus. Intellectually, nearly every Christian would agree God can, but deep down, doubt can erode our faith.

After nearly six months of enduring COVID-19, questions arise that lead to doubt.

Such as, if God can stop the virus, why hasn’t He? Loved ones have been lost, and that creates sorrow. From there, it’s easy to spin off into complicated theological questions that bury us in conversations, confusion, and candidly everything but prayer.

Questions are good. God can handle them. Doubt isn’t sin, it’s human, but we can rise above it.

Faith is where we start.

We don’t come to God with blind faith or foolish faith. Prayer is based on a personal and powerful God who we know answers prayer. We have experienced it.

What do you believe?

That shapes what you pray and how you pray.

God doesn’t owe us an answer; He’s not obligated to do what we ask. But we know prayer moves Him, and God wants us to engage with Him.

Prayer is an incredible invitation.

2) Praying against the Coronavirus from an aggressive position

“Satan dreads nothing but prayer . . . The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. . . He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” Samuel Chadwick, A Treasury of Prayer, by Ravenhill

I can’t say that Satan himself authored this pandemic, but I do know He takes delight in the division, fear, and sorrow it causes.

Casual and occasional prayers will not stop the Coronavirus, but fervent, relentless and bold prayers can make a life-changing difference.

My daily prayer includes:

“God, please shut down the Coronavirus and heal those who are sick – and open the doors of the Church across the world!”

It’s a simple prayer. God doesn’t need to be impressed. But it’s bold, filled with conviction, compassion, and hope.

The Enemy dreads prayer because that’s how the redeemed partner with the Redeemer.

Prayer is a form of conversation and communion with God, but it’s also a weapon of incredible force.

3) Praying against the Coronavirus with powerfully outgoing authority

Your private prayers are powerful, but Scripture reminds us of a different kind of authority that comes from praying together.

¹⁸“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:18-20

Our prayers in agreement with other believers travel beyond us; they are part of the body of Christ and multiply in strength through unity in Jesus.

We gain strength, encouragement, and momentum when we agree and pray together.

It may be you, your spouse, or a small group, or a prayer partner. And you can imagine the outcomes when an entire church prays about something together!

When you hear how others pray, your prayers are deepened, and your faith is increased. You know you are not alone, and it’s easier to sense God’s presence.

4) Praying against the Coronavirus while embracing a creative openness

With the Holy Spirit prompting you, there is no reason to limit prayer to a specific way or particular set of rules, or what you can and can’t pray for.

God can’t be contained. God never contradicts His own attributes or truth, but His thoughts are so much bigger than ours.

As long as we use Scripture as our guidelines, we have great latitude in our prayers.

The Holy Spirit can prompt different approaches; even some you might consider creative.

For example, it is not a lack of faith to pray for a vaccine to be developed. That’s simply a different approach.

We can pray for God’s wisdom to inspire scientists to a safe and affordable vaccine.

You might find yourself praying for funding to resource the development of the vaccine. That’s a little out of the box, and that’s the idea.

God is a creative God, and we are wise to listen for His prompts about how we are to pray against the Coronavirus.

Let’s take our prayers up a notch to take down this virus.

This article about praying against the coronavirus originally appeared here.

Make Safety a Top Priority

By

David O Middlebrook

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September 1, 2020

One of the first ministries developed in a new church is the children’s ministry, and one of the greatest assets to the new ministry is adult volunteers. Whether nursery workers or youth group chaperones, these volunteers provide the care, mentoring and valuable manpower that is needed to help a ministry thrive. Oftentimes, an “all hands on deck” approach is taken in recruiting volunteers simply because it takes a lot of people to care for the children in your church. However, in the quest to fill much needed volunteer spots, many churches decide not to screen or train volunteers, fearing that doing so may deter persons from volunteering. This should not be the case. Churches need to take care in choosing who will have access to the most important people in the building: the children.

One of the ways churches can manage access to its children is by requiring criminal background checks on all persons—volunteers and employees—who will work with children and youth. No church should be without these checks; they are an effective tool for determining whether a potential employee or volunteer is safe to care for children. The justification for background checks is compelling. For example, during the 1980s and 1990s, one particular national youth organization chose not to perform background checks. Consequently, the organization admitted over 200 men who had previously been arrested or convicted of sex crimes as volunteers in the organization’s youth programs. Although the organization slowly began requiring criminal background checks for new volunteers, it was not until 2008 that the organization ultimately ordered background checks for all volunteers. Hundreds of cases of child molestation occurred during the interim. As a result, young lives were destroyed by abuse and a once effective nonprofit is now struggling to overcome the legal challenges, as well as shame, from its failure to protect youth in its care.

This should be a warning for all churches and ministries. Just because your church is a religious organization does not mean it is insulated from those who may abuse children. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of cases of abuse arising from children’s and youth ministries. But churches are not helpless! A church should implement systems that will screen all employees and volunteers to prevent the opportunity for abuse as well as train employees and volunteers to spot and report suspected misconduct. Not only will proper screening and training set safeguards around the children and youth, it will also protect the church from engaging in the negligent hiring of employees and negligent supervision of volunteers. Negligent hiring is when the employer knew or should have known key background facts of the employee that indicated a dangerous background. Negligent supervision of volunteers is when volunteers are improperly supervised, allowing injury to occur. These common legal claims arise when abuse occurs within the church. Careful hiring and supervision will help prevent even the opportunity for abuse.

Many churches have buckled under court judgments for failing to show they did enough to protect children in their care. In response, I developed The Guardian System. This program gives ministries confidence that they’re demonstrating the care needed to protect children. The foundation of The Guardian System is a four-step tool known as S.T.O.P.: Screen, Train, Operate and P.L.A.N.

Often, churches “trust and believe” when they should “trust but verify.” We need to remember that Jesus said to “be shrewd as serpents…” By implementing S.T.O.P. you will wisely improve the protection of children in your care. Our legal system demands you show due care when giving access to children, and children deserve that care. By following these four steps you will enable your ministry to minimize opportunities for evil.

S – Screen

A properly designed screening process should be the gatekeeper for entering children’s ministry. Most importantly, a screening process will help uncover those with evil intentions. It is difficult to understand how someone who wants to work with children could have evil intentions. But case after case has shown that for many abusers, moving to a job or volunteer opportunity with access to children is often intentional. A properly developed screening process will help weed out wolves in sheep’s clothing.

A screening should consist of several steps and should not only consist of a face-to-face interview. Many times, abusers are very likeable people and it may be difficult to believe they could harm anyone. The first step in the screening process is creating job descriptions, even for volunteers. Every position involving direct contact with children should have a written description of duties and responsibilities. A good job description helps you control the contact employees and volunteers have with children. You set the boundaries for a job, not the employee or the volunteer.

Along with a thorough job description, a written application should begin the screening process. A carefully crafted application allows the church to obtain important information from the applicant, which you can verify through outside sources. Finally, do not let employees or volunteers begin their work prior to your receipt of the completed application. Make it clear that until you have a completed application, applicants are not allowed to work or volunteer.

You should also classify employees and volunteers according to their contact with children. For example, persons who have direct contact with children or youth and may be called upon for events such as overnight excursions need to be supervised at a higher level than volunteers who may only work in the parking lot or directing traffic. Classifying volunteers will help you allocate supervision and training.

Finally, face-to-face interviews, obtaining references and performing criminal background checks are the very last, but arguably most important, parts of your screening process. An interview will help you have a “gut check” about the applicant: listen to your gut check. If you perform a reference check or criminal background check that comes back positive for violent or sexual crimes, the applicant should be immediately disqualified from primary contact with children. While an applicant’s life may have changed since they committed crimes, it does not mean you have to place the applicant in primary contact with children. Remember to screen existing employees and volunteers if you are just beginning to perform background checks. No one should be excused due to seniority.

8 Characteristics of a 1 Corinthians 12 Church

By

Chuck Lawless

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September 1, 2020

Many of us grew up in churches where the pastors did most of the work, and few of us were challenged to find our place in the church. These churches weren’t what I call “1 Corinthians 12” churches—churches that understand what it means to be the Body of Christ. Use these markers to determine if your church is a 1 Corinthians 12 church:

1. They teach that God has a plan in putting His body together. God doesn’t accidentally bring together hands, feet, ears and eyes. The problem is that many church members never learn that truth unless their pastor is preaching through 1 Corinthians.

2. They tell members early, “Everyone must find a role here.” In fact, they often tell prospective members this truth. If God has a plan, and He brings people to the church, He must have a place for them.

3. Nobody is permitted to sit long. Guests who are “checking out” the church might get a pass for a while, but no one else does. Even those attenders who need to heal a bit aren’t given long to do so. First Corinthians 12 leaves no room for inactive church membership.

4. They have in place a process to move people from the pew to action. They do much more than make pulpit and bulletin announcements. Instead, they have face-to-face conversations and life discussions that help people determine how they might best serve God through the church.

5. They strategize with people in mind, not just programs and positions. Too many churches start with programs and positions and then look for people to force into those slots. These things matter, but God might bring someone to the church because He wants to expand the church’s thinking. First Corinthians 12 churches start with people.

6. They’re willing to let some positions remain empty until they find the right people to fill them. Making sure all the positions are filled might make the church feel better, but putting the wrong people in positions (e.g., putting an “eye” where an “ear” ought to be) leads only to burnout and trouble.

7. They still provide (and often require) training. That is, they don’t assume that just because somebody is designed to be a “foot” that he’s fully ready to take on that role; they help members become all that God wants them to be through training and accountability.

8. They intentionally grow as a church family. The Body of Christ is also the family of God, and 1 Corinthians 12 churches understand that truth. Even if only via the small groups of the largest churches, these congregations weep and rejoice with each other. They care and serve together.

Is your church a 1 Corinthians 12 church?

Andy Stanley: Why God Loves You No Matter What

By

Andrew Hess

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September 1, 2020

What You Can Learn Every Time You Unsubscribe Email

By

Dave Hartwell

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September 1, 2020

My email inbox can get a little out of hand. “Out of hand” is putting it lightly; my inbox can be downright overwhelming. To stem the tide of promotions, reminders, newsletters, and special offers, I go through the occasional email purge. COVID-19 gives me all the more incentive to get my emails under control. I didn’t realize how many companies were “here for me” and “all in this together” until the pandemic. My email purge is reasonably straightforward: I filter my inbox, searching for emails originating from a mailing list. At the bottom of each message is the word I’m searching for: unsubscribe email.

Click.

The process is quite freeing. Each click of”unsubscribe email is an act of digital decluttering that would make Marie Kondo proud. Then, following each click, I’m usually asked to leave some feedback: “Why do you no longer wish to receive emails from us?”

What makes me unsubscribe email?

Sometimes the emails aren’t relevant to me anymore. Perhaps I signed up for a newsletter at an event, but I no longer have an interest in the organization that sends them. Maybe I keep getting announcements for sales at a store I’ve only purchased from once. This is an excellent time to unsubscribe.

Often I just get overwhelmed. I donated money to a political candidate and then got multiple emails a day asking for more. Unsubscribe.

Typically, though, the decision to unsubscribe rests on a perception of value. When I unsubscribe, I’m effectively saying that the value these emails provide is lower than the cost of the inbox space. Therefore, it’s time to go.

What makes me stay subscribed?

As I go through the process of unsubscribing email and feel the relief that comes with removing myself from another mailing list, I will occasionally pause and let one remain. The reasons for staying subscribed are as varied as the reasons for unsubscribing, but they still tend to come down to value. And value is usually increased when the email meets some or all of the following criteria:

The information is beneficial. Maybe I find the messages engaging, entertaining, or enlightening. Perhaps the mailing list includes offers that I wouldn’t find elsewhere. Or maybe the information included is helpful to other parts of my life.

The schedule is manageable. I tend to appreciate messages that come at regular, expected intervals. I receive a couple of news emails every morning, and I like to start my day reading them. Frequency of emails is a factor also. I’m far more likely to stay subscribed to an email list if I don’t feel bombarded by messages.

The connection is clear. I tend to prioritize emails from those with whom I have a personal relationship. A friend sends out an email each morning with some words of wisdom and encouragement. Missionaries from my church send regular updates. A poet I met at a show has a mailing list where he advertises his new works and events. These are all personal connections that are important to me. I’m not likely to unsubscribe from these lists.

So, what does this mean for church?

As the writer of my church’s mass emails, I try to be attentive to what value these emails offer to those who read them. Therefore, I seek to honor those who receive the emails by sending the kinds of emails that I would read. It’s a campaign-email version of the golden rule: send unto others as you would have them send to you.

This starts by keeping the emails beneficial. I want each email I send to be engaging, entertaining, or enlightening. Often, I want an email to be all three. How this looks can vary, but keeping these three “E’s” in my mind helps me write. It also encourages me to think about mass emails in relation to other communications from the church. For example, if an announcement is on the church’s website, I don’t need to repeat the whole thing in the newsletter. Instead, I should engage just enough to encourage someone to read the entire thing on the website (or just enough for them to realize this particular piece of information isn’t relevant to them).

I also think about the frequency and schedule. How often should I send a newsletter? The answer to this question might be different in different contexts. I tend to treat the email newsletter similarly to a printed bulletin. Therefore, once a week is appropriate. For schedule: I think about when the information contained in the newsletter will be most useful to readers. In my church, I’ve found Thursday to be an ideal day for a weekly newsletter, though your testing might reveal differently.

Lastly, I make it personal. I don’t suggest sharing private information, but I do encourage you to remember that you are writing to individuals (despite us calling them “mass” emails). I wrote about this in another article where I talk about finding your ideal reader. Making it personal means your message should not be just a list of all the events coming up. It’s not just advertising. It’s about sharing who you are as a church. It might mean highlighting the work of specific individuals, or possibly having a section called “did you know…” where you share some of the lesser-known things going on in the life of your congregation.

There’s no perfect formula for composing effective email campaigns, though we’d always do well to remember to write as we’d like to read. Think about how you receive information via email and how you, as a writer, can offer information that is beneficial, manageable, and personable. In doing so, we seek to honor our readers, and we become better communicators.

This article originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

John Piper and Tim Keller Discuss: We Are Saved by Faith Alone, but What About Sanctification?

By

Megan Briggs

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September 1, 2020

Tim Keller John Piper — Source: YouTube screen grab via Desiring God

John Piper sits down with Tim Keller to discuss the concept of justification by faith and the resulting sanctification that happens. There are a handful of common misconceptions Christians hold about sanctification and justification, which Piper and Keller seek to address in the following video.

The pair start off by kicking around the concept of obeying the law (which a sanctified person should be able to do). “I absolutely believe in what the reformed people call the ‘third use of the law’: that now that I’m a Christian and I’ve been saved by the gospel, I’m still obligated to obey the law, but the law demands both inner holiness—inner change—as well as external righteousness—behavior,” Keller says.

However, “I’d say what the gospel does is give me profoundly new motives” for obeying the law. Keller then quotes Walter Marshall, who says, “You need the comforts of the gospel in order to fulfill the law.”

Piper then poses this question to Keller: How is justification by faith alone different from sanctification? Are they both necessary for salvation?

Keller responds: “You’re really saved by faith, not by how sanctified you are. But if you’re not getting sanctified, then you don’t have saving faith.” “Sanctification is the signs of salvation, but not the cause.”

Keller then addresses a problematic way of thinking many Christians adhere to: Justification is just the pardon and then it’s up to the Christian to sanctify him or herself. Some simple Christians are caught in the thinking that sanctification is “what I do to keep God happy with me.”

So how exactly does faith work through love? Aren’t we just working out an obligation we now have to Christ?

Keller tells a story about a woman who was floored upon hearing the message of faith vs. works. She explained it was “scary” because “if you’re saved by works, there’s a limit to what God can ask of you. You’re like a taxpayer, you’ve paid your dues, and he can ask certain things of you, but not anything. But, if I’m really saved by grace, because of what Jesus has done, there’s no limit to what he can ask of me, and my obedience would have to be unconditional.”

And here is the crux of their discussion: We are saved by faith alone, therefore our response is gratitude that manifests in wanting to do things for the one who saved us.

This is when Piper throws a curveball by discussing a principle Paul talks about in the New Testament. When we are justified by faith, it makes us want to do more for Jesus. But as we take steps to work for him, we realize that we are still relying on his strength and grace to do the things we’re doing. So we’re essentially getting further and further into his debt.

So even after all that discussion: Justification by faith alone comes full circle. Not only is our salvation dependent on God’s mercy and grace toward us, but so also is the working out of our sanctification.

Pew Research: 46% of US Evangelicals OK with Premarital Sex in a Committed Relationship

By

Jessica Lea

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September 1, 2020

Given the Bible’s teaching on premarital sex, a new survey from Pew Research Center has concerning news for church leaders. A majority of American adults who identify as Christian see no problem with having sex outside of marriage, particularly if two people are in a committed relationship.

“Most U.S. Christians say it’s acceptable in at least some circumstances for consenting adults to have sex outside of marriage,” said Pew, in a tweet about its findings. However, people from different Christian traditions have different opinions on the subject. In his summary of the findings, Pew writer Jeff Diamant observed that out of all the respondents, “Evangelical Protestants are less likely than most of the other Christian groups in this analysis to find these practices acceptable.”

The “practices” Pew asked people about included having casual sex, having sex in a committed relationship, having an open relationship, and sending sexually explicit images.

NEW: Most U.S. Christians say it’s acceptable in at least some circumstances for consenting adults to have sex outside of marriage.
More data on religious groups’ views toward sex and relationships here: https://t.co/RW6yF00JXf pic.twitter.com/9xx9TSNg4o

— Pew Research Religion (@PewReligion) August 31, 2020

Americans, Christians and Premarital Sex

Researchers conducted the survey from Oct. 16 to 28, 2019, taking a national random sampling of the home addresses of adults in the U.S. Said Pew, “The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.” The survey sample size was 3,998, which was not large enough to evaluate answers from other religious groups, although Pew did report on the views of the religiously unaffiliated.

Diamant noted that the survey did not ask respondents to answer based on what they personally would do, but based on what they believe, irrespective of their own choices.

Pew found that 57 percent of U.S. adults who identify as Christians believe that sex in a committed relationship is sometimes or always acceptable, while 49 percent think that casual sex (two consenting adults not in a committed relationship) is sometimes or always acceptable. As might be expected, the percentage of people who are religiously unaffiliated and approve of both of these practices is much higher than the percentage of Christians who do. Seventy-nine percent of American adults not affiliated with any religion believe that sex in a committed relationship is sometimes or always acceptable, while 83 percent believe casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable.

Both Christian adults and the religiously unaffiliated expressed less approval of having an open relationship and of having sex on a first date. Eighteen percent of Christians said that having an open relationship is sometimes or always acceptable compared to 54 percent of the religiously unaffiliated. Only 19 percent of Christians thought having sex on the first date is sometimes or always acceptable versus 49 percent of the religiously unaffiliated.

As noted, evangelical Protestants were the least likely to approve of the sexual practices Pew researchers asked about in the survey. Only 36 percent said that casual sex was sometimes or always acceptable. This contrasts with 54 percent of mainline Protestants, 56 percent of Protestants in the historically Black tradition, and 62 percent of Catholics.

Diamant observed that “the gap between Christians and the unaffiliated is less stark” when it comes to premarital sex in a committed relationship. Forty-six percent of evangelical Protestants said that sex in a committed relationship is sometimes or always acceptable, compared to 57 percent of Protestants in the historically Black tradition, 64 percent of Catholics, and 67 percent of mainline Protestants.

Another interesting finding was that there is a connection between how often people attend worship services and how likely they are to disapprove of premarital sex (and the other practices the survey asked about).

Out of American adults who attend worship services at least once a month, 46 percent said that sex in a committed relationship was sometimes or always acceptable. That number jumped to 74 percent among U.S. adults who attend worship services less frequently. Thirty-five percent of American adults who attend services once a month said that casual sex was sometimes or always acceptable, whereas 75 percent who attend services less frequently said the same.

Diamant pointed out that younger adults are less likely to identify with a particular religion and to take issue with the practices mentioned in the survey. Age, therefore, could be a determining factor in how the respondents answered these questions.

The Greatest Humanitarian Crisis Worsens—3 Things We Can We Do to Help

By

Esther Laurie

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September 1, 2020

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians are being persecuted by ISIS. There have been abductions of more than 100 Assyrian Christians. Men, women and children have been raped, killed, sold, treated brutally and subjected to other horrors. Those who have escaped are living in limbo, such as the 57,000 Iraqis in Jordan who have received aid, but are not allowed to work.

The Christian Post writes, “As the largest humanitarian crisis the world has ever known continues to unfold, more than 4 million Iraqi and Syrian refugees attempt to escape the clutches of the self proclaimed Islamic State.”

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil shared, “that over 100,000 Christians and other minorities have sought refuge in Erbil over the past year, fleeing the Islamic State terror group.”

These amazing Christians have relentlessly sought God and held on to their faith. Warda shared, “People come and tell their stories of persecution and how they were really terrified, having to walk eight to 10 hours during the night,” the Iraqi archbishop continued. “In the end, they would tell you, ‘Thank God we are alive. Nushkur Allah. We thank God for everything.’ That’s the phrase they end with. That’s strengthening, in a way.”

Our brothers and sisters are forced with a choice every day to stand for His name and risk death. There are organizations that are making a difference, but it’s not enough. We must join with them.

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil… Not to speak is to speak. Not to act, is to act.”
– Bonhoeffer

2BB2BE8600000578-0-image-a-1_1440665292938 — “A young girl’s hair becomes stuck in barbed wire while crawling through a fence with her family into Hungary from Serbia near Roszke as thousands of migrants pour across the border seeking a better life in Europe” from DailyMail.com

What do we do about this crisis? Certainly we can do something for someone. Children are raped, women sold, babies and men slaughtered. People are hungry. People are hungry for food, clean water, health, medicine, freedom, a home, and a whole family – the loved ones they’ve buried and the living ones they cling to. We can’t pretend to know what they’re going through. To say we understand, for most of us, would be a mockery.

We can pray, yes. And we should pray. We should pray until we wear down the carpet from kneeling so long and hard. But what more can we do? We, who have been blessed with resources of time, money, freedom, safety, and health – what can we give?

Only God knows the answer to this heart wrenching crisis. But I know he loves to use imperfect people – his children to be love in a dark place. How can we be love? How can your church be love?

As tensions rise, can our prayers rise higher?

As lives are taken, can we pray more life into existence?

As children are being killed, can we pray for their childlike faith to be ours?

Can we pray for the brokenhearted to be made whole?

The cross always wins, like Ann Voskamp shared. It’s time to link arms and pray, give, strategize, intercede, resource and love … for such a time as this.

Here are a few things we can do.

Learn – let’s learn all we can about this crisis. Let’s read and talk and discern together.
Give – Give what you have to give whether it’s money, prayer, time, material items, and support organizations that are already working on the ground. The Christian Post encourages readers to write to their representatives and to partner with churches.
Here are a few organizations helping the persecuted:
Pray – Pray for hope, renewal, safety, freedom and life for every man, woman and child. Be specific and informed as you pray. And be brave for our brothers and sisters. Release International gives a prayer guide to pray for persecuted Christians.
- Pray for protection
- Pray for aid and long-term partners
- Pray for the refugees and persecuted Christians
- Pray for an end of violence and bloodshed

“Brothers, pray for us.”
1 Thessalonians 5:25

Do you know of organizations to partner with, resources for learning more and how to pray? I’d love to learn about them.

John Gray Apologizes for Putting ‘God’s Name in Harm’s Way’

By

Megan Briggs

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September 1, 2020

Pastor John Gray, leader of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, is the subject of controversy once again. After a tumultuous 2019, in which the pastor fought two lawsuits, denied rumors of an affair, pushed back against an eviction, faced pushback for meeting with President Trump, and came under public scrutiny for his lavish spending, 2020 doesn’t seem to be going any better for Gray. New allegations of an inappropriate relationship with another woman surfaced last week. On Sunday, a somewhat deflated-looking Gray addressed the ongoing controversy and apologized to his wife and his congregation.

“I am sorry,” Gray said, addressing the congregation watching online. “You’ve gone through enough, from cars to meetings with leaders that have caused great pain and deep division amongst political ideologies, to one thing after another. I want to tell you I’m sorry. The standard has not changed. Holiness is still right.”

Some of the Rumors Are Accurate, Pastor John Gray Says

While not mentioning any details, Gray said there were “bloggers” who were determined to see him fall and who have been publishing all kinds of things about him, including more rumors of an inappropriate relationship. Last year, Gray admitted to participating in an emotional affair with a woman who was not his wife. Gray said there have been things posted online about him recently, “some of it accurate, some of it not, but all of it my responsibility.” The pastor admitted to putting “the name of God in harm’s way.”

He also said he had left areas of his life “unattended” and said there were areas “where I have treated the calling of God, the grace of God, and the hand of God casually in my life.” He also admitted to failing to deal with some of the issues that came to a head last year in a proper way. Gray said he failed when he didn’t submit to “process”, didn’t stay accountable, didn’t utilize the voices available “to teach me the tools.” These failures caused Gray to “make bad decisions.”

Speaking to his wife, Aventer Gray, Gray said he hadn’t honored her as he should have. “Aventer, I am sorry for the pain I have caused you, and my prayer is that the life from this moment will be worthy of the love that you have extended that our family receives from,” he said.

A common theme throughout Gray’s 45-minute message is that he’s a broken person in need of healing. While addressing Aventer, the pastor said, “You know more than anyone else the areas of pain I have carried around for years, the horrific self-fulfilling prophecies that you told me, ‘stop confessing those things.’”

Not Speaking as Pastor John Gray…

At one point, Gray said he wanted to stop speaking as a pastor and switch to speaking “as a man.” He then talked about how he was working through a “consistent pattern of self-sabotage rooted in a lack of identity and a shame that I can’t shake” with the help of a therapist. Therapy has been “critically, profoundly impacting” for him. He’s been making “radical changes, leaving old patterns and old habits.”

Gray said one of the reasons he didn’t address his brokenness sooner is because “I assumed that if I left this seat that the church would fall apart,” adding, “What pride, to assume that a holy God needed an unholy, unsubmitted vessel to do his work.”

Defending the preaching he’s done, even while in this pattern, Gray said “I have never preached a sermon, in my conscious mind, that was self-serving. I have always tried to lift Jesus up. I’ve never preached a judgmental sermon because I know the myriad areas of brokenness in my own life.”

Gray then said that God had “whooped” him publicly after he failed to address his issues on his own. “What I’ve learned about God is he will always address you privately before he addresses you publicly.” So now, Gray says, he is submitting to the Lord’s chastening, not out of shame, but out of thanksgiving.

“I’m so grateful that God has whooped me publicly because the Bible says we endure chastening as sons. When your father loves you, he corrects you,” Gray explained.

The pastor shared he had friends who confronted him in love and told him “John, I’m distancing myself because I don’t like how you handle your money and I don’t like how you live your personal life. It’s unsafe and it’s unbecoming of a man of God.”

“If God needed someone who was stuck in sin to help him, then I ain’t read the Bible,” Gray said after informing the congregation he would be in and out of the church as he seeks the help he needs and “deserves.”

Bloggers Are Like Delilah

During his message, Gray talked about Samson and the failures that led to his demise. Delilah was paid to sabotage Samson, Gray noted. In the same way, there are people who have “made brokenness a commodity, seeking the worst about people to monetize their pain and vulnerable moments.” Here, he was addressing the “bloggers” who are publishing rumors about him. To these people, Gray said, “May the Lord heal whatever broken places in you that needs to see someone fall for you to feel better about yourself. I’m a man. I’m not a god. I serve God and I’m God’s man and my failures will not be the final chapter of my life.”

Concluding his message, Gray said he hoped the Church would move past its hang ups over failure. “May the body of Christ grow up and may we reflect the restorative power of Jesus on the beach instead of trying to kill our wounded,” he said, referencing John 21.

Gray also asked members not to abandon the church but to “fight for me like I would fight for you right now.” He asked them to “maintain your commitment to tithe and offering so we can serve this present age.”

5 Ways Churches Will Have Changed One Year From Now

By

Thom Rainer

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September 1, 2020

I am not prophetic. And if I am prescient, it’s only because I have the incredible vantage point of hearing from tens of thousands of church leaders at churches every year.

While it is admittedly difficult to project trends in typical times, it is exceedingly difficult to do so in a time of pandemic headed for, hopefully, a post-quarantine era. Because we hear from so many church leaders and church members, allow me to venture where local churches will be in one year.

At least 20 percent of those who attended before the pandemic will not return to church. Of course, this number will vary from church to church, but early indicators point to this level of losses. Some of the former in-person attendees will become digital-only attendees. Most of this group, however, will not attend at all.

More pastors will leave vocational ministry over the next twelve months than any time in recent history. Pastors suffer a death by a thousand cuts. It’s usually not just one or a few factors that push their limits, it’s the drip-by-drip effect of constant criticisms and conflicts they experience. That continuous pressure and discouragement has been exacerbated by the incredible pressures brought by the pandemic.

Churches will move to a new emphasis on conversion growth. Churches have been quietly disobedient to the Great Commission for three decades. We are seeing signs of a new wake-up call. Church leaders are becoming increasingly convicted that they must lead their churches to reach those who are not believers in Christ. Church members are reflecting that same conviction and commitment. Most church growth for the past three decades has been transfer growth, Christians moving from one church to another. That dismal reality is about to change.

Churches will start more churches, many of them as microchurches. Churches are moving from vertical growth (getting as many to attend as possible at one place on Sunday morning) to horizontal growth (growth beyond one site on Sunday morning). A lot of this new growth will include the starting of microchurches, congregations of around 25 to 30 people. As a side note to be unpacked later, these trends will have huge implications for the future of church facilities.

Two movements will grow rapidly: church adoption and church fostering. There will be more unhealthy churches needing help in the next few months. There will be more struggling churches without pastors. Some of these churches will be adopted; they will be assumed into another church family and become a site of the adopting church. Others will be fostered, which means a healthier church will help those struggling churches for a short season. I will address both of these movements next week.

While it has become cliché to say we are living in unprecedented times, we are living in unprecedented times. Those organizations that view this new reality as an opportunity will indeed see limitless possibilities. This perspective is especially true for the organizations we call churches.

It’s a challenging time. It’s an exciting time.

The next twelve months will be incredibly telling for the future of local churches around the world.

Let me know what you think.

For further reading, check out “Five Types of Church Members Who Will Not Return after the Quarantine.”

This article originally appeared here.

Conflict That Builds Up and Doesn’t Tear Down

By

Scott Sauls

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September 1, 2020

Everyone assigns a different meaning to the word “peace.” To some, peace is a calm feeling, an ability to relax, and a care-free life. To others, peace is the end of hostility, a white flag raised to end a terrible war. To others, it is something that happens when we avoid conflict, ignore faults in others, affirm and flatter and “sweep it under the rug” rather than challenge hurtful actions or patterns.

Biblical peace is none of these things. Rather, biblical peace is something that we make by engaging in healthy, redemptive, life-giving conflict when necessary—especially with those whose actions and patterns are hurting us, other people, and/or them. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” But what does this mean?

To make peace is to rescue a hurtful person from himself

Paul writes that if anyone is “caught” in a transgression, those who are “spiritual” should restore him (Galatians 6:1). If a person is caught in a transgression, it means he has actually been overtaken by a sin. It now controls him and, if he is to be freed of it, he will need outside intervention. Some of us have participated in an intervention with a drug addict or an alcoholic. When friends or family notice that a loved one is being overtaken by an addictive substance, they come together and lovingly seek to rescue the addict from his own, self-destructive patterns. To ignore the problem would be terribly unloving. To do everything in your power to block a person from continuing in destructive patterns—this is true love and true peace-making.

Peace-making is counterintuitive

None of us wants to confront. We fear uncomfortable conversations and potential rejection, so we may choose to ignore hurtful patterns in others, or, perhaps worse, to flatter them into thinking that there is nothing wrong with their behavior. When Paul says to “restore” a person caught in transgression (Galatians 6:1-2), the same word in other ancient writings refers to the re-setting of a broken or dislocated bone. The re-setting of a bone is excruciating at first, and is usually followed by a low-grade pain that could last for weeks or even months. But once the bone is fully healed, it is usually stronger than it ever was before it was broken. When friends confront friends, and loved ones confront loved ones for sinful and destructive patterns, it is comparable to the re-setting of a bone. But instead it is a re-setting of the heart and of the person’s character. It flows from a vision to see God restore the person’s original moral beauty to him, to heal and re-align his life to the way things are supposed to be. It is a small, tangible way to bring the peace, or ‘shalom,’ of heaven to the present earth.

True peace-making is done in a gentle, humble inviting spirit

Galatians 5:15 warns against our potential to “bite and devour” each other. We are warned because whenever we are offended—whenever someone fails (fails us!)—we tend to become aggressive toward the perpetrator in one of two ways. We may become active-aggressive (the fight impulse) by telling them off, asserting our rights, pointing fingers, making ourselves out to be the sole victim, beating them up with our words. Or, we may become passive-aggressive (the flight impulse) by withdrawing relationally, making the person pay with our silent snubs, gossiping about them to others, or even leaving the relationship altogether.

We must see that both forms of aggression—active and passive—are self-medicating strategies employed to soften our own pain by increasing the pain of the enemy. But the Bible calls for a different kind of confrontation—the kind that prizes the healing of the enemy and the restoration of the relationship. So we are to approach this effort in a spirit of gentleness and humility. Biblical peace-making is confrontation in a sinner-safe environment. The goal is two-fold. First, we must do everything in our power to ensure the person feels safe with us and not condemned (because we are just as capable of the sin). Second, we must do everything in our power to ensure that the person is rescued from patterns that are harmful to him and/or to others.

Peace-making requires a heart that is saturated with the Gospel

The only way to gain the emotional wealth needed to respond to an offense with gentleness and humility instead of active or passive aggression, is if our hearts and identity are secure in the Gospel. To the degree that we are experiencing freedom from condemnation in God’s eyes through our union with Christ, we will not fear rejection from the person we confront. If we understand that we are fully loved and secure in our relationship with God as Father—that God loves us as much as he loves Jesus, all the time—we will envision even our enemies flourishing in the Gospel. We will view ourselves as partners with God, on a mission not to put offensive people in their place but, as J.I. Packer says, to make people great by calling them to a more beautiful, Christ-like heart and character.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Do an Amazing Race at Your Church

By

Steve Cullum

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September 1, 2020

I am a huge fan of The Amazing Race. My wife and I have talked about applying for many years, but we’ve never actually tried signing up (yet). It’s such a great idea for a game, filled with physical challenges, mental puzzles, and teamwork. But what does it look like to put on your own Amazing Race for your church or youth group?

We recently did a church-wide photo scavenger hunt, and our families had a great time. It got them out of the house to participate in something together, but they were able to still remain socially distant (Covid-19 times still). So we knew we needed to do something like that again, but what? Then we thought about The Amazing Race! Could we actually pull that off? Yes!

This can be done a number of ways, but here is how we did it:

Location: While the TV show takes people around the world, we decided to keep it all in the same town as our church. They also used their own vehicles to transport themselves (one per team). If you live in a city, you could consider using public transportation if you want to get closer to how they do it in the show.

Length: The show takes a few weeks, but we didn’t have that kind of time. While some would enjoy an all-day race, we decided on three hours. We had them show up at the church parking lot around 9:45 am, the race began at 10:00 am, and the race ended at 1:00 pm.

Audience: We wanted to make sure to include as many people as possible of all ages, so we had two races happen at the same time. The beginner race was for those with really young children. It had one less checkpoint, and the challenges were easier. The advanced race was for elementary-age kids through adults, had one more checkpoint, and more difficult challenges. (I do not recommend this for everyone, but we did it this first time.) We also had a minimum of three and maximum team size of how many will fit in your team’s vehicle. Some of our teams were families, and some were friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc.

Checkpoints: You will need enough checkpoints for teams to actually fill the time, but you don’t want to give them too many, or no one will finish in time. We decided to have everyone begin at the church with some “spot-it” type puzzles. Once their team finished that puzzle, they received a clue to take them to their first checkpoint. They then journeyed to each checkpoint around town before ending at the finish line in the church parking lot.

Clues: As stated above, in order to get to each checkpoint, the teams needed to first solve a clue. Some of the clues had them deciphering a code to get an address. We had a couple with latitude and longitude coordinates. Some were riddles. And others were identifying the location from a set of photos. Some did not have any problems, while others struggled with things like deciphering. If you want, you can allow teams to ask for hints via text, like we did. How much you help them, though, is up to you. Remember you want everyone to be challenged, but you also want them to keep having fun. Each clue was also printed off and placed in an envelope with our Amazing Race logo on it (to make it look official).

Challenges: The challenges at each checkpoint varied. Some involved eating, others involved a physical challenge, and others involved solving a mental puzzle. Once they solved one challenge, they received an envelope, which contained a puzzle or riddle that led them to their next checkpoint. We purposely spaced out our checkpoints around town, often having the teams double-back, which helped us fill the time. Some of the locations were at church members’ houses, some were at local businesses, and others were in public parks. I recommend personalizing this for your community as much as possible. Here are a few of our challenges: make five free-throws at a park, thaw and put on a frozen t-shirt at the church, drink a cup of salsa at a local Mexican restaurant, and make five paper airplanes that flew 5 yards each at the airport.

Volunteers: An event like this requires a lot of people! Do not even try to do this alone. You’ll need a team around you to help with all the prep work beforehand but also a host of people to help the day of the event. Not only did we have volunteers help with setup and cleanup, but we had a few people at each checkpoint. And because we ran two races at the same time, that meant we needed double the volunteers. Each of those volunteers required strict information about what to do at their checkpoint. Again, this event has a lot of moving pieces, so make sure to over-prepare and over-communicate with your team.

The Race: Due to our self-imposed time restraints, instead of sending everyone off to the first checkpoint, we decided to split them up so that each checkpoint did not start with more than four teams. This also meant we did not have to have enough resources for all the teams at each checkpoint. To win, all teams needed to complete all the checkpoints, but they did not all start in the same location. For example, as one team finished their initial set of puzzles at the church, their first clue sent them to checkpoint one. Another team, however, received a clue sending them to checkpoint five. While the first team will end up going from one to ten, the second team will go from five to ten and then one to four.

Finish Line: Once a team completed their final checkpoint, they received their clue, which led them back to the finish line at the church. Because each team had a different starting and ending checkpoint, we could not simply have the final clue at our final checkpoint. So our volunteers were instructed to which envelope to hand to which team. Going by the example above, the first team would receive their final clue after completing checkpoint 10, while the second team would receive it after completing checkpoint four. To help them with this, we gave a list of all teams to checkpoint volunteers and also added the team names to the final clue envelopes, so they made sure to get the correct one. In the future, we might help that even more by putting team names on all the envelopes. If you don’t split up the teams like we did, you can simply give the final clue at the last checkpoint and avoid this potential confusion.

Prizes: You can do prizes however you want. We decided to give a prize to the first place winners from each race. We also wanted to award other teams who were not as fast, so we gave prizes to the best team name, best team spirit, and the best singing/dancing team (one of the checkpoints required them to sing a song from memory). Since we did this race during COVID-19, we had our opening and closing ceremonies in the church parking lot, and we asked only the winning teams to come up and claim their prizes when they were announced, in order to keep everyone socially distant.

Other things to keep in mind: While the above list covers all of the basics of putting on an Amazing Race event, I also wanted to include a few additional ideas that should help you along the way. Some of these are tips, others are administrative ideas, and some are just further information on how we did our race:

Be sure to practice the race at least once! Not only do you need to make sure each challenge is possible, you need to make sure they do not take too long to complete. You also need to make sure the entire race fills your time adequately. You don’t want everyone done too early, but you also want to make sure you have teams that actually complete the race in the allotted time. If you have a three-hour race like us, I recommend making sure the race is able to be completed in about two and a half hours. Not all teams will complete it, but you want to make sure it is possible. (About 20% of our teams completed the race this first time.)
We chose to keep our race as simple as possible, so we did not include things like Speed Bumps, Detours, Road Blocks, Switchback, or any of the additional types of tasks or clues. They can certainly add to the fun, but they do make the race more complicated.

It’s okay to have teams zig-zagging across town. Just remind them that they must do their checkpoints in order. Even if they pass another checkpoint on the way, they must not stop, or it will really mess things up. In order to help this, you might consider having numbered signs at each of the checkpoints, which will help teams know if they are at the right one.
You will need a way to communicate with volunteers and teams. We used a mass texting service and had two groups (one to send messages to the volunteer team and one to send to the participating teams). This service also allowed people to text us, which helped when teams got really stuck and needed help.
Start as early as possible when putting together your plan, gathering volunteers, and organizing the entire race. It will take more time than you think, as there are a lot more moving pieces than something like a scavenger hunt. We started planning around six weeks out. I would recommend starting at least that early. If you can do two months early, that would be even better.
Be sure to leave yourself enough time to rework things, as you will most likely not get everything as it needs to be in your first draft.
Be as clear as you can with your checkpoint volunteers exactly what they are required to do, especially if you end up spacing out the teams like we did (see above).
Our race began at 10 am, so we had our main team show up early to get everything ready. But our checkpoint volunteers showed up at 9:15 to grab all of their things (materials for their checkpoint, tables, tents, water, etc.). And we had participating teams show up by 9:45 am.
Our race ended at 1 pm, so we sent out a mass text message to all teams at 12:40 pm, telling them even if they hadn’t finished everything, they should complete their current checkpoint and then head back to the closing ceremonies at the church.
While this is a fun event for a youth group, consider hosting it for your entire church. We had several teams of adults, who had a blast. We also had some teams of all different ages. This can easily become an event that goes beyond your youth group, and in my opinion, it should. (And when it does, you can probably get more people to help you!)
Make sure to create your own logos for advertising. Please do not get yourself or your church in trouble for using the original The Amazing Race images without permission!

The Amazing Race is an awesome event that I really hope to do myself some day. In the meantime, though, I’ve really enjoyed putting together a miniature version for our church family. Participants have already told us how much fun they had playing along. I hope all of this helps you have a great event as well.

This article about how to do an amazing race originally appeared here.

It’s a Miracle! God Heals This Pastor as He Preaches on Healing

By

Megan Briggs

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August 31, 2020

This story of Duane Miller’s healing is, well, almost too miraculous to believe. Incredibly, though, it was caught on an audio recording.

As Pastor Matt Fry of C3 Church in North Carolina explains in the following video, Miller was a pastor in Texas who got sick with something like the flu. This particular flu was so severe that it attacked Miller’s vocal cords and left him without much of a voice. Miller was so desperate to recover his voice, he consulted over 200 doctors, including 63 specialists. All to no avail.

A year after losing his voice, Miller had to step down from his position at his church and went through great difficulty as he tried to find a different job he could do without the use of his voice. Miller and his family eventually ended up as members of a large church in Houston.

One Sunday, a Bible study teacher wasn’t able to teach due to sickness, and knowing Miller’s background, the church asked him to teach the class. Miller was hesitant at first, but eventually agreed and was outfitted with a special microphone that would be able to pick up whatever sound he was able to produce.

It just so happened that the lesson queued up for that week was on Psalm 103—which speaks of the fact that God heals our sin, but doesn’t always heal our physical bodies.

At about [4:30] in the following video, you’ll hear the voice Miller had grown accustomed to speaking with for three painful years—strained and barely audible. Yet as he is speaking of the Lord’s goodness and explaining that God still performs miracles in our day and age, something incredible happens. All of the sudden his voice loosens and he is able to speak clearly.

Miller’s shock is audible and so is the crowd’s. You can hear nervous laughter in the audience as the room starts to realize what is happening before their very eyes. Miller resumes talking—hesitantly at first. “I don’t understand this right now…I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment…I’m not quite sure what to say or do.” More gasps and curious laughter from the crowd. “Sounds funny to say: I’m at a loss for words!”

As he realizes what is happening, though, Miller breaks out with a “Thank you Lord.” You can hear him choke up (with emotion this time) as he does the only thing he can think to do: Read the Scripture with his newly recovered voice.

Honestly, you have to hear it for yourself to grasp the full significance. It’s nothing short of hearing God perform a miracle in real time.

Read more about this amazing event in Miller’s book Out of the Silence.

Want more inspirational stories? Check out the latest on FaithIt.

One Body, One Head, Many Parts: Why We Need Each Other

By

Kathleen Ward

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August 31, 2020

To be functioning at its peak, a body needs every part to be working effectively. Our role as the body of Christ is to equip and build one another up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). To this end, those of us who are stronger, more mature or given gifts, ought to use what we have to empower and equip others in their journey.

This doesn’t make us more important—quite the opposite, it requires an attitude of servanthood. Instead of the “hierarchy” of the world, where people jostle for power, prestige and privilege, we have a “low-rarchy” in the church—in God’s kingdom, the way up is down, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

We follow a king who rode a donkey, who washed his followers’ feet, whose coronation was a crucifixion, who laid aside his right to equality with God and took on the form of a servant. Unlike the power-hungry ways of the world, “leadership” in the church is always framed in terms of servanthood or building others up. We are never to “lord it over” or “exercise authority over” one another as the “rulers of the Gentiles” do (Matt 20:25)—the way of love ushers in an entirely new paradigm of inverted hierarchy, where those of us with high status need to step down the ladder to lift up those on the bottom rungs. We go down, not to debase ourselves, but to lift others up. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt 20:27-28).”

Here is what that looks like in the church:

The mature mentor the immature.

The elders instruct the younger.

The rich share with the poor.

Those who have gifts equip others for acts of service.

The powerful defend the powerless.

The strong bear with the failings of the weak.

And nobody ever positions themselves in Christ’s rightful place, as head of the church.

Our current structures for church are holding us back from empowering and building one another up by positioning us either as performers or audience members, as broadcasters or passive listeners. Pulpits and pews separate us into two camps, and prevent the mutual ministry and one-anothering described over and over again in Scripture. We need to rethink our meeting spaces, our seating arrangements, our use of music and our information delivery methods to find creative ways that release all of God’s people to be active participants in their journey toward unity and spiritual maturity. We need to be willing to step off the stage and into the circle, to talk less and listen more, to use our status to lift others high, and to get out of the way and let God work in his people.

This is an excerpt from the chapter I contributed to Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity. Order a copy now to learn about simple church practices from some great writers.

How to Meet the Emotional Needs of Your Group Members

By

Allen White

-

August 31, 2020

Small Groups can meet some of our basic emotional needs. Everyone needs to feel that they belong. This is a high value among Small Groups. The Bible teaches us, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:4-5). We all want to be included by others. Our Small Group is the place where we’re always included. We belong.

We also need to feel accepted. Regardless of where we’ve come from or what we’ve done, Small Group is a place where we can come as we are to learn, to connect and to encourage each other. That doesn’t mean that our group will allow us to stay where we are. If there are things going on in our lives that are harmful or damaging to our well-being and our spiritual growth, then it’s the group’s place to address these things in our lives. Sometimes we are blind to things about ourselves that are very obvious to others. The group should never approach anyone with a judgmental or self-righteous attitude. The rest of the group has their issues too.

Our couples’ Small Group in California was a diverse group. We had a broad age range. Some couples had small children. Others had teenagers. One couple had grown children. One member enforced the law, while another member gave us the impression that he might be running from the law. It was a mixed bag of folks.

Two of our guys would always end the evening by going out in front of our house for a smoke. The rest of the guys were a little jealous of the fellowship they enjoyed out there. For a brief time, we even considered taking up the habit. Word got out to other Small Groups that we had a couple of smokers. In fact, a member of another group approached me at church one day, “It must be embarrassing that you as a pastor have small group members that smoke in front of your house. What do your neighbors think?”

I said, “I know it’s terrible. But, what’s even worse is that I’ve heard that some of our groups are full of gossips.” Okay, I didn’t actually say that. But, if I had, wouldn’t that be awesome?

We have to accept people where they’re at. Think about it. Where else are we going to accept them? I suppose we could put some prerequisites for being accepted into our group. But, why make it harder to be accepted in our group than it is to be accepted by Jesus Himself?

While Small Groups can meet some important emotional needs for our members, groups can’t meet all of their emotional needs. And, I’ll go ahead and say it, they shouldn’t try to meet all of their emotional needs, either. While the Bible does tell us to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). John Townsend and Henry Cloud do a great job of explaining this in their book, Boundaries.

As a group, we can help people process what’s going on in their lives. We can care for them. We can pray for them. We can follow up with them. But we can’t allow the needs of one member to dominate the group. If we begin to see this happen, we need to gently recommend other resources to address their issues. At that point a support group or counselor could help them work through their issues. If someone is struggling in a relationship or with a life controlling problem, the group can certainly support them in his progress, but the group cannot become his “support group.”

Now, I didn’t say kick them out of your group. I didn’t say that. In fact, the leader should let them know that they are welcome to stay for Bible study and that the group will gladly support them in their journey. But the work that needs to be done has to happen in another setting.

It’s important to know what we can and cannot do in a Small Group. We can offer teaching from God’s Word. We can offer fellowship. We can offer prayer. We can offer acceptance and belonging. We can’t offer anything that caters solely to one group member and excludes the others. We can’t take on all their problems. We can’t meet all of their emotional needs. We can’t do for them what only God can. But, we can keep pointing them back to God.

A member of my group was struggling with how to help a friend who had a financial need. He wasn’t sure about how much more involved he should be. He had already paid some of this person’s bills. I asked him what he felt led to do. He gave one of the most honest answers I’ve ever heard. He said, “I’m codependent. I feel led to solve all of the problems. That’s why I need the group’s insights.” We helped him figure out where to draw the line.

What is your group carrying for your members? Where might your group be trying to carry the member’s whole load as well? How do you know when it’s time to ask for help? I would encourage you to check in with your coach and determine what help is truly helpful.

LA County Terminates Lease Grace Community Church Had for Parking Lot

By

Jesse T. Jackson

-

August 31, 2020

On Friday, Los Angeles County terminated the lease to a parking lot Grace Community Church has been using since 1975. It is the latest attempt by the county to shutdown the indoor worship services John MacArthur and the church have been holding despite the county’s orders for all indoor church services to be postponed in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

A letter received on August 28, 2020 by Grace Community Church from the Director of Public Works, Mark Pestrella, informed the church the Los Angeles County Flood Control District is exercising their right to terminate the lease agreement they have had for over 40 years. The letter states that Grace Community Church has 30 days to vacate the property. The letter shows that they have been paying $8,301.41 a month to rent the parking lot.

Screenshot: YouTube, Biblethumpingwingnut Network.

John MacArthur and Grace Community Church’s attorney Jenna Ellis stated in a press release from the Thomas More Society:

Los Angeles County is retaliating against Grace Community Church for simply exercising their constitutionally protected right to hold church and challenging an unreasonable, unlawful health order. In America, we have a judicial system to ensure that the executive branch does not abuse its power, and Grace Community Church has every right to be heard without fear of reprisal. The Democrats’ message to Americans is clear—if you don’t bow to every whim of tyranny, the government will come after you. The church has peacefully held this lease for 45 years and the only reason the county is attempting eviction is because John MacArthur stood up to their unconstitutional power grab. This is harassment, abusive, and unconscionable.

On August 25, 2020 a judge found the church to be an essential service allowing them to remain open until their September 4, 2020 court date. This lease termination represents the county’s fifth attempt to shutdown Grace Community Church’s indoor worship services. John MacArthur filed a Declaration against the county of Los Angeles on Sunday August 23, 2020 giving testimony of how essential Grace Community Church is and why it should be allowed to gather for indoor worship. President Trump has also expressed his support by phone to MacArthur for taking a stand against the county’s mandates earlier this month.

How to Grow in Christ-Like Humility

By

Mark Altrogge

-

August 31, 2020

We must put Christ-like humility on. This doesn’t mean we fake it, but that we begin to do it, even though it takes effort. Putting on humility isn’t easy. After all, it’s not easy to be humble when we’re as great as we are. But it can be done.

One of my favorite cartoon characters is a skunk – Pepe Le Pew, and one of my favorite sayings of his is “Makes me feel humble, yet sort of proud.” I regularly quote this to my wife.

Another one of my favorite quotes is by Mohammed Ali: “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”

I think deep down inside, most of us think of ourselves a lot like Mohammed Ali. Only most of us are smart enough to know not to say it aloud. If we don’t think we are great, we’re depressed because we think we should be great.

I think that’s why Peter says to “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” Humility isn’t natural to fallen humans. But when Jesus saves us and fills us with his Spirit, we begin to change. It doesn’t happen automatically. We must make an effort – clothe ourselves – with humility.

Here are a few suggestions for how to put on Christ-like humility:

Listen to others.

And while you are listening, don’t try to think of the next thing you’re going to say. If you find yourself interjecting, “But…But…But,” it’s usually a tip-off that you’re probably not listening. And sticking your fingers in your ears and saying,”Ah-ba-ba-ba-ba” is not a real good sign you’re listening either.

Be teachable.

A sign you’re not teachable is if you can’t wait for people to stop telling you something. You keep thinking, I know that, I know that…yes, I already know that – aargh! I know everything you’re going to say in advance.

Don’t blame others for your sins.

Well, I wouldn’t have smashed your windshield if you hadn’t first given me that funny look. I wouldn’t have gotten angry with you if you hadn’t rolled your eyes at me. You see, when someone rolls their eyes at me I fly into an uncontrollable rage. In fact, you caused my rage. It’s actually your sin.

Don’t be so sure you’re right all the time.

I have news for you – there are actually people in the world who know more than you. And I hate to break your heart, but there are actually people in the world who are more discerning than you.

Take an interest in others.

Here’s another top-secret tip for you – other people are really interesting and fascinating. Probably not as interesting and fascinating as you, but try to take an interest in them anyway. A humble person tries to draw others out. Here’s how you can do it – ask them questions about themselves, for example,“Oh, so you are into beekeeping? How did you ever get interested in that bor–I mean, fascinating hobby? How many times have you been stung? Have you ever gone into anaphylactic shock? Are you any relation to Billy the Exterminator?” Humble people are interested in others.

Ask for forgiveness; don’t just say I’m sorry.

Say “Please forgive me for…” rather than “I’m sorry if…” Don’t say, “I’m sorry if you were offended by my oh-so-tactful comments. I’m sorry you’re so dang sensitive and immature that I can’t call you an idiot without you getting all in a dither about it.”

Ask for prayer for areas of weakness and temptation.

And don’t ask for prayer for an “unspoken request.” Where did unspoken requests come from anyway? I don’t remember reading anywhere “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another’s unspoken requests.” It’s humbling to ask others to pray for us because that’s admitting we’re weak. And we want everyone to think we’re strong.

Clothe yourself with humility. Cover yourself in it. If God’s command alone isn’t enough, then do it for this reason – “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” You don’t really want God opposing you, do you? And you want God to give you grace – favor – right?

Find more humility quotes here.

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Key Quotes from Mary Lederleitner

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4) Praying against the Coronavirus while embracing a creative openness

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