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Accrediting the Local Church

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:20:02 +0000

Some years ago I was associated with a seminary that refused to seek accreditation. The deeply held conviction of the leader was that only the Church can accredit the work of a seminary; secular outsiders should have no say because they are not the beneficiaries of the work of the seminary. Not entirely a bad argument! Users are the best evaluators.

With this current effort of elevating our accreditation, and now that I am also serving as a pastor, I have been wondering what it would be like if each local church had to endure a formal evaluation every decade. By outsiders! What if a group of experts came to evaluate the ministry, finances, curriculum, personnel, facilities and results of the work of your church and mine? Of course, these categories would be the easy ones. They are “Normal Stuff .” We would show them our up-to-date mission statement, our adequate personnel and resources, and convince them that our church is doing what it says it is doing. But we could still be falling short. The work of the Church is not Normal Stuff.

What are the marks by which a church should be evaluated? Shouldn’t they include some “Super Stuff “? If we were to assess a local church for heavenly accreditation, here are questions I think the Lord would want us to explore:
• Who is the real CEO? Is it Jesus, or is there another head of the church?
• Is there evidence of actions and attitudes which only God can bring about? Is there a touch of His presence? Of His power?
• Do we His people come to church ready for God to speak to us and act through us? Are there any God-carriers in our congregation?
• Will visitors and especially unbelievers be confused by anything they don’t understand and can’t explain, is everything “normal”?
• Can group dynamics, psychological conditioning, or other social factors adequately explain our meeting? Does money float the program?
• Do the worshippers seem to be isolated and individual, or are they aware of the rest of the Church militant and triumphant? Are the departed saints and angels singing with us?
• Are congregants having life-changing experiences with God in our midst?

This kind of thinking can be a bit threatening, especially if you are a church leader. If none of the Super Stuff is there, what can we do about it? We can only invite God and create a welcoming ambiance; if He chooses not to show up, maybe something’s wrong, because God delights to be with His people. In my opinion, the issue starts with expectation. We must expect that God wants to be present and experienced. If we expect nothing, that is what we will get.

If we do expect to meet with God, that will change our entire outlook on how we prepare. We will cleanse our inner sanctuaries. We will put no rules or limitations upon Him. We will not insist on a worship style that suits my fancies. We will make sure He has plenty of time to talk, not just listen. And we will make sure He has plenty of time to act, not just talk. Often we don’t know whether God showed up because we don’t give Him a chance to do or say anything. We jam our programs with so much horizontal stuff that the vertical can’t get through.

Well, these are just some of my musings about assessing the local church. Of the seven potential outcomes by an accrediting visit, we surely would not want the last two: Show Cause (why you should stay in business) or Close up.

The Cost of Christmas

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:00:41 +0000

The Cost of Christmas

Pastor David Schroeder

Christmas caught the shepherds and everyone else by surprise. Herod surely wasn’t ready for it, nor was the innkeeper in Bethlehem. But you can be sure that no politicians or business owners will be caught by surprise this year! No Siree – all eyes are on the commercial / consumer potential to help pull America out of its economic deep freeze. Isn’t that what Christmas is for, after all? ‘Tis the season to spend freely, fa-la-la-la-la, la, la, la, la.

So, how much will Christmas cost you this year? Are Christians ready to be good Americans and splurge for the good of the economy? Christmas is always expensive. But no matter how much we spend, it won’t cost more than the first Christmas.

Here’s what Christmas cost:

• It cost a young Jewish man named Joseph the dignity of normal fatherhood, including having to live in exile in Egypt for a time.

• It cost a young Jewish woman named Mary her reputation, as people assumed she had conceived a child out of wedlock.

• It cost a group of shepherds a frightful visitation by angelic beings, who roused them from their complacency to become witnesses and heralds of a child’s birth.

• It cost some astrologers from the East a long journey, expensive gifts, and quite likely, changed lives.

• It cost God the Father the separation from His only beloved Son whom He sent to earth to deliver humans from their sins.

• It cost Jesus Christ a life of sacrificial service and a violent, painful death on a Roman cross to pay for the sins of His assassins and all humanity.

• It cost the apostles and other early Christians much persecution and martyrdom.

• It costs modern missionaries a great amount of privation and sacrifice as they take the gospel to other cultures.

• It costs all true believers their right to independence and self-indulgence.

So, is Christmas too expensive?

• Way too expensive if it is only a western holiday to end the year upbeat.

• Too expensive if all it means is millions of dollars spent for exchanging gifts.

• Way too expensive if the story is about a jolly old white-bearded figure dressed in red, riding

from the North Pole on a sleigh of reindeer to deliver presents to good little girls and boys.

The Sneeze

Ed Shuck — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:49:34 +0000

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing…and the traditional caps, they looked almost…as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears.

This class would NOT pray during the commencements—not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine…..until the final speech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and the, it happened.

All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!!!!

The student on stage…simply looked at the audience and said, “GOD BLESS YOU, each and every one of you.” and walked off stage…

The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God’s blessing on their future with or without the court’s approval.

This is a true story; it happened at the University of Maryland.

How Is Your Prayer Life?

Ed Shuck — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:37:13 +0000

The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. Psalm 145:17-19 NLTThen Saul said, “Let’s chase the Philistines all night and destroy every last one of them.” His men replied, “We’ll do whatever you think best.” But the priest said, “Let’s ask God first.” 1 Samuel 14:36 NLTThe next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. Mark 1:35 NLTThen if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT About this week’s promiseThe most universally practiced yet least understood of human experiences, prayer is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. Its simplest definition is communication with God. Yet so often we approach prayer like a one-way telephone conversation, forgetting that God also wants to speak to us. Prayer appears nearly on every page of the Bible as the very essence of a faith relationship with the living God.

Do you agree?

Ed Shuck — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:02:16 +0000

Oswald Chambers writes, “We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed…Today we have substituted creedal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ.”My question is: Do you agree?