Category: church

V.B.S. – Very Busy Season

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2014 Randolph vacation Bible schoolIt’s that time of year again! You know what I mean. School is winding down, but the kid’s ministry at church is gearing up. The Big Week is just around the corner – that life-changing time for kids in our communities. Crafts are being dreamed up and inflatables reserved. What is it?

VBS!

You are most likely familiar with these letters. VBS – Vacation Bible School, that focused week of Bible teaching and fun for elementary kids that many churches offer each summer. Maybe yours is the first week of June, or maybe it’s mid-summer. Whichever it is, plans are being made, supplies are being gathered, decorations purchased, cookies and Kool-aid donated, and folks in your church have begun praying for the salvation of the children that will attend.

pexels-photo-83761But possibly when you see those letters, VBS, all you can see is a Very Busy Season. You think of all there is to do before the end of the school year, and you just want to rest when it’s over. Or you think of the challenge ahead this summer – keeping the kids entertained so you don’t hear continuous whining and fighting. Perhaps you’re in the heat of planning a family trip, getting ready for a wedding celebration, or transitioning a graduating senior to college. Even if it is something more constant like a demanding job, being a caregiver, or fighting a terminal disease, many of us can only see the busy-ness at this time of year.

1000w_q95Whatever season you are in at the moment, I challenge you to get a VBS mindset! VBS is the Vital Business of our Savior! This concentrated time of teaching, prayer, and fun, is crucial for the spiritual life of our children. Those who are in lonely and broken situations will be able to experience the love and acceptance of the Father through the hands of those VBS workers. The hurt and wounded will hear stories of God’s healing and redemption of any situation. Hope is given to the heart of many a child during VBS.

pexels-photo-261895But most importantly, this is an opportunity for each child to come into a saving relationship with his/her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are we to know but what this may be their only exposure to the Gospel. It’s time for us to jump in on this Vital Business of the Savior: teaching, praying, giving, setting up, baby-sitting for the leaders as they prepare, donating supplies, making things, studying the lessons to teach, planning the fun!

How will you jump in and get involved?

VBS rings out with beautiful children’s Voices Blended in Singing.

It offers Vital Bible Study to teach these little ones the ways of Christ.

It plants Victory-Bearing Scripture in each child, a seed that will grow in their little hearts like a plant and bear fruit in a future season. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

And it gives a View of our Beautiful Savior that they will carry with them throughout their entire lives.

VBS – Vow to Be Serving these little ones in whatever way you can, no matter how busy the season is. And remember, no matter how small or how large a part we play, we are all needed.

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16

Back to Basics: Witnessing

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[I’ve got my mint green tea today. Dena has some precious truths and stories to tell. Grab your coffee and settle in to read with your journal and a pencil. ~ Editor]

by Dena Green

Philippians 1:3-5 “ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

Jesus’ last words to the disciples at the end of the book of Matthew were to go and make disciples. To share the gospel with others. Just like Paul and Peter and Barnabas and so many others we read about in scripture, we as believers are to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. Paul called it a partnership in the gospel. These men lived in a much more hostile environment to the gospel than we do, and yet they boldly proclaimed the gospel.

pexels-photo-389401The thought of witnessing to others can be intimidating and scary to say the least. We can think of all kinds of excuses to not share with someone when we are not comfortable. I don’t really know what to say. I’m too shy. I’m just not comfortable doing that. I don’t want to offend them. What if they are ugly to me and reject me? What if they say no that they don’t want to be saved or they want to wait and think about it? What if I don’t say the right thing?

Let’s take the “I” and the “me” out of it. It is not about you or me when we share the gospel. It is about Jesus. A person is not rejecting you. They are rejecting Jesus, so we can’t take it personally.  Yes, rejection is very hard to take, but it is not our responsibility to decide who may or may not say no, only to share.

I Corinthians 1:4-6 says that we were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in us. This means we have been given everything we need in Christ, including the enablement to speak effectively for him. The enabling takes place the moment we accept Christ.

Often, we are not comfortable doing something unless, first, we try and then continue to practice it until we are comfortable doing it. Baby steps lead to bigger steps and more boldness. The same is true in witnessing and sharing the gospel. The very first time I sat down with someone to share the gospel, I was trembling with fear that I wouldn’t say the right thing or would leave something out. We must trust that Holy Spirit will go before us in everything we say. He is the one who does the work. We are the vessel that he uses. Follow his leading.

man-holiday-people-faceOne Sunday morning my sister followed the Holy Sprit’s prompting. Instead of attending church, she felt very strongly that she should go and talk to our daddy about his salvation. You see, he was dying with cancer. We had been praying for him for many, many years to come to Christ. He was harsh and hard to deal with and had rejected many attempts by others to share the gospel and the invitation to come to Christ.  But not that day. She was scared and anxious about what response she might get. But as she gently talked to him about his need for Jesus and about her concern for his eternity without Jesus, he said yes. Right there on the back porch swing, with her two little children beside her, she led him to Christ. My niece, who was very young at the time, said, “It’s easy Granddaddy, Mama will help you.” Just a little over three months later, my daddy stepped into eternity with Jesus.

There are so many people that we come in contact with every day that need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. People who are going to step into eternity without Jesus. We do need to prepare our hearts and be equipped to share the gospel. We will talk about that later.  Know that God has “enriched” us. We’ve got what it takes through HIM. Come on partner, let’s do this!

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A Place for Grace

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Subtitle: Why is the one place grace should be easiest to give, the hardest place to give it?

By Michele Mann

I remember the moment like it was yesterday. It was a Wednesday night service. I hadn’t planned to be there. I was a newlywed and this was our first church. We’d only been part of the church for a few months and my husband encouraged me to go and get to know some folks. So I went. The service began uneventfully. A worship song, prayer, and then the announcement of a business meeting.

I had never been to a church business meeting, for good reason. All I wanted to do was run for the nearest exit, or maybe go hide under a pew. I’d heard horror stories about how “business” was conducted in church, and I really didn’t want to stick around long enough to see if the stories were true. But I was stuck. And sure enough, it got ugly. Something about the colors of the pews clashing with the carpet. It was so stereotypical and so shallow. It got so heated my young, immature, impressionable heart started to ache. I quietly excused myself and left the sanctuary in tears. I spent the rest of the meeting in a bathroom stall—discouraged, dejected, and just plain sad.

Growing up, church and I had a distant relationship. Oh, I rode the “church bus” from time to time when I was in elementary school (mostly for the bubble gum). But, strange as it may sound, by the time I reached middle school, Jesus and the Bible were integral parts of my life, but church was not. I started noticing the same kids I saw at church were the same kids who were cruel and vindictive and cliquish at school. I decided, as a very pretentious 13-year-old, if those kids were the product of the church, then I’d like none of that. I knew I was a sinner and needed Jesus, and I loved Him, but His church, no thank you.

This began years of struggle. As I read the Bible and grew as a believer, I knew I needed to allow God to change my stinky attitude. In college, I began to serve at a local church where I got a closer glimpse of the body, and it wasn’t pretty. There was gossip and judgmental attitudes and cliques and jealousies and conflicts. It seemed those who were most in need of the love of Christ were the ones who were the most soundly rejected by the church. The people who grew up in the church didn’t welcome the newbies, and heaven help you if you had serious mistakes or wounds in your past. After one dear friend was wounded deeply by a church member, it was all I could take. I was done. I’d be just fine with small group Bible study and campus ministries. Church was way too messy for me.

Then I met my husband. This godly man who grew up in church and saw the mess, but also saw the beauty. He knew how necessary and vital the church was to spiritual growth, to reaching the community, to serving others. I still wasn’t convinced. But I knew the Word. I knew my role as a wife was to be submissive and to follow his leadership. So when we searched for a body of believers, we prayed, we looked for a church that did not compromise the truth of the Bible. We looked for a church close to our community so we could really love and serve our neighbor. We finally felt God’s drawing to a local body. But it was hard. I’m so thankful for a husband who made me go on the weeks I really wanted to stay home. Pretty soon we found a precious group of friends, found places to use the gifts God had given us, and we settled in a bit.

pexels-photo-185432Then came the business meeting. All the emotions I had been keeping at bay piled up and could no longer be contained. I wept bitterly in that church bathroom. I cried out to the Lord from a long wounded place, “This is not how church is supposed to be! This can’t be what you intended! God I want to love your church, but it is so broken. So fractured. All I see is the ugly stuff, God help me see the beauty of your body.”

After a while, I finally gathered up my fractured heart and went back in the sanctuary just as the “meeting” was coming to a close. As I quietly slipped in a back pew, I heard a sweet voice at the microphone. It was Mrs. Thelma. She was an older lady, a tiny thing with eyes filled with love and fire. “Friends,” she said sweetly and gently. “One of my favorite verses is Psalm 19:14, ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Now I don’t think our words have been very pleasing to the Lord. Maybe we should spend some time talking to the Lord and making sure our hearts and minds are acceptable to the Lord before we continue.”

I was undone. My heart melted. God used this little lady with the boldness to speak truth in love to begin the alteration process in my heart. God whispered to me that day, “The body is broken because it is full of sinners, like you. But it is not beyond repair. My Saints are here. You’re looking for perfection. You won’t find it this side of heaven. But you can learn here, grow here, serve here. You need to learn to give grace and to offer mercy. You need to look for the true beauty in my Body. The beauty is Jesus Christ. I am the One who gave Myself for broken, messed up souls. I am the beauty, Michele. Seek ME and you will find ME—even in the broken places.”

I’d like to say the journey since then has been easy and pleasant, but it hasn’t. It’s been joyful at times, and it’s been excruciating at times. But what I keep remembering is Christ died for this. The body, as wounded and broken as it is, is His gift to us. We love each other through the ugly, through the pain, and through the victories. The body of Christ is not the perfect utopia I, in my immaturity, thought it should be, but it is a real place, with real people, who are really struggling and need the real love of a real Savior. So I can say, after many long years of seeking Him in the midst of the mess, I love His body and I am so thankful to be a receiver of grace–even in the hard places.