A Scripture Setting For The Offering Stage Of Your Church Liturgy

Several months ago we posted 27 Reasons To Call Your People To Worship as a liturgical resource to help you plan the “call to worship” portions of your church’s gathered worship times.  In addition to this list, I want to bring to your attention the following passage from I Chronicles 29, which is subtitled in my Bible as “David’s Prayer of Praise.”

You may find this passage useful to share in several other stages of your church’s liturgy, including in the Giving portion of your gathered worship times.  The themes of this prayer of praise inspired Bobby to write “All I Have Is Yours,” which is often sung at Sojourn in our baby dedications, during our Confession times and during our Giving times.

This prayer of praise was uttered by David near the end of his life and his reign as king over Israel, after he had gathered the majority of the building materials which Solomon, his son and heir, would use to construct the Lord’s temple.  The prayer was preceded by David setting a beautiful example for the people of Israel by freely and wholeheartedly giving his own offerings to the Lord for the construction of His temple.

This was David’s “above and beyond” gift to the Lord, after he had used every resource at his royal command to gather as much as he could for the temple construction.  He told the people that “because of my devotion to the Temple of my God, I am giving all of my own private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected for His holy temple.” (I Chron. 29:3)

He then asked them who would follow his example and give offerings to the Lord.  Their reply:

“Then the family leaders, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the generals and captains of the army, and the king’s administrative officers ALL gave willingly. . . The people rejoiced over the offerings, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. . .” (I Chron. 29:6, 9)

Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly by offering this prayer of praise:

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may You be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the One who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from You alone, for You rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and at Your discretion people are made great and given strength.

“O our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to You? Everything we have has come from You, and we give You only what You first gave us!  We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

“O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor Your holy name comes from You! It all belongs to You! I know, my God, that You examine our hearts and rejoice when You find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched Your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.

“O Lord, the God of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Israel, make Your people always want to obey You. See to it their love for You never changes.”

Then “David said to the whole assembly, ‘Give praise to the Lord your God!’ And the entire assembly praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and they bowed low and knelt before the Lord and the King.”  (I Chron. 29:10-20)

What a beautiful, historical picture of willing, wholehearted, joyous worship that rightly adores the Lord and acknowledges His sovereign ownership over all of our lives and over every resource we may hold here on earth. Let us follow the worship leader David’s example in freely and joyfully bringing our gifts of worship to the Lord in word, deed and material possessions.  This will encourage our church families to faithfully honor the Lord in bringing their own offerings before Him.
All I Have Is Yours by Sojourn

How To Deal With Negative Blog Comments

Have you ever wondered how you should handle negative blog comments, whether on your own blog or a website on which you’ve guest-posted? Or even if you aren’t the author of the blog post, but you feel the author is being personally attacked, misunderstood or subjected to unfair or baseless criticism?

1. Double check yourself on this question: “Should I respond at all?”

2 Timothy 2:23 says,

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Some comments neither deserve nor call for a response. It’s natural to feel that you must respond so it doesn’t appear that a foolish or angry person is “winning,” but don’t let this become about your pride.

It’s also natural to fear that a non-response will lead some readers astray. Pray for the Spirit’s wisdom in this case. He will show you that on some occasions, you should give your readers more credit than you’re prone to give them. Most readers can easily spot trolls, grumblers and cranks, and most are wise enough to discard their vitriol.

2. No Name Calling

If you’re going to answer, don’t call the commenter a troll or a hater, even if they are. You won’t gain anything by it — in fact you might just stir up sympathy for the commenter.

Also, you need to realize that your own emotions may be deceiving you. The commenter who has drawn your ire may not be a hater. She may just have a difference of opinion or perspective. That’s okay.

And a troll isn’t just someone who disagrees with you or critiques something you’ve done. A troll posts inflammatory or off-topic comments, intending to hijack the conversation and provoke readers into an emotional response. Ask yourself if the person who has critiqued your article is really a troll.

• If so, then calling him a troll won’t stop him and won’t shame him. It will likely embolden him.
• If not so, then why mislabel him? That would put you in the wrong and cause others to rethink your article, even if they originally agreed with you.

3. Don’t be Anonymous

This just makes it look like you have something to hide, or you lack the courage of your convictions.

Don’t fret if people aren’t coming to your defense, and don’t let that convince you that you should come to your defense, under an assumed name. Remember point #1 — most of your loyal readers won’t bother defending against a comment that is obviously ridiculous. It doesn’t mean they aren’t on your side; it just means they don’t want to give unwarranted attention to a comment that doesn’t deserve it.

4. Write with Grace and Clarity

“Speak the truth in love,” to borrow Paul’s phrase from Ephesians 4:15. And remember Proverbs 15:1 –

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

This doesn’t mean you concede points that you shouldn’t concede. It just means you should control yourself so you can answer succinctly, with wisdom. Turning again to Scripture:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, — 2 Timothy 2:24

5. Don’t go down rabbit holes.

Who loves a rabbit hole more than a rabbit? A troll. Remember, trolls love to go off topic. It’s the guy who responds to a post about charitable giving with a long-winded diatribe against all charities, the tax code, the President and Congress, war in the Middle East, social security, the school lunch program, the color of your web header and the quality of your guest bloggers.

Either ignore the remark or remind your readers to stay on topic. If you’ve written other blog posts about some of these topics, then that leads us to #6 …

6. Point to previous blog posts if applicable.

Let’s say you have written about the tax code, the school lunch program, and the color of your web header. Simply provide a link to those posts.

But this isn’t just for the benefit of answering off-topic comments. Many bloggers lament that they barely have enough time to write blog posts, let along write follow-up comments. Even if the commenters are asking legitimate questions, you may have a hard time keeping up with them (especially if you have a large blog or you’re writing an article for a major website).

Think about blog posts that you’ve already written, which may answer these current questions. Using your previous articles is a great way to provide a quick, thoughtful response.

7. Know when to rest your case.

Again, if you are writing an article for a large website, you may simply be unable to keep up with all the questions and comments. In that case, sometimes it is best to let a number of comments run their course and then provide a blanket response. See the way I handled this in the comment section of Consider Skipping “Christmas Season” This Year, which I wrote with our Lead/founding Pastor Daniel Montgomery on TheGospelCoalition.org.

You’ll notice a couple people commented after me. They weren’t trolls, but their comments were still “asides” that didn’t necessitate a response. Even if there were to be further responses, whether I’d answer them would depend on whether I could find the time (I love answering comments when time allows, and I appreciate those who offer comments). There is a time to simply say, “This article is my opinion — I recognize others have different opinions, but I stand on what I’ve written.”

An Inside Look At Faithmapping, A Gospel Atlas For Our Journey

A little over a year ago, my pastor Daniel Montgomery and I had lunch in Louisville with Justin Taylor, the Acquisitions Editor for Crossway Books. During that meal (Justin’s first sushi experience, I believe) we talked about the growth of Sojourn Church and the fruits of this ministry — baptisms, urban renewal initiatives, church plants and international missions, original worship songs serving the universal church, and more.

Justin asked Daniel if he’d consider writing a book — a “what Sojourn believes about the gospel, and how Sojourn does ministry” book. Daniel immediately began to talk about the need for the whole church to embrace the whole gospel and reach the whole world. He also told Justin that he should have Mike Cosper, our Worship and Arts Pastor, write a book.

If you know Daniel, this is not surprising — Sojourn is a strong community because our founding pastor is so big on community, collaboration, and recognizing the gifts of others. And if you know Mike, it’s not surprising that he’d participate — like Daniel, he’s an incredibly gifted pastor, driven with a desire to to see the earth filled with the glory of God as men and women become more like Jesus.

So in the end, Daniel and Mike wrote this book together. It’s called Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas For Your Spiritual Journey, and it releases today in paperback and on Kindle. Like sermons at Sojourn, this book is both

• Theologically deep
• Easy to understand

Given that Daniel is the founder of Sojourn Church and Mike is the founder of Sojourn Music, Faithmapping is an inside look at our history. But it’s much more than that. The first section, The Whole Gospel, shows that three common perspectives on the gospel (Kingdom, Cross, Grace) are all true, all amazing, and all necessary for forming and fueling a new people called the Church.

Part two, The Whole Church, walks through five basic “identities” of Christ’s Church, showing that we are worshipers, family, servants, disciples and witnesses.

In part three Daniel and Mike put it all together and show how the whole church takes the whole gospel to the whole world.

This is an ideal book to give to a new believer or someone who is struggling to understand what biblical Christianity is all about. But it’s a great book for mature Christians as well, because so many of us have tendencies to emphasize one aspect or another of the gospel to the exclusion of the others, or one aspect of church membership to the exclusion of the others.

At 216 pages, it’s thorough enough to make its case but concise and simple enough to maintain the interest of those who don’t normally do books on theology. Get it here. AND … you can also register to win a free copy, on Twitter. Your first step is to read the Faithmapping excerpt from Crossway Books at this link, or below (RSS and Email subscribers may have to click through to the website to see it).

Now, share a quote or idea that impacted you from the excerpt, along with the #Faithmapping hashtag. We’ll choose ten winners at random, using the random number generator at Random.org. Remember, you must use the #Faithmapping hashtag, so we’ll know you’ve registered.

Incidentally, the Faithmapping cover design is the work of Sojourner Tyler Deeb, a fantastic graphic designer. See his portfolio here.

Does God Owe Us Something When We Suffer?

Many of you have followed our story here in the last several months as we awaited the arrival of our son Parker David, and as we welcomed and held his beautiful, lifeless body on October 21^st. He was born into the arms of Jesus as his earthly body failed in labor for unknown medical reasons. Thank you, again, for journeying with us and sharing your tears and your prayers with our family.

As we move forward in following Christ here on earth in the aftermath of this difficult trial, we face a number of temptations to doubt God’s good purposes for our lives and to fear any future losses we may endure. At the same time, we have the opportunity each day to hold unswervingly to the Hope that we profess, to stand upon the Rock of God’s never-failing, never-lying Word, to trust and love the Lord with all of our hearts, and to boldly proclaim the praises of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

God’s grace enables us to trust Him and keeps our feet from stumbling back into darkness. We praise God for His great grace to us each day. Our faith is NOT in OUR faith or our own strength but in our merciful God who has given us the grace to believe His Word, to call upon Him and be saved from Satan, sin, fear and death.

Receiving God’s great grace to endure — and working out my salvation with holy fear and trembling — has become a daily discipline like never before in my life.  I’ve asked myself a number of times since Parker’s birthday,

“What if we lose another child? How will I respond then?”

I’ve also been tempted to think that God would never take another child from me but instead He’ll give me what I want now (and on my terms), since I gave up having Parker here with me. This selfish attitude presumes that God owes me something, and, in fact, God does not owe me anything.  Yet, He has already given me everything I need for life and godliness. Further, He daily loads me with blessings. And He supplies all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He doesn’t withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly (made right only by His own righteousness).

However, in our humanity, even believers don’t usually long for more suffering and trials to befall us or others. We also have a tendency expect that God will repay us here on earth for whatever losses we endure. We may confidently expect that He will not allow a mother to have more than one baby die in her womb or in her arms, but will instead follow the loss of a child with the gift of another child carried through a healthy pregnancy and easy labor and delivery. Parents who’ve lost children probably want to expect this more than anyone else.

We have heard countless testimonies of God, in His grace and goodness, doing just this and even more. I’ve recently learned of how God has allowed a couple to conceive twins just two months after their firstborn was a stillbirth, and how another woman who lost her two boys and a girl in a car accident was then given triplets — two boys and a girl.  God is showing us what He can do because nothing is impossible for Him. But I shouldn’t believe that these families deserved these miracles, or that I deserve a similar, miraculous “follow-up” pregnancy; nor should I assume that God will repay me for what I’ve lost in this life, in the way I expect it.  At the same time, I also have no reason to believe that God is not good or faithful or true if we don’t have any more babies or if we lose another one.

I admit that I desire a similar “amazing” outcome for our lives, yet, as a believer who has suffered the loss of a child, I’ve begun to experience the deep fellowship with Christ that comes through sharing in His suffering, and I’m convinced more than ever that God is working everything together for my good, even any future trials and losses we may endure. I have nothing to fear in any future pregnancy, childbirth or child-rearing.  “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” (Psalm 119:50)  God’s Word holds everything together, including my life.  What great comfort in the midst of great pain and sorrow, and in the face of an unforeseen future.

God has helped me to know that every Little One belongs to Him, more specifically that every Little One He may give to me will belong to Him, and I can trust Him to guard all that is mine (Psalm 16):

• See Albert Mohler and Daniel Akin’s “The Salvation Of The ‘Little Ones’: Do Infants Who Die Go To Heaven?”
• See “The Salvation Of Infants: An Additional Line Of Defense” by Nathan Finn
• Read the book Safe In The Arms Of God: Truth From Heaven About The Death Of A Child by John MacArthur

He’s also reminded me that the grace which sustained us through the letting our precious Parker go will also sufficiently sustain us in any future trial. We belong to God, and God will never abandon His own.

While I could bide my remaining time on earth by dwelling too much on the loss of having Parker here with me, I choose instead the joy that comes from spending my time, thoughts and energy pondering the eternal gain that Parker has received as a child of God.  His gain of being alive forever with Christ in heaven is also my gain as a mother who wanted so desperately for my son to know Christ, and to desire to please Him all the days of his life. Parker is now perfect in Christ and safe forever.

And because of God’s boundless grace, love and goodness, I have not only gained a beloved son, but I’ve gained a beloved brother in Christ. And what a privilege for me to be used by God to carry this precious human life here on earth. More than this though, what a privilege to be saved and carried by God Himself, sustained by his strength as He daily bears our burdens while we rest on His promise to return and rescue us from our suffering on this earth and carry us to the eternal home He’s preparing for us now.

Yes, our comfort in our suffering is this: God’s promise preserves our life.  Therefore, we have nothing to fear going forward.  But, as the writer of Psalm 56 encourages us, when we are afraid, we will trust in the Lord and continue to praise Him for what He has planned and promised, confident that He keeps track of all our sorrows and He treasures our every tear.

Artwork above: Lent Landscape by Leslie Laine Hill, Sojourn Church visual arts ministry

The E.E.R.I.E. System Of Social Media Networking And Marketing

Some people are so compelling on social media networks that we can’t help but follow them, whether they are celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or normal, everyday people — perhaps folks we attend church with, or people we knew in high school (and who didn’t seem nearly so interesting then). What makes their Timelines, Walls and platforms so interesting? It’s almost eerie how we’re drawn to them.

Maybe those normal, everyday people just have an instinctual feel for the kind of status updates others like to see, but stars like Shaq and The Rock benefit from social media strategists. In fact those two have learned from Amy Jo Martin and her Digital Royalty company. Digital Royalty advises clients to vary the kind of updates they provide, based on six categories: entertainment, education, inspiration, information, reciprocation and exclusives.

As Sojourn Church Director of Communications, when I advise pastors, worship leaders and others on social media strategy, I eliminate “information” from the list, since tweets and updates in this category typically fit within “education,” or one of the remaining four categories. Eliminating “information” allows me to group the others into an acronym of categories that demystifies the social media update process — the E.E.R.I.E. social media networking and marketing system.

When you balance your updates from different E.E.R.I.E. categories, you ensure your followers won’t find nothing but a stream of food/cat/baby photos in your feed, or nothing but inspirational platitudes, or links to educational articles. In short, E.E.R.I.E. will help Jack to not be such a dull boy. Without further adieu, here is E.E.R.I.E:

E is for Entertainment

Here is where you’d tweet pictures of your crazy cat, your cute kids and your scrumptious lunch at that new gastropub downtown. The much-maligned “photo of someone’s lunch” isn’t a problem if you aren’t doing it all the time. So just don’t make “Entertainment” your only bucket, and don’t make photos of your lunch become your only form of entertainment.

Entertainment is also the place in the E.E.R.I.E. system for retweeting hilarious quips from spoof-celebrities, for tweeting your own jokes and witticisms, comments about films, other fun observations and goofy pics with Over captions.

E is for Education

Here is where you tweet links to articles and books — whether your own or those you recommend — that will educate your audience about your core topics. For me, that includes writing (especially songwriting), church communications, worship leading and social media.

Of course you don’t always have to tweet links; whenever you can educate and inform your audience in 140 characters, go for it.

R is for Reciprocation

Reciprocation is “Mutual interaction,” back-and-forth conversation, an exchange (particularly an exchange of information) and any form of “paying back.” Examples of reciprocation include responses like “Thanks for following me/tweeting my link/reviewing my album/commenting on my blog,” etc. This also includes a running exchange of tweets between specific people, Retweets, and “shoutouts” like “You should follow _____; her updates are interesting.”

I is for Inspiration

This is where quotes come in handy: Bible verses, song lyrics, proverbs and famous sayings. You can also inspire with original content that builds people up, helps them remember where their strength comes from, or points to an example of someone who has overcome adversity. And of course you can inspire people with links to inspirational blog posts, songs or video clips.

E is for Exclusives

It’s natural to think of Exclusives as exclusive product offers, like a contest for free books, a 20% sale on CDs or a special package on a variety of products, perhaps only available to those who tweet a certain hashtag or “Like” your Facebook page.

But Exclusive are more than that. An exclusive status update can be any “behind the scenes” insight, photo or video. For instance on Saturdays, Kristen often practices songs she will be leading in worship the next day. Sometimes I record a twenty-second snippet from one of the songs she’s practicing, then upload it to one or more of my social media accounts with a note that says something like, “Here is Kristen, practicing a song we’ll be singing tomorrow at Sojourn Church.”

A Final Thought

You’ll quickly discover that some updates fit in more than one category: an Exclusive can also be Entertainment, and an Inspirational quote can also be Educational, for instance. This is good. Don’t think that you have to craft updates that fall strictly within these lines. Rather, be intentional about hitting all of these categories on a regular basis, instead of dipping into the same one time and again.

 

 

 

New Resource Covers The 12 Essentials Of Church Communications

Hey church communicator, let me introduce you to Sayge Resources, a helpful new resource. If you’re like me, and most church communications people I know, you frequently get lost in the daily craziness of church communications: satisfying ministry leaders, meeting deadlines, and managing expectations, people, projects.

Sayge Resources is a full communications learning approach designed by church communications strategist Tim Peters for leaders of local churches.  Think of it as your Communication-Team In-A-Box. It can save hours spent searching for good communication advice and tools.  It’s more efficient and less costly than the time and money you’d spend at a conference. And it contains the wisdom of some of the most forward thinking church leaders in our day. Sayge covers these 12 Essentials of Church Communications:

1. Vision Identification
2. Communications Strategy
3. Brand Standards
4. Project Systems
5. Website Essentials
6. Audience Connection
7. Volunteer Mobilization
8. Social Media
9. Guest Experience
10. External Marketing
11. Creative Leadership
12. Storytelling Principles

I’m sure you’ve discovered that there are many resources for other ministries in your church, much more so than for our area of ministry.  Thankfully, this is one comprehensive resource for anyone responsible for or passionate about church communications. Sayge has created monthly coaching videos, eBooks, application tools, team training ideas and reproducible products — thousands of dollars worth of products, delivered to your inbox each month, for a price that won’t break or even stretch your budget. Your first month is even free.

I’ve followed Tim Peters on Twitter for awhile, and always appreciate his keen insights on communications, so I was quick to check out this project when he contacted me. I believe his team at Sayge Resources has developed a great resource for mastering the 12 Essentials of Church Communications.  Check out Sayge here.

Are You Leading Worship With The Two Things That Fill God’s Dwelling?

My Fellow Worship Leaders:

I wanted to share something with you from I Chronicles 16–a song of praise by King David written and sung after He brought the Ark of God back to Jerusalem. It encouraged me as a worship leader and I know it will do the same for you as you persevere in encouraging your teams to lead with strength and joy.

“Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!

Each day proclaim the good news that He saves.

Publish His glorious deeds among the nations.

Tell everyone about the amazing things He does.

Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

He is to be feared above all gods.

The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens!

Honor and majesty surround Him;

strength and joy fill His dwelling.”

(I Chron 16:23-27)

 This passage reiterated to me what we’re called to do as believers who sing and lead our families in worship:

Each day (and particularly on each Sunday) proclaim the good news that God saves!

We are heralds of the gospel, publishers of the glorious deeds of our great God. We set an example of fearing only the Lord (and we rely on His grace to help us fear only Him) because He alone is most worthy of our praise, adoration and awe. We also remind each other that honor and majesty surround our Savior King and that strength and joy fill His dwelling place.  And He has made His dwelling with us.

So, every Sunday morning when you remind your teams to lead with strength and joy, you’re effectively reminding them that God is the supplier of our strength and joy as He dwells in us and among us. And with the great strength and joy that He provides, we’re able to faithfully serve Him and His church from one day to the next as we persevere in proclaiming with our voices and instruments that our God saves and is most worthy of praise.

Here are three psalms to remind you that God is the source of our strength and joy:

“Send out Your light and Your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise You with my harp, O God, my God!” (Psalm 43:3-4).

“I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever.” (Psalm 16:8-11).

“Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness. Let the whole world know what He has done. Sing to Him; yes, sing His praises. Tell everyone about His wonderful deeds. Exult in His holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord. Search for the Lord and for His strength; continually seek Him.”  (I Chron. 16:8-11)

I ask God to give you great rest and refreshing joy in His presence as you seek the Lord and His strength each day.

 

How To Worship In The Midst Of Pain And Difficulty

When I grow impatient with difficult people and circumstances, or weary of waiting for God to fulfill His Word in my life, I subconsciously begin to withhold worship from the Lord. As adopted children of God, we are called to a life of worship while waiting patiently for Him to fulfill His Word in us and our broken world. Our confidence stems from God’s faithfulness on display throughout all of history. He has never failed to keep His Word, and it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, you and I can wait patiently and confidently for Him to fulfill His Word in our lives.

Our patience propels us to come before God in worship. Waiting for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven does not mean sitting idly by with disengaged hearts.  As the Psalms remind us, we wait in hope for the Lord who is our Help and our Shield.  We praise Him as we wait because He is this Help and  Shield. He is also our Strength and our Salvation. He is our Song in the Night, to be sung full-throttle as we wait for Him to make everything new.

As we worship the Lord while we wait patiently upon Him, it’s helpful for us to understand that our worship is fueled in part by the hope we have received from the Lord.  To be patient is to be hopeful, and to be hopeful is to anchor our souls to God’s living Word. Patience is waiting with confidence that what we’re looking forward to will come to pass. I’ll say it again: we can wait patiently and confidently as sojourners here, full of hope, because God has given us His very great and precious promises, and it is impossible for God to lie.

“For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in His own name, saying, “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 6:13-20 (NLT).

God has told us that we who have fled to Him for refuge can have GREAT confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope leads us through the curtain that once separated us from coming directly to God in worship. We can now stand before the Living God because of what Christ has done to cleanse us from our sins, to present us blameless before our Holy God. Christ has gone before us and continually pleads our case to the Father on the merits of His own blood and sacrifice, so that we might continually come boldly before God’s throne of grace to receive merciful help.

Let us continually, confidently and patiently wait upon and look to our great God who cannot lie. Let us cling to His Word which never fails as we, with hopeful hearts, persevere in courageous worship of the God of our salvation, who has promised to return and reconcile all things to Himself.

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. (Psalm 33:20-21)

Count it all joy, brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And let patience have its perfect work that you’ll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4)

“Together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, we also groan to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” (Romans 8:17-25)

Photo above courtesy Sojourn Church deacon of photography Chuck Heeke, from Sojourn Midtown Christmas Eve 2012 service.

Three Questions For Determining Your Church’s Vision

In Steering Through Chaos: Mapping a Clear Direction For Your Church in the Midst of Transition and Change, Scott Wilson writes about asking his church staff and board three questions:

1. What do we do exceptionally well?
2. What are we passionate about?
3. What are the demographics of our community?

It’s all about vision clarity. It’s not enough to come up with a catchy “vision statement.” You must think through these questions, and pray relentlessly for your church’s unique vision to live the gospel in your unique setting.

Although all churches should preach the gospel in word and deed, not all will do exceptionally well at the same things. Nor will the demographics of our communities all be the same. And we don’t even necessarily have to be passionate about the same things.

• Maybe the church down the street from you has the best food bank in the city, because their people are passionate about it.
• Maybe the church two blocks away are particularly passionate about reaching and welcoming artists, or athletes, or the elderly.
• Maybe your church is most passionate about being a place of gospel-driven healing.

And maybe, by God’s grace, you’re great at it. And maybe there are a lot of people in your community who need healing: emotionally, spiritually and physically. Sounds like the makings of a compelling vision, doesn’t it?

Photo by Sojourn Communication’s Intern Chelsey Scott

The Tragedy Of Our Church Communication: Do We Worship Beauty?

In Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives On Worship And The Arts, Harold Best writes,

“Psalm 29:2 admonishes ‘Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness’ (NKJV) … When we mention the beauty of holiness in the same breath we use to speak of God as consummate Artist, we set a trap and then fall into it. Because of our flirtation with the idea that beauty is truth and truth is beauty, and because of the tendency of many to assume that the purpose of the arts in worship is to create a sacred bridge into the holy of holies, we are prone to reverse the order of the verse like this: “Worship the Lord in the holiness of beauty.” p. 39

Aesthetics is important, and beauty is a wonderful gift from God. We care about it deeply at our church Sojourn, demonstrated most clearly in our visual arts ministry. But for Christians to live as if we must “worship the Lord in the holiness of beauty,” is to accept an unChristian ethic that devalues holiness, and the many works of God (including people) who don’t match up to our current cultural and personal definitions of beauty.

This kind of thinking leads to things like the story I heard a few years ago of a church that arranged for all of their young, “beautiful people” to sit on the first several rows in their worship service. A photographer took pictures of the worship service for their church brochure and website, focusing on the front rows. “Come to the beautiful church,” their promotion seemed to say, which is just a new spin on the “Drink our beer and you’ll be popular with supermodels” advertisements. That story, and Harold Best’s quote, led me to write the lines:

Lord, we fall upon our knees,
We have shunned the weak and poor,
Worshiped beauty, courted kings
And the things their gold affords

in the modern hymn of repentance and confession, Lead Us Back.

Thank God for aesthetic beauty. But more so, cultivate an appreciation for the deeper beauty of holiness. And help your congregation do so, in all your church communication and worship liturgies.