I read a quote recently that hit a nerve. This is the last Sunday of 2008 and a time of reflection. The quote could not have come at a more needed time for your pastor. The quote: Vision without action is day dreaming, Action without vision is a night mare!!  So as the church will we chose to have vision with action?

First the responsibility of vision casting falls on the pastor. What should we be as a church? Who should we be reaching? Here is an article by Philip Yancey, “Denominational Diagnostics,” Christianity Today (November 2008), p. 119: “As I read accounts of the New Testament church, no characteristic stands out more sharply than [diversity]. Beginning with Pentecost, the Christian church dismantled the barriers of gender, race, and social class that had marked Jewish congregations. Paul, who as a rabbi had given thanks daily that he was not born a woman, slave, or Gentile, marveled over the radical change: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ One modern Indian pastor told me, ‘Most of what happens in Christian churches, including even miracles, can be duplicated in Hindu and Muslim congregations. But in my area only Christians strive, however ineptly, to mix men and women of different castes, races, and social groups. That’s the real miracle.’ Diversity complicates rather than simplifies life. Perhaps for this reason we tend to surround ourselves with people of similar age, economic class, and opinion. Church offers a place where infants and grandparents, unemployed and executives, immigrants and blue bloods can come together. Just yesterday I sat sandwiched between an elderly man hooked up to a puffing oxygen tank and a breastfeeding baby who grunted loudly and contentedly throughout the sermon. Where else can we find that mixture? When I walk into a new church, the more its members resemble each other—and resemble me—the more uncomfortable I feel.”                        

According to Yancey if we have more like us instead of unlike us the more likely this church will die! Death of a church is not a spirit filled vision!! I want our church to be alive and well in 2009!!

                              
Love You |
Bro. Bill