A few weeks ago our sister church, United Baptist in
Ellsworth, hosted a one day conference.
Speakers addressed a number of topics.
Among the topics were: “9 Marks of a Healthy Church,” “Church Life
Cycle,” and “10 Common traits of the Dead and Dying Church.”
While terms like “healthy church” and “dying church” are
quite off the mark – true, these terms are catchy, but they are also far from
the images Scripture uses to speak of God’s gathered people – many good points
were made during the conference. One
speaker, a seasoned pastor in the area, said
”Typically, the last expenditures to go from church budgets are the
ones that make the members feel comfortable.”
As a church, as God’s gathered people here in Lamoine, we must
not be found in such a backwards error. In
the two years I’ve been pastoring at LBS, I’ve seen an awareness of this
error. More importantly, I’ve noticed
many have the sense that gathering together in Jesus name is fundamentally different
than all other organized gatherings.
Nevertheless, such awareness and devotional understanding need to
develop and grow at LBC. This, too, I
have noticed.
The Gospel calls to our (plural) imagination
(singular). May 24 was Pentecost. Pentecost comes after Easter and is the day
that God gave his Spirit to his followers, creating the church, a holy people
who walk in the way of righteousness.
Yours, Pastor Brooks
