Prepare for the future
Advent is a time of preparation for what is coming – not only in terms of preparing food and buying gifts for Christmas and New Year – but most of all for what God has in store for us. In older church traditions, the so-called Nativity Fast is a serious matter and in importance second only to the Great Lent.
Prayer Breaks the Way
In The United Methodist Church in Eurasia we have announced two weeks of prayer and fasting from December 7 to December 19. “Prayer Breaks the Way” is the theme, and it is a preparation for what God has in store for us in the year to come. God has given us a vision for what our church will look like in 2015, and we pray for his guidance as we are entering this Eurasian Road to the future. God, who has led us to set the goal, is also able to show us the Road Map that leads us to the goal. God is willing to show us the steps we need to take in order to move forward. A Chinese thinker reminds us, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Our prayer is that God will show us what we need to do in 2010, and give us the courage to make commitments and the strength to do it.
George G. Hunter III, in his recent book about church growth(“The Apostolic Congregation – Church Growth Reconceived for a New Generation” (Abingdon Press 2009)) , says, “In the face of all challenges, there are many things we could do, many interventions we could try. But our churches have already tried many things, haven’t they? Over and over, we get people involved in doing something. Some people even get excited and, although the intervention gives the church a proverbial shot in the arm, there is little or no enduring change. From our experience it is reasonable to assume that in our quest to join our Lord in moving churches from tradition to mission, there are many possible actions that would promise more than they delivered. There are, however, two broad approaches to intervening in a church’s history that, when well executed, have a strong and consistent track record.”
The unfailing approach
About the first of these two approaches Hunter says, “Strategic planning is the nearest thing to an ‘iron law’ of Church Growth. I have studied churches for decades and, with some attempt at precession, I can state the following conclusion: I have never found a church that had an
- informed strategic plan
- that was understood
- AND owned by the people
- AND was being implemented,
where the church was not growing.
The unfailing Lord
This has a deep foundation in our faith and confirmed by experience of the Lord we serve. The prophet says, “Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." (Hosea 6:3) Through another prophet the Lord says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) And the Lord, who sent us out to make disciples of all nations, promised, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
These promises are given to God’s people, and the future belongs to those who prepare for it.
Hans Växby December 2009