“One of us”

Most of you have probably heard me tell the story of how my brother Kenneth was preaching about the incarnation (God becoming a man) one Sunday and began to tell the story of a man who went to live in a leper colony.  The only problem was he said he went to live in a leprechaun colony.  I believe it was nothing less than the favor of God that allowed me to be present, that morning so I could hear it with my own ears.  That misspeak on his part has given me lots of opportunities to tease him as well as provide me with a funny story to tell in all kinds of settings.  All that aside, the story he was trying to tell is a powerful one.  The man’s name was Father Damien.  He moved to Kalawao, a village on the island of Molokai, in Hawaii, that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony.  For 16 years, he lived in their midst.  He learned to speak their language.  He bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch and preached to the hearts that would have otherwise have been left alone.  He organized schools, bands and choirs.  He built homes so that the lepers could have shelter.  He built 2,000 coffins by hand so that, when they died, they could be buried with dignity.  Slowly, it was said, Kalawao became a place to live rather than a place to die, for Father Damien offered hope. 

Father Damien was not careful about keeping his distance.  He did nothing to separate himself from his people.  He dipped his fingers in the “poi” bowl along with the patients.  He shared his pipe.  He did not always wash his hands after bandaging open sores.  He got close.  For this the people loved him.

Then one day he stood up and began his sermon with two words: “We lepers…”

Now he wasn’t just helping them.  Now he was one of them.  From this day forward, he wasn’t just on the island; he was in their skin.  First he had chosen to live as they lived; now he would die as they died.  Now they were in it together.

There’s a sense in which the Christmas story could be told like this: One day God came to earth and began his message: “We lepers…”  God didn’t come to into the world in the person of Jesus just to help us…he came into the world to become one of us.  When Jesus was born God was in our skin.  That’s the miracle of Christmas.

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris

Story taken from John Ortberg’s book, God Is Closer Than You Think

The Story

I want to take a minute to write about a new sermon series called “The Story” that begins here at MPCC in January 2013.  The intent of The Story is to help you see the connectedness of the Bible as it unfolds from two perspectives: the lower story and the upper story.  The lower story is God’s work in and through the lives of people, places and events while the upper story is about how God uses those people, places and events to accomplish His ultimate plan of redemption. 

I want you to know that it took me a long time to choose this new series because it’s not something that I normally do.  I say that because The Story is a sermon series resource that comes from Zondervan Publishers and I almost never use these kinds of resources.  But I’m making an exception for some very specific reasons.  First, I believe there’s great value in helping people understand the connectedness of the Bible.  I think this will be beneficial for anyone regardless of where they are in their personal spiritual development.  Second, I believe that we can use The Story as a tremendous evangelism tool.  All of us know someone who not only doesn’t know or understand the Bible but believes it’s a book that is too difficult to know or understand.  I’m praying that we will invite these folks to come and be a part of this series so they can begin to see the Bible in a whole new light.  Third, regardless of how familiar you may be with the Bible, there will be great encouragement that comes from being reminded of how God has revealed Himself and His plan through the pages of His Word. 

Now, I feel like I need to share a couple of disclaimers with you before we begin.  First, while this will be the longest series that I have ever done at MPCC (32 weeks) there’s no way that we can go verse-by-verse through the entire Bible in 32 weeks.  There will be times when we cover significant portions of the Bible in a single weekend.  And there will be times when all I’ll be able to do is give a summary or overview of significant portions of the Bible.  The emphasis will be connecting God’s overall story from beginning to end.  Having said that, though, you need to know that Andrew and I will be writing our own original messages and our goal will be to bring as much depth as possible to each sermon (Andrew has actually already started working on the first sermons as I continue to focus on the remaining weekends in 2012).  We will not be preaching sermons that we purchased with The Story resource kit.  Second, Zondervan has published some resources to go along with The Story.  Two of them are The Story Bible and a companion Study Guide.  We won’t be using either one of these resources.  We will, however, be selling in The Resource Center, a book called “The Heart of the Story” which is like a devotional guide that follows along with the sermons.  Our goal in this series is to help people understand the connectedness of the Bible in a way that leads to a deeper faith in God and a deeper desire to dig into the truth of His Word. 

I hope that you are praying about someone you can invite to discover God’s love and His ultimate plan of redemption through a better understanding of the Bible.  I’m praying that God will use this new series to capture, to teach and to inspire all of us to a greater desire to study and know His Word…His story. 

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris

Closing the Door

There’s lot’s of ways to describe it.  Some say “It’s the ugly secret that no one wants to talk about.”  Others say, “It’s the 800 pound gorilla in the room.”  The bottom line is it’s a problem, a big problem, especially for the megachurch.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about the back door.  The truth is in most churches the back door is open and while new people are coming in the front door, others are walking out the back door never to return.  Now, to be fair, some of those who leave were never really committed to Christ and his church.  They are like the seed that falls on the “rocky” soil or among the “thorns” that Jesus talks about in The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).  They gave an initial appearance of commitment but it wasn’t real.  At the same time there’s always a natural attrition that takes place in every church.  People die, people move, people divorce, people get mad, etc.  But the bottom line is the back door of the church is always open.  That’s certainly been the case at Mount Pleasant Christian Church over the years.  At the risk of being too honest I’ll tell you that when I arrived at MPCC in November 2001, the average weekly attendance was 2,107.  Today, in 2012, our average attendance has fluctuated throughout the year between 2,900 and 3,100.  But here’s the deal, from 2002 – 2012 (ytd) we have added 2,847.  You do the math.  While our growth has been solid, it’s fallen well short of what it could/should be.  So what’s the answer?  Let me give you four things.  First, establish high expectations for membership.  Research shows that as churches lower their expectations of members and attendees, the result is an exodus of people from the church.  Why would anyone want to be a part of something that expects nothing?  Second, get people connected to a small group (Journey Home Groups).  This helps create the kind of community that leads to long-term commitment.  Third, get people involved in serving.  The earlier a new member or attendee can get involved in a church’s ministries, the higher the likelihood of effective assimilation.  Fourth, help people develop relationships within the church.  This is why we have developed a new focused discipleship ministry called The Journey.  We have incorporated all four of these elements in The Journey to do two things.  First, and most important, is to help people become fully-developing followers of Christ.  Second, to do all we can to shut the back door.  Through The Journey you have an opportunity to make a commitment to Christ and his church.  We make sure you understand that this isn’t a casual commitment it’s the most important commitment of your life.  The Journey also gives you an opportunity to begin to travel down a specific pathway designed to help you grow.  That pathway will involve opportunities to be connected to a small group (Journey Home Group or Journey Care Group), opportunities to grow through a connection with caring and gifted people who have been trained to minister to you on a personal level (Stephen Ministry), opportunities to grow deeper in your understanding and application of God’s Word (Journey Bible Classes or Journey University) and opportunities to discover and use your gifts and talents to serve people (Journey Ministry).  I genuinely believe that The Journey is something that can have a dramatic impact on your life and our church.  I hope you agree.  Log onto www.mpcc.info and click on the link “Join The Journey” or contact Ken Jones at kjones@mpccministry.com. 

Jesus cares,

Pastor Chris