While Jesus was addressing the multitude that had come to hear His words (and perhaps catch a glimpse of His works), a portion of His family comes to speak to Him. The problem is the crowds were so great that they could not get close enough to actually meet Him. Word was passed through the crowd that His mother and brothers were on the fringes of the crowd and would like to speak to Him. The reply Christ gave may seem a bit odd or even rude, but it is very important. He asked the question ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers’. Now, the obvious response would be… your family, you know, the one that gave birth to you and raised you, along with those other folks that had been given life and were growing up with you… in the same house… every day… those people. The blood relationship thing.
But rather than recognizing blood ties as constituting a true relationship, Jesus pointed to His disciples – the people that had accepted His person by faith. This was a relationship that was not instituted by natural birth but was instead brought about by a supernatural birth. The relationship was wrought by faith in a person – the person of Jesus Christ.
So what does this mean? Is it that the only persons that Jesus would accept as being spiritually related to Him were those who had this faith relationship? Absolutely! Keep in mind that the nation of Israel but huge amounts of effort in showing that they were blood-related to Abraham. This common relationship allowed them to claim a relationship with the Messiah when the time was right for His appearance. But here, Jesus rejects this basis (blood ties) as constituting a spiritual relationship.
If someone wants to enter into the kingdom of the Messiah, the criteria was the blood tie to Abraham. The crowd probably had quite a few persons that would say ‘Amen’ to this and make the claim. Christ rejected this at this time – in other words, the relationship with Abraham was not the determining factor, it was not because of the act of that physical birth.
It was no mistake that this comes after the conclusion of the Pharisee’s (see verse 24) that Jesus was demon possessed. The nation that rejected the Messiah was now rejected by the Messiah. This passage of scripture anticipates God’s setting aside of the nation of Israel and prepares the way for the revealing of a new form of God’s program for the kingdom.
What practical things come out of this? Well, it would be convenient if I was allowed into God’s kingdom and heaven based on my birth – my blood ties. With Dad being a long time servant of the Lord, chairman of deacons, and coming from a family of believers himself (not to mention my mom, her faith and service, and the believing family she came from), this should be a slam dunk for me! But it doesn’t depend on that.
It doesn’t depend on the church I attend / am a member of either. It is independent of the denomination I am affiliated with. It does not hinge on the street I live on, my neighborhood, the city, state or even the country I claim. It’s separate from my socio-economic standing, me level of education, my shade of melanin, or my gender. It’s about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you accepted His offer of salvation? He extends it to you today!
This is a follow up to my posting on Communications. I’ve been intrigued at the concept of church marketing. And - I’ve been thinking about how we do it (or the lack thereof). I guess first things first - I’m part of the problem and part of the solution. Our mindset in many church environments is one of letting the paid staff do the work of ministry. That work, while including spreading the gospel (’isn’t that what we pay the pastor for?’), ministering to those in need, etc. seems to always be something staff should do. It is why they make the big bucks!
I’m thinking….NOT! I don’t want our staff to be the creative or end product of our efforts to market! It would be like asking them to be graphics artists - and the last experience they had with art was either doodling on a church bulletin (or in a hymnal if you’re old enough to remember them…) during a boring service or creating their paint-by-numbers masterpiece as a youth. What madness!
But God has given us diversity and talent, and I have no doubt that many in our body can be very creative in marketing. Please keep in mind I am talking marketing as in branding - putting what we, as the Body of Christ, are about in our fellowship. I’m not trying to ’sell’ anything - but what is our identity? And how do we portray it to others?
In that spirit, I ask for 5 minutes. You may laugh really hard at this. You may not…hard to tell on the web. I see this is a great portrayal of church marketing, in something most of us can relate to.
So…marketing…what do we do in this area? What can we do better? When can we get started? I’m excited about the potential marketing has for us - and some of these concepts, coupled with what is going on with the Church Health team and other areas, perhaps the time is right to review a vision statement, a mission statement (for those more traditional ‘things’ we do), and then look at placing that in an identity (meaning something that reflects it in a minimalistic way, logos, slogans, etc. - like Nike’s swoosh or Intel’s trademark sound). Why not leave your comments here - I’m interested in hearing what you think (I’m positive not everyone agrees we should even mention marketing and the church in the same breath!).
Related to yesterday’s post on our growing need for unity, please see this from World Magazine on the same topic. Be prepared for strong expressions of anger, with threats of violence. This is probably the mildest of the statements quoted there:
“While financially I supported the Vote No [on Proposition 8, the amendment to ban gay marriage in California], and was vocal to everyone and anyone who would listen, I have never considered being a violent radical extremist for our equal rights. But now I think maybe I should consider becoming one. Perhaps that is the only thing that will affect the change we so desperately need and deserve.”
This is on the increase. It’s no surprise to God; it’s just something we’re not used to here. We ought to be prepared for it, by growing in our knowledge of God through the Scriptures, by increasing our united support for one another in the body of Christ, and practicing love toward our neighbors and even those who may decide to be enemies.
We’ve all thought a lot about our church’s unity over the past several months. We all know it’s crucial to our church’s health. We know it’s a central theme of Scripture, to be found all through the book of Phillipians, in Jesus’ John 17 prayer, and in many other places.
We can easily imagine how important unity must be in persecuted places like India, Sudan, Belarus, and China. It’s not actually more important there, but it most be more obviously important, as Christians must stand together in the face of severe opposition.
Does that have anything to do with us here, though? Yes, it does. Did you know that a pastor in Canada was put on trial for teaching from the Bible? Did you know a major American newspaper could publish an editorial that speaks of “the angry evangelicals, the quivering clan of militant Christoholics,” “led by the most virulent, spittle-flecked gaggle of mental throwbacks to ever stain the American newswires”?
I recently was made aware of a web forum, an online discussion site, that further illustrates how this touches us. You may be aware of Proposition 8, an initiative in California to amend to state constitution such that only marriage between a man and a woman would be legally recognized. A writer on this forum tells of his hatred, his anger, his urge to kill proponents of the measure.
I’ll link to a very sanitized set of quotes from that page in a moment. Before I go there, though, I must answer the question, “Why even bring this up? Why give attention to something as shocking as this?” Because it shows how us something about our world. It shows us that it’s changing, and the church’s situation is no longer what it was 25 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Jesus said in John 15:18-25 (ESV),
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
I also bring this up because of the way I was made aware of this web page. You see, another commenter on this forum linked to something I had written on my own blog. I take some of this anger very personally because, from a distance, it was directed toward me.
The page I’m referring to is not appropriate for quoting here. If you want to see some excerpts I lifted out and sanitized–heavily–for language, you may do so here. The part that refers to my blog, though, is something I can quote here, since it was somewhat less violent than other portions of the page. It said,
Why [express ourselves calmly]? We are talking about people who want to deny other rights because they feel like it. Why should we calmly deal with people like this? Should we have dealt “calmly” with slavery?
Now if I had actually insulted someone I would have deserved this. I am far from perfect, but I do aim to be as gentle as I can be while standing for what’s true; and with some success, as others have attested.
These kinds of incidents are on the increase. It’s time to wake up. This is not about a blog. It’s about us, the church. It’s about needing each other. I need you; which is a statement we all can make to each other.
It’s not about being fearful or defensive, though. It’s about God’s people showing God’s love to the world, which we do first by loving one another (John 13:34-35). The world sees that, and by it they know we are his disciples. Nothing draws people more powerfully into God’s kingdom than seeing and experiencing God’s love, expressed through God’s people.
Jesus himself made it clear that (unthinkable as it seems to us in America) some people would hate us for this, which brings us back around to where we started here. In a world where feelings against Christianity are increasing, we must stand together, support one another, and press forward in our mission together, to bring Christ to the world as a unified body of brothers and sisters who love one another.
We enter this lesson knowing that Jesus has had the ‘rock star’ status for some time. He had done things that this generation had never seen. He was amazing, and crowds followed Him. I suspect, as perhaps you do, that the Pharisees knew full well that Jesus was claiming to be the heaven-sent Messiah. They knew full well the miracles that He had done and that these multitudes of miracles authenticated His person. But now they came to challenge Him and request a sign that would prove to them He was what He claimed to be.
And Jesus responded by explaining to them the reason for their request. It was not a request from faith, instead it was a request from unbelief and their unwillingness to believe His words and signs. And to do that indicated that they were evil and their intentions were less than stellar. In fact, He gave them a sign – the sign of Jonah. What was that all about?
Well, where would you find the story of Jonah? Look in the Old Testament book of Jonah. Here I will pause and say that Jesus is alluding to types. He is showing how Jonah had aspects of types of things that would be made clearer by experiences and things that Jesus Himself would show. This type, of course, points to the 3 days and nights that Christ would spend after His death and before His resurrection. The things that were not fully clear (or were not fully revealed) through this prophet would now be brought to light.
Let me try to be clearer for those reading this on the blog.
What is a type? Literally speaking, the word type comes from the Greek word tuptein, to strike. In Webster’s dictionary, type is defined as “to figure, to represent by a model or symbol beforehand. In the context of our study of the Bible we consider both the type and antitype. In our study of the Bible a type is a person, place, thing, or event that is a foreshadowing of a future person or event. The antitype or thing the type foreshadows is greater and clearer to understand. For example, a rubber stamp is a type. It is not clear and simple to understand. However, its antitype, that print that appears when the rubber stamp is pressed on paper, is much clearer than the type. The type was a shadow, or promise of the revealed antitype to come. There are dozens of types of Christ in the Old Testament. information Copyright 1999 by Grady Scott, taken from http://www.christianlibrary.org/authors/Grady_Scott/types.htm - on this page are some introductions to a few types that may be of interest.
I have no problem admitting that I had 2 favorite classes out of my studies in seminary, and the study of types was one of them. The text we used was ‘Study of the Types’ by Ada R. Habershon – I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning more.
Christ through an illustration revealed the condition of the nation Israel at that time as a result of its rejection of Him and His offer. Christ said that when an evil spirit leaves a man, it seeks rest and is unable to find it. Remembering the body in which it formerly dwelt, it determines to return. On its return it finds the main freed from evil spirits and determines to reenter but rather than to occupy that body alone it seeks seven other spirits more wicked than itself. Together these spirits move in and occupy that body as their dwelling place. Thus the man’s condition after his initial deliverance is worse than before. This illustration clearly revealed Christ’s reflection upon the recent history of Israel. John the Baptist had come to find the house of Israel occupied by evil spirits; the nation was full of unrighteousness and sin. As a result of John’s preaching, which brought about repentance and confession, the nation of Israel had been purged from its evil. Multitudes were awaiting the coming of the kingdom. But before the kingdom was established, the nation of Israel had returned to the sin that had been removed by John’s preaching, and now the nation was further from God. It was more wicked – and consequently under more severe judgment – than it had been before John began his ministry. Because the nation that professed to receive John’s witness had turned in unbelief from the One whom John introduced, it was now in a worse state than before John’s ministry began.
I ask you – have you found yourself in this condition? Have you lost that flame and are asking ‘Lord, where are you? Show me a sign.’ If so, would God answer you like He did with these Pharisees? What condition is your house? Perhaps you are overwhelmed with other things…concerned with the things of this world and not really focused on Jesus and how He is at work right now – in a very tangible and undeniably real way – in your life and in mine.
What a church is to be about is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. The N.T. talks about that a lot. It doesn’t talk much at all about the kinds of things that occupy our time: decisions about meeting times, worship styles, business meetings and the like. If we doing that first part well, a lot of those details will fall into place. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you as well.
I have two recommendations for the body that I believe will help us to keep the main thing the main thing and not get so bogged down in the details, the machinery of church life.
One, we need to follow the leaders that the church has put in place to lead their various ministries: pastors, committees and deacons. When it comes to business meetings we need to follow those groups in this manner: Motions for action need to come primarily from these established leadership groups. I cannot enforce what I’m saying according to the constitution. Nor am I claiming that these leadership groups have always gotten things right. However, an individual member bringing an item of new business before the body on their own, is in greater danger of not being able to see the big picture and of bringing a motion that is a distraction away from what God is calling us to do. A leadership group has a greater chance of thinking through the larger ramifications of a motion and when they bring a motion it comes with greater credibility. So I’m asking, as your pastor at this moment, that members who feel that God is leading them to bring a motion to the body to first take it to the church appointed leadership group to which that issue would fall. A financial issue would go to the stewardship committee, personnel to the personnel, or a general church health issue either to the pastors or to the deacons. If that group hears your concern and believe that it needs to be brought before the body then that will be healthy. If they do not agree, and you still feel before God that such a motion still needs to be brought to the body, then by all means bring your motion, but in doing so let it be known that you have made an attempt to go through established leaders. It is my sense that the bringing of motions from individual members is often misunderstood and requires a lot of time on the business meeting floor to clarify. It is the sense of your pastors that it is these business meetings that are continuously getting us off track from the real business of the church and some are in fact leaving because of that reality. I would also encourage the body, that when you sense a motion being brought to the floor that should be handled at the committee level, that you promptly move to have it tabled to that group for study. The power remains with the congregation as a whole. But in general, this would be a far healthier way for the church to make decisions.
Second, there is a motion to be voted on next week (11/5/08) regarding a revote on the budget. I need to say a couple of things on that to put it in perspective.
The budget process led by the stewardship committee was in place for months, to include a church family forum. The stewardship committee was available for comment, and some members took the initiative to express their concerns to them. The budget was put out two weeks in advance of the business meeting. The personnel committee provided an unprecedented amount of information, far more than had ever been given. Beyond that, it actually took us two meetings to process the budget. The spreadsheet with all the salary information was out on the first business meeting. 8/20/08. That meeting ended with the personnel chair on the floor discussing that very issue. Some correction were made to the salary spreadsheet for the second meeting. We came back in the next meeting and discussed it further. That meeting was on 8/27/08 In that same meeting, a voting irregularity was noted and the body given an opportunity to revisit the issue. The body elected not to go back and revisit that. I have been reluctant to address this because of the appearance of being self serving. But the time for being concerned about appearances and perception has passed.
The church did its best to prayerfully adopt a budget. To try to undo that budget will be a distraction from the real work of the church creating confusion that could bog us down for months. Furthermore, it will un-fund two positions that have already been filled. It will ask a new stewardship committee who has other important work to do in this season, to redo last years budget close to the time when they need to be working on the budget for the new year.
Please pray that we can keep these conversations about the logistics of church business to a minimum so that all of us can give our full energy to the pursuit of our primary business, making disciples of Jesus Christ.
In the relationship triangle of the Pharisees, the nation of Israel, and Christ now comes to a critical point. In Mark’s account we see the multitude crowding around Jesus, and the demands were so great and pressing that there was not even time to eat. The family of Jesus (read that, His friends) realized the need for rest and sustenance while not underestimating Jesus’ zeal for what He was doing. So, their plan was to whisk Him away and their reason for this was that He had taken leave of His senses. Basically, He had gone mad.
This was an occasion that a demon possessed man who had other physical issues was brought to Him. Jesus healed every problem! This was a clear validation (again) that Jesus was who He claimed to be – the Messiah. The astonished question in verse 23 (in Matthew’s account) could easily be reworded in the negative – ‘This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?’ You see, the Pharisees had rejected Christ. They had no problem telling others that Jesus was a false messiah, a false prophet, one that their religious leaders had found fault with. It wasn’t a lack of evidence provided by Jesus that was in question, it was the fact that the religious leaders had not given their stamp of approval that led to the question to start with. Keep in mind that the teaching for many, many years to the people was one of being sheep that were led by the shepherds, and they needed to follow the shepherds still. So the conflict was there in their minds, and was now brought out of their mouths. Look what Jesus did! Are you guys sure….
And the answer from the leaders came swiftly. Look at verse 24. It is interesting that the Pharisees did not deny the miracle, the healing and casting out of demons that had just taken place and everyone witnessed. But there was a different explanation – the devil made Him do it! The question of was this a miracle was not a question at all – but in who’s name the miracle was performed is now the main issue. And here is where the destiny of the nation, and of those watching this unfold while weighing the evidence, depends on the interpretation of the person of Christ.
Jesus offered three ‘proofs’ to who that the explanation offered by the Pharisees was false. The first was that division leads to destruction. His point was that unity was needed for preservation. Look at verses 25 and 26. Satan would not let his authority be used by anyone to assist in his own fall or destruction. It was a twist of logic that Jesus wouldn’t let pass without being challenged.
The next proof recognized the existence of exorcists in the nation of Israel. It was known that some could cast out demons – and the nation accepted these individuals as God’s gift to them. The Pharisees even thanked God for these folks. So…by what power, by what name did the acknowledged folks do their work by? Look at verses 27 and 28. The person observing and thinking this through must arrive at the conclusion that Jesus could actually drive out demons and cure the ill (they just saw it!) so either His claims to do this by the power of God were right as well, or … perhaps the Pharisees were not looking at the facts.
The last proof was looking at the need to have the power to subdue the guard of the place they wish to rob before the robbery can take place (verse 29). The inference was that if Christ can enter Satan’s stronghold and deliver people from his control as He had just done, then it is evident that He is stronger than Satan. The devil couldn’t give Christ a power greater than what he himself possessed. And with these three proofs Christ tried to show those gathered that the Pharisees were grasping for straws.
In verse 30 Jesus calls for their decision. What will be done with the information provided? Jesus expected a response to His words.
Now to the verses you may have wanted to tackle. What about this blasphemy deal? What is this blasphemy against the Spirit for which there is no forgiveness? Let’s see what Pentecost says.
If the nation rejected His own testimony concerning Himself, they might come to faith in His word through His Father’s word…If one rejected the word of Christ and the word of the Father, he might still be brought to faith in the person of Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The miracles were the Spirit’s witness to Christ. The Spirit bore the final witness to both the person and word of Christ. If one rejected this final witness, there was no further witness God had to offer. While to reject the word of Christ was sin, a person could be led to a confession of that sin and to acknowledge the truth by the witness of the Father. To reject the witness of the Father was a sin; yet one could be led to faith in Christ by the witness of the Sprit. If one rejected the final witness, there was no further witness to bring him to Christ.
It is evident that this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit could only be committed while Christ was personally present on earth. The sin could only be committed when the nation was being given evidences as to the person of Christ through the miracles which He performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The necessary circumstances do not exist today and, consequently, this same sin cannot be committed today.
So, taking this in context of Jesus, addressing the nation or the whole generation that He was there in the midst of (and not as an individual sin, but viewed as a collective sin), could not be done today. If the explanation of the Pharisees was the one that was chosen, the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit had indeed been played out by the nation, and there was no further witness that could be given for them to accept. The response to Christ had implications for a future destiny.
It is noteworthy here that – from this point on – the nation of Israel is viewed in the Gospels as having rejected Christ as Messiah. The unofficial rejection by the religious leaders would become official when finalized at the cross.
You will have noticed that I try to personalize this at the end of each lesson, and this one is no different. The words and works of Christ have spoken to all throughout history. And today, perhaps they speak to you. What will you do with the claims of Jesus Christ?
It’s heady stuff - I was asked to discuss some ideas I had on communication with the church staff. When you love your staff, that’s like being called before God’s royalty (although having been ’staff’, I’m positive there are many times when the staff feels as if they are much less than God’s royalty). The more I looked forward to it, the more I became mired in what exactly to say. Strange. I believe we wanted to talk of many things web related, but communications is so much more. So I started to do my homework. And this post is part of that process!
Communication - The activity of communicating; the activity of conveying information; Something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups; A connection allowing access between persons or places.
Some of us like our communications as they have always been - the church newsletter and the church bulletin. That’s the way God intended it! But there is so much more, and so many avenues that the church has not chosen to explore or benefit from. Let’s just look at some of the communication vehicles.
Newsletter - this is a very good way to get out tons of information. Everyone and their cousin can ask for inclusion in this medium. There are set deadlines to adhere to (this is published monthly) so items can be included. This is mailed to all members of the church. It is also posted to the web site.
Bulletin - another excellent way to get information out to individuals. This is also deadline driven (this is published weekly) and less information can be contained in this publication. It is available to folks who attend on any given Sunday and is also posted to the web site.
Fliers - these are mainly for special events or offerings being done within areas of the church. Many are posted to the church web site if ministry contributors are updating their areas of responsibility. Others are included as a matter of course (concerts, outreach events, etc.).
Web site - this was retooled a couple of years ago with a decidedly ‘outreach’ design. If you venture in past the initial pages, ministry contributors take care of updating the communications for those that are ‘on the inside’ of the body and are looking for information. Lots of potential here with current offerings being this blog, audio of sermons and publications of events taking place.
That pretty much sums up the vast majority of what many think of when we discuss communications. But I think there is more…much more that can and should be recognized. And if we’re brave / bold, perhaps we could even act on them!
Sermons, Sunday School, Awana, Upward, Vacation Bible School, Christmas Production - I’m going to lump these all in as things we are currently doing. With each one there comes a level of communication. While these are ‘things’ we do, how do we communicate them to the body and our community?
One of the better sites I’ve seen on this in recent days may catch you a bit off guard. It’s called Church Marketing Sucks. It’s a blog community of folks interested in spreading the Good News in a powerful and effective way. I would encourage you to read some of their articles, such as The Illusion of Community, Communicating To/With the Next Generation, or Stop Using Media. This is just a sampling of the food for thought in this area, and it certainly gets me thinking about not only what we are doing, but how effective (or ineffective) we are in our communications around this area.
E-mail - this is something that is effective. Personally, I believe we can do this better. Imagine that we could receive e-mails from a single source. Why is that important? If communications were not being received, the question would not be where did it originate from (that would be from a single e-mail address used for all church-wide communications), it would be what hindered it from reaching an individual (spam filter, black-listing, etc.). A single source for all communications! That would allow even those that didn’t want to hear from us from setting up a rule for those ’special delivery’ mails without having to unsubscribe or ask us to stop sending them communications. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Social Networking Sites - we already have a pretty good contingency of folks on MySpace and Facebook. Again, we may want to look at articles such as The Illusion of Community to see if we’re just huddling together or impacting others for Christ. Do we have members who publicize and write about what is going on in our fellowship? Can we be more effective using these tools?
Central Materials / Themes - bear with me here. I’m not advocating we all run back to Lifeway to get age appropriate materials so we’re all on the same verses or lessons. But I do want us to understand what we do when we’re all doing our separate things. We’re not connected. We don’t mesh. There is no central ‘theme’ or point for discussion. It’s like a family all living under the same roof but never getting together in the same room or at the same table to share a meal. It’s disconnected. And, just for argument’s sake - remember the 40 Days of Purpose study and how that sparked a connectedness, growth, and common ground among the entire body? I’d guarantee you we won’t see that again if we don’t ever revisit common threads of central materials / themes.
There is so much more to discuss about church communications. I realize I have only scratched the surface and given you food for thought at this point. On my quest I also found a fantastic post titled The Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing by Yvon Prehn. I will be sharing a portion of this with our wonderful staff today as we discuss communication.
Let me leave you with this. What if…
…we had a communications team?
…we committed to better communications to our community?
…we committed to better communications within our church body?
These are things we can do. But would it make a difference? Would it impact our community if we strove for excellence in this area? Would it impact us internally if we made it a point to communicate early, often, and excellently?
Believers have the responsibility to daily present themselves to God to be used in loving people to faith in him. However, there are events coming up at Seaford where we can work together to do this. Primarily, our weekly worship service is the most consistent opportunity. You can be involved in helping someone to Christ simply by consistently inviting friends to worship. Churches that grow tend to have very high percentages of their church body that do this weekly. Second, upward basketball season is fast approaching and there are many ways to be involved in that ministry. Third, our Christmas musical is always a great opportunity to invite guests.
In October, the personnel committee filled two positions based on the decisions of the church body in the August business meetings. They hired Kathi Hodge as the interim worship director and Lloyd Wiggins as the facility maintenance coordinator. Kathi is new to Seaford; Lloyd is an active member having joined Seaford in 2004. In addition to this action, the committee has completed work on a new personnel manual and will be introducing that to the full church staff in mid November.
The church health team has launched a church health survey, as requested by the pastor search committee. This survey will provide critical information to the search committee as well as provide important data to the current pastoral staff and other church leaders as we seek to follow God’s direction for our church. You can find out more information about this by reading the lead article in the October newsletter. You can also find that at There is a link to the survey on the main page of the church’s web site. www.sbc-va.org
The pastors are beginning a message series on the book of Nehemiah on Sunday, October 26th that will run through the end of November. There are fascinating themes in this book that parallel much of what is transpiring during this season at Seaford: specifically prayer, leadership, facing challenges proactively, engaging everyone in ministry, and worship.
The pastor search committee will be leading a church family forum during the mid week service on Nov. 12th. They are planning a highly interactive event with a combination of guided small discussion as well as large group collaboration. The purpose of this forum will be to discuss the new pastor profile.
We have had many first and second time guests over the course of the fall. It is everyone’s responsibility to help create a welcoming and nurturing environment for these guests whom God has entrusted to us. No one visits a church by accident, least of all Seaford. Aaron recently offered new training for greeters and is actively seeking to expand that ministry. We need greeters at every entrance and in the parking lot to assist in caring for those God is bringing to us. Please contact Aaron at the church office (898-5384) or by email awest@sbc-va.org if you would be interested in serving in this ministry.
Finally, after a three and half year wait, Kat and I leave for China on November 4th, to bring home our adopted daughter, Noelle Meiyuan. Thanks to so many of you who have prayed for us and encouraged us through this time.
The Church Health Team is nearly ready to present a church-wide survey to all members and regular attenders of Seaford Baptist Church. It has been tested with a pilot group of church members, and it’s now in final editing. The official roll-out will be on Sunday, October 19.
What is the survey for? It’s a combination of many things. It covers our involvement, our satisfaction with various aspects of the church, our understanding of basic church teachings, our ideas for outreach, our opinions on what is strong and what is lacking, and more.
How do you do the survey? Starting Sunday morning, you will have two options: Fill out the survey online, at http://www.seafordsurvey.org, or fill it out on paper forms that will be provided at the church. For the online survey you will need a username and password, which will be made known when the survey is rolled out this weekend.
You will have three weeks to complete the survey. Further instructions will be provided on the survey web page.
What will happen with the survey results? We have three purposes in mind for them:
Inform our current church leaders on the needs, opportunities, and opinions of our church members and regular attenders.
Provide information to the Pastor Search Team that will help them with their search task.
Give feedback to you on what the church is saying and thinking. A report will be made available to the entire church body.
Is there more feedback being sought from the church? Definitely yes! We are arranging for Don Cockes, our area SBCV missionary, to come with a team of objective outsiders and spend focused time speaking with every person who has something to share. They will take notes and report back to us on what the church has told them. We don’t know the exact times and dates yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
What else is the Church Health Team working on? We’re studying what it means to be a healthy church, for one thing. And we’re conducting community studies so we can have a better idea how to bring the truth and love of Christ to the church. Later on we’ll be working with staff and lay leaders of the church to try to bring clearer definition to the church’s mission and direction.
