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The Vision

by Jerry Ousley  
4/27/2012 / Christian Living

Years ago when we were pastors we felt a need to make some changes in our congregation. No we didn't go around kicking people out; unless it is because someone just refuses to conform to Bible teaching as found in the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians then that practice isn't scriptural. What we did do was to move the format of our service around a bit in order to promote worship. We began what we called an "Open Church" philosophy, meaning that we made the service more casual and invited people to share in the service instead of just being spectators. Yes, this is can be dangerous because you are creating an opening for someone who wants to disrupt things, cause conflict and monopolize. We had to learn to use wisdom and know when that was happening and put a stop to it. We wanted to be what is now known as "Seeker Sensitive." Only we didn't rearrange our service so as not to offend a non-Christian, we only cautioned our members to know when unsaved people were present, to be in prayer for them during the service and allow God to perform a work in their lives. We also allowed more time for worship and tried to limit sermons to twenty to thirty minutes. After all, most people don't remember a whole lot of a sermon and when it goes beyond that you risk confusing noises (like snoring, excessive coughing and throat clearing to name a few).

In a way, and this is not a brag but merely an observation, we were ahead of our time. Many didn't understand what we were doing and it wasn't popular then because some super-church hadn't come up with it. Later when larger congregations began doing these very same things and the pastors wrote books about them then suddenly every congregation wanted to do them too. I never did understand that completely. However to our small congregation it worked out very well. People grew closer to God and lost people were coming to the Master.

We began outreach programs like foreign missions giving, providing a food pantry for local needs, establishing a fund to help with utility bills and even had good used clothing in case someone experienced a fire and lost their possessions. We tried and for a small congregation we did pretty well.

We stopped emphasizing money even though we had to have it to keep our own bills paid up. We moved the offering time to the end of the service and only on Sunday morning unless a special need arose. You know what; God blessed that. Even though we never had a large surplus in the bank we kept our bills paid on time and had extra for these outreach endeavors when the need arose.

Now I'm not suggesting that you completely change your church to do the same. Any change has to come from the Lord. Each congregation has its own personality and mission. God desires to accomplish different things with different groups. That's the beauty of the body of Christ; each part has its own vital and necessary function.

There is one thing that should be a part of all congregational visions and it was commanded by Jesus Himself. Matthew 28:19-20 tells us, "'Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' Amen." Jesus was saying that for every believer, every congregation and every Christian organization, one part of their vision will remain the same Our mandate to win others into the Kingdom of God. We may have different ways of doing this. As I've already said each congregation has its own personality and function just like each Christian has his or her own talents and abilities. God wants to use those things to fulfill the Great Commission. But the commission remains the same.

Over the years the vision of our congregation changed some. There were programs we laid aside and others we took on. But none of that change altered the main part of the vision. Not everything works for every congregation. For instance, in a community of four to six thousand people there isn't much need for a homeless shelter because frankly there aren't that many people living out on the streets (at least I haven't seen any). But in a large city you'll find them abundantly. We live fairly close to three large cities; Indianapolis, IN is about one hundred miles north, Louisville, KY is about thirty-five miles south and Cincinnati, OH is around seventy miles east. In all three I've seen homeless people so the need for homeless shelters is great. But in Austin, IN, sporting a population of slightly over six thousand, I've yet to see someone sleeping on the sidewalk (hey most of our side streets don't even have sidewalks!). The point is that God is going to tailor your vision to fit your situation. But the goal is the same win the lost for Jesus!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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