In the mailbox today Posted on March 19, 2008 By pamela For many years now I have written about trends in the church, church growth methods and marketing strategies and what church growth strategists are saying and doing. What was in this space for a few days were scans of postcards from local churches and I have removed them and I would like to apologize for posting them – for the intent was not more important than people. It was not my intent to criticize a specific local church, but rather to use the example of the postcards to demonstrate methods or as an example of purpose driven or emergent church methods and it was not my intent to cut down specific persons. at all. So. I offer my sincere apologies to any who were offended by my posting of those post cards. I pray to continue to be used of the Lord to share what’s going on in the church today and to encourage trust and faith in the Living God and following after Jesus, the Truth and the Word of God. These are very, very remarkable days as we watch for His appearing. He is alive. with love, a repentant heart, and faith in the only One who is able to save; sincerely —pamela Devotionals The Church Today
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I have edited the original post. I have also edited my original reply to Mr. Noa. My intent was not to be divisive or to call into question the sincere attempt to reach the lost. I trust God will forgive me for my overzealous attempt to stand for right-ness rather than love of the brethren. God bless you all. the ever learning, pamela
Dear Pamela, I want to say right up front that I serve as a staff member at Gold Creek Community Church. My wife and I also homeschool our children and we lead a home fellowship group made up of families that homeschool. My wife reads your blog and you can imagine my surprise when she read your comments regarding the end times and the falling away of churches who send postcards you do not like. It appears by your comments that you did not take the time to call the pastor’s of these churches and ask them about the postcards they sent, the outreach strategies of their churches or the messages that are preached to young and old alike in these churches. Perhaps if you took the time to visit Gold Creek, speak with it’s staff and listen to the message preached that you would learn that the heartbeat of Gold Creek is all about reaching the 90% who are unchurched in the Pacific Northwest. You would learn that the gospel is preached to young and old alike. And it is preached with a variety of means and methods, all the while remaing true to God’s Word. We’ve learned that if we need to reach the lost in our area, we need to be creative in the ways to get their attention. A wise fisherman once told me that you need to match your hatch. In other words, you need to insure that the bait on your hook matches the insects that the fish are eating. Otherwise you go home without any fish. The same is true in reaching the lost. Programs and methods that work great in the South and Midwest of our country don’t work at all here. So a church can do one of two things. They can convince themselves that they are doing church the “right” way and that is why they are only running a 100 or so. Or they can learn about the culture they find themselves in, determine which bait is the best to use and start fishing for the lost. That’s exactly what the postcard was, bait to reach out to the 90% unchurched who live in our communities, who don’t know Jesus Christ, nor why they should know Him. You received the post card because we cast a wide net as we seek the lost in our community. We’ve learned that it takes about 7 contacts with an unchurched person, before they decide that they want to start attending a church. So we go out of our way to provide opportunities to develop those times. We hold Snow Days, Concerts, Easter Egg Hunts, run a preschool, and yes even hold Trunk or Treats. Why? Because we know that by doing so, we will be able to build a relationship with them and have an opportunity to introduce them to Christ, provide a place for them to grow in Christ and send them out to reach the lost. We do that through small groups and site based programs. So come by and visit. The music might be to loud for you. The worship to showy. But people are finding Christ. Not just on Easter or Christmas but throughout the year. As I hope they are in your faith community. And by the way emerge is what happens after you’ve repented and believed and chosen to follow Christ. Because you get baptized and you emerge out of the water and start your journey of holiness with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Ralph Noa, Gold Creek Community Church
Pamela, Thank you once again for this message…we go to a church where we will have a family breakfast and we will have a musical presentation, but after that we will have a pastor standing up to share the simple and timeless message of the gospel…our church will never be a church teeming with thousands of members…we’re lucky to have 100 counting those in the womb…our pastor preaches that unpopular message that we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior…and regardless of how many people attend or the idiosyncrasies of our members, we want to be in a place where God’s word is preached… Now as a family, we have chosen to create Resurrection baskets for our children…but we attempt to have them have meaning and point to Christ and I hope they bring glory to Him and point our children to their need for the Savior. You keep giving me something to think about and challenge me to question my thoughts, motives and the things we do to see if they stand on the word of God. Carrie
I thought the last card read, “Face-Piercing,” when I first glanced at it, not “Face-Painting.” It probably will come to that one day. How SAD, but we march on for Jesus nonetheless! Praise God!
The one that really gets to me is seeing chocolate crosses at Eastertime. It just makes it all so cheap and commercial.