Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose in the Word of God. It's Monday, May 27 - Happy Memorial Day! This is Jeff Klein with your weekly encouragement to take your faith and move it Beyond Sunday.
Jeff Klein 0:22
I was listening to one of my favorite sports talk shows the other day and the host turned their attention to things that are now obsolete. For example, paper roadmaps - most people have GPS. Phone books - we use the internet. Pay phones - when's the last time you even seen one? CDs - we download our music! The list went on and on. When I talked about this with one of my friends, he said that his six year old has never known a phone that doesn't take pictures.
Jeff Klein 0:53
This got me thinking about church. What has become obsolete? Could it be our constant focus on getting people to come and join our gatherings and programs inside our building? What if we learned to go and meet people where they live? What if we learn to love people in a way that allowed us to enter into their life in a way that would make them feel important? Before we invited them to our stuff? What if we went out and built relationships with our neighbors and friends or people where we live, work and play with the idea that maybe in those relationships, we can build the trust necessary for the gospel to travel into their lives? What if we were really interested in them as people first before we invited them to hear our message or to come to our programs? What else about church might be obsolete? I don't know, but let's make a list. Let's think: how might the church need to change to enter and reach the world that we live in today?
Jeff Klein 1:50
Let's pray. Jesus, we know your church is built on a firm foundation and that is you. The message of your church will never change. The Orthodox truth of the gospel will never change - but the methods we use to reach the world have to change with the culture. Paul said he became all things to all men so that he might reach some. Jesus, please teach us the things that we need to change, adjust or shift in order to more effectively reach the world for you. In your name we pray, Amen.
