I am ceding my article this month to Dr. Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway Recourses, former Dean at the Billy Graham School at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and leading church strategist. I do not think there is much I can add to this succinct word to the church. I pray we will heed the call.  (Personal commentary in parentheses JW)

Change or die.

That is reality for churches today.

Of course, I am not talking about Scripture, doctrine, or spiritual disciplines changing. Those things are constants, never to be compromised.

But much of what we do in our churches must change. And, unfortunately, many church members and leaders resist change. They seek stability and comfort over obedience and sacrifice.

Let’s look at five key reasons why stability is bad for a church:

1. A stable church is not a church on mission. The very nature of the Great Commission means our churches should be in constant change. A church member blasted a pastor for his efforts at leading the church to reach unbelievers in the community. She castigated him because “those people are messing up our church.” Sigh.
2. Comfort is the enemy of obedience. Review all the examples of obedient persons in the Bible. In every case, they had to get out of their comfort zones. Too many church members want stability because they don’t want to experience the discomfort of obedience.
3. Stable churches are not reaching their communities. The communities in which churches are located are changing. Many are changing rapidly. If a church seeks comfort, it is not willing to make the necessary changes to impact the community it was called to serve.
4. Stable churches do not create new groups. Show me a stable church, and I will show you a church that is not creating new groups or Sunday school classes. Show me a church not creating new groups, and I will show you a church that is inwardly focused. The members are spiritual navel gazers.
5. Members of stable churches want the focus to be on their preferences. They want church “the way it’s always been.” They are more concerned about getting their way with music style, room temperature, and precise starting time of worship services. In their latter years, they are able to sing, “I did it my way” rather than “I did it God’s way.”

There is nothing biblical about a stable church. In fact, the stability is really just an illusion. Those churches that seek stability will ironically change the most rapidly toward decline and death.

(C.S. Lewis said, “The church exists for nothing else but to draw men to Christ. If they are not doing that, everything else is simply a waste of time.” The time is at hand for our churches to get down to business with God like we have never done before. We must pray like we’ve never prayed, serve our Jerusalem like never before, and make Christ known in every way we can with an urgency that recognizes our communities are most lost now than in previous decades. Stability is not an option. Churches/Pastors/Leaders must be willing to do “whatever it takes” to reach a progressively lost and dying world to the transforming power of Christ alone!)

Following Him,

Jim

    This month we will be celebrating a Week of Prayer for  Associational Missions May 21-28. 
    Our goal is $25,000.  We have already had anonymous ministry partners step up and have offered up to $10,000 in a matching gift for this offering!  The offering will be used 100% for Church Planting in the NKBA! 
    We have church plants under way in:

• Dry Ridge (at Mercy Ridge Community Church with Pastor Josh Hildebrand), 
• Fort Mitchell (with Pastor Van of the Zion Chin Baptist Church/Burmese), 
• Florence (with Pastor Joshua Kim at Good Shepherd Church meeting at Florence Baptist’s Greenview Campus), 
• Erlanger and Covington (with Pavel Urruchi at Erlanger Baptist and South Side Baptist Churches), 
• Walton (Bill Page at Crosspoint Church), 
• Covington, Redemption Church (Pastor Ben Brown) which meets at Ashland Avenue Church and will be adding services and ministry in the fall at what was the Oakland Avenue Baptist Church. 

    We have another ministry partner, Mike Rowe at The Avenue/Cornerstone Community Church in Covington who packs out two services at a storefront each Sunday morning!  People are coming to Christ on a regular basis through this ministry!  Mike has spent 20 years serving there and is from Erlanger Baptist Church.  I’m writing this after just left a meeting with leaders who will begin hosting a Chinese Bible Study every Tuesday night at the NKBA office and a Chinese School which will meet at our site on Saturdays (where Bible and Chinese culture/language are taught to children all born here in America) beginning in May!  We need additional funding to help these new works and partners to grow and become stronger! 
    SO, the first thing to do is PRAY!  “You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed!”  A guide for the week of prayer is available by insert on the NKBA website (www.nkba.org) or by request to our office.
    Offering envelopes will be available and mailed to you upon request, you can also give ONLINE on the NKBA website…a video link will be available next week to promote this emphasis with your church at services, on your Facebook page, and on your church website! 
    God is at work and moving in NKY!  The NKBA needs your support to see this good work continued as we continue to assist new work get started in our Jerusalem!  It is a joy to serve as your missionary!    

Following Him,
Jim 
Lead Follower/Director of Missions