Friday, April 1, 2016

April 2, 2016

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

Change is difficult and FredWes is experiencing a lot of changes with more to come.

We are most likely will need to move to two identical worship services in the Fall do we can accommodate our growing Children's Ministry and continue to reach young families.

Those of us who enjoy the variety of two styles of worship will have to make a sacrifice.

Some of our Children's Ministry volunteers will need to adjust to a new Sunday Schedule and our Worship Team volunteers will be doing double duty.

Is this really necessary?

Will it be worth it?

We will be facing the need to raise significant amounts of moving to finance our relocation and eventual building at New Post. That will require financial sacrifices to follow where God is leading us.

Will all this sacrifice and inconvenience really be worth it?

At some point we will need to sell our current building and possibly meet briefly in a temporary space while we build our 15,000 square foot worship and ministry space at New Post.

Why do this?

Why put up with being so uncomfortable?

Honestly, those are very good questions!

Fortunately, there are some very good answers.

We must do it because we are called!

Acts 1:8 is a restatement of the Great Commission. The Great Commission was issued with some of Jesus' final words spoken before ascending into Heaven:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

That's why we must adjust to these changes.

We must do it because of our condition!

What is our condition?

We are healthy!

We are unified!

We have high morale!

We have strong momentum!

Do you want to lose those blessings or continue to nurture them?

If we are to continue as a healthy church we must create space to grow and develop additional ministries.

We must do it because we are capable!

"......From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Luke 16:10 

What true of individuals is true of churches (since churches are made up of people) they can give themselves or they can invest themselves. Investments bring larger and on-going returns! Investments outlast the investor bless others for succeeding generations.

It's very true that growing churches are often uncomfortable, inconvenient and personally costly. I will concede that!

But let me remind you that stagnant and dying churches cost more.