The Big conversation – Recognition and refocus

Those wanting to follow Jesus and preferring to do like he did, not following his own will but the Will of God, should know that they always shall belong to the minority.

English: Icon of Jesus Christ — Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But when those following Christ are living somewhere in the world they should know at that at other places somewhere in the world there will be like minded people wanting to share the same message. Being not with many it is very tempting to look with awe at the bigger groups and even to become jealous. It is very tempting to want to have the same growth as they are having.

But in smaller churches it is also tempting to fixate on the numbers

like a teenager checking Facebook to see how many “likes” and “shares” their status got (or a blogger constantly looking for “views” and “follows”). {Recognize the Facts}

writes Michael Hayward who is a pastor of a Faith Community at a small Southern Baptist church which ranges from 50 – 90 in attendance. He warns

This is a wrong focus and it can cause us to is the fact that you are not alone, no matter how small your church is. {Recognize the Facts}

When belonging to a small community we should recognize the facts that

1) there is no small contribution from members,
2) that there are people involved and serving, and
3) not all help and service looks like a church program.

If you do not recognize and honor even the widows mite, then you are not honoring God and his work among even the least of these. {Recognize the Facts}

In a limited group of people having a particular believe it might well be that at a locality they may consider themselves special and by doing so excluding others who do not live there. Also in the Christadelphian community we may see some villages which so much like their own ecclesia and think they are doing it the best way, that they do not want to meet with others or avoid contact with people from outside. Some may want to empower the church (people), but in practice they keep it all to themselves. Such leaders may endanger the community without realizing it.

We will spend ourselves utterly and jeopardize our health, our families, and our walk with God over accomplishing tasks for the church without even prayerfully discerning if any of those tasks are even worth it. Jesus taught about counting the cost in Luke 14 and described how both builder and king would sit down and figure out what needed to be done and what it would take to do it. I think most of the time we just do what we assume needs to be done based on what everyone else is doing and we don’t consider what God really wants for us. We burn out and burn up trying to make our little church run like a big church rather than running the race set before us. Ecclesiastes 4:6 says, “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” In other words work smarter, not harder. Don’t kill yourself chasing after what cannot be caught. {The Best Thing You Can Do}

Many do have to become smarter by not thinking so much that they are the exclusive ones. They should open up their mind to others who go the same path as they. They also should also to show respect for other brothers and sisters in the world which may have totally other customs than they and may speak a total different language. In church groups too often it is expected that all speak the same ‘church language’. Those who dare to use other words may be looked at strangely. Instead of enlarging the vocabulary some try to stick too long at older words or typical church words where the common world has already evolved to using other words.

We best take the words at heart to

Recognition and refocus, you need it and your fellowship needs it. Take some time to prayerfully reflect on who helps (even if it’s serving outside the programs of the church) and then take a Sunday service and honor those who serve with you. Speaking from experience, you will be refreshed and your church inspired! {Recognize the Facts}

There are advantages and disadvantages in both large and small settings. As followers of the Nazarene master teacher, we can only hope that we can share his message with as many as possible. To do that we have to come our of our little cocoon and share the gospel with as many as possible. when we do hear from others trying to do the same spreading of the Gospel we should be pleased and respect their work. We should encourage and inspire one another, not take shots at our brothers and sisters out of resentment and jealously.