New Life Community Church: Sayville, NY

It's Not 1977 (or even 2007!)

by Pastor Scott Rees on August 9th, 2011

This summer I have been reading a lot of history. I've read a book about how our highway and interstate system started and developed.  I am working through a four volume history of the founding of America that was written around 1890's, which means there is a lot of our history I am not reading. I regularly read Church history and biographies about pastors, missionaries, and theologians who have fought the good fight and now enjoy their eternal reward.

I love to learn how people faced their challenges and the solutions they came up with to survive.  It is fascinating to hear about how the first colonists endured 3 month voyages across unsafe waters only to land on treacherous land with unforgiving winters because they hoped for a better life. They did not have the luxury to not innovate every day. Their survival depended on learning a whole new way to do everything. I stand in awe of their creativity, their resilience, and their hard work. 

This summer I have also been reading a couple of books about suffering in the world from disease, totalitarian warlords, drought, and the effects of AIDS in Africa and other continents. I have read a good book by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision International, "The Hole in Our Gospel." He expertly describes all kinds of situations of starvation and orphaned children and abused girls and women and he explains how we all can help.  It was educational, convicting, and motivational. I suggest you all read it.

Another area of reading, as always for me, is about the Church and God's plan for us as his people. I love to think how we Christians might live a God-glorifying life and daily taste and see the goodness of God. But the sad reality I have found to be true after so many years in the Church is this: we fall so very far short of God's desire and intention for us.Throughout history the Church failed. Today we fail. We fall into selfish debates and opinionated views, all the while failing to love others very much at all, that is unless they are like us or like things the way we like them.

So what do I do?  I think harder, read more, and work to see how we can do things better. It is a lame effort because only broken surrender to the Lord can change things, not my extra effort or your super work. It's a big, messy problem. It's big and messy because our perspective is so narrow. It is as narrow as our own personal experience and our own past.

Here's what I mean. This summer I am working with many of our members in various committees, groups, and task groups to think about our various ministries and what to change, improve, or implement. It is all good stuff, but one consistent, even habitual response of participants in these groups is to look BACK to what they used to do and try to come up with an improved version. We're not alone in this, so don't feel ball. ALL church people do this all over the country in all denominations.

Please here me carefully and please do not read into my words or meaning - pause for a second, breath a little, because what I am going to say is not to say what we've done in the past is or was "wrong." That is not the way to think about it. I am saying nothing about the actions of the past but I am speaking about how we think in the present.

Often in a meeting when we are trying to 'fix' or 'improve' as a church someone, several people, will say something like, "we used to do this..." or "we used to do that..." "How about if we did that again..." The good in such discussion is people are remembering how they were creative, committed, and willing to try new things. This is the quality we always want to keep. But the mistake is to focus on the action that was done rather than the spirit in which it was done.

Let me share a personal example. I came to Christ in 1977. We had an amazing youth group and youth chori powerful retreats with 100 students attending. We did plays and musicals, retreats where we lived out the life of Jesus for three days. I could go on and on. But if I were to think that doing those things today would be the BEST way for us to find our future in 2011 I would be badly mistaken. The world has changed massively since then and it wouldn't work.

The proud heritage of NLCC is that so many were so willing to risk so much to try something new for Jesus and the result was the fruit of many disciples of Jesus. That is awesome.  But what worked in 1977, or even 2007!!! (ouch) is not what will work in 2012, or 2015, or beyond.

What we need is the spirit of willingness to risk and to be creative and to give ourselves to Jesus and his mission. It is this surrendered spirit that will win the day tomorrow. God will give us all sorts of actions and ideas for how to reach our neighbors for Christ, how to grow people up in the faith. Peter used the synagogue and sandals to spread the gospel of Christ. We use Facebook and iWorship. The one constant is a surrendered willingness to move into the future with Christ.

As we live out the gospel as a church and as we think through new 'ways and means' to share the gospel and teach the faith, I hope we do not look back to 1977, or 2007, but look only to Jesus the Author and Perfector of our faith. He is also our great Apostle, High Priest, and of course our King. He has never failed to lead his church on every continent of the globe, every country of the world, every nation that has been. And he has never done the same thing twice!!

Lead on, O King, eternal!!