Ridgell's Originals

 This is the time when churches are finalizing plans and budgets for next year.

Here are three things I pray churches will be clear about.

Sell out for Jesus.  We must call our members to live like Jesus.  Serve others.  Live in the light as forgiven people.  Call each other to a higher standard of conduct.  Be kind to everyone.  Help people.  Be known for our love.  

Dig in on Scripture.  Let this be the year churches stop apologizing for what the Bible says.  Do not try and force the Bible to say what it does not say.  But stand firm on what it does say.  Do not let culture define truth.  God has done that.  We may not be popular in culture.  But we will be attractive to those who are looking for truth in a world that constantly rewrites the rules.

Stay on mission.  Tell the good news of Jesus to a lost and dying world.  Our world needs forgiveness.  Jesus offers it.  So we need to not just live forgiven, we must be telling the world that news.  What people do with that news is up to them.  We must give them the opportunity.  

I get how trite and simplistic this seems, but many churches struggle with these three foundational concepts.  They are hard to live.  

So church leaders:  start by setting the expectations.  Hold these up as core convictions.  Then model how to live these for your church.  Talk about them.  Show how they look in practice.

This is a time for courage and strength.

The harvest is great.

Let's get in the field and go to work.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM