Showing posts with label Attendance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attendance. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Don't Let Your Soul Freeze To Death

A man finds a goose that was shaking with cold & stuck to a pole in Montana. As he got closer, he realized that wrapped up in her wings was a tiny puppy she was shielding from the freezing temperatures. (According to reports, both the goose & the puppy have recovered, were adopted together & are doing well.)


We have so much to learn from God's creation.

This is just a glimpse of what the church looks like. We come together & find strength from one another.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

When you stop coming to church, your soul can freeze to death.

Selah

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

"I Love Jesus, But I Don't Do Church"

“I love Jesus, but I don’t do church.”
This is the beginning of a conversation that I have had countless times with people of all different ages, backgrounds & experiences. As well as: “I’m a Christian, but I don’t have to go to church in order to love Jesus.”
It’s true. We definitely don’t have to do anything for God, nor is our salvation based on our works or church attendance. But it’s also true that when we surrender our lives to Him, we naturally desire to learn more about Him, to be a part of the body of Christ & to be held accountable & pointed toward sanctification. We are called to live out an active faith.
One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:17,“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.“
When we truly repent, surrender & choose to follow Jesus, we are given a new heart, one that desires godliness & holiness. We are given the opportunity to make the daily choice to leave our past lives behind us & move forward toward the righteous life that He has set out for us.
“If anyone claims to live in Christ, he must walk as He did.” 1 John 2:6.
I was saved at the age of 8 years old. I've been in church all of my life. I've seen the good, the bad & even the ugly side of ministry. I've seen people leave the church because of disappointment, hurt, affairs, divorce, hypocrisy, greed, pride, etc.  I've seen people refuse to repent, refuse to forgive & hold on to hurt that made them bitter, angry, suspicious & broken.
So, as I write to our BFWC Family today, I'm not sitting behind a computer screen, lacking empathy or compassion toward the hurt or the disappointments that anyone has ever experienced. It's real & I have felt it too.
I'm also not ignoring the fact that the church is full of sinful people nor that there is hard pain & baggage to come along with it.  I'm simply turning my eyes to Jesus, the author & perfecter of my faith & hope!
I have made the choice to not allow the sinful, broken people of the church (those who look just like me) to be a stumbling block that keeps me away from my sinless, perfect & loving Heavenly Father who simply wants to draw us to Himself.
The church isn’t primarily a building or a set of programs or events. It’s a family.  A broken family, yes.  But a family all-the-more, seeking God to love more, serve more & share light in a super, super dark world.
We see throughout the Bible that Christ Himself was part of the church. His apostles were as well.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.“
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Ephesians 4:11-12
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:9“You were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I fully understand that the ‘American Church’ with massive buildings, coffee shops & rockstar worship leaders with too-tight-skinny-jeans may not be what Christ had in mind. And we must be wise & discerning when choosing a church to ensure that it is bible-believing and bible-teaching.
But although some church buildings themselves may not be the same as the church in Jesus’ day, it is still made up of people who love the Lord (although imperfectly) & come together to hear His word.
While the context has changed, the mission remains the same – to glorify God & make disciples. Though the way we do things now may look a little different than first century Rome, it’s the same mission & strategy that propels us forward; assembling for worship, connecting in community, training up disciples.
I can almost hear some of the excuses as I type this:
  • The worship is too cheesy.
  • The pastor isn’t available enough.
  • I have too much going on in my life.
  • My husband/wife doesn’t want to go so I don’t go.
  • People aren’t welcoming.
  • It’s an awkward experience.
  • It’s not the church that Jesus designed it to be.
  • Having kids makes it too hard to get there.
  • And, of course, the most popular: Church is a corporate design created by man for the consumption of money; it is a place which promotes religion rather than faith and relationship.
I’ve heard it all. And, to be honest, many of these things I have thought myself until I came to a prayerful understanding by the Spirit of God.
Here are a few questions:
  • How will we fix what is broken in the church or help the people of the church if we refuse to be a part of it?
  • If you evaluate your life today, are you choosing busyness or bitterness over worship?
We can sit behind the scenes criticizing or we can live out an active faith – serving & getting involved – making real changes, loving on real people, living life alongside real pain.
The Enemy is strategic. He has come to steal, kill and destroy your faith, relationship with God & relationship with other believers.
If we constantly choose sleeping in on Sundays & breakfast with our family over church, if we choose a night out of entertainment over genuine community, sharing real life with one another & holy living, then we aren’t making a difference in the church that we may or may not see so many problems with.
We’re simply allowing the issues that we feel so strongly about to perpetuate as we carelessly look on.
I’ve witnessed church-hopping where people treat church like Goldilocks treated beds. People want that “just right” perfect church, but when they can’t find it, they simply walk away. All the Enemy had to do was distract them.
To that I say: Choose a place and stick with it. You’ll never find perfect. We should not be looking at what we can GET from the church, our hearts should be set on what we can GIVE the church.
As a reminder, the Enemy has the power to use both good & bad things to keep you from God things – but only if you let him. He uses distraction, bitterness, hard-heartedness, pride, awkwardness & even feel good/treat yourself days to his advantage.
C.S. Lewis said it perfectly“The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing than worshipping. It is mad idolatry that makes the service greater than the god.”
My dear friends, God is the focus of the church. The service nor the people need to be perfect for you to hear His life-changing word. True life change happens in the church. We truly grow when we connect with every-day people, pour into them & allow them to pour into us.
The local church, led by Jesus, is the hope of the world & God’s means to disciple the nations & hasten his return. Matthew 16:18 says, “…On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
How can we despise or resent the church when Jesus not only said He was going to build it, but that He would use it to storm the gates of hell? That’s something I want to be a part of! Don’t you?
It’s true that there are churches out there which have fallen into the trap of trying to accumulate numbers rather than turning hearts toward God. But this isn’t the healthy church that God intended for it to be.
A bible-believing, bible-teaching church comes together as a reminder that we can only experience fruitful mission when we are fully abiding in & drawing strength from the true vine (John 15). His word is our daily bread.
And in a world offering countless different perspectives, there is one place that people can find truth (John 8:26). The church is a lighthouse in an ethical & immoral fog (Matthew 5:14–16).
If you claim to know & love God, yet do not have a desire to be a part of His church, I lovingly implore you to evaluate your relationship with Him. Get in His word & read what He has to say about His calling for us.
There are hundreds of things that we could do that would hinder us from sharing life with God’s people.
If you’re hesitant, I challenge you today to choose intentionality & join in worshiping God with a local church this week! I promise you that as many reasons as you might have not to go, there are even more reasons to trust God & pour your life & heart out for Him alongside His people.
Loving & Serving,
Pastor Hylton

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

God Healed Me Of Depression

When our daughter, Kaitlyn, was a baby, I went through a season of depression. I had made some decisions with work that wasn’t working out & I was struggling to find my footing. I even thought God wasn’t pleased with me. I became very low in spirit & critical of myself & everyone else. 

I struggled to even go to church. It’s like I had no joy in anything that I was doing, even though God had blessed me with a wonderful wife & a beautiful daughter.  

One thing was constant though...my wife’s determination to love me through it & hold my feet to the fire in leading our family forward in faith...after all, I was a “preacher.” 😳

I hear people today talk a big talk about “I need to step up my game with my kids’ spiritual life. I need to be the spiritual head of my family & lead better.” And yet, those same people, who make such declarations, seem to forget the vows they made & the words that came out of their mouth...once the “feeling” passes. 

They tend to let their children run their house. If the kids don’t want to go to church…they give them the option not to. Somehow they’re always sick on Wednesday night. 🤔

I don’t think we realize just how much God is going to hold us accountable for the way we’ve led our home spiritually. I don’t think we realize how much ground we lose by making slothful decisions concerning spiritual posterity. 

For me, I had a moment where I snapped out of it & recovered myself after months of battling with the depression. 

My wife made sure that even if I wasn’t in church with her...she was at church with our daughter every time the doors were open. She wouldn’t let me quit. She kept up her consistency & prayed for God to get ahold of my mind...she prayed me through it!

I don’t know what I would have done if she would have fallen into the same funk I was in. I guarantee you that we wouldn’t be in the ministry today...let alone pastoring for the past 20 years. 

I’ve never seen such a time like today, where people let the least little things keep them from the elementary principles of the Christian life like...attendance, tithe & serving, etc.  They wonder why they have so many problems. I’m certainly not pointing my finger at anyone, having received grace to get up again myself, but what’s good for me is good for them too.

I believe our daughter is serving God today, with fervor, because her parents made sure to position her in the house of The Lord & made The Lord our number one priority...before anything else in this world. Our parents instilled the same thing in us & the blessing of The Lord has increased in every generation. I pray for a triple anointing to be upon our grandson. 

I would say to anyone that’s going through a rough time spiritually or mentally...staying out of church is not the solution. Your solution comes when you press past the place of give up! 

Stop with the excuses. (I’ve used them all myself.) Get up. Do what you know you’re supposed to be doing. 

If your spouse won’t go to church...you go to church!! Don’t you let anyone talk you into one more excuse! Stop that mess. You’re going to give an account to God for keeping your kids out of church. You may not see it now...but rest assured you will wake up one day & realize it. Especially when you see them repeating the same pattern. 

Sanctify your house with your lifestyle of righteous living. 

My help came faster because I had a woman of God in my corner who wouldn’t let me stop! Today, I give honor to her. 

I challenge you today to be that kind of person for someone you know who is going through. Yes...empathize with them but don’t give into a mindset of self-pity. 

Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the only way. 

Jesus will break the back of depression off of you!

Much love!

Thursday, March 7, 2019

After All, I Am Your Pastor


For every PASTOR that leads... For every PARISHIONER that follows... An open letter - "I will still be praying for you & possibly sticking my nose in your business. After all, I'm your pastor." 🙌🏾🙏🏽😃 #KeepServing #KeepGiving #KeepLeading

Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Messy Local Church

2 in 5 married couples meet ONLINE today. But even those 2 in 5 couples who meet online don’t stay online…they get married. Love can be expressed online, but its fulfillment happens deepest through PERSONAL CONTACT. The same can be said about your personal relationship with Jesus through His body...the local church.
Online church DOESN'T ALLOW for serving opportunities & face-to-face interaction with others. When you get up early to set up and tear down, lead a small group of children, greet people with a smile, serve on the production team or serve meals to the homeless, somehow you find a place in service of a goal GREATER THAN YOURSELF.
Parents can catch a podcast or watch online, but KIDS really miss out when PARENTS MISS. To be with their friends who are running in the same direction & to have another voice (youth pastor) who knows their name, favorite food & hopes & dreams saying the same thing a loving parent would say, is so far unreproducible in the online world. I believe that when the parents miss church, the kids are the biggest losers.
About 20 years ago, a CHURCH MEMBER was considered active in the church if he or she attended three times a week. TODAY, a church member is considered active in the church if he or she attends three times a month. :(
Something is wrong with this picture. For 2,000 years, the LOCAL CHURCH, as messed up as it can be, has been God’s place for BELIEVERS to gather, worship, minister, and be accountable to one another.
And every time I mention something about church membership & attendance, I inevitably hear a CLAP BACK of “legalism” or “the church is not a building” or “the church is a messed up institution.”
But the LOCAL CHURCH....yes, the messy local church, is what God has used as His primary instrument to MAKE DISCIPLES. But COMMITMENT is waning among many church members in North America...in this trending cultural slope.
FIVE REASONS WHY....
1. We are MINIMIZING the IMPORTANCE of the local church.
When we do, we are less likely to attend. A few drops of rain may keep many folks from attending church, but it won’t stop them from sitting three hours in the downpour watching their favorite sports team.
2. We worship the IDOLS OF ACTIVITIES.
Many members will replace a day in their church with a day at kid’s soccer or softball games or sleeping off the hangover of the previous day’s activities.
3. We take a lot of VACATIONS FROM CHURCH.
I am not anti-vacation. But 20 years or so ago, we would make certain we attended a church where we were taking a vacation. Today, many members take a vacation from church.
4. We do not have HIGH EXPECTATIONS of our members.
Any purposeful organization expects and gets much out of it members, whether it’s a sports team or a civic organization. It is ironic that most churches do not come close to being a high expectation church.
5. We make INFREQUENT ATTENDEES leaders in our churches.
When we do, we are making a clear statement that even the leaders of the church do not have to be committed to the place they supposedly lead.
Recently I read where a leader of an organization told the members he did not want them if they were not fully committed. They could not be AWOL if they wanted to be a part of the group. He expected full commitment. He is a HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH. And all the team members follow that high expectation of commitment.
If we truly expect to make a DIFFERENCE in our communities & our families, members of local churches need to have at least the same level of commitment as members of sports teams.
After all, the MISSION of each local church is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than any sports team on this planet.
At least it should be.
Every blessing God has given you comes through THE LOCAL CHURCH. He set it up that way. He birthed the LOCAL CHURCH. He mandated it with a MISSION.
Thank God for THE MESSY LOCAL CHURCH! Still the best!
#Room2019
bfwc.net

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Is The Mid-Week Church Service Important?


Unfortunately, many churches that once had a Mid-Week Service or “Call to Worship” have eliminated the Mid-Week Service altogether, mostly due to low attendance. Here at Bethel Family Worship Center we still have a Mid-Week Service because we still believe that it is important.

Why is it important?  Isn’t meeting together once a week on Sunday Mornings enough, some may ask? I’m skeptical. I realize that some may work beyond service time on Wednesdays and are unable to attend. The same is true for Sunday Mornings, not everyone can attend a Sunday Morning Service due to required work, which is one of the reasons a Mid-Week Service is vital.

Other reasons that I think Mid-Week Service is important are:

1. When we look at church practice in the Bible we see that the early church met together regularly, most likely more than once a week, and as they did, it grew the church.

For example in Acts 2:42 it says “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” And in Acts 2:46-47 “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

2. The writer of Hebrews exhorts the Christian “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together which is the habit of some but rather to encourage one another and all the more as we see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

Attending the Mid-Week Service is a way that we can follow this exhortation and encourage one another as we see the day of the of the rapture of the Church & the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ drawing near.

3. Attending Sunday Morning Services is good but the Christian is called to excellence.

Philippians 1:10 says “approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ…”

How excellent would it be for the church if the Mid-Week Service was as well attended as the Sunday Morning Service? How would God respond? How would the surrounding community respond?

4. What about a new Christian who attends our church?

All Christians need to be discipled and learn the Word of God, especially new believers. However, if they come out to the Mid-Week Service and see that it is not very well attended, what impression does it give them?

These are a just some of the reasons why I think the Mid-Week Service is important. Having said these things, I am not saying that attendance is a sign of righteousness or spirituality, or even spiritual maturity. Our righteousness is in Christ alone. We gather together as His church to worship Him, to wait on Him to build up His body (the church) for the work of the ministry, to impact the community, and all for His glory.

Join us on Wednesdays at 7pm for Worship, Bible Study & Prayer at 24 S Lynhurst Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46241

Hungry for more,

Pastor Hylton