One More Thing

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend's coming and there are a few things I want to share with you:

The Weekend

Family worship this weekend!

Your kids need to experience "big church" worship from time to time. I believe in age appropriate worship and education so that kids learn at their level and can worship in their way. So that they connect with God. But I worry about children and youth whose entire church experience is experienced in an age-segregated environment focused on their needs. I really think this is one of those both/and things. And some families make it a both/and thing every week.

But as a church family we cancel 1st through 6th grade Sunday school a few times a year and bring the kids in to join us in worship. We don't do anything differently than other weeks. But what a great opportunity to expose your kids to a multigenerational experience of worship that's not focused on them and to talk about that experience afterward.

By the way, I'm really enjoying seeing all those Mother's Day photos popping up all over the place on Facebook.

FYI

The Barna Group on "Global Poverty Is on the Decline, But Almost No One Believes It"

Did you know that, in the past 30 years, the percentage of people in the world who live in extreme poverty has decreased by more than half?

Anthony Bradley on "The New Legalism: Missional, Radical, Narcissistic, and Shamed"

I continue to be amazed by the number of youth and young adults who are stressed and burnt out from the regular shaming and feelings of inadequacy if they happen to not be doing something unique and special. Today’s Millennial generation is being fed the message that if they don’t do something extraordinary in this life they are wasting their gifts and potential. The sad result is that many young adults feel ashamed if they “settle” into ordinary jobs, get married early and start families, live in small towns, or as 1 Thess 4:11 says, “aspire to live quietly, and to mind [their] affairs, and to work with [their] hands.” For too many Millennials their greatest fear in this life is being an ordinary person with a non-glamorous job, living in the suburbs, and having nothing spectacular to boast about.

One More Thing

I've been using Paul Miller's idea of prayer cards for some time now. Here's what I have written on the one for Five Oaks:

• Growing and spiritually relevant
• Biblical worldview and literacy within three years of attending
• Impact take hold in our lives
• Bold witnesses for the gospel

Listed below these global concerns are other more focused or temporal items. Among them are some questions about ministries others or I have thought our church should pursue so I can pray for God to move someone or leaders in that direction if he sees fit.

Please pray for me and for our church's mission in our community and in the world. Our efforts are truly and utterly nothing if they are not empowered by the Spirit, lead by the Spirit and carried out in cooperation with the Spirit. 

One More Thing

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend’s coming and there are a few things I don’t want you to miss:

The Weekend

Pick up your 8x10 Mother's Day pictures this weekend.

If you feel no one gets you, God does. If you feel like a square peg in a round hole world, God has shaped you to fit in perfectly with his family. If you feel like no one wants you, especially God, he wants you more than anyone. He has redeemed you, no matter what you've done. Those are only some of the implications of what Paul says in Galatians 3:15-25, our passage for this weekend. I'm looking forward to see you.

FYI

Sam Allberry on "Same-Sex Attraction in the Church"

Pastors as well as church members need to know that homosexuality is not just a political issue but a personal one, and that there will likely be some within their own church family for whom it is a painful struggle. When the issue comes up in the life of the church, it needs to be recognised that this is an issue Christians wrestle with too, and that the church needs to be ready and equipped to walk alongside such brothers and sisters.

N.D. Wilson on "Lighten Up, Christians: God Loves a Good Time"

Challenging ourselves to embrace the sense of fun infused in this world.

 One More Thing

Here’s a prayer I’ve been planted on for a couple of weeks. It’s from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Here’s an abridged version of it. You might consider praying it each morning for the next week.

"Morning"
Compassionate LORD,
Thy mercies have brought me 
    to the dawn of another day,
Vain will be its gift unless 
    I grow in grace,
  increase in knowledge,
  ripen for spiritual harvest.
Let me this day know thee
    as thou art,
  love thee supremely,
  serve thee wholly,
  admire thee fully.
Through grace let my will 
    respond to thee,
Knowing that power to obey 
    is not in me, but
  that thy free love alone 
    enables me to serve thee.
Here then is my empty heart…
Here is my blind understanding…
O ever watchful Shepherd,
  lead, guide, tend me this day…

Blessings to you all, Pastor Henry