Oct 26, 2018
By Rob Appel
On Wednesday mornings there is a group of men who meet for breakfast in Janesville, WI. One of the men had an “aha” moment after one of these gatherings. He realized “it” was not about him, but rather God! This gentleman had t-shirts made up that said on the front, “It’s Not About Me…” and on the back, “It’s Not About You Either!” There is no “I” in team because it is not about you or me, but rather about what WE can do for others. It is all about servanthood. It is about what we can do for those with spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.
In March 2005, I wrote an article for the Sabbath Recorder encouraging Seventh Day Baptists to take the next bold steps in their beliefs, maturity, and ministry. My good friend, the Rev. Rod Henry, will tell you that this makes us a “Next Step” people. We specialize in calling people to belong and not just participate in church. However, we need tools of ministry to build the steps to Christian maturity and a sense of belonging. People won’t get a sense of belonging if they just show up to meeting after meeting. They need to be invited, included and involved in the ministries of the church.
INVITE — The future growth of SDB churches depends on how we develop and implement new ministry opportunities in order to invite new people to our churches. The challenge will be to take a discovery assessment of future needs of the church and then be creative in meeting those needs. The PULSE program can do just that for your church! If you want to hear more about PULSE, please contact John Pethtel, Director of Church Development & Pastoral Services—he can fill you in on the details. jpethtel@seventhdaybaptist.org
INCLUDE — There is a necessity to move beyond being friendly towards each other and become CARING to each other. That means getting out of your comfort zone to include others in the activities in and out of the church. When someone new comes to your church, they are already uncomfortable when they arrive. They feel self-conscience about including themselves in the already established relationships. They feel alienated because they don’t belong to any group yet. Have you ever met someone new at church and then not seen them again until you ran into them in the grocery store? You wonder to yourself, “Where have they been? Why didn’t they come back? Didn’t they feel at home or welcome at my church?” The challenge for us is to move beyond being friendly to becoming CARING with each other! We must move beyond making people part of our Sabbath morning experience to making them part of our lives. It would be very easy for them to not come back a second time if we do not take the first bold steps to making them feel a part of our church community.
INVOLVE — We need to involve all the people of the church in our activities to ensure a sense of belonging. This can be through new ministry programs. When we focus on a particular goal, or group of people, we sometimes focus too much in that one area—at the detriment of other important things. We need to be aware of all in the church, not just those that are new. This will ensure that individuals and people groups have a ministry focus and direction in their Christian maturity.
We must learn to work together as we develop our new ministry opportunities. New programs will bring about change; and we must learn to be flexible with each other.
