Wednesday, October 5
Key Text: “And let us consider how we may
spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one
another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
One of our Pastor in Ikwerre zone
in Port Harcourt conference, in his quest to understand why in a full quarter
visitors and friends don’t attend their Sabbath worship, decided to conduct a
personal research by visiting some of his members and asked them what they
think each can do to get a targeted number of friends who will regularly walk
into the church on Sabbath, relaxed and worship God with joy in their heart and
hopes of prayer answered.
Six months of deliberate plan
from the church members indeed yielded massive Sabbath school membership drive
as community dwellers, and friends from social media space became regular
worshippers. So what did they do right?
Truth
is building and sustaining relationship can be tedious as it demands a
conscious process. And this explains why as Adventist we are still struggling
with membership drive in west central Africa, whereas, the Kenya’s in East
Africa are making exploits?
A
recently conducted research showed that few friends come to our church because
they see the buildings and they are attracted to the architectural structure of the facilities. Some people
will come to church because they are drawn into the church by the music
ministry. There are those who will come because of the youth ministry or the
provisions or welfare packages. A few would even dare to come during our
special annual programme and for some because of the preacher and his
homiletical style. But more than anything else, will people visit our branches
because someone has cultivated a relationship with them, and out of that friendship extended an invitation for them to
come and discover God’s special plan for them?
Identify
your church’s love language
A church’s love
language may reflect the “DNA” of a congregation and an attempt to change it,
the church will likely experience conflict and decline. Like Ellen White in her
book (Quote ), Gary Chapman’s book “The Five Love Languages” no doubt has impacted many
in relationship and the church members can leverage on these
languages in the way they should relate with friends.
1. The
words of affirmation church
A pastor friend served at a
church in one of our district that seemed to be apathetic and unmotivated. The
pastor constantly preached messages that were intended to challenge the
congregation to action and some messages sounded critical of the people. The more
the pastor challenged and criticized, the less motivated the church seemed to
be. In contrast, during the just concluded pulpit exchange evangelism this
year, a visiting preacher presented an encouraging message, the usually stoic
congregation erupted in spontaneous applause. Don’t you think that such church members
loved being encouraged? How does your church, respond to this language?
2. The
acts of service church
Years
ago I had a friend in Ahoada who was always worshipping with us and was
actively involved in all programme and projects of the church. So I asked him
why he was reluctant to be a fully baptized member of the church, guess what
his response was… “Unfortunately, one of the days he said to me “I am not
energized by the Acts of Service noticed in your church”. Initially I couldn’t
fathom what he meant by that, but years later I discovered that there are
element of truth in his observations. As members, how can we make our actions
speak louder than words to our Sabbath school friends who worship with us at
intervals or regularly. We should be sensitive to the yearning needs of our
friends, when they go through rough or stressful time, acts of service can also
be a great way to help take the weight off their shoulders. If you're not sure
exactly what could be their challenges or their needs, you can kindly walk up
or sit close to them and just ask "What can I do for you?
3. The
receiving gifts church
Some members don’t know
how to give good gift to their visiting friend. Sometimes we hold on to the cliché
“There’s no money” and we lose
friends that would have been strong vanguards of the gospel. Though this love
language revolves around receiving gifts, it's not about materialism. It's
still the thought that counts here, too. Giving a thoughtful present on
monthly, quarterly or annual basis is a way of showing not only that you care
about our friends in the church, but that you know and understand them, too.
You don't have to be a master gift-giver to honor this love language—it's just
about paying attention and knowing a lot about bible friends and knowing what
they might like.
4. The
Quality Time Church
Mile three church members and
some others in Port Harcourt conference are known to have friendship ties and
bonds such that after worship on Sabbath, members gather together in potluck,
spent quality time and converse about life generally. This act over the years
have proven to bring unity among members. Let’s not always be in a hurry for
worship to end, pick up your bible and off you are gone with your family. We
need to on weekly basis be intentional how much attention we pay and the
quality time we spend with our friends. You never can tell at what point of
your conversation that the Holy Spirit will impress upon a heart. So lets give
it a try.
5. The
physical touch church
This example is more
difficult to describe and may be rare in some for some members. There is
nothing wrong if a guest attending our church receives a hugs, hand-shakes,
hold hands during prayer with members.
Action
1.
Let the church
members spend few minute to identify and discuss how to implement the Love
languages.
2.
How
do we express these love languages and be
devoted to constantly complimenting ourselves.
3.
How can we
encourage members to clothe their faces with smiles?
4.
Members should be
observant to visiting friends, learn how to call them by their name. The sweetest music to anyone's ears is the sound
of his own name.
Prayer
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