Membership Gatherings

Nicole and I are LOVING the gatherings in our home. We are systematically and alphabetically inviting every NEHBC member over for coffee and cupcakes in groups of 20-40. It is so much fun. Because we are doing it alphabetically, the tenure of the members ranges from one week to nine years and the age of the members ranges from young adults to senior adults. This makes the gatherings rich and biblical. We are loving the interaction we are getting with everyone and we find ourselves looking forward to the next gathering as soon as one ends. If you haven't had your gathering yet, we can't wait to see you.

Church Life Series Update

I'm continuing the Church Life series in midweek worship. We are studying the critical components of the local church that when done biblically, create an environment inside of which the Lord does His glorious work of life change in us. Things like church membership, church discipline, biblical preaching, the correct gospel, biblical organizational structure, and the like. These are the factors that should matter to the Christ follower when finding a church, when evaluating their own church, or when planting a new church. These are the reproduceable factors anywhere in the world, in any ministry context. These are the marks of a healthy church.

I'm delivering this series with a style very different than our congregation is used to seeing from me. I'm reading from a manuscript instead of memorizing it and delivering it without notes. I'm doing this on purpose. First, I want to teach and not preach these biblical principles and this style is forcing me to do that. Second, I want to be very precise in what I say about a lot of detailed information because the audios of this series will be used a lot in the future at NEHBC. When the series started, I was very nervous about using this format. I was certain that by week three, nobody would be coming. Who wants to go hear Nathan read a paper on a week night about issues that not many people are talking about? But interestingly, attendance has gone up. I'm getting lots of positive feedback. As one man told me, "I wish someone had taught me this stuff 30 years ago, I'm seeing things completely differently now."

While I still think the delivery is awkward and I am uncomfortable doing it this way, to be sure, the spirit in the room during the teaching time and the genuine, biblical fellowship taking place after the worship service is telling me that the Lord is in this. I never ceased to be amazed that when you talk about the things the Lord wants to talk about, it will rarely draw a crowd, but those that come will be given by the Holy Spirit the eyes to see and they will see.

Glory to God.

Generation Integration and the Local Church

At NEHBC, we are trying our best to focus on the health of our local church, instead of the size. When we read about the New Testament church, somebody knew their numbers to be sure (ie: '...and 3,000 were added to their number in one day."), but it is clear from the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles that the focus of the local church was the purity, health, and faithfulness of the body. Pragmatism and church growth models were a foreign concept. The idea of church planning based on what would draw a crowd would have made them scratch their heads. Often, today's way of doing church looks very different from what we see in God's Word.

One of the ways I see church growth models and pragmatism hurting local churches today is through generational segregation. We see it in worship services within a single church and we see it between churches in a community. Some churches offer a weekly worship service designed to draw young people and a different service to draw older people. Generational segregation. Some churches focus their total church life to reach one age group in their community so that one church may be full of young people and another church in the same community full of older people. Generational segregation. All of it is done with noble intent as I've never heard any reason for doing these things other than it draws unbelievers to hear the gospel. Quite noble indeed. Nonetheless, local churches are to be building healthy, New Testament churches, not producing Sunday morning evangelism rallies. We can trust the Lord to know what is best when He says that some will plant and some will water, but He will bring the increase. The focus of the local church must be on New Testament health and purity.

I believe it is very unhealthy for a local church to not value age integration. It is spiritually unhealthy for Christians in their early 30s to be cut off from Christ-followers in their 60s and vice versa. If you want a New Testament reason, look no further than Titus 2:1-6 which tells us that one of the tools the Lord has provided to develop me as a Christ-follower is the 70 year old Christians that are members of my church. Apparently, if I don't interact with them at a meaningful level, I can't become who the Lord wants me to become as a Christ-follower. Neither can the 70 year old. It's not just true at the individual Christian's level, it's true for the health of the local body as a whole, also. A church that does not value generational integration will not become all it is supposed to become for the Kingdom of God. Generational integration is one sign of a healthy, local church. Generations should be willing to worship and serve side by side.

We can trust that the Lord knows what He is talking about when it comes to this issue. Here is an article worth a read on what happens in society when generational segregation is practiced instead of generational integration.

To the 30-something Christian, with which 60 or 70 year old Christian in your local church are you intentionally building a meaningful relationship? To the 60 year old Christian, with which 20 or 30 year old in your local church are you spending meaningful time? Yes, it does take time and extra effort. No, it sure doesn't come naturally. No, at first you wont have a lot of common ground as you do indeed live in two very different seasons of life. But isolate yourself in your own generation and with only people in your season of life and you wont become who the Lord wants you to become. Nor will NEHBC become who we are supposed to become.

If you don't have a meaningful relationship with someone in your local church at least two generations removed from you, I challenge you to find someone and begin a relationship with them. Young couple, invite a couple in their 50s, 60s, or 70s over for dinner. Older couple, invite a couple in their 20s or 30s to meet you for ice cream at Cold Stone...or Denny's. Small group leader, approach another small group leader leading a group from another generation and plan a joint gathering in order to force the people in your small groups to spend time with people in our church from another generation. Go sit with someone from another generation in your worship service this coming Sunday. Whatever you do, don't let age be a deterrent to a God-ordained, promising friendship.