You have to be close enough to see the bones

Every church has skeletons.

Every. Church..

Having worked in four churches, every one of them had skeletons that most members of the congregation were unaware of.

I heard of many other skeletons elsewhere which never saw the light of day.

Now, most skeletons rattling around a church are not fit for the front page. Or barely a tweet.

But they are there.

Past hurts.

Past splits.

Past blunders.

Past mistakes.

Unless you get knee-deep in the church, you’ll never hear about them.

You’ll never stumble over the details.

You’ll never trip over the wreckage left behind.

This is the danger of becoming a member of a church.

This is the reality of getting involved in a ministry.

You will be close enough to see the skeletons.

And you will find skeletons.

But they are everywhere.

The most important question adult converts can answer

The vast majority of Christians were converted - if they recall a date at all - in their teenage years.

With this being the case, adult converts are like unicorns.

Valuable unicorns.

One of the most important questions a mature believer can be asked is this... What almost drove you away?

For we all know that church is odd.

So are Christians.

And many of the things we tend to do.

So... for those who have joint our communities - and stayed - what were the things which made this the most difficult?

If a church wants to genuinely investigate the way it does church and the manner in which they accommodate visitors, then they must honestly listen to the answer to this vital question...

How > Does God speak

I believe in God.

I believe that God is a living God.

I believe that God is still communicating.

For many Christians, if we asked them if God speaks to them then they may get a tad flustered.

This can be based upon the belief that God communicating is weird. Or must be supernatural. Or audible. Or miraculous.

More often, it isn’t.

It’s through reading the bible...

It’s through wise advise...

It’s through the words of a sermon...

It’s a thought while praying...

It’s a persistent thought that nags away at them...

It’s an opportunity to get involved at church...

It’s through seeing the creation around them...

I could give plenty more examples.

So, I wonder if we changed the question to “How do you best hear God speaking?” would the response be different?

For, this question assumes that God does communicate and, for each of us, there will be ways which we see and hear Him more than others. 

Yes... but how long are you willing to wait?

Patience.

I’ve asked for it.

Last week I was at church and someone asked for it.

If you’ve been waiting for a new blog post while I was on my latest teaching prac, you’d have needed it.

But, whenever someone is speaking about their desire for patience (usually having to do with a revelation of a next step) there should always be a probing follow-up question.

How long are you willing to wait?

Unfortunately, when it comes to patience... we want it now!

In order to reveal our heart behind the request for patience, we should probe for the expected timeline of the petitioner.

Do they want an answer on their timeline or on God’s?