A churchless Christian?

I found this paragraph in an article by Richard A. Kauffman entitled "Don't Give Up on the Church". The author states as his theme, "Though often embattled and dysfunctional, the church is still where God chooses to meet us."

One of the besetting sins of American Christianity is its failure to take the church seriously, to see its essential role in the mission of God.

There is in the United States a growing phenomenon of Christians unconnected to any church, a gap between what George Gallup calls "believers and belongers." A simple comparison of the number of people who say they believe Jesus Christ is God or Son of God (84 percent) with the number who attend church regularly (43 percent) illustrates this gap. And, church-growth specialists tell us, younger believers have little sense of belonging to any church tradition.

The "Jesus and me" spirituality of parachurch Christianity has triumphed over the corporate consciousness of the historic churches. Is this not a contradiction of terms: a churchless Christian? A freelance disciple? To become a Christian disciple means not just deciding to follow Jesus, but also joining with a community of disciples bound together by their common commitment to their Lord.

I agree with Kauffman that we as believers really do need to be part of a community of others who love the Lord, even with all its imperfections and faults. We'll be hearing more of this theme on Sunday morning when Dewey preaches on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Stay tuned!

"Young at Heart" at Chan's

Our new seniors group met for lunch after church last Sunday. People of all ages were invited, and I counted 27 folks there enjoying good food and fellowship!


Here are a few photos...

Softball Pictures!

As we were playing softball on Sunday I noticed a guy with a really nice camera and video camera taking shots for the opposing team. I tracked down his name and number from their coach, and Ky Azlein was kind enough to send me what pictures he had that included our players. I've posted a few here, but you can see the rest in our web site's photo galleries.

Sunday Morning at New Hope

What a great morning we had in church yesterday! If you missed it, I'm really sorry you couldn't be with us. I think it was a terrific time of worship for all of us, and I'm hopeful that God used my preaching in spite of me!

If you weren't there, I not only have the sermon online at our web site, but Steve Myers got a pretty decent recording of some of our music which is also uploaded on the site. You can find all of our downloads by clicking on the "Sermons, etc." button on the menu bar at our site, http://www.newhopeconnection.com/.

Our softball team didn't fare so well, losing to Creekside Community Church in a close contest (9-6?). At least we looked good in our new green shirts! And honestly, it was fun just to play. I think the good spirits on both teams was a pleasant testimony of the love and joy we share in the Lord. (I saw a guy from Creekside with a really expensive camera, so maybe I can get some pics from him to show!)

Dewey will be back next Sunday, and if you're in town this week I sure hope you'll come worship with us!

Worship preaching

Dr. Dewey Bertolini is still away speaking in California, and this Sunday at New Hope Christian Fellowship I'll be the preacher man for the day!

I’ve been a worship pastor for about 17 years now, and in all that time I've only really preached twice on Sunday morning. (If I stay at this rate, I'll be up to preach again sometime in early 2013). But I still look at this rare occurance as worship leading...Did you know that the time we take each week to learn from God’s Word is an act of worship? It should be!

Anything we do to acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness and lordship is worship. If you come to our preaching time humbly seeking to take God’s Word and apply it to your life, so that your thoughts and actions reflect His will, you are worshiping! And my goal is to lead our people in that kind of worship this Sunday.

So if you're coming to New Hope this week, come ready to hear from God. I'm no Dewey Bertolini, but I'll do my best to just serve you what I've found in the Bible, and hopefully His words will inspire you to live for Him!

Re: God's Loudspeakers

I got two interesting (contentious) comments regarding my last little entry! I'm curious if any of our regular readers have any comments of their own they'd like to add. Just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post!

God's Loudspeakers

"Times may be tough, but God has not forgotten Zimbabwe. Disasters are often God's loudspeakers to his people. People hear better during these times."

— Baptist pastor Ray Motsi, who was arrested with other Zimbabwean ministers for holding illegal prayer meetings.