C.J. Mahaney recently pointed to some practical suggestions about how to be more active in your church.
To close out his Next 2010 conference message, “The Church,” Kevin DeYoung gave a list of suggestions for how to be a difference maker in the local church. He said:
• Find a good local church.
• Get involved.
• Become a member.
• Stay there as long as you can.
• Put away thoughts of a revolution for a while.
• Join the plodding visionaries.
• Go to church this Sunday and worship in Spirit and truth.
• Be patient with your leaders.
• Rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed.
• Bear with those who hurt you.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt.
• Say “hi” to the teenager that no one notices.
• Welcome the old ladies with the blue hair and the young men with tattoos.
• Volunteer for the nursery.
• Attend the congregational meeting.
• Bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everybody else.
• Invite a friend.
• Take a new couple out for coffee.
• Give to the Christmas offering.
• Sing like you mean it.
• Be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet for you.
• Enjoy the Sundays that “click.”
• Pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t.
• And in all of this, do not despise the days and weeks and years of small things (Zechariah 4:8–10).
C.J. adds, “I cannot recommend this message too highly. Please take time to download and listen to “The Church” by visiting the resource page at thisisnext.org.”
Listened to this one from DeYoung a few weeks ago. Awesome! The list you’ve got is such an encouragement to read. I read it and found myself saying inwardly, “Yes, yes, that’s it. That’s what we need. More of this!”
I really liked DeYoung’s line that church can be like a sausage factory—what it turns out is great, but on the inside things may not be as pretty as you’d think (my paraphrase). So true.
I know this post is nearly a month old, but I starred it in my Google Reader back in July and have just gotten around to reading it this morning. Thanks for sharing.