Beloved Church Family,
The new year is in full swing! The new ministries are taking shape and we are beginning to realize God’s vision for our church this year. Lives are changing, people are growing in Christ, and it’s plain to see that God is at work. None of you get to see yourselves from exactly the same viewpoint as I do, especially on a Sunday morning. As I am privileged to share God’s word with you, I am able to see your faces and can tell quite plainly that God is at work in each of you. It is my great joy to know that fact.
We Baptists have a history that tells the world we are concerned with only three things as a church: bodies, budgets, and buildings. Through the history of our denomination, we have sent reports of these things in to the Baptist associations and conventions. It was originally meant to be a way to celebrate these things, but once the numbers peaked it quickly became a business – a way to worry over numbers and charts and graphs.
We at Central are going to take a step back. You will noticed published here in the newsletter some figures on attendance and tithing. When you look at those figures, try something new. Rather than looking at them and furrowing your brow because you had hoped they were higher, be grateful for all that God has done.
In our culture, with misplaced priorities, it’s a miracle anyone even bothers to attend church anymore. And yet, our church touches the lives of over 200 people every week though its various programs and activities. It’s an even bigger miracle that anyone gives an offering to God with their money. So when I look at the wonderful numbers you all put up, I stand in awe at how good God is to Central Baptist, and how faithful her members are. I am proud to be a part of a church that makes meeting together to worship God a priority and generously gives back to God.
It is my desire that we rid ourselves of all manner of deficiency assessment. Here is what I mean by that. We are taught in business and personal life management to set goals, big goals, and then try to reach them. Then before you try again, you look at what you were lacking, what you did wrong, the mistakes you made. It is efficient if you’re running a business, but this church is no business – it’s a family. So rather than assessing deficiencies and mistakes, each time we count something in the church or assess something in the church – and this is one of the biggest walls standing in our way – we should look at what we did right instead of what we did wrong. We will always do something wrong, but when we do something right, that is the thing that God has done among us, and it deserves our attention.
In Matthew 7:18, Jesus says, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” You, my brothers and sisters, bear much good fruit. You and I may need a reminder from time to time to faithfully give God back an offering from all he has given us, and occasionally we get out of the habit of regular church attendance, but you are bearers of much good fruit. And I am proud to be your pastor, just as you are.
In His Love,
Bro. Joseph