Breaking the Siege, by Lon Alderman

Pheaney commented on yesterday's post:
Let's say hypothetically we see the self-siege happening to our church. How do we change it?

First, if I had the answer to this question, I would be a VERY popular guy! The problem is complicated and somewhat peculiar to the individual church; however, I believe that there is a general principle that may apply in every case. It is the application of the principle that would take on unique characteristics.

Mark 8:34-35
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Letting go or surrendering our life to Christ is the way that we gain real life, eternal life. Is it possible that for a church to "save [its] life" it must "lose" or surrender its "life"? In other words, what if the church would put its very "life" on the line; risk every gift?

I know of a church that determined to save the money that had been given them. They said someday a rainy day will come and then we'll need this money to survive, so they "buried it". In the current year those "safe investments" lost over $250,000! Think of the ministry that could have been "risked". Think of the money that could have been "thrown away" on feeding or clothing the poor.

The "gifts" a church may possess might not always be money. However, if the church is still open then I'm confident there are gifts there. Every church needs to take those gifts and completely surrender them to Jesus and see how He directs. I'm confident that the directions in which Jesus guides us to invest our gifts will be contrary to the ways, or patterns, of the world (Romans 12:2)!

William Barclay
If a man has a talent and exercises it, he is progressively able to do more with it. But, if he has a talent and fails to exercise it, he will inevitably lose it. If we have some proficiency at a game or an art, if we have some gift for doing something, the more we exercise that proficiency and that gift, the harder the work and the bigger the task we will be able to tackle. Whereas, if we fail to use it, we lose it. That is equally true of playing golf or playing the piano, or singing songs or writing sermons, of carving wood or thinking out ideas. It is the lesson of life that the only way to keep a gift is to use it in the service of God and in the service of our fellow-men.

Break the siege!
Lon