Hilary Watson

Hilary Watson, a 24-year old Californian, recently performed at our church, and, I must say, I was impressed. Coming to the Lord at age 11, and consequently committing to the daily reading of the Word, it was made evident in her concert. Each song was Biblically-based, and bathed in Scripture. Quoting verses at length, I realized this up-and-coming artist's truest pursuit was honoring her Lord.

Having performed in Germany, Africa, and the states, she is often found leading worship in various churches on any given Sunday. That being said, she made it clear that she is actively pursuing body life, as she is in a vibrant home bible study, which recently just finished a 5-week Mission Trip to Tanzania, all of their own making, by the way.

Having played guitar for as long as she's known the Lord, it is equally evident. Great picking style, with beautifully crisp and enjoyable chord progressions, she is a joy to hear play, on that merit alone. Interestingly, she shared that she hasn't always been gifted with the tremendous voice she evidences now. While I'm not sure I even believe that, she is certainly over it. Her soaring lyrics coincide well with her songwriting, which dispenses with trite lyrics, opting instead for refreshing word imagery that leaves no response but heartfelt worship towards our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

An all-around joy to hear, and meet, Hilary Watson is best enjoyed live, in my opinion, as her recorded work doesn't seem to do her justice. Nevertheless, I would encourage you to sample it, and then book her, ASAP. You'll be personally encouraged in your walk, and challenged in your faith.

A Practice, Not a Program

Below is a great article from sfpulpit.com (the "Magazine" of the Shepherds Fellowship) on how evangelism should work in the church. As one of the "evangelists" of our church, I think this is one of the most important emphases I could make on evangelism at Emmanuel. We are all called to rely on God to share the gospel with everyone we meet. Some are more gifted than others, but they are to teach and encourage the rest. Sometimes I find it frustrating when people are apathetic towards evangelism. They see the team doing the work through various events and programs and feel they don't need to participate or step out in their own lives. The most effective "method" of evangelism is when individuals in the church get involved in the lives of non-Christians and share the message of God's judgment on sin, repentance, and faith in Christ who died in our place and now reigns in Heaven. Our team is only here to support, encourage, and celebrate the individual efforts of everyone in the church. May we all be less complacent about the lost souls in our lives.

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(By Jesse Johnson)

The following is an article Jesse wrote for our church’s weekly bulletin, Grace Today. “What does your church do for evangelism?”

I was meeting with a group of outreach pastors from other large churches in our nation. The topic was what our churches do to transform our communities. When the question about what we “do for evangelism” came my way, I knew the expected answer would look like a list of programs. People around the table—many of them from some of the most program-driven, seeker-sensitive churches in the country—turned to me. They were curious about what Pastor MacArthur’s church does to impact our community.

The man repeated, “What does your church do for evangelism?”

“We evangelize,” I answered. As the group laughed, thinking I was joking, it occurred to me that my answer was more profound that I had intended.

At Grace Church, our philosophy of evangelism hinges on the idea that evangelism is not a program. A church does not transform a community through activities and events. In fact, church-sponsored evangelism programs generally do not produce results. Rather, a church impacts its community through the lives of its members. The kingdom is expanded as believers are faithful in evangelism in their individual lives.

All believers are to be active in evangelism. In fact, all four Gospels end with Jesus commanding believers to bring salvation to the lost (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; John 20:21). Jesus’ last earthly words were another repetition of this same command, to bear witness to the gospel (Acts 1:8). It is not an overstatement to say that all Christians should be driven by a love for evangelism. After all, it is our mission in life.

But while all Christians are called to be active in evangelism, not all Christians are equally gifted at this particular calling. Acts 21:8 and Ephesians 4:11 both imply that some have the gift of evangelism and some do not. But God in His wisdom has still called all Christians to evangelize.

Thus, one of the marks of a Christian is a love for evangelism. If you are fearful, evangelism gives you the opportunity to trust God for courage. If you are timid, evangelism gives you an opportunity to trust God for confidence. Christians are slaves to Christ, soldiers in His service, and sons of God. Our master, our general, and our Father has given us our orders: to reach the lost with the hope of the gospel.

As Christians, we love what God loves, and God loves the lost. As we become more and more sanctified, we become more and more like Christ. This growth causes us to grow in our love for those who are still God’s enemies.

Grace Church impacts our community because our members love those in our community. This love results in us reaching out to the lost, presenting the gospel to them, and seeing some of them saved. As we do this, our church grows, and our evangelism results in changed lives. In fact, 2 Corinthians 4:15 says “that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” In other words, the more we evangelize, the more God’s grace extends to our community. And the more His grace extends, the more He is glorified.
Don’t get me wrong—we do have evangelistic programs and outreaches, and we do have structured events. But what has consistently produced more fruit than any program is the faithfulness of individuals who express their love for their neighbors through evangelism.

So the next time someone asks you what our church does for evangelism, the answer is simple. We evangelize.

Members of the Local Body

I want to point out that there are two definitions of the church. Jesus said that He will build His church, meaning that every person who He calls from darkness into the light (i.e. Christian) is part of the church. Every believer around the world is in fellowship with one another as part of the body of Christ. The second part of the church is the local congregation. When God calls us out of the world, He gives us certain spiritual gifts and sends us to serve with those gifts in a local body of believers. The latter meaning is what I mean to discuss.

Why do we join a church? There are reasons that benefit us individually and reasons that benefit the group as a whole. This could be answered in many long books, but I wanted to explore the importance and the command for us to be an active part in a church home.

There is a common tendency in American Christianity for people to attend a church for a while on Sundays, but not get involved enough to be held accountable by the rest of the church. They feel comfortable enough to sing some praise and hear a nice message and are to be left alone for the rest of the week. As soon as they begin to feel uncomfortable, they move on to the next church in town. Why is it important for us to be more involved than this?

First of all, when we are saved by the grace of God through faith in the Savior, we are given new desires. Upon conversion we have fellowship, with other believers and we know that we are saved because we have a special love for others in Christ. If you have no desire to be part of the body of Christ, you need to spend some time examining your own faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Have you ever heard someone say that they don’t need to go to church to be a Christian? While technically it is true, there is something very wrong with that statement. If you are a Christian, you desire to be in church. It is the highlight of your week to be fed meat from the Word and to worship your King. Additionally, as Paul tells the Corinthians in the twelfth chapter of his first letter to them, the Holy Spirit gives each of us special gifts to be used in the body. We are one unit made up of many parts (v. 12). Each one of us is sent to do a task as part of the body; some are ears or noses, some are hands or feet and we cannot operate properly as a body if we are missing a part. An individual cannot say they don’t need to be in church to be a Christian because the church needs the gifts God gave to them to function as the church Christ calls them to be in the world. There are no inferior gifts (v. 21 -26); every person is vital to the church, and needs to be held accountable by the rest of the body.

To be part of the church is to be growing and to help others to Grow. Ephesians 4:11, 12 says there are some people in the church who are specifically gifted to help the rest of the church. The teacher isn’t simply there to teach, but to help others to be able to teach the truths of Scripture during the week. The evangelist isn’t there to do all of the evangelism for the church, but to help you be more faithful in your own evangelism efforts. Our evangelism team doesn’t meet on Wednesday nights just so we can do evangelism, but so we can help the rest of you “go, make disciples.” We need to be in church to share our gift with others to help others with their gifts and to grow our own gifts.

Joining a church is not about how it benefits you, a set of rights you gain, a group of friends you acquire, or social-service club to attend. Being part of the church shows the world your new heart that displays godly fruit in your service at the church. It shows a love for the brethren and willingness to be held accountable to them for the growth in your life. It takes a good shot to the pride to submit yourself to the direction and authority of the church. Many people don’t join a church because they still want to be able to back out quietly if things get difficult. This is simply a manifestation of pride and rebellion against God’s call in your life to be joined to the body.

What does active membership look like? How does a member behave who is in participation in a local congregation? By definition of the fellowship, the church must only be comprised of believers, who therefore act according to godliness growing in Christlikenss and desiring more intimate knowledge of Him. Keeping non-Christians out of membership protects the members from false teaching and avoiding unnecessary complication, infection and discord. Unregenerate attenders have no spiritual gifts to contribute to the body, so there is no reason to try and graft them in by our own efforts. Members must display a lifestyle of continual repentance of sin and belief in Christ.

What other fruits are evident in members? Christians have a desire to be in worship, so regular attendance is expected. If someone who claims to be a believer is often absent from the gathering of believers, something must be deficient in their spiritual life allowing them to not feel like they are missing out on worship and teaching from the Word.

An amazing thing about Christians is that no matter how little we have, we still desire to give. Paul commended the Macedonian churches (2 Corinthians 8:1-8, 9:1-5) for giving money to the other churches despite their severity of their own trials and extreme poverty. They were so overcome with generosity that individuals gave money beyond their ability. A good book that is very convicting on the subject is Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn. Alcorn discusses how the ten percent that we are all accustomed to hearing about is actually training wheels to our giving. We should start out with ten percent of our gross income and feel such overflowing joy in giving that we desire to give more to the church. A Christian understands that all of their money is God’s and desires to use the money God has given to him to use for the church not for selfish gain.

Another large part of the New Testament gatherings is the coming together for the breaking of the bread. An ordinance established for the remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for us, it brings us all together to share in this commonality. We should thirst for this time together when we confess our sins and consider the depth of His work on the cross.

The least glamorous aspect of church membership is the dreaded business meeting. It seems so dry and pointless to attend business meetings, but the huge decisions that influence the direction of the church are made here and the majority of the members aren’t even present. Often times, there are so few people present that a few people can have more influence in the church than they should; a minority of members tends to make the majority of the decisions. Most of us are so uninvolved in the church that we could show up one Sunday and wonder when a change was made. If we care enough about the body we are a part of, we should be in attendance whenever decisions need to be made so we can apply our gifts, knowledge, and experience to the pressing issues of the church.

Failing to emphasize the importance and obligations of membership allow people to be part of the church without any accountability and encourage a weak witness of Christ within the community. The church fails to make its budget continually because only 8% of professing Christians give 10% of their income. The majority of the church’s decisions are made by the outspoken minority because most of the members don’t think it’s important enough to attend meetings. Without proper discipline when sin appears in members of the church, the church looks like the world and offers no alternative of purity and love to the world. When we don’t fulfill our obligations to the church we say to the world that we are no different; we are selfish with our money, we let other people do the work for us, and we aren’t committed to repentance and righteousness. We also give professing Christians who are unconverted excuses for their sinful behavior, believing that everyone else in church is sinning without any discipline. For the sake of non-Christians, for immature believers, for the church, for ourselves, and for the gospel of Christ, we need to be an essential member in a local church.

Additional Study:
9Marks Ministry: Mark 6: A Biblical Understanding of Membership
Grace Community Church’s Membership Statement
Book When People Are Big and God is Small. Read the chapters on the proper understanding who you are. It discusses how your Christian walk is more than a “personal relationship with Christ.” It is also a relationship with His body, the church.
TeamPyro Blog Posts discussing the importance of being part of a good church:
The Church
Coleco vs. NFL
Why I Left
How to Stay Well
How to Feed the Children
Some Mixture of Error
Your Whole House, and Everything in It
The Tombstone of a Wife

Being About the Business

Brothers and Sisters,

I am writing this as a confession, and a call to repentance. As I reflect upon the current events of my life, I am challenged to become more active in the life of my church. I fear that membership means little if anything nowadays in our churches. Strong, Bible-believing churches are allowing lax entry into the church, an error on the part of our leadership, while members have erred by not vesting a fuller involvement in the goings-on of the church.

So often, at least in Southern Baptist life, decisions are made on a congregational level, in the dreaded Business Meeting, and yet these meetings are rarely reflective of our congregations. Oftentimes, the large majority of members elect to not be bothered with the events of the church, and then complain that "nothing is being done," or, "I wish things were different."

While business meetings are often boring (if you're lucky), heated, and/or uneventful, we are remiss not to attend. Granted, I would have second-guessed my recent attendance, perhaps, if I were not on staff, for all of the above reasons. However, I am firmly convinced that much of the stagnation we are frustrated by in our churches, overall, is because many ministries and initiatives are never seen, because the church at large is not at the meetings to have such things voted in.

I appeal to you, as vibrant and concerned citizens of the Kingdom of God, who have tired of the lethargy and apathy that plagues our churches, to become active, as a voice in your respective congregations. You are missing a grand opportunity to support new, vibrant ministries of the church that you never even hear about because they are defeated in business meetings. I know they can be messy, frustrating, and outright enraging sometimes, but if the Church elects to do something, the Church should have spoken; NOT the politicking minority.

Be a Soldier of the Cross. Be a Part of the Body. Be an Active Member.

God Bless! Pastor Jeremy