Preaching in the Prophetic Key II: Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church Tomorrow

Pentecost 2005, May 15, 2005

Acts 13: 23 - 31

I.

Today is the day of Pentecost – roughly 50 days after Easter Sunday. Pentecost is the day on the church calendar during which we affirm that God’s mighty Holy Spirit has been given to the church as a blessing as it has been unleashed in the world. And, we also affirm (perhaps more importantly) that by the power of that Spirit, God is ever present with us.

We live in a world of often muddled messages and muddled information. Even though most of our information is muddled, the message of Pentecost remains hopeful, powerful, and clear: God greets us just where we are. We do not have to be extraordinary, you don’t need to dream dreams or have visions, one doesn’t have to be able to palpably taste the manna of heaven or hear the voice of God in order to follow God’s ways, to love The Christ, or to receive God’s Spirit. We only need be faithful and willing to believe the message of Christ and his witness to the message through his ministry, his life, his death, and resurrection. The Holy Spirit takes care of the rest – that is the sure and certain promise of Pentecost. The promise that directs, defines, and dictates the ministry of the church.

II.

Today I am going to continue my mini-series of Sermons in the prophetic key following Paul in the Book of Acts as he preached about the church to the fledgling church in Acts 16 and 13. In these sermons Paul spoke of the past, the present, and the future of the church.

Two weeks ago, reading from Acts 16 we found Paul in the Aereopagus in and around Athens. Teaching them about the past of the Judeo-Christian faith(s) he speaks about the limits and the problems right in front of him – specifically the preponderance of idols everywhere he looks. In doing so, in naming the ills of the culture and the world and calling the culture to take account of God’s will and God’s righteousness Paul strikes the prophetic key in his preaching.

Last week we looked at the first half of this sermon in Antioch in Pisidia that we find in Acts 13. In this sermon Paul reminds them where they had been and sketches out for them where they are. Paul even goes so far as to suggest where he thinks the Spirit, given the church at Pentecost, might be leading them (although perhaps he doesn’t go this far, but it is certainly implied).

Following that type of lead I talked about the great strength of our church, our wonderful history and witness in preaching and missions and our leadership in presbytery and beyond. I also listed some of the good and noteworthy “ongoings” of our church as we stand here today – the good work of reorganization, the coming of a summer intern, the challenge of the church and session to examine and grow the mission of our church, the earnest attempts at discernment we are undertaking at every level.

Just as an example as to how evident this good work is we hosted an Educator candidate here last week and as she praised our church for its commitment to God and ministry she described us as a church that, “feels like it is ready to pop.”

There is much to be excited about here. Things are pretty good today.

III.

At issue remains this question: What about tomorrow? Where are we being sent – what is our mission to be? Where is it that we are going? What is it that we will “pop” into?

What might the next 10, 20, 30 years look like at HMPC?

Pentecost gives to us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit always faithfully leads and directs. The Holy Spirit, when we pray for guidance delivers to us gifts and direction in the form of a spirit of discernment. Sue Ellen, our speaker this morning and our church’s missionary in the Sudan did precisely this. She prayed for God’s direction and the Holy Spirit helped her discern what that might have been – for her a life of missionary work on three continents. The same type of discernment work is what I do and what I did: Spirit-aided discernment in my calling as your Pastor; Spirit-led discernment to find my call into a life of ministry and service years ago. It is what the Session and I am doing now – seeking the guidance of the Spirit as we seek the will of God for our church in the months and years to come.

While this work is always rewarding, it is never easy. The challenge lies not in finding the voice of God that is not there – for it is always there. The challenge lay in not substituting our desires for the desires of God. As a result the work is careful and slow – our process is deliberate and it is far from over.

Nevertheless, I want to share with you my thoughts thus far, and God-willing they are true to the calling of God for our church.

IV.

To begin with, I believe is that we as a church need to be concerned with growth – yes, I am talking first about numerical growth. If we are to continue a strong and vibrant ministry we are going to have to grow in membership and attendance.

To be sure we are an aging church. We have many more senior citizens than newborns. Many times I have heard this decried and many times I have been told that this is bad thing. But, I do not believe that this is bad thing. Here at HMPC we love our senior members and wiser folks. Those of you who fall into this group are the backbone of our ministry and we are grateful for you. Without fault you invite friends and others into our church and without fault your attendance is strong and dedicated.

But at the same time I am reminded of our brothers and sisters in the Pentecostal vein of Christianity who have a saying – “the church has no grandchildren.” This saying roughly means that we must be concerned with the next generation coming. They are not just going to show up. If we are to have another 30 years of ministry in this place, 30 strong and vibrant years, we must grow numerically. There must be a way and a means for the church to attract younger folks who will in turn (over time) becomes the seniors who are the backbone of this place. Our future needs to be one that is aware of our numbers – not obsessed with them – and aware of the need of our church to grow.

V.

Simultaneously, I want to tell you that just we don’t need to grow numerically. No, we also need to grow spiritually, in the life of the Spirit, as disciples of Jesus Christ. We must grow as a community of the cross so that all who would come here would know we are Christians because of our loving devotion to God, Christ, and neighbor. We can leave no doubt that this is a place of grace and blessing for the community and world – our invitations cannot just be to membership; they must also be to discipleship.

Therefore we must have a church program that is vibrant, incarnational, invitational, and spiritually invigorating for each and all of our members – from the 2 year old to our 82 year olds.

We do this by focusing our life and our vision squarely upon the mission of our church and upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. For the one unique thing the church possesses is not fellowship – though we do have fun and friendships here there remain many civic clubs and neighborhood groups and work associations. The church is not uniquely a social action agency – though to be sure we make a social witness so does our social services and also sometimes our businesses and civic groups. The church does not solely possess the ability to support others in times of need or grief (though we may do it the best). To be sure we do ALL of these things, and many of them we do well. If you examine us closely enough you’ll find that the one thing that we possess is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the good news for all that is shared in it.

We possess it, this gospel, because it possesses us and by the power of the Spirit of God we are constantly being repossessed by it. As keepers, exclusive keepers of that news and of the Spirit, we are called to share it. We must share in it and share it – for while we profess, proclaim, and minister for the sake of Christ and the Gospel at no point are we ever permitted to not make it available and accessible for any who come to inquire. We are keepers of the gospel because we are kept by it but we may never keep it for ourselves. To do so is an affront to all that Jesus stood for and died for

Just as Paul shared that vision of Christ and the gospel with those gathered in Antioch as the charting of the future of the church, so too will our church take its direction from Christ and the story of the gospel. We will, here at Howard Memorial, walk boldly into the future arm in arm leaning on the everlasting arms of Christ and praying for growth in number and discipleship.

VI.

My time is growing short today. I could go on and on and on about this for there are thousands of specific possibilities for these very broad principles – let’s face it growth in numbers and growth in the gospel are pretty broad concepts, no matter how biblically relevant and critical they may be. So, short on time, here are the “bare bones” of what I see as critical ministries and practices for us in the coming years.

As I begin you need to know that I am taking my direction from a variety of sources, books like, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Congregation, and, Churches That Make a Difference. I have been reading all that I can get my hands on as it pertained to healthy church growth in journals and periodicals. For example, last October the publication Presbyterian Outlook did a piece on church growth that listed myths and truths about church growth.

• Among the 9 myths were things like: only suburban churches grow; only young churches grow; only churches doing “contemporary” worship with drums and pull down screens are growing; etc….

• The truths I thought were more compelling – the things that growing churches all had in common were basic and beautiful. In fact, they only listed three that spanned the spectrum of Presbyterian Congregations – big and small, east and west, north and south. The three truths about church growth which they listed were:

1. Caring for children and youth.

2. Welcoming new people.

3. Getting people to participate in their congregation.

VII.

If indeed God is revealing to us in our age that the gospel must be proclaimed and that it can be proclaimed by simple practices like caring for our youth and children, welcoming new folks into this church, and by challenging us all to participate in ministries around here – if that is a reliable formula for church growth – then thanks be to God! We can do these things at Howard Memorial!

Our goal is quite simple around here: it is to enact the mission, the sending, of this church to become the best Presbyterian Church we can be. We want to care for children and youth, welcome new folks, and increase participation across every committee, ministry area, and mission of our church. Our goal is to be so efficient and creative in our church program that our participation levels would grow and grow and grow.

We pray to be, and want to be, growing in faith and membership. We desire to craft a witness so grand that other churches come and learn from us. We hope for the day when that we are able to share what we have learned from God about how to grow as a Presbyterian Church in a small town.

VIII.

As your pastor I have challenged the Session in past months, and I today as I look towards and pray about the future I am calling the congregation to pray about 4 very specific areas where we need to work hard and discern the leading of the spirit:

1. Transcend and re-imagine our encounters with God – bible study, worship, etc… If part of our mission is to know Christ then we need to increase contact points with Jesus and the Word and worship in his name. We need to expand what we offer in bible, need to rethink the pieces of, not the way we do, worship here. Why can’t more of us be trained to lead bible study? Why can’t more be involved in worship on a weekly basis? I say they can.
2. Transcend and re-imagine how we invite others in our church – last week you voted to create a membership development committee which will focus greatly upon attracting new folks here and promoting the ministries of our church in our community and encouraging current members to serve God in a variety of ways through the membership of the church. Are we inviting our children and youth into every corner of our life and ministry? Are we welcoming others with the joy that we celebrate longer friendships?
3. Transcend and re-imagine how we know and love and care for each other – looking at fellowship groups and encourage participation in every quarter. We need to see how we are or are not serving young adults and older adults alike. Perhaps having no fellowship groups at all? Perhaps adding fellow groups for differing ages? Is there a way to enliven every activity of the church making it intergenerational so that none one feels left out or foreign here?
4. Transcend and re-imagine our mission – our encounters with others. Art Ross, the pastor of White Memorial in Raleigh often says that we need to encounter folks different from us in ministry situations as often as we can. In terms of global mission trips he is fond of saying, “They need our money and our influence and we need their faith.” This idea is equally true both here – in East Tarboro and in our county where opportunities for mission and justice ministries abound and overseas. Can we at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church do mission here and there and everywhere? Do we dare to follow the leading into ministry with others that the Holy Spirit broadcasts like a clarion call to every one who dares to bow at the name of Jesus?

IX.

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would lead and keep us as we do this work – listen and follow its leadership into a bold future. I pray that we would all imagine a tomorrow for Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church that is worthy of our past and faithful to the Lord Christ and where he is calling us to be in the years to come.

Amen.