Senior Pastor’s Report
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Pastor Karl Emerson
As I stand here today to give you my report, I must say that I am thankful for so many things that have happened over the last year. It really has been incredible. Let me mention a few of them.
· The Living Last Supper was an amazing experience. I noticed that not only were people in the audience ministered to, but the actors who portrayed the disciples were profoundly affected. The prayer time together before the performance was simply incredible.
· Administrative help. Doris Yoder has organized the church office in her uniquely capable way. I cannot begin to thank her or describe the difference it has made in my life to know that a million little details are being taken care of in a way that is much better than I could ever achieve.
· The North Woods Revue. Need I say more? Two packed houses and a multitude of conversations about hunting and how we can have a relationship with the Creator.
· S’mores and Chores. Chris and Shawne Wright led a multi-church team down to Big Sandy for a week of serving. Cleaning, painting, raking, construction and loads of laughter filled the week.
· Children’s Ministry. This is something that we take for granted, I’m afraid. As I talk to other pastors I realize how this ministry is a unique responsibility and blessing to NAC. New people are getting involved and we are continually tweaking what we do to be more effective.
· Financial Provision. The economy is still a little shaky, and most churches are feeling it right now. NAC experienced a dip, but after a time of prayer and fasting we have seen the Lord provide for all of our needs. You will see that we ended the year $3000 in the red, but January’s giving rebounded significantly and we are praising God for his provision.
· The Kindle Project. We partnered with our Middle East team to provide each family with a Kindle. I am still getting emails and letters thanking us for the gift. It allows our workers to access books to refresh and inform them as they labor in a difficult place.
· Natural Church Development. We have been working on the health of the church by working to help people develop their spiritual gifts in a way that helps them discover who God has called them to be. More needs to be done here, but we are heading in the right direction.
· Prayer weeks. We have had several weeks of prayer that have been life-transforming.
· A Revival Prayer meeting has begun to meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month drawing people from Grand Rapids and Hibbing.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. There are many, many things that I could mention and I am afraid that I might miss something important. There is just too much to mention. And it all happens because of people like you that are committed to serving the Lord. He is the focus.
Let me share a little bit about where I sense we are at as a church. Let me put up a slide to show you. This is the “Life Cycle of a Church”. Incline, Recline, Decline. Let me describe it to you a little bit. On the incline stage you have a high-risk, others focused mentality. Think about a new church starting up. A new church is risky, is developing new leaders, is seeing conversion growth (rather than transfer growth), and is by nature a little unstable. As it grows the leaders develop, systems and routines are put in place and it becomes “solid”. This stability becomes comfortable and ever so slightly the church becomes focused on “us” rather than “them”. There is a sense that “we can keep these plates spinning for a long time”. Growth, if it happens, tends to be transfer growth as Christians see a “good church” and join it. This stage is frequently called a plateau, but in reality it is the beginning of decline. A declining church has entrenched leaders and is focused on preserving what it has. Form takes precedence over ministry. There is little or no ministry happening.
Where are we? I believe that we are right here. At the beginning stages of recline. We are becoming comfortable. There hasn’t been much conversion growth. In fact, our numbers over the last year have been stable.
So what do we do about it? We need to go on the incline again. As you know, Nashwauk is poised for significant change. Each week seems like the Essar project is coming closer to being a reality. This could open up a window of opportunity for us to reach out to those who are new to our area. It could be that the comfort we are feeling right now is the calm before the craziness that we may soon be involved with.
I know that some are still skeptical of the whole Essar deal, but even if it never happens, the reality is that we dare not become complacent when we live in an area that is one of the most unchurched in the country. We live among people that have problems with chemical, physical and sexual abuse. The people we live, work and play with have a desperate need for the gospel.
We need to go on the incline again. To do that we need to grow in maturity as a church. Let me describe it this way. Some churches are at the stage of “members as inviters”. The church has a program and the role of the members is to invite people to come. Other churches are at the stage of “members as ministers”. These churches have discovered that members have a responsibility to minister to others, usually within the confines of the church. Discipleship, developing programs and internal multiplication are the result. These are both good things, but we want to build on them. The stage we want to reach sees members as missionaries. In this stage the members are focused on reaching outside of the church and figuring out how to best reach the culture of the people around them. Think about our missionaries in France. They have good relationships with one another. They work on maintaining healthy relationships, but having good healthy relationships with their American Christian friends is not the goal. The goal is figuring out and doing whatever it takes to see French people come to faith in Christ.
A church with a missionary mindset asks the question, “what must we do to penetrate the culture around us with the gospel?” That is what Jesus wants us to be doing, both individually and as a church. Here is the problem: You can’t be a missionary and pick what you like at the same time. The question is, what will it take to reach the Iron Range with the gospel, not “how can we keep everyone happy at church?”
How do we do that? Let me share some thoughts.
1. Each of us must determine not to become complacent in our relationship with Jesus. As we grow in our relationship with him, he will show us his heart. And his heart is for the lost, lonely and hurting in the world. To continue to grow, we must join him in reaching out. Remember the disciples when Jesus walked on the earth. They didn’t simply follow Jesus and watch the show. In fact, he involved them heavily in reaching out to those who were outside the kingdom. The same will be true of us. If we want to grow closer to him, we will be doing what he is doing. Intimacy grows through shared experiences, and Jesus is out seeking and saving what is lost. He wants to share that experience with us.
2. We need to ask God for a renewed passion to be witnesses. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Jesus is the difference. Those three facts need to be seared into our conscious thoughts. Those facts are uncomfortable, but the discomfort needs to move us to action. Are we praying? Are we building relational bridges? Are we sharing the gospel? Has our theology transformed into action?
3. We need to ask the Lord for greater faith. Can we picture the people we meet as people the Lord can transform? Or is our lack of faith the real reason we don’t share our faith?
4. We need to be sensitive to “visitors”. Not everyone who comes to NAC believes in Jesus. Some are “just checking it out”. They may have major sin issues in their lives. We must learn how to welcome them and build relationships with them that will help them understand the truth of the gospel and how God wants to transform their lives.
5. We must continue to seek new ways to penetrate or crack the culture of the world around us. The gospel never changes. Love demands that we take the gospel to those that need it. We must not allow our “traditions” to become barriers to people coming to faith. We must adapt, like our missionaries do, to the people we are trying to reach. Examples of things we are considering include an archery club that develops skills of children, builds relationships with parents and includes well written gospel content; a financial training course that will help people get their finances on track while developing friendships that will carry the gospel straight to people’s hearts.
In all of this, Jesus must remain the focus. We must recognize that the time is short, and that people need to be given opportunities to become his followers before the clock runs out.
Let me close with something that those who were in the prayer room when we first started it might remember. It was written in a prayer room in England late one night.
D o y o u w a n t t o l o o k f o r m y f u l l n e s s ?
D o y o u w a n t t o m a k e h i s t o r y w i t h m e ?
D o y o u w a n t t o c o u n t f o r m y K i n g d o m ?
D o y o u w a n t t o s e e m i r a c l e s
a n d s t a n d f o r j u s t i c e ?
D o y o u w a n t t o s e e r e c o n c i l i a t i o n
a n d p e o p l e s e t f r e e ?
D o y o u w a n t t o s e e n a t i o n s t r a n s f o r m e d
b y t h e p o w e r o f p r a y e r ?
T h e n c o m e f o l l o w m e ,
a n d I w i l l s h o w y o u w h e r e y o u s h o u l d g o .
I t’s n o t t o t h e p l a t f o r m w i t h t h e s p o t - l i t s p e a k e r .
I t’s n o t t o t h e c o n f e r e n c e , t h e m e e t i n g o r c a m p .
C o m e w i t h m e t o t h e d a r k e s t p l a c e s
C o m e t o t h e h u r t i n g , t h e h o w l i n g , h o l l o w f a c e s
C o m e w i t h m e t o t h e a d d i c t e d ,
c o n v i c t e d a n d c a u g h t
C o m e w i t h y o u r l i g h t , r u n w i t h y o u r s a l t
C o m e t o t h e s o r r o w , t h e s u i c i d e t r e e
C o m e t o t h e s t a b l e
C o m e f o l l o w m e .
W r i t t e n b y I a n N i c h o l s o n a t 4 : 0 0 a . m . i n a p r a y e r r o o m
i n S t . P e t e r s b u r g , R u s s i a .
