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We have an opportunity every week to connect with a person or a family that is visiting our church. Hardly a Sunday goes by that we do not see unfamiliar faces in our building.
What will we do when we see someone or a family that we do not know?
It is a blessing to share life with people we already know. These relationships are comfortable, fun, and fulfilling. They are easy and relaxing. That makes it all the more imperative that we pay attention to the stranger in our midst. We are so familiar with our building and our customs that it is easy to forget how difficult it is to be a visitor. It can be intimidating to attend a church where you do not know anyone!
What can you do when you spot someone you do not know? Here are some ideas:
• Smile. Say “Hello.” Smile again.
• Identify yourself. “I don’t believe I’ve met you. I’m Chris.” Most people will return your greeting by giving you their name. If they do not give you their name, then just smile and say, “It is good to see you. It is a beautiful morning!”
• Ask, “How long have you been coming here?”
If they say, “I’ve been here for ten years,” then smile and say, “I’m glad to finally meet you,” or “Sorry it has taken so long to meet you,” or laugh and say, “Even though we are a medium sized church it is hard to meet everyone.”
If they say, “Today is my first day,” then offer a genuine welcome and say, “I’m glad that you chose to visit us. May I introduce you to some of my friends?” or “May I show you the way to Information Central?” or “May I give you a brief tour of the building?”
Offer to help them locate classes for their children and youth.
Guests do not want to be embarrassed, but they also do not want to be overlooked. We simply must welcome them and take a genuine interest in them.
Studies show that guests decide in the first eleven minutes that they are on the church property whether or not they will return the next week. That means they make up their mind before the special music is presented and before the sermon is spoken. We also know that a greater impact is made on visitors when the church members greet them than when the staff welcomes them. Visitors get their vibes from the congregation as to whether a church is warm and welcoming or not.
Our goals are two. We want to help the guests:
1. Feel welcome.
2. Make it easy for them to return.
When a person or a family visits for the second time, fifty percent of them will stay and make that church their spiritual home. They are more likely to visit a second time if they feel like they know three to five people. They will feel like they know you if you welcome them warmly and help them to be able to speak your name. If you can get a little further into the conversation and talk about hobbies or other interests, so much the better! Then you are on the way to making a new friend!
Working together, all of us can help the strangers in our midst feel welcome!
Pastor Chris
P.S.: The Gold Star Award for making people feel welcome goes to those who are intrepid enough to invite the visitor to Sunday dinner after church. Most people will decline the invitation, but imagine the good will such an offer will generate! If they accept, you will be serving Jesus by practicing biblical hospitality! That is a win-win situation for sure! CS
I’m not personally a big fan of communism. I’m actually friends with a guy who was kicked out of the former East Germany for his stance against the communist regime.
His crime: illegally distributing copies of Animal Farm, a novel which mocks communist “equality”. The catch phrase of the book: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” In East Germany, as in other communist states, the “more equal” ones lived lives of wealth and privilege, which no one could openly acknowledge without fear of punishment.
Human nature will always try to twist equality into a hierarchy. It’s no surprise that communism doesn’t work among sinners.
But God wants his churches to operate on a level, equal playing field. Of course, we quickly agree. We know about our equal standing in Christ. Verses like Galatians 3:28 tell us: Jews, Greeks, male, female, slaves, free – all are one in Christ Jesus.
But not just that, Paul tells us. What about financial equality?
That’s not in the Bible, is it? Or is it? Paul explained it this way to the Corinthians, who had started with an emotional concern for impoverished churches in Macedonia, but then were reluctant to actually share material goods and money.
In 2 Corinthians 8:13-1, Paul laid out God’s Church Equality plan:
“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”
Twice Paul states the goal: that there might be equality among the churches. Financially.
What are we doing as believers, as a body, to “equalize” third world churches? Or Philadelphia churches? What are we doing with what we gather?
~Jan Cooper
The hymn “Trust and Obey” says: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way… To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
I have learned through practical experience that those words are absolutely true! When I am walking with Jesus; when I am trusting Him to meet every need; when I am seeking with all of my heart to do what He says; then, those days are the times when I am happy and fulfilled.
One of the areas of trust and obedience that everyone who follows Christ needs to learn is stewardship. Stewardship means that everything belongs to God and that as His children we are the managers or stewards of God’s resources. That includes all of life, our time, our talent, and our treasure. In other words, your stuff is not your stuff! It’s God’s stuff.
When I remember that, I find it is not as hard to release God’s stuff for kingdom purposes. It is not mine anyway. When I look at life in this way I begin to see opportunities for ministry and service through stewardship. My prayer becomes, “Lord, what do You want me to do with the time, energy, and money that You have entrusted to me?”
The starting point of biblical stewardship is the tithe. The tithe belongs to the Lord (Lev. 27:30, 32). To tithe is to give ten percent of your earnings to God as an act of worship and obedience.
I heard about a pastor who preached on tithing, but did not tithe himself. A businessman spoke to the pastor about that. He then said that he would pay the difference for the pastor if tithing produced a hardship for him. So, with the businessman’s backing the pastor began to tithe. One day he came out of the church to find that someone had put a ham in his buggy. Another time one of the farmers left the back end of his wagon loaded with corn. Yet another time some eggs were given to him. It was amazing! After awhile the pastor realized that he had not had to call upon the businessman to help with his expenses. All of his needs had been met! The pastor thought about it and realized that he had been tithing because he trusted the businessman. Now he understood that he should have been trusting and obeying the Lord all along.
I do not know how God does it; I just know that He does. Shirley and I have been practicing biblical stewardship since the day we were married. God has never let us down. Try it. Go ahead and tithe for three months and see what God will do in your life. I think you will be surprised! Your faith will grow and you will see God’s hand on your life. “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Pastor Chris
Well the group of 33 teens and adults heads out tomorrow morning for Costa Rica and will be there till July 31. Please keep the team in your prayers. Please pray for safety, team unity, everyone will stay healthy, and for the people in Costa Rica-that they will see a difference in the group and will want to know what it is. You can check out the blog to see what the team is up to and if there are any updated prayer requests. The blog site is: crmissions.wordpress.com Thank you!!
Do you ever get depressed? Are there times when you are discouraged? I think that happens to all of us sooner or later. What do you do to get over it? How do you get past those “down” times?
Sometimes our discouragement is caused by being overwhelmed with the circumstances of life. Things happen that are more than we can bear. It’s not usually just one thing. It begins when something happens that doesn’t fit into what we think is fair. Then another circumstance occurs that we didn’t expect. Sometimes it is then followed by one thing after another. When they all mount on top of each other, it rocks our faith, and our happiness. Depression or discouragement follows. Ever been there? Yes, every one of us has at one time or another!
What are we to do?
David has some great advice for us. I was reading Acts 2:25-28. These verses are actually a part of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost; the day when the Holy Spirit came to permanently dwell in the Church. The people visiting Jerusalem were amazed that the Jewish believers were able to speak to them in their own languages. Languages that the believers had never learned! The gift of tongues was used to get the attention of those who did not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Some people said that the believers were drunk, but Peter explained in his sermon that this was a work of God. In the middle of the sermon Peter quoted Psalm 16 which was written by David, Israel’s greatest king. David knew all about difficult circumstances. Some of the hardships that David faced were brought on him by Saul’s jealousy. Some of David’s troubles were brought on by David’s own sinful actions.
Still, in the midst of all of his troubles, David found a way to overcome depression and discouragement. Acts 2:28 gives us the secret of David’s contentment. “You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” Acts 2:28
What was his secret? God revealed to David “the ways of life”. David’s was full of happiness because he reminded himself that happiness is only found in God’s presence. The opposite is also true. The longer I focus on problems, the longer I will tend to be discouraged or depressed.
So, now I have a choice. Will I focus on the problems, the circumstances of life, or will I focus on God and being with Him? David choose to focus on spending time with God. The result of being in God’s presence: David was full of gladness (happiness).
Boy, I need that. Maybe, just maybe, you do too!
~Pastor Dean
Five minutes of fame! Time and time again those words are repeated when someone, some how, draws the attention of the media and finally gets noticed. Hopefully those people gained their five minutes of fame for a good thing that they have done. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
I’ll bet that you probably have not had five minutes of fame. Very, very few people get to experience that. Let’s try another question. How many people even know your name? For most of us that number is relatively small. If you choose to follow Christ, it is very unlikely that you’ll get five minutes of fame in this world. But, that’s okay. We don’t need five minutes of fame to be found to be a faithful follower of Christ.
I was reading in Acts 1:21-26 about the process that the disciples went through to find a replacement for Judas. In these verses the qualifications for the individual to become the 12th apostle are laid down. The candidates had to be people who had accompanied Jesus from the beginning of His ministry, who had witnessed the resurrection, and who had remained faithful followers of Christ.
Two names were put forth. The thing that caught my attention is not their names. What I noticed was that there were many individuals who had faithfully followed Christ without ever having their names recorded in the Bible. They were the unknown, and unnamed followers of Christ. We have all heard of the 12 disciples. They had their five minutes of fame. Many of us can name their names. Some of you may also be able to name the disciple who replaced Judas. Without looking, do you know his name? You do, great! What is the name of the guy who was not chosen? (You’ll find the answer in Acts 1.)
But, there were many unnamed, unknown disciples who faithfully followed Christ and their names were long-ago forgotten. They never got their five minutes of fame. I hope and pray that your name can be added to the list (that doesn’t exist, except in Christ’s eyes) of those who remain faithful even when almost no one else knows about it.
Are you one of the unknown followers of Christ? (Unknown to the world, but very, very well-known to Christ.) I pray that our tribe will increase.
~Pastor Dean
The LORD is in this place…
How often do you read the Bible? Is Bible-reading a discipline that you practice daily, or do you read it just once in a while, whenever it suits you? There are times when I read the Bible almost every day without missing. There are other times when I let other things crowd out my time with the Lord. Is that true of you too?
If we want to make any kind of difference in this world, we need to know that we have the Lord’s blessing in our lives. To get the Lord’s blessing, we need to seek Him on a regular basis. One aspect of seeking God is spending time reading His love letter to us called the Bible. “In the Word” is the name that the pastoral staff has chosen for our year-long focus on being in God’s Word on a daily basis.
I was reading Genesis 28 recently and found it, oh so easy to identify with Jacob. In the previous chapter of Genesis Jacob stole the blessing that Isaac promised to Esau. He knew that Esau wanted to kill him, so he left town immediately. On the way he stopped at the city of Luz and fell asleep using a rock as his pillow. That night God met Jacob. When Jacob awoke, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
I can sure identify with that. When I don’t take the time to read God’s Word regularly, then I too miss out on the fact that God is right here in this place and I don’t even know it. I don’t even get the benefit of His presence. Can you identify with that?
The last verse of Genesis 28 gives another one of Jacob’s responses to meeting with God. He didn’t want to forget the importance of meeting God daily, so he decided to put his faith into action, as a way to remember that God is always there for him. In verse 22 Jacob decided to give 1/10th of all he had to God. That was his response to a loving God who couldn’t wait to meet with him.
Wow! I want to be just like Jacob. I choose to give to God, because He loves me enough to want to meet with me. Now that is amazing. God wants to meet with me!
What’s your reaction to spending time with God? If you don’t do that on a daily basis, why don’t you start? If you do, you will probably react as Jacob did, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
~Pastor Dean
Do you ever forget things? I do. If I don’t write things down, then I get into a lot of trouble for not remembering to do what I said I would do. I have developed systems that help me deal with my propensity to forget. One system that I use is the “franklin planner”. I was introduced to the franklin many years ago, and now it serves me well and helps me fulfill my obligations to do what I need to do.
I was reading in Genesis 9 the other day and I was encouraged when I read verses 12-17. In Genesis 9 we read about God establishing a covenant with Noah and his sons. God promised in this covenant to never again cut off all flesh by a flood, nor to flood the whole earth again. God then gave a sign of the covenant which is the rainbow.
When I read that passage I noticed something that I had never noticed before. God didn’t give the sign so that WE can remember His covenant; He gave it to remind Himself. The covenant was between God and mankind; it was between God and the earth! In verse 15 God tells us that when a rainbow appears, HE will remember His covenant. The rainbow isn’t for us to remember; it’s a reminder to God of His promise to never flood the whole earth again. Verse 16 repeats the same idea. When God sees the rainbow, HE will use the rainbow as a reminder of His covenant, His promise, His agreement to not flood the whole earth again.
Do you need a reminder from time to time? I do! What reminders do you have in your life that causes you to remember that God cares for you? God set up a reminder to remember His promise to you. What reminder(s) have you set up to help you remember that God loves you more than you can ever know?
~Pastor Dean
I just came back from meeting with a twenty-something year-old who is sold out for the Lord. Not ashamed. Ready to do whatever Jesus asks, and actively following his footsteps.
“Why do you have to wear a t shirt that says Jesus?” her mom asks her. Culturally not cool. Embarrassing as a parent who would rather keep Jesus more constrained and contained. I can relate to part of that. I personally don’t feel compelled to slap a God message on my car or my clothes.
“And where have I failed you as a parent that you need to go work for God?” Another parental question for her. “That you feel like you have to go out and live on a shoestring on other people’s support?” How’s a parent to explain that one to their friends, whose children are out in the real world seeking post- college jobs with tangible benefits? And they sigh and hope she outgrows this phase.
Like Jesus is Barbie or a favorite band. Like he’s just big enough to hold her interest for a year or two until the next big thing comes along.
It’s hard to explain Jesus and living for Him.
We at the church make it harder for her parents to understand than it needs to be. Outsiders and insiders in the church get used to another version of following Jesus that is promoted subtly or blatantly in the church.
Francis Chan described it this way:
There’s a Wide Road that leads to destruction: Evil, Satan, denial of Jesus and the cross.
There’s a Narrow Road that leads to life: the Gospel , grace to be saved, trading my life for his, following him to the cross.
But we at church have sometimes created a safe path down the middle. Not too radical. Not in your face. Not very costly. A “both/and” kind of Gospel that embraces Jesus and the world. Navigating life down this middle road will land us in the ditch. It’s an impossible myth.
If Jesus fills the whole universe as eternal and unchanging God, and calls us to leave all to follow Him, then we’re on a radically narrow way. It will offend the world. It will even offend the church at times. But let’s never outgrow the path that leads to life!
~Jan Cooper
“Well, here is an amazing thing…” John 9:30
What amazes you? What does it take to get your attention? What does it take to get you to listen long enough that you really understand what is being said?
There are many times when I get so engrossed in what I am doing, that when someone talks to me, I do not really listen and simply respond in the way that I think they want me to respond. The problem is that I didn’t stop doing, or thinking about what had my attention to begin with. I just gave what I thought was the expected response. Because of that, I have gotten myself into several really difficult situations, especially with my wife.
What really amazes me is that communication occurs at all. There are so many things that compete for our attention. I want and need to do a better job in the area of communication. The key is to put my full effort into listening first. To do that I need to unplug from wherever my mind has been, and turn my full attention to the person talking. I also need to make sure that I understand exactly what the other person is saying. For that to happen I tend to ask a lot of questions.
Communication also breaks down when I bring preconceived ideas to the discussion. There are times when my preconceived notions block communication. Pride says that I have all the answers. Humility says that there is still much that I need to learn.
It’s amazing what can happen when I listen to someone and begin to see things from their perspective. Seeing it through different eyes brings a new perspective that maybe I just need to be open to.
In John 9 the Pharisees were unset that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. They questioned the man born blind. They wanted to know who had healed him. Their only concern: who broke our rules! They called the former blind man back for a second inquisition. His response: “Well, here is an amazing thing…” you may not accept Him as being from God, but He must be from God, because only God can heal a blind man.
Because he was not blinded by preconceptions, the former blind man saw God. The really amazing thing is that the religious people did not see God’s hand at work, because they didn’t take the time to see things as they really were.
So, what amazes you? Are you seeing the hand of God in your life? Are you open to being amazed? I hope so!
~Pastor Dean
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 311 W. State Street Doylestown, PA 18901 Phone: 215-348-5210 Email: office@fbcdoylestown.org Prayer: prayer@fbcdoylestown.org  |
 9:00 am and 10:30 am. Christ-centered worship, variety of music styles, powerful, practical teaching from the Word of God. Semi-casual. |
 "The 5" meets at 5:00 p.m. and is a contemporary, casual, worship service. 6:00-7:30 Ignite 7:30-9:00 Refinery |
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