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Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington August 7, 2005 “We have now become the kind of society that in the 19th century almost every Christian denomination felt compelled to missionize.”  Anthropologist David Murray                      Sadly, most believers and churches have been incredibly slow to catch on to the reality that we live in a post-Christian culture. In the "good old days" (from a church viewpoint) this was a Christian nation. People went to church, kids prayed in schools, nativity scenes were set up on public property, people read and believed the Bible. And there was a way to do church in those days that was pretty effective. Unfortunately, too many churches are still doing it that way.  They think that “church” is about them and forget that God has given us a Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Most of the people around us are lost and going into a Christless eternity. Because of that, at Grace, we are committed to being what has been termed “seeker sensitive.”        1) We believe that our community is filled with spiritual "seekers:" people who are far from God, but who are open to moving closer. We believe that there are specific occasions engineered by the Holy Spirit when a lost person senses a need for Christ. You could call it a "God-moment." For example, people experience God-moments when their children are born, or when they face a health crisis, either personally or in a loved one. God-moments happen when marriages or careers fail, or when we look at all we've achieved and acquired and say to ourselves, "With all I have, I should be happy, but I'm not." For some of us, God-moments happen when it hits us that we're so bound up in sin and destructive behavior that nothing short of a miracle will deliver us. Regardless of what causes God-moments, they happen. When that happens some people say to themselves, "Maybe, just maybe, God - if there is a God - is trying to get my attention. Maybe I ought to do some investigating. Maybe I ought to take a little initiative and try somehow to get closer to God, assuming He's there." Those people are those that we refer to as “seekers.”         Now let me ask a critical question: When people come to the realization that maybe they ought to seek God, where's the first place most of them are likely to look? Church. They say to themselves, "I think I'll go back to the church where I grew up, or I'll check out _________ Church that I’ve heard so much about. Maybe the church can help me find God."  We believe that the world is filled with people who are at that point in their lives.      2) In light of that, we believe that the church ought to make seekers feel welcome as they search for God. When we do, we are modeling Jesus’ example in how He dealt with seekers. The New Testament contains story after story of encounters between Jesus and people who are seeking God. Amazingly, Jesus never rejectslaughs with them, He eats dinner in their homes, He shows up at their parties - many times at their invitation as the guest of honor! Jesus had no hangups about rubbing shoulders with sinners. Now, don't get the wrong impression. He didn't wink at the sin in their lives and pretend it wasn't there. But when He addressed it, He did it in a way that didn't make them feel like 2nd class human beings. Instead, Jesus invited them to leave it behind for a real, eternal life of following Him.        Our Lord was a master at making spiritual seekers feel welcome and comfortable around Him. When He returned to His Father in Heaven He passed that responsibility on to us, His followers, the Church. As His Church we are to interact with people who don't believe and welcome them to investigate the claims of Jesus Christ.       The vital question is..."How do you do that? How does a church welcome seekers in their search for God?" Just like Jesus did...He knew that they were there. He was aware of them and sensitive to their needs. He interacted with them. He also removed the needless barriers that the Pharisees of His day had installed. And we must do the same thing at Grace. That’s why we don’t have an unwritten dress code. That’s why we use contemporary worship music. That’s why we use slides, have chair Bibles and even give page numbers.      But did you know that you are the most critical part of the “welcome committee?” Lost people determine the friendliness of the church based on the person in the pew, not the pastor. A pastor is a paid salesman, whereas someone attending regularly is a satisfied customer.           So are you sensitive for “seekers” who have wandered in? Do you greet them?  Talk to them? Or, and be honest, do you get so caught up week after week with talking to the same few in your personal friendship circle...that you don’t even know that they are there? God has called each of us to be a “missionary.” Can He count on you? Will you reach out in love and care to the seekers that He brings our way? them, even the ones who are the worst of sinners.  He talks with them, He