5 things you can do to make your church better

We all have a role to play in making every area we live our lives in better. We all want our families to be better. We want our places of work to succeed. We want our neighborhoods to be safe places. We should also be as determined to make the churches that God has placed us in better. When I was thinking about this I thought of five things we can all do to make our churches better.

Pray

This seems so simple, but I don’t know how many people really do this. We my pray for our families, friends, or other concerns, but how often are you praying for your church to be successful in its mission? If you want the church where God has placed you to prosper you should by doing this every day. This is also true of the leaders in the church. I’ll tell you right now we need God’s guidance, and the more people praying for us to have that the better. The Bible is full of verses telling us about the importance of prayer. We have so much right at our fingertips, but are we really using everything that God has given us access to when it comes to prayer? 1^st John 5:14-15 lays this out for us, “14 And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. 15 And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.” Do you think that God wants the church to prosper? Do you think He wants it to grow? Do you think He wants people to know Jesus? I would say these are things He always wants. I can’t imagine a prayer that God would want to answer more. I can’t think of anything that would please Him more. With that in mind how are you praying for the local church you are a part of? Are you praying for the pastor, even when he may take the church in a direction you may not like? Make asking God to bless and use the church a part of your daily time with Him. It should be as integral as opening the Bible and praying for your family.

Smile

Another simple thing to do. I often wonder if people have any idea what their faces are doing as they sit in church. Our communications director has a hard time on some Sundays catching people smiling while he’s taking pictures. We should enjoy our time in church. I know that the vast majority of people are happy to be at church, and we just need to make that apparent through our faces and demeanor. When new people come into a church they need to see and feel a welcoming and exciting atmosphere. When they see us they don’t need to see a face of stone, but a smiling face that makes others feel welcome. Let’s all understand that we really do have something to get excited about. If you know Christ you have been forgiven of much, brought into the family of God, and given a home in heaven. That is something to get excited about. Peter expressed this idea when he quoted Psalm 16 during his sermon found in Acts 2:28, “You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.” Let’s make it a habit to purposefully let out the joy that we should have in the Lord. Every time we gather together it should be a celebration. I’m smiling as I think about what Christ has done for me. Let’s let that out every time we gather together.

Serve

This is something we can all do. I have never seen a church that has enough volunteers. I was recently talking with a someone that was a part of a student ministry that I led who now serves full time on a church staff. They were telling me how hard it was to find people to serve in the different ministries of the church. The truth is we always need help. The staff can’t even begin to make a church work properly by themselves. The members of the church serving is the lifeblood of the church. People have to ask what can I do for the church, and by extension the Kingdom of God, instead of asking what the church can do for me. We very much live in a consumer culture, but that’s not the life we see described in Scripture. Christ modeled a life of serving for us. He told us this in Matthew 23:11, “The greatest among you must be a servant.” Christ Himself came to serve, and shows us this by leaving heaven behind to die for our sins. I’m can’t imagine a greater servant than Christ. Christians should be imitating Christ by having a servants heart. So this weekend when you go to church if you don’t have a place you already serve don’t leave until you have found one. Trust me, there is something that needs to be done that God has equipped you to do.

The other side of this is that you aren’t just helping the church. You are also helping yourself. We are more fulfilled and happy when we are engaged in service. You will always get as much as you give in service.

Give

This is an important topic for all churches. Churches can’t function without people consistently giving and tithing. It’s not always an easy topic to discuss, but it’s a necessary one. A good church is using every dime they receive to the best of their ability to win people to Christ. That’s the goal of every healthy church, and the church needs the facilities, resources, and staff to be able to carry out that mission. I know that God has blessed us all differently. We all have different levels of resources at our disposal, and that for many of you giving to the church may not be something that you have ever really engaged in. I get that the tithe, or ten percent, talked about in the Bible can be intimidating. It’s hard to think about giving 10% of your income. I found a really unique concept that addressed this called the take-off. The idea is to give 1% for a couple of months and then go to 2%. This is process is repeated one percent at a time over the course of months. Start with $10 if that is where you can start, and I believe God will bless you.

We know the tithe and giving are talked about in both the Old and New Testament, but my favorite verse on this topic is found in the Book of Malachi. Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” I like put me to the test part. God is saying here to test Him. He’s saying if you are faithful to give I will be faithful to take care of your needs. We serve a God that we can’t out give. He wants to bless us, and he wants us to be faithful. He’s telling us here to be faithful and to trust in His blessings. He will provide for you.

I have dealt with this idea of trusting Him with this on a personal level. When my daughter Charlee was born she was diagnosed with one of the rarest genetic disorders in the world. Our only option for her care was for her mother to quit her job and stay home with her. Marie was a teacher. Teachers don’t make a lot of money. When looking at what they have to deal with every day they are vastly underpaid, but taking away that entire salary was quite a hit to our family. I wasn’t sure how things would work out. I also had medical bills coming in regularly. They might have been from hospital stays, ambulance bills, or just copays for doctor visits. When we would go to see some of her specialists it was $100 to get in the door, and we were going to Miami to see those doctors multiple times a month. Then I had to pay for gas for the 256 mile round trip, tolls, and parking. I was struggling but I just looked to God and said I’m going to just do what I know you want me to do, and I’m going to trust you for what I need. Time after time I watched God provide. I simply gave what I knew was His Word said, and I always had what I needed. I tested Him, and I found out He was up to the test. Test Him yourself. Start that process of giving to support the things that your church is doing to bring people to the Gospel.

Build up

We all have opportunities to build up or tear down in our lives. We have these choices to make when it comes to our families, places of business, schools, and churches. I have found specifically within churches the old adage that we shoot our wounded is many times true. We are all guilty of sin and wrongdoing. Now the level that our sin rises to in human eyes is vastly different. We are guilty many times of kicking people to the curb when we need to help and love them. When people are broken, many times because of their own choices, it’s our job to help them put their lives back together. We are all guilty of sin, but some people’s sin is more public and we can see the fallout. These are the moments to help and not continue the hurt with our own actions. Restoration and continuing to serve God should be our goal for anyone struggling in their lives with choices they have made or the choices of others that have greatly affected them. We shouldn’t ignore sin. It does no one any good to not discuss the reality of sin and consequences that can rise from it. Our goal should be to see people repent and overcome it. That’s where our support, love, and truthful teaching can help people to pick up the pieces and continue to serve God.

The Bible is full of people that have dealt with sin and failures. Many of these people, such as, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, and Abraham failed at moments in their lives in a deep way, and God forgave them. They dealt with the consequences of their sins after the fact, but God didn’t throw them away. He continued to use them in major ways. Let us as Christians understand that if God isn’t done with someone struggling with sin then we shouldn’t be done with them either. Let’s be a better church member and Christian by helping them put their walk with Christ back on track instead of excluding and alienating them.

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