I thought I might write about the nature of the church for the text couple of weeks. My thoughts stem from two sources. The first was a survey by Baylor University and published in the Waco Tribune-Herald. The Second was a conversation with Don Scott our District Superintendent.  The article and conversation deal with the modern nature of the church and religious beliefs. Both the conversation and article stem from a comparison of mega churches (1000 + in worship) and small churches (not mega). However I would throw in a third: The middle sized church. The middle sized church is either moving up towards the larger church or down to the smaller.

Please note, one does not mean better or worse than the other.  It just means different.

 Let me begin with Don. He and I met and talked for hours the other day. It was great. We have been friends and colleagues for years. As we talked he pointed out that because of our programs, staff size, etc. we are not compared with the church down the street or even across town. We are compared with Rick Warren’s church Saddleback or even Joel Osteen’s church in Houston. People look for excellence and oportunity.

I found that to be interesting.

With that as a foundation let me turn to the Baylor survey.  I won’t loft up all their stuff but there were some interesting items I thought I would lift up today.  What I want you to do is just see where you stand in the survey.

 Personal Commitment:

Attend services weekly or more often Mega-church: 46%  Small Church: 39%

Tithe                                                          Mega-church: 46%  Small Church: 36%

Attend a Bible Study                               Mega-church: 52%   Small Church: 43%

 What does that mean? It means that the people in the larger church tends fo go more often, give better and even attend Sunday School or study the Bible more.

Like I said, I want you to compare yourself with those first three categories. How well do you measure up in attending church? I would add a third distinction. If you attend less than the small church percentage, you are probably in a different group: Unchurched.

How about your giving? Are you tithing? If not, you are below even the 36% in the small churches.

And do you study the word of God? If not, well maybe it’s time.

 Next week I will talk about the closeness of the two different churches. It may surprise you as to which is the stronger.

Till then, Peace and Grace. Reed

Just pretend you are coming to a church for the first time.  What would you look for?  Great preaching? Great music? You might look for a wonderful atmosphere or a beautiful sanctuary.

 The funny thing is that most of that is not actually what people look for in a new church home. What they look for are other things. Here are the top ten things I have experienced over the years that people may look for:

10. A close parking space.

9. The nursery.

8. A bathroom.

7. A seat in the rear but not all the way to the back wall.

6. Coffee.

5. A bulletin.

4. A hymnal.

3. A door into the place.

2. Maybe a speaker if they are hard of hearing.

And the number one thing they look for is a person to smile at them, intorduce themselves and act friendly.

You can help with each of those. Park further away and save the close in spots for others.  Become an usher to hand out the bulletins. Think about all ten but especially think about number one. Only you can smile, welcome and greet someone God has sent to church that day.

 In fact, the more I think about it, the rest of them don’t matter unless you do the number one thing and do it well.

 Peace and grace.  Reed.

Recently we have had a couple of real disasters. The latest is Hurricane Ike. There are two main ways we can help. The first is if you have a chance give blood.

 The second is give money. Instead of giving flood buckets, etc., this time let’s just give an offering to the church. Just give a gift as a special offering.  Just identify it as Hurricane Ike and we will get it there.

It is never easy to try and understand destruction. We witnessed this past week the horrible destruction caused by Ike on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.  Hundreds of homes lost, families disrupted, lives lost. Why? Even more to the  point, people will ask, “Why, God, do You allow this to happen?”

 Like you I have struggeled with the same question over the years. It is the greatest question that confronts us, WHY. I have understood the different arguments and I have come to one overriding conclusion. While you may feel differently, this is what make sense to me.

The reason why is…in order to be free to turn to God in both good times and bad, we have to be so radically free that we must be willing to suffer whatever comes out way. Otherwise we are not really free to choose Him at all.  That means that in life we will face the worse as well as the best of nature. Beautiful sunsets can lead to great storms just the very next day. Wonderful health may lead to insufferable cancer down the line.

 On the other hand, an illness today leads to grace tomorrow. Losing a loved one means we may find a true companion or friend.  A hurricane may mean that the atmosphere is a little cleaner after all one result is that a lot of stored up heat is sucked out of the Gulf and air.

You see, with all good things there may come something bad and in all bad things something good may come.  In all things God is there and so are we. It gives us a chance to freely turn to Him. He doesn’t cause us harm but He is there when we turn to Him.

 Peace and Grace. Reed

Be sure to join us at Terrific Nights Together. It is a weekly meal and fellowship. The Menu for September 17 is:

Country Fried Steak

Mashed Potatoes

Salad Bar

Green Beans

Rolls

Dessert

Beverages

If you would like to come, just contact us.

Here we go. Back from Santa Fe and Taos. The skiing wasn’t so good. Kept falling over when the skis stuck in the grass. Managed to get scalped by the Indians (oh and by the way, that is what they called themselves so don’t go off on the politically thing) but that is another story. And took 3,000 pictures so there will be slide shows on every occasion here at the church.

Like all vacations, it was great getting away and better still to get home. Now I need a week to recover physically and a year to recover financially.  I want to thank the staff for doing all they can to take care of things. It was great!!

While tapping her heels, Dorothy in the wizard of Oz repeats over and over again, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home…”  It is true. You and I know that we can always find things to desire to be improved back home. However, there is no place quite like our home.

It is where we find friends and family. It is where we work, retire and even die. It is where we feel love and belonging. It is where we have chosen, yes chosen after all we could go elsewhere, to belong. There is no place like home.

That is what you will find here at the church. Not a place that is perfect, after all if it were we couldn’t belong, but with it’s imperfections it is home. So if you have been away form home for a few weeks or even years, isn’t it time to come home?

I may even show you some pictures.

Grace and love.  Reed

Wesley Academy Parent’s Day Out is currently enrolling students for the 2008 fall semester.  Classes are held for 6 months - 3 years of age.  Wesley Academy is located at First United Methodist Church in Hillsboro.  Classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00- 2:30.

 For more information  click here