Thanks for joining me!
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
I was a Deacon in a small country Church for about 9 years, and I took mental notes and recorded a lot of meetings, this is an account of my journey and if you find yourself in a similar position, I hope it can help you through your journey. This church was struggling and I wanted to know why, and when I realized the problem I left. This may have not been the best choice but it was either leave or become one of them, there was no turning them around. The Church was on a bad road and no direction or guidance, later I referred to that Church as a house full of teenagers that had been left at home alone for about a year, they had gotten so used to doing what they wanted to do they had lost a feel for what is right and what is wrong, wrong becomes right, and right becomes un-acceptable, we see the same situations playing out in this country today, just watch the mainstream news.
As I look across our county I see many small Churches that are struggling to survive and I often asked the question why do some small Churches thrive and grow, and why do some stay small, when I became the Chairman of our Church Board I asked that question many times, but the 1st year out of the 6 years I sat as Chairman I just sat back and watched and try to learn, after all this was a position that I had never been in and had just sat on the Board for 2 years before I was thrown in as Chairman and it did take a little time for me to see and learn why some thrive and some struggle. We had one board member who had really given up he would continue to say it is the location, we are not in an area that people will drive to get to, I thought to myself that is not right, it is not about location, I could count about three Churches in our county and neighboring counties that were in more of a remote location than we were and they would have a hundred or more for Sunday morning services, so I determined it was not location but the people, mainly leadership, how did the people need to be or act to draw more people, I soon figured it out and when I did, I could see that the leaders of this Church did not have that trait and would never have. First and foremost, you have to have an unconditional love for God, and how do you get that unconditional love, by hearing and understanding the word and seeing what effect that word has had on those who have understood the word. Now when it comes to hearing the word, you have to hear it from someone who can explain it to you so you can know what it means, put in a way that you can see what it means to you in this day of age, this cannot always be your minister or preacher, this also has to come from the leaders of the congregation, this needs to be done through Sunday School classes and Bible Studies, the people need to know that the leaders of the Church know what God is trying to tell us, and they need to be sure their actions display the kind of life we are to be living, if the leaders only appear to be a Christian on Sunday morning for about an hour, that is all the congregation will be, and a hour a week will not win over many to Christ. When the leaders figure out how God desires us to live, and show that in their everyday life they will have a concern for others in the community and when those people see that someone is truly concerned about them, they will tell others and they will start showing up to participate in the Church. If your leaders are only concerned about themselves or their families, people will see this also and will not be interested and stay away.
In the following pages to come, I will explain some of the issues I faced while being the Chairman of the Board and some of the issues that prevented this Church from growing as God has desired, we will also look at some questions that many have, questions like, why even go to Church? Why do I need to go to Church? How do I pick a good Church to go to? Why should I love God? Should I read the Bible? So many types of Bibles, how do I pick the right one? How do I get that love for God? How can I love my neighbor? Who are my neighbors? How do I win over my friends and neighbors to Christ? What do I need to do to be saved? Will God save everyone?
In going over some of these topics I hope it will encourage you if you find yourself in a situation as the one, I was in, and hopefully you will not give up your personal journey to do what God desires.
A Deacon's Diary 