Psalm 80:18 Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your Name.
Survival or revival? Emerge or resurge? Churches today have to seriously work out where they want to be in 5-10 years time, if they want to survive the first half of this new century. It’s no use keeping on for the sake of holding on. That’s just wishful thinking and more churches are closed because of good intentions or clinging to nostalgia. We live in a new age, with new ideas. We need to learn to adjust or become as dust.
Now I’m not advocating syncretism, where the Church falls to its knees and allows the current culture to totally shape it. That would be a betrayal of Christ and a march towards insignificance, which would eventually lead to irrelevance and extinction. I’m talking about revival or rebooting the Church from within its own ranks, in order to make better disciples of Christ, greater messengers of His Truth, and more practical followers of the Faith.
We cannot do this on our own. We need to invoke and implore the Holy Spirit to come among us, to release us from survival mode and put us into Revival. It would mean that every church member of every congregation would truly re-commit their lives to Christ. That should be the ambition of every church in existence. Christ’s message is timeless and has stood the test of two thousand centuries of opposition. If we truly relied upon the Word of God as our Way of Life then the Church that would emerge would be full of people who were constantly resurging their Christian faith.
Today is a good day to start. Now is the right moment to reboot our beliefs and refocus on our faith. It’s time for all of us to seriously place Christ at the center of our existence. If we honestly do this today, then we will seek new opportunities to share our revived faith with our friends, families, and even strangers. And that, after all is said and done, is why we are divinely blessed with life, love, and faith in the first place.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, revive our commitment and connection to You this day. Open our hearts to the blessing of Your Holy Spirit and allow our minds to accept Your Way, Truth, and Life. Empower and enable us to become effective, relevant, and useful disciples in our congregations and communities. In Your Holy Name, we expectantly pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
Today’s image is one of John’s latest autumn drawings of the Smoky Mountains. It’s called “Fall in Leaves” and is currently on exhibit at Erin Church. You can view a larger version of the drawing at the following link:
25 limited edition signed prints are available from John.
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