To the Brothers and Sisters who are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to remind everyone that Christianity is not about living a perfect life. It is about the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is about the grace of God. However, I have some band-aid solutions unless my advice is coupled by the grace of God.
1) We can pray about the crisis.
2) We can repent. We can confess our sins to our pastors and deacons whenever we have difficulty repenting. (James 5:16)
3) The members from the local church can participate by going to Bible study and by going to church every Sunday. We need to participate in all congregational church meetings. If anyone is not at church, the members of the church should call him/her and ask him/her how he/she is doing. We should do this through e-mail or through the phone.
4) We can evangelize to our non-Christian peers at work by building relationships with them.
5) We can read books by Norman Geisler, John M. Frame, and John MacArthur.
6) We must not compromise on the issues of divorce, abortion, homosexuality, etc.
7) The church must work as a team. We should not compete with other churches. We must respond competitively to the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, and the Unification Church. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses evangelize and put a booth in the Great Mall at San Jose. We must respond competitively by putting our own booth in the malls. When the Mormons require their members to do missions for two years, we should respond competitively by doing the same. Please note that we need grace to compel us to take action against the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.
8) We can save time by not watching TV or by not playing any video games unless we can foster the spirit of fellowship and accountability.
9) We can faithfully tithe to the church, and we can do it in secret without boasting to our fellow brothers and sisters.
10) We should not make the church into a circus. The people in the church can just simply pay more attention to what the pastor says. A pastor is not a stand-up comedian. He is the head of the church. I really believe that it is the members' responsibility to listen to the pastor even though the pastor may be boring. Church should be God-centered, not man-centered. We should not compromise the quality of worship just because people find church boring.
11) The deacons and elders at the church can introduce themselves to everyone in the church. Let the people in the church get to know all of the deacons and elders. Let the deacons and elders ask questions to the members of the church about pastors' messages. Let the deacons and elders quiz the members in the church about what the members have learned and heard.
12) We can read the Bible.
13) We can post the pastors' messages on the website and through e-mail.
14) We must listen to the members in the local church. We must learn to listen.
Thank you for your prayers.
Grace be with all those who incorruptibly love our Lord Jesus Christ.
Following the will of God,
Joseph Yosuk Lee
References:
1. Counterfeit Revival by Hank Hanegraaff
2. Faith Works by John F. MacArthur, Jr.
3. Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraaff
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