It is reported that D. L. Moody once said, “The world has yet to see what God can do through one man totally given to Him. I determine to be that man!” Those words used to make chills run up and down my spine. But, I think now the times call for their alteration, for a change in their emphasis. “The world has yet to see what God can do through a people totally given to Him.” Yet, on second thought, that isn’t really a factual statement. After all, the world did see it once!

The world saw a band of disciples stabilized by three years of dedicated training, fired by the actuality of resurrection, imbued with the breath of the Holy Spirit. It watched them endure fire and sword and cross. It heard them sing in the face of persecution and triumph over death. It stared amazed as they shared bread, gave sustenance, healed physical disabilities, cast out demons. It observed them plod in their humanity, yet soar in supernatural power. They filled the time with visions and dreams, with hope and inspiration. “You are turning the world upside down!” was the Cry.

We wanted to come full circle in our experiment, back through the centuries to the early beginnings, to the newness, to the freshness, to the empowering.

Kenneth Strachan, the father of Evangelism-in-Depth, the movement which has made great advances in world outreach, maintained that the strength of any ministry is in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of involvement on the part of the members within the organization. The realization that we are all members endowed with gifts of the Holy Spirit gave our little group within the megalopolis tremendous incentive. We began with the understanding that all are ministers within the body, hoping to influence our world.

With the determination of purpose, suddenly the other problems vanished. We had young people running out of our ears. A moving quotation from Francis Schaeffer’s book, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century,(Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970, p. 107.) aptly describes our situation.

If the church is what it should be, young people will be there. But they will not just “be there”—they will be there with the blowing of horns and the clashing of high-sounding cymbals, and they will come dancing with flowers in their hair.

Boredom had evaporated. Each meeting served a different function, and we chose to carry out its theme by whatever method best insured success. Consequently, our service ingredients were constantly changing. The only inflexible rule we maintained was that we must allow for resiliency. This openness laid the groundwork for a tremendous expression of creativity. Searching for new ways to worship was an exciting venture. Discovering modes of prayer that were not stereotyped and lack pompousness directed us down paths we never realized existed.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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After agreeing that the basic problem of the local church was her undefined reasons for existence with a consequent malfunctioning, the original Circle Church group began to search for that purpose. What evolved in our thoughts was a statement which is included in the Circle Church Constitution.

ARTICLE II—PURPOSE AND FUNCTION

The purpose of this church is to develop spiritual maturity among
its people and to relate the gospel of Christ to its world.
The function of this church is to conduct corporate
services of worship and prayer, to afford opportunity
for interaction regarding our Faith, and to help its members
make use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit given by God.

This succinct paragraph does not even hint at the months of evaluation which gave it birth. Many similar declarations have been included in other formal constitutions, but the crux of their validity is determined by the extent to which they are executed in function. The philosophy of Circle Church—which I have previously shared with you, many blog posts ago—is the outworking of an intense evaluation which evolved both pragmatically and in response to spiritual struggle over the period of two years. During the embryonic phases of our experiment we prearranged that four requirements be present:

1. There must be time within the church for honest interaction in our experiment about our faith. If superficial answers to questions are given, they have to be challenged.
2. There must be valid worship. Our individual understanding of God and His majesty must improve through the development of creative forms of corporate praise.
3. There should be a meaningful prayer life on the congregational level. Personal requests must not only be shared, but be specific enough for us to know if they have been answered or not.
4. There must be an awareness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the role(s) each member is to play in the body. Often it is said, “A very strong emphasis must be maintained in the local church on preaching and teaching the Word.” Unfortunately this kind of statement stresses certain gifts and devalues the rest. All gifts are essential. “We feel everyone in the church should be able to tell others about Christ.” Here again is an unbalanced emphasis which relegates as unimportant all the other spiritual ministrations. We strongly felt that God must be allowed to speak to and through the body by means of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which includes teaching and preaching and verbally sharing the faith, but renders them no more important than hospitality or artistic expression.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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During 2011, I’m sure I’ve listened to more preachers than most of you reading my words. In fact, I wish the average pastor had the freedom I do to hear various speakers from around the country and the world.

My primary observation, however, is one I have often made before. When listening to today’s sermons, it’s frequently difficult to figure out what the speakers want from me by way of response. A lot is said that’s both interesting and good. But, most of the time, it’s like the sermons have no bottom line.

There were noticeable exceptions to this, and, wouldn’t you know it, these were preachers who were in large and thriving churches.

As you go over the sermon you plan to preach this Sunday, have you made clear what it is you want people to do or stop doing? Will they know how to do this on their own, or do they need specific suggestions from you about how to pull this off?

If the answer to these questions isn’t obvious, your message may need some more work.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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I wish it were possible to enumerate the hours I have spent in seminars, retreats, and conferences with other pastors quietly pursuing this angle of thought: the local church has become directionless, mired in purposelessness, and consequently ineffectual and limited-no longer in the forefront of establishing societal change.

As one example, I’ve made it a point to casually ask these men and women from fundamentalist and evangelical backgrounds if they still conduct a Sunday evening service and why they do so. If anyone should know, it would certainly be the clergy. I have never received an immediate answer that was satisfactory. And, the majority responded as if to ask the question were “to hit below the belt.” Sunday evening services are held because they have always been held, and they follow the same pattern because they have always followed the same pattern.

This lack of definition has resulted in the average church’s being trapped in an inflexible methodology. Does every service require music? Is a sermon the best way to fulfill the desired objective of all meetings? How can we encourage more participation on the part of the members?

In most cases, even these questions are premature—because no one has defined why we have churches to begin with. The resultant methodology of tradition stifles creativity. Boredom enters and flourishes among the congregation. Worst of all, the spontaneous, imaginative, inventive originality which characterizes inspiration of the Holy Spirit is quenched, stifled, garroted by inflexibility.

My background has been in evangelical, fundamental churches, but these later years have included a broad base of experience with clergy from all denominations. I have discovered a commonality of despair in the total church. Catholic priests, as well as their communicants, vocally denounce major difficulties. Dialogue with men and women from mainline denominations has convinced me that they are facing the same dilemma. There seems to be an agonizing search for renewal, a cry for primitive Christianity, an urgency to return to our true roots.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy