upward & inward

Prayer Journal Entry, July 7, 2012: "Thank you for the seats that are filled and the lives that are changed for you!" As we began the transition after our Senior Pastor left, some on the Council did some reading about others' experiences with similar transitions.  The book, "Elephant in the Boardroom" by Crabtree and Weese , offers some insights regarding expectations for churches in transition. One "prediction", in particular, caught my attention: Worship attendance typically drops about 15 percent... The church loses financial support of 15 percent or so... Those are some big numbers. As the summer wore on, our attendance numbers dropped, as they often did this time of year, while our folks took some time off from regular attendance.  The big test was in late August and into September as attendance typically rises as routine schedules return.  In the fall of 2012, the predictions noted above proved to be true.  Both our attendance and our

Here's an excerpt from   "I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference." by Thom Rainer.  It's a great book to gently remind us of what it means to be a "church member." I Am a Church Member I am a church member. I like the metaphor of membership. It’s not membership as in a civic organization or a country club. It’s the kind of membership given to us in 1 Corinthians 12: “Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it” (1 Cor. 12: 27). Because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” As a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize. I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12: 26). I am a church member. I will seek to be a source of unity in