Fruitfulness or Barrenness.
Last week I had the privilege of being an observer at the
annual conference of a particular church denomination here in the United
Kingdom. On the Friday evening the world leader of this movement stood to
speak. He was a story teller, and for the next 30 minutes I along with the rest
of the congregation sat enthralled and captivated by this man's ability to
bring God's word alive to his listeners. His analogies were both apt and
sometimes funny. The overall point he made was both penetrating and
relevant. He spoke of fruitfulness and
barrenness, he told the stories of women in the bible who were barren and then
in the most amazing way how God intervened and they bore a son at just the
right time, HIS TIME. He told of Hannah the mother of Samuel and her anguish
and her cry to have a child while her husband's second wife- Peninnah- bore
many children. The speaker wondered if Peninnah ever bragged or strutted or
showed off her children when around Hannah, just to remind Hannah that she was
fruitful and Hannah was barren.
"Oh Lord, why can't I be blessed" was Hannah's
lament. God heard Hannah.
The conclusion of the message was, when we look around at other
churches and church leaders, is our cry the same as that of Hannah's. Hey Lord
why can't my church grow, why are they having revival and I am not? Why is that
country experiencing such fantastic church growth and we are not? Do we have
the same thoughts when we look in our own towns and cities where we have
laboured as faithful pastors for many years and we see the local Baptist or
Pentecostal or Anglican (Episcopalian) church overflowing and making great
strides in the same community we serve in. Are we jealous? Do we feel just a
little bit peeved that God appears to be working next door but not with us.
A few years ago, one fine summers day, I was visiting my
aged parents in a little village in rural England. I decided to go for a walk
after lunch and after a short time found myself seated on a bench in a shady
part of a graveyard overlooking an ancient church. The local parish priest was
cutting the grass and switched off his lawnmower and wiping his sweaty brow,
joined me on the bench. I think the elderly gentleman was glad of the
distraction. He told me the church was 800 years old and he also told me how
happy he was to serve this small rural parish in the declining years of his
life and ministry. We had a long conversation that afternoon as the priest
regaled me with stories of serving a rural parish and the peoples and
personalities that were woven so closely into the fabric of his life. What
moved me most was not just the fact that consistently, for 800 years, people of
this particular village had worshiped Jesus, on this same spot, but also the
humbleness and joy that this old parish priest showed at the fruitfulness of
his ministry. He was content.
As someone who observes the continual ups and downs of
Church Growth and Christian Leadership and as someone who is involved in a
rapidly growing church. I see areas that are perhaps the reason why some
churches are blessed and some appear not to be:
The
Bible says "That Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1Tim6:6).
Ever leader of rapidly growing churches
I speak to, is content in his or her calling. They believe that God has called them
to this particular area for a purpose and it is their responsibility to serve
and to build a great
atmosphere by which others are drawn and into which God can bring
the lost.
The
Bible says " Go into all the world and make disciples"(Matt 28: 19).
The church has a mission and that mission is to the
lost. We cannot grow a church but God can. We
need to do our part. Elkanah the father of Samuel and husband of Hannah still had to do his part
in order for Samuel to be born. We still have to do our part. The mistake we make is
that when we get to a comfortable size we forget that church is not for the
saved but for the unsaved. We become a shepherd and not a leader. It is sheep that have sheep not
shepherds. Though it is everybody's responsibility to help
win the lost.
In conclusion if you are constantly looking at what your
neighbour has and what you don't have maybe it's because you are not content in
your calling. Perhaps you have forgotten the mission of the church and have
grown comfortable in just shepherding those that you have gathered around you.
Perhaps it has been years or even decades since someone was won for Jesus in your
church. Or maybe you are just not able or inclined to be the leader that God
has called you to be and are unwilling to count the cost of building
relationship or developing and influencing other leaders. To be fruitful or to
be barren is a choice, we choose it. However I believe it is much more, it is a
mindset. If we don't believe that God can do what he said he can do and live in
that mindset of barrenness we will never have what others have. But if we live
in the mindset of fruitfulness and do all we can to produce and to take what
God has given us then there are no limits to what God can do for us.
Like Hannah God hears your lament, are you doing your part?
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