A Tale of Two Attitudes

by Barry Howard

In 1859 Charles Dickens published A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel set inLondon andParis detailing the social and economic challenges experienced during the French Revolution, a conflict that impacted most ofWestern Europe. That era was marked by political upheaval and transition, a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, and industrial and vocational reformation.  Dickens’ novel, however, emphasizes the recurrent theme of resurrection, chronicling how several individuals faced the challenges of those days with perseverance, determination, and resilience.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.   –Charles Dickens

Though we are definitely not living in the worst of times, we are certainly experiencing the toughest economy in recent years…a challenging time to keep your business afloat, a challenging time to be searching for a job, a challenging time to make ends meet.  But the worst of our times can bring out the best in us.  Challenging times can fortify our courage, strengthen our character, and deepen our faith.

Your faith and your attitude can determine whether you view your problems with pessimism, desperation, and despair, or whether you muster your courage and confront your challenges with perseverance, determination, and resilience.  If your attitude is positive, you can face the challenges of coming days with a firm faith and a proactive perspective.  But if your attitude is negative, you will likely face these days with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.

This year is an election year. Will we emerge into a more healthy economy or sink into a more turbulent one? Will we move toward resolution of global conflicts, or will those conflicts intensify?  Will there be a genuine restoration of trust in our national leadership, or will trust continue to deteriorate?  Will we notice a resurgence of authentic faith-based decision-making, or more of a trend toward moral and ethical ambiguity? No one knows for sure what the future holds, or the severity of the obstacles that will arise during the coming year. One thing is for certain: Your attitude when dealing with your complications will determine whether you approach life as a victim or an overcomer.  If you find yourself in need of an attitude adjustment, why not begin now?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord  (Romans 8:37-39 NIV.)

(Barry Howard serves as Senior Minister ofFirstBaptistChurchinPensacola,Florida.)

A Life-Changing Practice: Read the Bible Everyday

 

by Barry Howard

Often I am asked, “What can I do to grow as a Christian?”  There are several things that may help you grow in your faith but one of the most important things is to read the Bible everyday.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  But developing a daily discipline of reading the Bible can be challenging because it requires changing our daily habits.  However, you are never too young or too old to start.

During the past few months, I have participated on a study team of pastors and scholars who have been investigating the impact of “The Bible and Your Life.”  Responses to our survey indicate that reading the Bible privately once a week or more is the “game-changer” in putting faith into practice. Those who read the Bible privately on a regular basis are much more likely to look to the Bible for guidance in making life decisions than those who read the Bible seldom or never.

In analyzing the responses to our survey which indicate a strong correspondence between Bible reading and faith application, Dr. Penny Marler, professor of sociology at Samford University, surmises that, “In a world that presents us with many options and distractions, what we choose to spend our time doing says a great deal about what is important to us and the more we engage in a particular behavior, the more important it becomes.”

Consider some of the advantages of reading the Bible daily.  Daily Bible reading increases our knowledge of God’s word.  Regular Bible reading gives us a more intimate and personal acquaintance with the biblical text. It helps us to discern God’s plan for us. This daily discipline encourages us to integrate the teachings of the Bible into our daily lifestyle. Daily Bible reading confronts our personal sin and affirms God’s forgiveness. This practice inspires us toward faithfulness and consistency in all of our tasks. Reading the Bible daily helps us to understand the contextual meaning of passages whereas those who read the Bible only occasionally or who read only a selected verse or two are more likely to superimpose their own presuppositions on the text.  And finally, daily Bible reading helps keep your life and faith in focus.

Years ago, Lord Tennyson wrote, “Bible reading is an education in itself.”  Here are some helpful strategies to develop a daily Bible reading plan: 

¨      Begin by using a companion devotional guide.  Our Daily Bread, Open Windows, and the Upper Room are just a few examples of devotional booklets that include both a daily Bible reading selection and a few inspirational comments and stories. There are also a growing number of online devotional sites, such as www.d365.org, that provide relevant daily devotionals, and other sites that you can subscribe to that will send daily devotional readings directly to your inbox.

¨      Try reading the Bible book by book.  Some suggest alternating your reading between New Testament and Old Testament books.

¨      Read a chapter a day from the New Testament and the Old Testament plus a Psalm and one chapter of Proverbs.  This approach provides a balanced diet of biblical perspectives. And because Proverbs is divided into thirty-one chapters, it makes for good systematic reading because of its compatibility with our monthly calendar.

¨      Read the Bible in one year.  Many Christian publishing companies offer printed schedules for reading the Bible through in one year. The assignments for daily reading may prove challenging to slower readers but the rewards of knowledge and inspiration are definitely worth the challenge.

If you want to grow in your faith there are many practices that will enhance your spiritual maturity: daily prayer, regular worship participation, ethical decision-making, and ministry involvement.  But one of the best places to begin your journey of spiritual growth if you are a new Christian, or to deepen your faith if you are a maturing Christian, is to develop the discipline of reading the Bible daily.

In extolling the significance of Bible reading, Billy Graham proposes that, “The word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress.” If you really want to put faith into practice, resolve to spend quality time reading the book every day.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister of First Baptist Church of Pensacola.)

Interview with Dr. Penny Marler: “The Impact of the Bible and Your Life”

By Barry Howard

For the past three years, I have been privileged to participate in a Pastor-Scholars Studio, in partnership with Duke University and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and funded by The Lily Endowment.  As a part of the Studio, I have been engaged in a project group consisting of Dr. Mark Biddle, professor at Baptist Seminary of Richmond; Rev. Amy Butler, pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.; Dr. Gary Furr, pastor at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham, and Dr. David May, professor at Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City.  Our project was to explore the impact of “The Bible and Your Life,” and our primary instrument was conducting a survey of like-minded Baptists regarding the importance of the Bible in their faith and practice.

Our project team retained respected sociologist, Dr. Penny Marler, of Samford University to facilitate the administration and analysis of the survey.  After our results were compiled, I asked Dr. Marler, a devoted Christian, a few questions about her analysis of the responses:

Barry:  What one thing about the survey surprised you the most?

Dr. Marler: That personal Bible reading was so strongly related to the importance of and knowledge about the Bible—even more so than reading the Bible in church or with one’s family.  Whether lay CBF respondents were older or younger, male or female, better or less well-educated didn’t matter at all:  the Bible’s importance in one’s life was predicted by how often someone read the Bible alone.

Barry:  If you were a pastor, what did the survey indicate you should be emphasizing to your congregation?

Dr. Marler: First, I think that all laity should have a personal Bible.  Parents should make age-appropriate Bibles available to their children.  They should not only read the Bible to/with them but they should also make intentional space/time/creative instruction available so that children and youth can explore the Scriptures on their own.  Adults should model personal Bible reading.  Similarly, adults should be encouraged/challenged/affirmed in personal Bible reading: as Sunday School or Bible Study homework, as a part of devotional practice, and even for pleasure.

 

Barry: Why do you think that personal Bible reading is such a crucial influence on individual lifestyle? 
Dr. Marler:  In a world that presents us with many options and distractions, what we choose to spend our time doing says a great deal about what is important to us and the more we engage in a particular behavior, the more important it becomes.  It’s really an affirmation of Reformation Christianity: the centrality of the Scripture and the priesthood of all believers.  It is also, strikingly, resonant with what is known about the way that human faith develops and grows.  The Scriptures provide images and stories that resonate with the struggles of persons to make meaning in their lives.  There are stories about love, betrayal, commitment, suffering, faithfulness, sacrifice and fulfillment—and, of course, in these stories we are not alone because the Bible is the story of God’s engagement with us.  Immersion in those images and stories makes them more natural back- and fore-grounds for making sense of our lives. 

The responses to our survey emphatically indicate a direct correspondence between regular private Bible reading and faith application.   Our conclusion seems almost over simplistic:  Reading the Bible privately as a regular practice equips an individual to become a stronger, faithful, and more effective follower of Jesus.

Stewardship: Managing the Ups and Downs

by Barry Howard

 

How do maximize your resources and minimize your anxiety when the market is up one day and down the next. Some analysts believe that we are progressing in our economic recovery while others caution that the lifespan of this recession will be longer than many experts expected. How do you find financial, emotional, and spiritual stability in an unstable economy?  The only way I know is by practicing the principles of Christian stewardship, and there are no shortcuts.

Christian stewardship is a pragmatic spiritual discipline…a management responsibility which applies to every facet of life.  As believers and worshippers, we are accountable to God for how we exercise that managerial responsibility over all of our resources, especially our time, our spiritual gifts, our opportunities, and our finances.

Although we began seeing signs of an economic shift shortly after the successive storms of 2004-2005, the turbulence has gone global, leading some of the major international economies into a period of re-structuring or re-visioning. Now we are in 2012, and though the market has regained some of its vitality, a spirit of anxiety and uncertainty still hovers over Wall Street.

We do not know how long these recession conditions will last, we do know that God’s economic guidelines bring stability during all of the seasons of life. In his book, Full Disclosure: Everything the Bible Says about Financial Giving, Dave Bell writes, “Stewardship is not just an opportunity to enter into God’s service but an opportunity for God to enter into you.”  I believe that for those who dare to practice biblical stewardship, giving becomes a fun part of our management responsibility. Paul gives us a vivid description of a believer’s attitude toward God’s economic plan when he writes, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  II Corinthians 9:7  NIV

God’s plan for economics begins by calling us to a positive and proactive attitude toward managing. A primary step toward managing all of your God-given resources is to present the firstfruits, or the first tenth of your increase, as a tithe unto the Lord.  The prophet Malachi probably has the most emphatic words to say about giving:  “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”  Malachi 3:8-10 NIV

Herb Mather, author of Don’t Shoot the Horse (Until You Know How to Drive the Tractor), proposes that “The vertical relationship to God and the horizontal relationship to neighbor come together in the act of giving.” In other words, that cheerful spirit of managing and appropriating our resources for kingdom purposes cultivates within us a passion for mission and ministry.

How do you begin, or continue, the practice of Christian stewardship?

• Understand that all resources are a trust from God, and we are charged to be good managers.
• Prioritize your tithes and offerings.  
• Provide for your family with gratitude and careful management strategy.
• Adopt a lifestyle of enjoying simple gifts.
• Be ethical and honest in all transactions.
• Limit credit liability and strive to eliminate debt.
• Invest in the future through a savings and investment plan.

During these tough economic times God’s principles of stewardship can bring stability to our homes and our businesses, as well as the ministries of our church.

As we grow stronger in faith and friendship, let us commit to also grow as managers so that we can maximize all that God has given into our care.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at the First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.)

Will the Candidate with a Vision for the Future Please Speak Up?

Tomorrow I will vote in the Florida primary. Again this year we are being told that voters in our state will play a pivotal role in the choosing which candidates win their party’s nomination, and eventually which candidate wins the election in November.  For the past few days, candidates have been making brief stops and stump speeches in my city of Pensacola, and unfortunately, the more I hear, the more frustrated and discouraged I become.

I am not bothered by their vision, but by the lack thereof. And as the rhetoric continues to grow more and more accusative and vindictive, the message becomes less and less trustworthy and appealing.

However, despite my distaste for the negative tactics in campaigning, I will go to the polls and cast my ballot.  I consider voting to be a civic responsibility.  And as a Christian, I also think that voting conscientiously is something Jesus would do. But this year, I am voting out of obligation, not out of enthusiasm.

I confess that tonight I am really having a difficult time deciding which candidate is the least objectionable and the least slanderous.  I think it would be refreshing to hear candidates present their vision and their values rather than hear them launch repetitive attacks against their fellow candidates. A forward-thinking, proactive, values-based campaign might even rejuvenate participation in the political process, and restore confidence in national leadership. While there are those who say, “That’s not the way the game is played,” maybe it’s time for the game to change.

The future of our nation is at stake. We are voting for a president, not a mud-slinging champion.  It’s high time to put aside the political venom and cast the proactive vision. Since the candidate I vote for in November could be a different candidate than the one I vote for tomorrow’s primary, I find myself asking, “Will the candidate with a vision for the future please speak up?”  I don’t think we’ve heard from you.  But we are listening…and waiting.

(Barry Howard serves as Senior Minister of theFirstBaptistChurchinPensacola,Florida.)

Rekindling Hope

by Barry Howard

Advent is a time to reclaim the hope we have in Christ. Our hope in Christ reminds us that through the ever-changing circumstances and seemingly insurmountable challenges of life, “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

As our nation emerges ever-so-gradually from a recession, economic uncertainty has become a global concern, with many European countries either re-organizing or teetering on the brink of financial collapse.

As we prepare for a crucial election year, the rhetoric of the campaigns already sounds more indicative of superficial political posturing than substantive problem-solving.

A general cultural malaise that is saturated with complaint and almost devoid of optimism seems to be contagiously infectious, not just around the nation, but around the world.  And to make matters worse, that sense of hopeless discontent has infiltrated the church.  If the community that has been called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), the very bastion of hope, forfeits hope for hopelessness, we may find ourselves rushing toward an apocalyptic future.

Real hope is neither blind nor naïve.  Real hope motivates us to rise above despair and deal with challenging circumstances proactively, constructively, and collaboratively.

A few years ago I read of a rather profound exchange between two clergy who were working together during a season filled with monumental changes.  In 1960, John Claypool began his tenure as pastor at the Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville.  Shortly after his arrival, Claypool became friends with a Jewish rabbi who was forty years his senior.  Their friendship grew deeper as they worked together in the civil rights movement. After a tense and unproductive meeting one day, Claypool looked at his Jewish friend and said, “I think it is hopeless. This problem is so deep, so many-faceted, there is simply no way out of it.”

The rabbi asked Claypool to stay a few minutes after the meeting and said, “Humanely speaking, despair is presumptuous. It is saying something about the future we have no right to say because we have not been there yet and do not know enough. Think of the times you have been surprised in the past as you looked at a certain situation and deemed it hopeless. Then, lo and behold, forces that you did not even realize existed broke in and changed everything. We do not know enough to embrace the absolutism of despair. If God can create the things that are from the things that are not and even make dead things come back to life, who are we to set limits on what that kind of potency may yet do?”

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.   Isaiah 40:28-31

Like the stoking of warm embers to re-awaken the flame, hope can be rekindled by stoking the fire in our bones that propels us “to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8) in all of the seasons of life.

Advent is a season to rekindle our hope and to renew our strength, a hope inspired by God’s perspective and strength that motivates us toward God’s plan, realized on earth as it is in heaven.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at the First Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida.)

Advent: A Progressive Journey toward Christmas

by Barry Howard

When observed faithfully and progressively, Advent can prepare us for a Christmas celebration filled with mystical wonder and deep meaning, a spiritual communion that far exceeds the buzz of shallow commercialism.

In the rural church of my upbringing, we didn’t observe Advent. We jumped directly from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  In our close-knit congregation, the non-negotiable liturgical dates on our church calendar other than Christmas and Easter were Church Conference after worship service on the first Sunday, Gospel Singing on the fourth Sunday night, Revival during the second full week in August, and Homecoming the last Sunday in July. Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Passover, and Pentecost were nowhere to be found.

During my early years as a minister, I was introduced to the colors and candles of Advent and my journey toward Christmas changed drastically.  Today, I am convinced more than ever that as mission-driven Christians who live in a market-driven culture, we need the reflective disciplines of Advent to keep us alert to stealth forces like materialism, busyness, and greed, illusive grinches who would love to steal away the real message and gifts of the season and replace them with superficial slogans and glamorous counterfeits.

For the Christian, the season of Advent calls us to a progressive journey toward Christmas. When our days are seasoned with prayer and saturated in expectation, we think about Christmas differently than the rest of the world.  Advent has a way of rescuing us from the busyness and the relentless anxiety to meet materialistic expectations.

This year in our church we will count down the days until Christmas by listening to the prophets, singing the carols, re-reading the gospels, and lighting the candles that refuel our peace, hope, love, and joy. Then we will be better prepared to sense the anxiety of Mary and Joseph, to feel the labor pains of God, to celebrate the birth of the world’s most renowned newborn, and to hear both the singing of angels and sobs of Rachel weeping. This gradual journey of Advent culminates when the Christ candle is lighted and the Christmas Star shines over the manger in Bethlehem.

If we dare to journey through this season one day at a time, to reconsider the promises of the prophets, and to revisit the nativity narrative of the gospels, we may discover that we are more than ready to follow Christ from the cradle to the cross and beyond.

(Barry Howard serves as the senior minister at the First Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida.)

A Pastor’s Prayer for Parishioners

By Barry Howard

Good and gracious God,

I come to you praying for those who are members, formally or informally, in the congregation I serve.

I pray for the young and the elderly, the sick and healthy, the employed and the unemployed, the happily married and the unhappily married, the active and the semi-active, the veteran saint and the new believer, and the spiritually passionate and the spiritually frustrated.

I am aware at this moment of the diverse and divergent life experiences confronting each individual on this day.  I pray for those who are at the top of the mountain, experiencing success in their business, stability in their home, growth in their faith, good health, and/or unspeakable joy in their heart.

I also pray for those who are currently in the valley of despair, experiencing frustration in their business, anxiety in their home life, lukewarmness in their faith, mounting concerns with their health, and/or perplexing grief in their soul.

I pray for every member of this spiritual family to know the deeper purpose of congregational life, to worship and to serve with faithfulness, to listen and to speak with intentionality, to be honest and to be humble, to be reverent and to be respectful, and to weep and rejoice, privately and together, as needed.

Help us as your family to balance those ongoing tasks of reaching out to those outside our family while ministering to each other within the family, so that neither task is lacking.

Help us as your people to work energetically for the common good of your community-yet-under-construction, so that our personal ambitions and our preferential agendas do not derail or defeat your initiatives that are often invisible to the self-absorbed eye.

Help us as your church to experience an emerging momentum toward faithfulness, the elation of cheerful giving, the gratification of serving, a growing willingness to make sacrifices, and the inner peace that comes only through your divine presence within.

Help us as your children to continually and wisely realign our lives, not conforming to the mirage of pop culture, but always being transformed by the durable and timeless work of Jesus Christ. 

Keep us in tune with your Spirit who convicts and comforts, guards and guides, and equips and encourages, and who is working actively to generate good in all circumstances, especially those things that we perceive as devoid of good.

Since life in this world is imperfect and every individual life including our own falls short because of the brokenness of sin, teach us to be more gracious and less judgmental, more inclusive and less exclusive, more compassionate and less condemning, because we have already seen this kind of grace demonstrated in the story of Jesus.

In this crucial day in time when  many  have forsaken spiritual community for religious conglomerate, replaced worship with trendy entertainment, and prioritized self-interests above service, remind us that we are people of the towel, both to wash each other’s feet, to dry each other’s tears, and to wipe clean the slate of sins on earth even as you have purged our sins from our private record in heaven.

Encourage and equip us to be your hands and your feet, your light and your love, and your disciples and your servants in a world that needs authentic witnesses of your love and your mercy.

May we receive each day as a gift, and like Jesus, to value relationships above the quest for riches and the preservation of traditions, and to prioritize covenant loyalty above comfort, convenience, and temporary gratification.

As you free us to live life to the fullest, make us to be incarnate representatives of your presence and illustrative constituents of your grace, for we pray in the name of the one who came to give us life and life more abundantly.

Amen

A Pastor’s Prayer for Pastors

by Barry Howard

(This prayer was offered at the Mercer Preaching Consultation on St. Simon’s Island on September 26, 2011.)

Gracious God,

 I come to you as a pastor praying for pastors.  I pray all men and women from every walk of faith who are called into this peculiar work of encouraging and equipping others for their journey.

First I pray for pastors to be encouraged. For all its rewards, this work can be discouraging.  I pray for those pastors who are right now living through the dark night of the soul, some experiencing darkness because of the challenges of their congregation, others experiencing darkness because of emotional depression, and still others experiencing darkness because of physical or spiritual fatigue. I especially pray for those pastors who are discerning whether to go to a new place of service, and for those pastors who have confirmed the call to stay where they are to seize the opportunities and tackle the challenges.  I pray for the energy of pastors to be revitalized so that pastors can dream dreams and have visions, do their work with the right spirit.

I pray for pastors to be faithful.  I pray for pastors to live in faithful covenant to their families, both their parish family and their personal family, and to always know the difference between the two.  I pray for pastors to be faithful to our calling, always discerning and following your kingdom initiatives, and to be continually engaged in dialogue with you.

I pray for pastors to be anointed with a fresh dose of courage. These are stressful times and it is no time for your shepherds to be sheepish.  You did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of courage, so help us as pastors to speak and act courageously with moral and ethical conviction for causes that are just and right.  Help us to act with courageous conviction in living and preaching the good news to all people regardless of ethnicity, creed, or economic status.  And help us to have the courageous insight to navigate our congregations toward the ways of Christ, and away from any popular fads, trends and perceived shortcuts to growth that both trivialize the gospel and minimize the Christian experience.

I pray for pastors to have endurance.  I pray for pastors to work intentionally and intelligently, to carefully manage the demands of an unpredictable schedule, to faithfully practice Sabbath-keeping, and to respond with tough love to those occasional high maintenance saints who can become like thorns in the flesh and pains in all of the wrong places.

I pray for pastors to be effective preachers.  I pray for us to be both prophets and poets, who tell the truth and love the people.  I pray for pastors to speak with authority from on high and yet have street level savvy, so that we can simultaneously be heavenly minded and do some earthly good.  In a world filled with bad news, I pray for pastors to be articulate and welcomed voices of good news, bringing your right word at the right time.

Lord, it is an exciting, but gut-wrenching time to be a pastor.  And although faith no longer enjoys privilege and preference in the public square, we are confident that the message of faith is astoundingly relevant at the major intersections of life and that the message may be heard more profoundly in the congestion of the daily grind than from the assigned seats of privilege.

In a world where people are not content with easy answers; where truth is sometimes black, sometimes white and sometimes gray; where superficial spirituality is insufficient; and where seekers are searching for authenticity; help us as pastors to rise to the occasion to speak the truth in love, and to be more about the business of the kingdom than the kingdom of business.  Help us as pastors to find security in our belonging to you and not in the whims of the culture in which we live or the opinions of the beloved people we service.

For every pastor, and especially me, O Lord,

I pray for clarity of call and clarity of conscience.

I pray for physical health and spiritual vitality.

I pray for emotional stability and spiritual sensitivity.

Restore unto us both the joy of our salvation and the joy of ministry,

That the fire in our bones will be transformed into the energy and enthusiasm with which we serve.

In the name of the one who calls us, who encourages us, and the one who will see us through until the end.    Amen

Who Will You Invite to Church This Sunday?

By Barry Howard

A young professional said, “I got out of the habit of going to church while I was in college. I usually slept in on Sunday mornings. I’ll get started back when I get my life together.”

A single woman said, “Since my divorce, I’ve been too embarrassed to return.  I feel like a failure and I really don’t want to answer questions about my ex-husband.”

A businessman said, “My wife and I used to teach youth Sunday School. I was an active deacon and she served on a couple of committees.  But we decided to take a sabbatical from church for a while, you know, so we don’t get burned out.  We will be back someday.”  Their sabbatical was moving into its fifth year.

An engaged couple said, “We want to start after we get married.  But since we’ve moved in together already, we feel sort of strange coming to church right now.  We don’t want people to judge us.”

And the list goes on. Through the years I have learned that people disengage from church for a variety of reasons, sometimes intentionally and at other times, unintentionally.  Whatever the reason, it is not our responsibility as church members to judge them, but to lovingly welcome them and reconnect with them. 

This Sunday September 18 is National Back to Church Sunday, a multi-denominational effort to re-enlist those who have become inactive or disengaged from the life of the church. Although 83 percent of American adults identify themselves as Christians, only about 20 percent attend church on any given Sunday.

This Sunday is a great time to invite friends and neighbors who have become disconnected from their church family to come to church with you. A 2008 study by LifeWay Research and the North American Mission Board of 15,000 adults found that 67 percent of Americans say a personal invitation from a family member would be effective in getting them to visit a church. Sixty-three percent say an invitation from a friend or neighbor would likely get them to respond.

While there are many seekers who float from church to church to hear popular preachers and trendy Christian music, there are thousands of non-churchgoers who long to connect or reconnect with a caring spiritual community, a church that accepts them as they are and challenges them toward a journey of growth and discovery. Isn’t that how Jesus related to his early followers? 

A personal invitation from you can open the door for someone who is disconnected to become an engaged participant.  Who can you invite to come to church with you this Sunday?

(Watch video at http://www.fbcp.org/Uploaded/11-Summer-Video.swf )

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at the First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.)