Do you find yourself thinking of the hereafter very often? I know that I do! I walk into a room and have to ask myself, “What am I hereafter?” It is so easy to get busy doing things and then start to take care of something but then get distracted and start doing something else. It is also easy to start toward what you had in mind to do and then forget before you ever get there. The other day I knew that I was headed to the pantry for something but forgot what I was going there to get before I ever got there. Thankfully, I did remember shortly why I was headed there and what I was going to get.
I recently saw a meme about a new Senior Adult GPS system. It is tailored for those who have a tendency to think about the hereafter. It not only gives you directions to where you are going it tells you why you are going there! I know you don’t have to be a senior adult to appreciate that capability.
Our Refocus team has been looking at where we have been as a church. We looked at our average membership over the last 10 years and saw that our total membership has remained relatively flat. That tells us that we have basically had people join at about the same rate we have had people pass away. However, our average attendance over the last 10 years has grown slightly year every year. Ten years ago, our average attendance would have been around 150 but today our average attendance is around 225.
We also examined our community and the makeup of our community. Knowing who lives within a 10-mile radius or even a 15-mile radius of the church helps us know whether we reflect our community or not. To some degree we certainly do. This is a community that has a larger number of people over 50 years of age but still has a number of elementary age children and more two parent homes than single parent homes.
As we seek wisdom from God about how He wants us to reach our community it helps us to at least have an idea of where we are headed and why we are headed there. We want to obey His commands to reach the lost and it is helpful to know who we are trying to reach so that we can plan things that will help us reach them.
Thank you for praying for this church and praying for the leadership of this church. We are so blessed to be a part of a great church. March 1st begins my 13th year here and Janice and I are grateful to serve alongside you. We pray that the years in front of us will be the most productive years of this church for the Kingdom of God. May we join God because it is His heart to reach people with the Gospel and to teach them to walk with Him and reach others.
