Top 3 Concerns

I surveyed my congregation recently about the primary concerns in their lives.  We offered feedback on 31 various categories used from a national polling company.  Any guess what the top three concerns are for this group of people from south Charlotte?

Number 1: financial security, affecting 75% of the congregation.  Number 2: dealing with stress, affecting 71%.  Number 3: daily finances, affecting 67%.  I'm guessing that the results are not unique to our zipcode.  I wonder how much of the stress we are dealing with relates to the pursuit of wealth and what it can buy.

Interestingly enough, the top two topics that Jesus discusses most in the Bible are: 1. the Kingdom of God and 2. money.  The first is worth pursuing.  The second often gets in the way of the first, causing us undue stress.  The Bible teaches that relationships with God and with one another are where true joy resides, rather than in things that we buy.  Jesus encourages that it is better to give than to receive.

My congregation and I have some work to do related to money and stress.  We are overly stressed about money.  The Bible offers the solution.  Will we heed its wisdom?  Will you?

What Do You Need?

We have been exploring what it means to be a missional church in our current worship series, Mission: Possible.  Basically, being missional means to help people in need and to introduce them to Jesus.  Light of Christ was founded as a missions church.  Helping others in the name of Christ is in our DNA.

Two questions are important:

1. Who is hurting that we can help?
2. Who is not being reached that we can reach?

The Bible teaches us to help people from our own backyard to those all around the world.  Since God planted us in the Ballantyne community, the Light of Christ leaders and I have been researching the needs of the people in the shadow of the church (zip code 28277).  Demographic studies are helping us to identify some of the critical needs in our neighborhood.  We would also like to hear from you. 

For those living in the area, you will have the opportunity on Sunday 9/26 to fill out a brief anonymous pulse point questionnaire about the concerns in your everyday life.  This will help the church leadership prayerfully seek God's direction for the missional focus of Light of Christ in 2011 and beyond. 

If you live elsewhere and would like to let us know what's going on in your life, feel free to post a reply to the blog.

What are the concerns in your life right now?

 

9-11

Since 2001, I make an annual phone call on September 11. I call my friend, Carmen. We grew up together and have remained friends since. I officiated at her wedding to her husband, Craig. Carmen and my wife have become close friends. On September 11, 2001, Carmen was living one block from the World Trade Center. She saw the planes hit. Then she ran for her life.

Like many of you, I remember exactly where I was at that same moment. I was attending a preaching conference at Lake Junaluska, NC. We were on a break. People were huddled around a television in the lobby. The first plane had just hit. I sprinted to my room, grabbed my phone, and dialed Carmen's cell number. The lines were jammed as thousands of other people were calling loved ones in NYC at the same time. I finally got through to Carmen as she fled Manhattan on foot, covered in soot in the midst of a mob of survivors. She wanted to know if the world was at war. I was relieved that she was alive. Sadly, almost 3000 people in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania were not.

On the ninth anniversary of 9-11, controversy and violence are still in the air. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are alive and well. The United States is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. A proposed mosque near Ground Zero has stirred up all kinds of emotion. A small church in Florida plans to burn copies of the Koran, gaining negative attention from the President himself along with most of the world.

Where is God in all of this?  Here's what I believe:

I believe that God is with the survivors and with the loved ones of the victims.

I believe that God is in New York City, Kabul, Baghdad, and Gainesville...that God is weeping because we continue to hate, fight, and kill one another...that vengeance belongs to God, as does grace.

I believe that God loves Americans, Christians, al-Qaeda, and Muslims...that God wants us to love each other, especially our enemies.

I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to reconcile everyone to God through Jesus...that God doesn't think that hatred expressed by Christians is the way to lead people to Christ.

I believe that even as God allows us to act with free will that God is ultimately in control...that the battle against evil has already been won on the cross.

I believe ultimately in a good ending to all of this.

What do you believe?

How To Fight Child Trafficking #2

Do the children in your life know that you love them?  Do they know that you love them no matter what, no strings attached, and with no conditions?  Do they know that you love them when they mess up, disappoint you, do something wrong or even horribly bad?

That's how God love us.  God has amazing plans for our lives, wants the best for us, and hurts when we disobey.  Yet, God always loves us the same whether we behave like heavenly angels or demons from hell.  In fact, God will never love you more than right now.  Nor will God ever love you less than right now.  God's love for us is perfect.

This doesn't mean that there are no consequences for our actions.  There are.  Discipline can be a loving gift.  And thankfully, love is also expressed through grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

What does all this have to do with child trafficking?  Children who do not experience a loving home environment are at risk for many things: to be distant from God, to run away, to act out sexually, to get involved with alcohol and drugs, and much more.  Last month we talked about the first step in fighting child trafficking is to take care of the children in our lives. Loving our kids unconditionally is foundational in taking care of them.

So, are we loving the children in our lives unconditionally?  If so, how are we loving them?  The Bible teaches that love is an action, more so than an emotion.  Love is what we do and what we say.  How do the children in our lives know that we love them no matter what?