Church - Dead or Alive?

The following was sent out from the Willow Creek Association earlier today on Twitter.  I cannot overestimate the eternal value of every person who professes the name of Christ.  Being radically sold out as a follower of Christ is the most valuable thing you'll ever do, period.

The local church is a paradox. In some places the church is flourishing and in others it is declining rapidly or dying out altogether. In regions of the world with limited religious freedom, the church is thriving. In China, for example, there are an estimated 100 million believers today, and the pace at which conversions are occurring will soon make China the largest Christian nation on the planet. In other regions where the church was once strong, the future is not as bright. In parts of Europe, less than 5 percent of the populace attends church regularly.

In the United States, with more than 162 million self-professed Christians, the news is sobering. Each year, between three to five thousand churches in the United States hold their last service, close their doors, and put up the "for sale" sign. Statistics indicate that from 1999 to 2009 the combined membership of the major Protestant denominations declined 6 percent, while the national population has increased 12 percent. The proportion of Americans who claim to have "no religion" has increased to 15 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 1990.

We want to be the best we can be for God.  So at TVCC we are beginning 2012 with the series, Just Walk Across The Room.  It will serve to help us better understand the how and why of reaching others with the Word we have and the lives we live.  

How to Prove Your Love

This Sunday we will celebrate the birth of Christ.  We will enjoy family and friends and festivities.  And we will GIVE! And RECEIVE!  And all of this is good, but is most blessed when done in remembrance of God's greatest gift: Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just because we celebrate the season however, doesn't mean we celebrate the Savior.  One day of merriment living does not wipe out a years worth of miserly giving. If you really want to celebrate, if you really want to enjoy this season of the Savior, then learn to excel - always - in this gracious ministry of giving.  The Apostle Paul said it like this,

"Since you excel in so many ways...I want you to excel also in this gracious ministry of giving.  I am not saying you must do it...this is one way to prove your love is real."  2 Cor. 8:7-8 (NLT) 

How? Give real love, abundant time, and heartfelt devotion to your family.  Take time to "be" together and not just exist in the same house.  Give to God because you want to prove your love is real. This is proved as you serve God with your time, your talents, and your treasures.  Or, to put it as Jesus did, with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind...(Luke 10:27). Not because you must do it but because you want to prove it.  You want the work of God to be built up, to increase, and to go out to others.   

Why? Because you love what Jesus loves and Jesus loves people.  Jesus loves your family.  Jesus died for every person and has given us the charge, the privilege of telling them this Good News!  They are the reason He came. We are the reason He came. 

So this Christmas, prove your love is real by not only giving to one another, but giving your best gift to Christ of all that you are and have.   

The Great X Change

This time of year many families and friends have what we've all come to know as Dirty Santa.  People buy not-so-expensive gifts and then go to war as it were, exchanging those gifts to see who gets to keep the greatest gift of little value.

Life is a lot like that.  We go to war, day in and day out, exchanging our lives for the next great prize.  However that unknown gift, that elusive thing we strive so hard to attain, is in the eternal scheme of things, of little value.

That's where The Great X Change comes in.  We get to X Change our lives, even though they are weak and defeated, lost and without hope, for the greatest, grandest gift of all - Jesus Christ and His righteousness.  And oh what a Great X Change it is!

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT) 

Why would God do such a thing?  At first look, it would appear God was getting the worst end of a Dirty Santa swap.  But when you realize that the very reason Christ came was To X-press God's Love, take away the guilt and punishment of sin, plus give us a new and purpose filled life, everything changes.  Join us for Part 4 live at  The Great X Change or to view or listen to the entire series, go to The Great X Change Series.