Archive: “God Don’t Let Me Go!”

by Steve | Sep 5, 1987 | Archive - 1987

Archive: “God Don’t Let Me Go!”

by Margaret Therkelsen

I’m going to fight this thing. I’m going to be healed,” my father had said the night before. The next day I watched this weakened, 80-pound man’s body sag and turn to clay. I watched as his spirit left his body. In that instant I knew Dad was healed. He was walking with the Lord. Dad was completely whole. In the same instant the Holy Spirit moved on me and said, “Margaret. I want to make you whole. Will you trust me now? Will you let me show you some things? Walk with me. Come to me everyday. Let me teach you.” Overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, I paced the floor of the hospital room.

I then went to the door to summon a nurse to confirm that Dad was dead. When this young nurse came to the door, he hesitated, then he stepped back. “What’s going on in here?” he asked. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m flooded with the joy of the Lord,” I told him. “I’ve never seen anyone die before, but I think my dad has gone on, and I know he’s healed.”

I was 36 years old the day my father died. That was the day I had to start my life over. For ten years I had lived in rebelliousness.

But rebelliousness wasn’t the norm for me. I had grown up in the parsonage. My mother and father strongly believed in the power of prayer. I remember well hearing my father’s booming voice as he prayed from the pulpit. My mother’s prayers were never audible; still, as a child, I sensed the awesome power of her closet prayers.

At a young age, I surrendered my life and my career in music to God’s service. I spent summers at Camp Farthest Out learning about prayer from Agnes Sanford, Starr Daily, Louise Eggleston and others. I was completely convinced of the necessity of an active prayer life, and I was a part of many small prayer groups.

Nurtured by the teachings of great men and women, I had begun a real spiritual quest. But unsuspectingly, at age 24 I wandered into the darkest time of my life.

It was during a session with a Christian leader whom I most trusted that I realized, in spite of appearances, he was not walking with the Lord. His curiosity with eastern mysticism, the occult and white magic had a powerful impact on him. He had drifted away from keeping Jesus and the Word of God central in his life.

I was crushed. I was frightened. “If God couldn’t hold this man steady, where did that leave me? If he was deceived while being so committed to God’s ways, maybe I had better rethink going deeper with God.”

I tried my best to absorb the disillusionment. I talked and prayed with others, but something had been jolted inside me, and the pieces would not fit back together.

In my desperate need for companionship, I began dating a man 15 years older than me. He was slick, personable and very handsome—even my parents liked him.

He wanted me to marry him. He poured hundreds of dollars into marvelous gifts for me. He was clever, but there was something about him that made me uneasy. I could never put my finger on what message I was getting from him. He would say something and two hours later, deny it. Red lights signaled it was wrong to date him. Still, I chose disobedience.

When finally I broke off with him, I was left feeling emotionally shredded. There was nothing left for me. I had placed my trust in the Christian community, and now my foundation was kicked out from under me.

Antagonism Swelled

I had thought I was one of God’s favorites. I thought He would not allow anything like this to happen to me. Anger within me germinated and poisoned my attitudes and contorted my concept of God. Antagonism toward the Holy Spirit swelled. “God can’t keep His people straight,” was the message underlining it.

But preacher’s kids are wonderful actors. I continued to be active in my church. I even led a small group, teaching Thomas Kelly’s Testament of Devotion. I said all the right words. I knew all the right prayers. But I was miserable. Desperately alone in my vacuum of rebellion, I felt so far away from God.

But through it all, I never stopped praying. “God, don’t let go of me,” was the root of all my prayers. ‘I’m going to come back to you. I will surrender myself completely to you, but not now. Don’t let go. Don’t leave me.”

Practicing piano 8-10 hours a day, I poured the devotion that was rightfully God’s into my music. I performed as often as possible. Music was my escape; it became my idol.

In the midst of this agony I married John Therkelsen, and in 1972 he and I returned to central Kentucky where my parents still lived.

My father had contracted a rare disease that was killing him by inches. For the next seven years I watched, helplessly, as Dad’s body slowly deteriorated. My sister and I attended daily to Dad’s needs. At 7:00 each morning, we took turns going to the house to help Dad get out of bed and into a wheelchair. We dressed him and fed him. Dad couldn’t use his legs. He could barely use his arms. The feeling in his hands was going. But through it all, he never complained.

Day after day, driving from home to work alone in my car, I raged at God, “How can you do this? My father has served you in the ministry for 40 years, how can you let him be like this? You’re unfair. You don’t stand by your people.” And yet in my heart, I knew God wasn’t unfaithful.

During those lonely journeys, I was so aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit with me in the car. “It’s alright. I know how you feel,” He’d assure me. ‘I’m at work. Don’t you forget it. I don’t abandon my people. I will prove it to you.”

My husband and I housed Dad for several months at a time to give my mother a rest. One day as I rolled him into the kitchen, he murmured, “Well, Margaret, you have to be willing to be a vegetable for God. I am willing to do that.”

I stood at the stove. stirring his soup for lunch with tears streaming down my face. “Lord, God, have mercy! How can this man who knows his body is dying talk this way? How can Dad be so faithful when he suffers so?” Again, the Holy Spirit’s voice was so real to me. He told me, “I will show you, Margaret. I am always faithful to my people.”

Finally, after years of anguish and anger towards God, I resigned. “Lord, I’m ready,” I decided, “I want to see your side of this. I’m open to what you have to say.”

Healing Came

Quickly thereafter, as I stood in a sterile hospital room, I watched as the spirit of God’s faithful servant went to be with his Lord. I have never known a peace so sweet. Waves of God’s presence flooded the room. I knew God had rewarded His servant. He had healed Dad, and He had healed me!

I’ve heard it said when a person goes on to heaven, his prayers are multiplied by infinity. In the moment in the hospital room, I believe Dad’s prayers for me were multiplied by infinity.

I watched the team of nurses prepare the corpse. I couldn’t leave the room. During those solemn moments, I repented for all the lost years. I covenanted to meet with the Lord at 6:00 each morning seven days a week.

The days ahead weren’t easy ones. Through my times alone in the morning with God He reminded me of situations in which I had wronged others. I was required to humble myself and ask forgiveness. For over a year I made restitution. I had a strange sense the Holy Spirit was preparing me for something more.

Life-changing Morning

Nearly eight and a half years have passed since that life-changing spring morning, and still my experience with God is beyond words. One day I sat at the end of the comfortable, old couch in our music room. I met with God regularly there at 6:00 a.m. That day I was praying when suddenly I felt Him flooding me with the burning fire of the Holy Spirit. I had never known anything like this. It was unmistakable and so powerful that I had to lie down.

In that time, He explained my past to me. The Lord had been waiting for me all those years. I couldn’t receive what He had for me. That was my willful decision. I would not receive. I wanted it my way. I wanted my own answers. My heart had grown so cold it took seven years for it to thaw out. But my God is always faithful.

God continues to teach me. He is calling me into sacrificial prayer. He is directing me to teach prayer seminars. In encounters with others I can say, “Wherever you have anguish in your family, wherever you have suffered deep disappointment, wherever you’ve been disillusioned, wherever the foundation of your life has been pulled out from under you, know that it is not because God is awful. It’s that God is trying to lead you into a deeper understanding of his faithfulness. He can be entrusted with our whole lives. He is constantly trying to do an even greater work in us. Praise His holy name!”

Margaret Therkelsen has earned several degrees in music and recently completed a master’s degree in family and marital counseling at the University of Kentucky. She has an active prayer ministry leading seminars and recording a daily program for a local Christian radio station.

Archive: Rediscovering Passionate Preaching

by Steve | Jul 12, 1987 | Archive - 1987

Archive: Rediscovering Passionate Preaching

By John R. Brokhoff (1913-2003)

Good News, July/August 1987

As a director of evangelism wrote recently in a church periodical, “mainline churches are dying.” One denomination is losing members at the rate of 1,000 per week. Another reports a decrease of 25 percent over the past 10 years. Except for Southern Baptists, every mainline Protestant church in America is aboard a sinking ship.

Equally disturbing, in America we have a great potential for numerical growth. There are 96 million non-churched people and 75 million inactive members in this country, totaling 171 million potential members! The church can grow. It is disturbing that most of our churches are declining when the harvest of soul is plenteous.

What can be done about this membership decline when there is great potential for growth? Does preaching have anything to do with it? Recently a pastor wrote an article concerning this problem and offered a fourfold solution for each congregation:

1. Have an evangelism training program.
2. Learn the needs of the unchurched in the community.
3. Pray.
4. Develop a church-growth consciousness through seminars, books and conferences.

Preaching was not listed. When we consider the down-playing of preaching during the past 25 years, we need not be surprised. During this time we emphasized worship with new service books and hymnals. We learned to chant, wear robes, and celebrate Communion weekly. But that hasn’t stopped our decline. We emphasized counseling, but that has not produced growth. Seminaries emphasized, “Get in touch with yourself” when they should have taught, “Get in touch with God.”

Now it’s time to try the best method for church growth – preaching! But you may say that unchurched people are not in church today to hear preaching or that modern people do not want to be preached to. How then can preaching bring in members?

To answer the question, we must first look at the primary task of a minister. In 1745 the Wesleys and their nine preachers adopted the following rule: “You have nothing to do but to save souls; therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”

If the primary task of a minister is to save souls. What is the chief means of doing that? P.T. Forsyth wrote, “Preaching is the most distinctive institution in Christianity. With its preaching Christianity rises or falls.”

But how does good preaching produce growth? People join the church after attending worship services. Good preaching attracts visitors and brings out members.

Preaching also motivates the members to witness. They are inspired, helped, and fed. They become excited and enthusiastic. A recent study revealed that a church member knows an average of eight non-churched people. Good preaching will motivate members to bring their non-churched friends to worship.

Evangelical Preaching. There is nothing wrong with preaching as a method of evangelism. The problem is the quality of preaching. The first characteristic of good preaching is that it is evangelical. This means it must be biblical, for the “evangel” is the Gospel of the Word incarnate, and the Word is recorded in the Scriptures.

Biblical preaching attracts people to church because the power of preaching is in the Word and not in the person delivering the Word. Through Isaiah, God promises, “So shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty.”

People come to church to hear the Word of God. They could care less about hearing the preacher’s personal “story” or opinions. They want to know what God’s will is in today’s predicament and to hear about God’s grace for sinners. God’s truth must be preached with authority and certainty.

A second characteristic of evangelical preaching is that it is Christ-centered. Like the ancient Greeks, people are still looking to the pulpit and saying, “Sir. we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21).

Talking about Jesus is what made Paul’s preaching effective and productive. Under his preaching congregations were born. He said, “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5).

A third characteristic of preaching which causes church growth is the preaching of the Cross. One can preach Jesus as a human being, teacher, leader, or wonderworker. The significance of Jesus is that he is the Savior of the world by means of the Cross. Since humanity’s greatest need is reconciliation with God because of sin, the Cross is desperately needed.

When Karl Barth visited Union Seminary in New York, a group of professors met with him for discussion. One asked, “If you were to meet Adolph Hitler, what would you say to him?” Quietly and simply Barth replied, “I would say to him. ‘Jesus Christ died for your sins.’” In every sermon, therefore, the Cross should be preached so that every person would know the answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”

How does preaching the Cross attract new members? Today people are burdened with guilt. They will come to hear the Good News of forgiveness and deliverance. Moreover, the Cross has a magnetism; for Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). There is something about suffering, the tears, the agony and the sacrifice of one dying on our behalf that draws us to believe in him.

Passionate Preaching. So often a preacher speaks without unction, zeal, life, or enthusiasm. Often there is not fire in the pulpit. Elton Trueblood once wrote of the church as The Incendiary Fellowship. Maybe it would be more correct to call it a cinder fellowship. If the pulpit is not on fire, the pews will never catch fire with the Gospel.

People will not come to church and will not join if the sermon bores them to tears. A sermon needs to be alive and fervent. The preacher needs to be zealous, excited, and enthusiastic about his/her message. Abraham Lincoln once said, “When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.”

How does a preacher come alive? Where does this enthusiasm come from? Fervor comes from above. The source of excitement is in a personal relationship with God through private, daily devotions. The secret is found in Psalm 39:3, “While I was musing, the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue.” Fire in the pulpit results from the preacher spending time with God in daily devotions involving prayer, Bible reading, solitude, and meditation. When Moses came out of his tent of meeting with the Lord, he had to put a veil over his face because of the intensity of the radiance. When Jesus was in God’s presence he was transfigured. The tongues of fire came upon the Apostles after 10 days of prayer in the Upper Room.

To be shut up with God for an hour a day is not a prison. Monks had their cells. They were not in the hell of confinement but in the heaven of God’s presence.

Persuasive Preaching. If the church is to grow, people need to be persuaded to believe in Jesus, to confess their sins, to accept forgiveness, to commit themselves to Christ, and to join the church. To be persuasive one must first be persuaded. You cannot sell a product if you do not believe in it yourself.

Persuasion implies that the congregation can and needs to respond to the preaching. Persuasion requires a response in faith to God’s grace. “Repent and be baptized” and “follow me” demand responses. The Philippian jailer responded, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

Incarnational Preaching. A fourth characteristic of good preaching is that it is incarnational. To be winsome preaching must be practiced by those who preach. It does not matter if the preaching is evangelical, passionate, or persuasive. The old saying is still true, “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying.”

As Lee Iacocca puts it in his autobiography, “Leadership means setting an example. When the leader talks, people listen. And when the leader acts, people watch. So you have to be careful about everything you say and everything you do.”

Peter would agree, “Not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock” (I Peter 5:3. RSV). Repeatedly Paul says, “Be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ” ( I Cor. 11:1).

The pastor should be known as a person of integrity. Whether we like it or not, we live in glass houses. What people see either adds to or detracts from their respect for Christianity and the church.

A preacher sets the pace for the congregation. If the preacher is concerned about lost souls, the people will join in witnessing. Good preaching has nothing to do with church growth? It has everything to do with it!

John R. Brokhoff was professor Emeritus of Homiletics, Emory University, Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. He died in 2003. A prolific author, Dr. Brokhoff, a Lutheran was married to United Methodist evangelist Rev. Barbara Brokhoff. She died in 2023. Photo: Pexels — Kairos Panamá 

Archive: Train your Brain

by Steve | Jul 5, 1987 | Archive - 1987

Archive: Train your Brain

by Shirley Pope Waite

I’m too old to memorize!” the middle-aged woman declared. She was attending a retreat where Florence Turnidge talked about the importance of storing God’s Word in the mind.

“Oh, no. you’re not!” Florence replied, proceeding to tell the woman how Addie Smith McDonald, Florence’s mother, started memorizing a Scripture a day at age 40—and became the founder of Bible-memory groups in Canada.

That was just the start of Florence’s list. “A 90-year-old student who became blind after joining one of Mother’s classes continued to memorize using a Braille Bible,” she said. “Furthermore, a 40-year-old woman started memorizing 300 verses a year-for 9 years! In fact, she committed to memory the books of Romans, Hebrews, Colossians, 1 John, 1 and 2 Peter. Now, at 80, Lena just finished reviewing James!”

Florence Turnidge of Seattle feels she inherited her late mother’s mantle. Under the auspices of “Living Word,” her ministry, she speaks at churches, retreats and on radio about her favorite subject—memorizing Scripture.

“I don’t like it announced that I’ll be talking about memory work,” she says. “It frightens people and they fall into the mindset of that woman at the retreat. Yet we memorize through our school years; we remember friends’ phone numbers, birthdays and what to buy at the store. I’ve heard the human brain has a capacity for storing millions of facts in a lifetime.

“Yet when we say ‘I can’t,’ it triggers a self-belittling prophecy which plays right into the enemy’s hands,” Florence continues. “He knows that what our minds feed on is the most influential force in our lives, and that the release of God’s Word in us forces him to retreat. Then his power is broken.”

Florence’s new retreat theme, “The Living Word Within Us,” encourages listeners to review Bible memory verses on their daily walks. She calls this “Walking With The Word.”

Here are some of the other suggestions Florence offers her audiences:

1. Use 3 x 5 cards.

Write out the Scripture passages, including the “address” (chapter and verse). Put these cards in the bathroom, kitchen, car, pocket or purse. Say the verses while shaving or while styling your hair. Repeat them while waiting at a stoplight or in the dentist’s office.

Florence’s husband, Paul, made her a small wooden stand to hold memory cards which she keeps in the bathroom.

“Sometimes a visitor emerges from my bathroom and says, ‘I just saw your Scripture verses.’ I jokingly tell them, ‘You’re not supposed to come out until you memorize two of them.’ ”

Florence also uses laminated cards so she can carry them during walks in wet Seattle weather.

2. Associate.

There are many ways to employ this memory tool. To learn Isaiah 26:3-4, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee  …”[1], for example, just remember that any 26-year-old woman with children ages 3 and 4 should heed this verse’s advice.

Or when trouble comes, just tell yourself, “When in a fix, Philippians 4:6!”

In learning Joshua 1:9, Florence tended to reverse two words. “Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.” The confusion ended when she kept in mind that “a” comes before “d” in the alphabet.

In memorizing Isaish 55, Florence stumbled on verse 12. Was it “Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace,” or vice versa? “Then I thought of how much I enjoy going out with my friend Joy,” Florence recalls. “That solved the problem.” The alphabet comes to the rescue in this verse too: “j” comes before “p”; hence, “joy” before “peace.”

3. Abbreviate.

Florence taught at a Christian high school in Seattle for several years. To this day, when she sees former students they are apt to say, “Mrs. Turnidge, I still remember the Japanese logger.” They refer to the abbreviations she used in teaching them Philippians 4:8.

“THe JaPanese LOGgeR is a Very important Person.”

The emphasized letters stand for key words in the verse: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are True, whatsoever things are Honest, whatsoever things are Just, whatsoever things are Pure, whatsoever things are Lovely, whatsoever things are Of Good Report, if there be any Virtue, and if there be any Praise, think on these things.” She also points out that this eighth verse includes eight things to “think on.”

Florence’s most recent memory abbreviation comes from Romans 4:20-21, where she found two trios of words that start with “g” and “p,” plus two important “s’s.”

“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

4. Use word pictures.

When learning Psalm 100, Florence always stopped on verse 4.

Was it “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise” or the other way around? In her memory notebook, she drew a tiny turkey on top of a gate. Now whenever he says that Psalm, she visualizes a Thanksgiving turkey perched up on a gate-linking “gates” with “thanksgiving.”

“I call these word pictures my ‘higher-glyphics’ and have several notebooks filled with them,” she says. “The visual is a powerful sense, and we often see pictures as we speak.”

Here are Florence’s “higher-glyphics” for Proverbs 4:18:

“But the path of the just is

as the shining light that

shineth more and more unto

the perfect day.”

Under terms such as “wicked” and “evil” Florence draws two little horns. If a verse includes words as “fear,” “dismayed” or “trouble,” she capitalizes in this fashion:

F D T

5. Find a memory partner.

Call this friend weekly and recite selections to each other. If you choose the same verse and discuss it, it may gain richer meaning to you both.

6. Memorize as a group.

Use your weekly verse during family devotions. You might be surprised how rapidly children learn; they may even surpass you. Don’t “beg off’ when you have company. They may appreciate the verse too. If you can, try starting a church meeting with a verse which members are committing to memory.

7. Use a tape recorder.

If you select a longer passage, record it on tape. Read slowly, pausing after a section so you can repeat. Listen while housecleaning, driving or during an office lunch break.

“I memorized the eleventh chapter of Hebrews while I prepared meals, listening to one taped portion at a time,” says Florence.

8. Sing the Scriptures.

Learn Bible verses that are set to music. Or make up tunes of your own. In either case, include the reference.

As you add new verses to your mental storehouse, review earlier ones. Don’t worry about “overlearning.” And don’t be frustrated if you forget. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will” … bring all things to your remembrance” (John 14:26). A verse will often pop into your mind in times of crisis, because once you’ve mastered a scripture, it becomes life to you (John 6:63).

“I heard a speaker make a profound statement [about the value of books],” recalls Florence.” On a scale of 1 to 1,000, where does the Living Word of God come? We all know it is at 1,000. Compared to it, every other book is at 1. How important to store God’s Word in our minds!” (John 15:7)

Does the “Living Word” lady have a favorite verse?

“Oh, my, I love them all,” Florence says. “There is one Scripture, however, that means much to me. Mother chose it as the theme verse for her Bible memory groups, and I used it as a theme for my high school classes. It’s the only one in the Bible containing the word ‘success.’

“A former student who became a Navy officer wrote his mother that these words were on his lips as he boarded his submarine before a wartime mission.”

The verse: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

“It’s great to attend retreats,” says Florence.” Prayer meetings are wonderful, as are Bible study groups. And I wouldn’t miss going to church services. But if God is to be our portion (Lamentations 3:24), we must walk in His light daily. We do that by writing His words upon the table of our hearts ( Proverbs 3:3). Then we can say with the prophet Jeremiah, ‘ … and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart …’ ” (Jeremiah 15:16).

Florence reminds her listeners of the suggestion that a casual reading of the Bible is like a bee skimming the surface of a flower—but praying the Scripture is like a bee penetrating into the blossom’s depth to remove the nectar. Then Florence adds, “Memorizing God’s Word is like the bee taking the nectar home and making honey of it.”

Shirley Pope Waite is a free-lance writer living in Walla Walla, Wash.

[1] All Scripture references are Kings James Version

Archive: Who’s Ready to be Reached?

by Steve | Jul 4, 1987 | Archive - 1987

Archive: Who’s Ready to be Reached?

Evangelism Expert George Hunter describes 13 kinds of people ripe for the Gospel

Christians must be liberated from entrenched myths that have long frustrated the effectiveness of evangelism. One myth is that one takes a “magic” approach to reach people. Many Christians assume, like our primitive pre-Christian ancestors, that supernatural victories are achieved through “incantations;” that is, that learning, saying and doing the right things right will trigger victory in the spiritual realm. By such a pre-Christian script, Christians try one “magical formula” after another. Or they vow to do nothing at all until denominational headquarters produce the perfect “stretch sock” to fit every situation! In fact, no magic exists in these matters. In part because methods do not evangelize. Rather, faithful compassionate people evangelize, empowered by the Spirit, using whatever methods or words are most natural or useful in a given situation.

Evangelizing people depends much more on God’s grace and on fluctuations in human responsiveness than on our precise theology and eloquence. Indeed churches grow as they learn how to identify and reach receptive people whom God’s prevenient grace has prepared to meet Him. In every season, the Lord of the harvest is bringing a “harvest” into being and is calling His Church to lift up its eyes, and see where the· fields “are white for harvest.” We now have from Church Growth research a body of valuable indicators for spotting receptive people—an immense aid to outreach in a mass society.

Using common sense, we may observe that some people are more receptive to the Gospel than others, and that a given person is more receptive now than last year.

The good news is that in every season some people and groups are receptive. They have been prepared for harvest by the Lord of the harvest, and the Church’s greatest apostolic opportunity in any season is to identify and reach those people while they are open. Today, the power of Jesus’ name is spreading in many lands because missionary leaders and national leaders, schooled in Church Growth principles, have identified societies and population groups “white for harvest.”

“Indicators” are the observable conditions or phenomena that frequently precede or accompany the increased responsiveness of people and the growth of the church. From several decades of research and reflection, it is possible to generate an unmanageably long list. However, by combining some and thinking generically, we can delineate an even dozen, plus one. We do not use indicators in order to supplant a spiritual matter with secular technology, but rather as lenses to help us spot where the Spirit is preparing people and calling us to join Him.

1. Unchurched people who are linked by kinship or friendship networks, to the church’s active, credible Christians are more receptive than others. Undiscipled people tend to become potentially receptive, even emotionally involved, when someone they know becomes a genuine Christian. Typically, the church grows when it spreads to the friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers of its members—especially to its new members and converts. Churches grow when they periodically survey their members and identify all the ministry area’s undiscipled people who are linked to believers.

2. People are more receptive to outreach from new groups and classes than from long established groups and classes. Furthermore, a first generation church can attract some people that an older congregation cannot. We are sure of at least two reasons: (a) Some people like to “get in on the ground floor.” They are more interested in pursuing an agenda they helped create than an agenda someone else created that “I do not own.” (b) New groups and churches do not experience, as much as older groups and churches, the conflict between the “pioneers” and the “homesteaders,” with the homesteaders feeling outside the fellowship of those who “remember back when.”

3. Churches grow as they identify people with needs that the church can minister to, either by (a) extending ministries already in place or (b) building new ministries. To illustrate how ministries can be extended: In the years that Dr. Charles Allen pastored Grace Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia (1948-60), he extended the church’s ministry to unchurched persons engaged to be married, removing all church policies (such as fees) that might be interpreted as “we don’t really want you.” In those 12 years, Allen married 1,113 couples. Every couple was visited in the week following the wedding, and 327 couples joined Grace Church from that one ministry. Allen’s rationale for wedding-related outreach is deceptively simple: “You have an attachment to where you got married!”

4. Sometimes, a more indigenous ministry will reveal a people to be receptive. The principle of indigenous ministry explains more than might be apparent. It explains why John Wesley found England’s working people receptive, the very people the parish churches had found resistant. It explains what happened in a blue collar neighborhood where a Presbyterian church experienced so much membership decline and lack of response that the building was sold. An Assemblies of God congregation bought the building and within a year it was full and facing building plans. Interviews with the Assembly’s new members (from the neighborhood) revealed that the new pastor and congregation “understood us,” “fit the neighborhood,” “spoke our language,” and “sang songs we like,” whereas the former church, at least in their perceptions, had not.

5. Populations in which any religion is growing should be perceived as open and searching for something. Roy Shearer suggests this indication may be the only reasonably perfect one. Obviously, “wherever we see a growing non-Christian religion, we can be sure the people in that place are potential receptors of the Gospel.”[1] We observe this indicator not only in the growth of a traditional religion, like Islam, but also in the growth of ideologies, quasi-religions, and cults—such as communism, nationalism, or People’s Temple. In every case, the religion is engaging people’s felt needs, but Christians need not assume the religion is meeting their deep needs.

6. People among whom any religion has experienced decline tend to be receptive. For instance, with the partial eclipse of Shintoism in Japan and of Confucianism throughout much of Asia, many peoples have experienced a religious vacuum that will, sooner or later, be filled with something. As many people in China, Russia, and their satellites become disillusioned with the utopian promises of Marxism, those peoples will constitute receptive mission fields. In many nations and peoples the inherited folk religions are being jeopardized by the forces of technology, urbanization, and secularization, and their people are open to an alternative faith.

As a variant of the same principle, individuals who have recently lost faith in anything—a religion, a philosophy, a lover, a drug, a pipe dream, an utopian promise or in themselves—tend to look for something new upon which to build their lives.

7. A people experiencing major culture change tend to be very receptive. Culture change takes a number of forms, such as decline of traditional values, or changes in marriage and family patterns or values, or changes in kinship structures or patterns. A range of changes in a society’s political system, from being conquered to being liberated, from oppression imposed to oppression removed, from revolution to nationalism, have all contributed to the receptivity of a people. Major economic changes, such as unemployment, underemployment, runaway inflation, mergers, acquisitions, crop failures and plant closings have all shaken people’s false securities and opened them to the Gospel.

8. Various forms of population mobility induce receptivity. For instance, new settlements are strategic centers for planting new congregations. Peter Wagner reports that “areas of rapid urbanization almost invariably contain large segments of population receptive to the Gospel. “[2] Donald McGavran reminds us that: “Every American pastor is well aware of the fact that new suburbs in which there are no churches whatever are an excellent field in which to plant congregations. And new arrivals in any community yield a much higher proportion of new Christians than old inhabitants. Newcomers are looking for community and are open to new decisions; but they must be purposely evangelized.

“Travel sometimes turns people responsive. Soldiers in World War II who had seen the world came back to resistant tribal areas of Africa and sparked movements to the Christian faith,”[2] McGavran observes.

9. In most seasons, in most nations, “the masses” are more responsive than “the classes.” Much evangelism has presupposed the opposite, that if you first win the people with education, wealth, culture, and influence, then Christianity will trickle down to the masses. But this approach has aborted thousands of possibilities for the spread of the Gospel. Wesley saw that the faith must necessarily spread first from those people with no power, so that others might perceive it to be the power of God. Bishop J. Waskom Pickett’s extensive research and experience in India convinced him that, “There is strong reason to believe that the surest way of multiplying conversions of higher-caste Hindus is to increase the scale on which the transforming, enriching and uplifting grace of Christ is demonstrated in the depressed classes. And one certain way to arrest the movement to the higher castes to Christ is to turn away from the poor and the despised.”

10. People who are “like” the people already active in a church, particularly its newer members, will be more receptive than the surrounding population as a whole. Some churches systematically classify—in terms like age, culture, education, vocation, and class—the people they have received. They interview their new members to discover what was happening in their lives that made them receptive, the needs they felt at the time, the ministries, groups, experiences, and the truths that seemed to help, and so forth. Then they find many people like them and make those same ministries, groups, experiences, and truths available to them.

11. Personal dissatisfaction with themselves and their lives opens many people to a Gospel of grace and a second chance. Roy Shearer has observed that many receptive people are not able to satisfy their life needs and are open to something new that will. Through the ministry of a Lutheran church, a young man who had “tried everything in town to get in touch with my potential” found that his Creator knew him and had a purpose for his life. A teenager struggling with the power of temptation met his resurrected Lord in an Easter service. A twice-estranged couple found the glue for an enduring reconciliation. An immigrant family found “support in our culture shock, and now this whole church is our tribe.”

12. Persons experiencing important life transitions are more receptive than persons in stable periods of life. In every season, many persons are experiencing some major change in their lives or social roles, and this tends to “unfreeze” their lives and makes change possible. The kinds of receptivity-increasing transitions that people experience include adolescence, going to college (or the armed forces), first job, getting married, first child, last child leaving home, menopause, mid-life crisis, retirement, loss of loved one, and other similar experiences. Additional receptivity-inducing transitions that many people experience include birth (or adoption) of a sibling, moving to a new community, getting fired, job advancement, separation, divorce and second marriage. Not all these transitions are necessarily “crises.” Nontraumatic transitions can still induce receptivity.

13. Visitors to a church’s worship service are frequently receptive to that church—at least for a short period of time. Whether church leaders know it or not, visitors use a worship service as a “shopwindow”—to observe and sample the church’s goods to determine how comfortable they are with the church’s people, to detect what the church believes and lives for, to see whether they like it, and to see whether the members notice, welcome, and want them. Effective pastors modify their liturgy to make it possible for visitors to follow and understand, and they schedule times for people to notice and greet each other.

There are reasons to qualify or bend the principle of receptivity, but we neglect its importance to the peril of many responsive people. McGavran reminds us that “Opportunity blazes today, but it may be a brief blaze. Certainly conditions which create the opportunity—as far as human wisdom can discern—are transient conditions. We have today. Let us move forward.”

[1] Roy E. Shearer, “The Psychology of Receptivity and Church Growth,” from A.R. Tippell. ed., God, Man and Church Growth (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1973), pp.162-63.

[2] Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, revised edition (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), p. 249

Life in Death Valley

Good News recently talked with Dr. Hunter in his Asbury Seminary office.

GN: What would you advise local church people to do to try to initiate church growth where they are?

GH: The first thing is to develop an assimilation program. This means churches must ground people in the fellowship, root people in the Scripture, and help them begin in the Christian life. Many of our churches do not reach out to people simply because they don’t know what they’re going to do with them if they do come.

GN: It seems most local churches think that if they are friendly enough to visitors, their church will grow. What’s wrong with that idea?

GH: Two things. There is now research indicating that what people are looking for is not mere friendliness, but something more like genuine caring, if not love. Second. one reason we have a large number of inactive members in our churches today (and here Methodism is not alone) is the friendliness of our people. I’ve interviewed great numbers of inactive members who reported, among other factors, the following: “The people in this church were so friendly when I visited that I felt if I joined this church these people would be my friends. When that didn’t happen, I found myself dropping out.”

GN: So it could be a con to be friendly, in order to lure someone in.

GH: More likely it just communicates something that wasn’t really intended. That raises an honest question: Should I be friendly to someone if I’m not willing to be a friend?

GN: Many of our United Methodist churches are rural. I often hear statements like, “There’s no one around to join our church. Our neighbors are already active in churches.” Does this argument have merit?

GH: First, what they say in those rural churches is true if one still accepts the old parish system, defined as “everybody within walking distance of the church.” There aren’t enough people in some of those parishes to expect great growth (though there are generally more people in those parish-defined areas than the church leaders are aware of). The new situation is what is called the ministry area, where the field of opportunity for virtually every church in America is the reasonable driving distance to the church.

GN: What would be a good distance or driving time?

GH: Fifteen to twenty minutes.

GN: People shake their heads at certain churches and say, “That church is not in the situation where it could ever grow.” But if the right attitudes were adopted growth would be possible?

GH: Yes. Robert Schuller used to say that any church could grow except in Death Valley or at the North Pole. That’s since been amended because there is now a growing church in Death Valley. Wherever there are undiscipled people within driving distance of a church you have an opportunity for growth.

Archive: How To Survive the Human Race

by Steve | May 8, 1987 | Archive - 1987

Archive: How To Survive the Human Race

By Marilyn Anderes

Someone once said, “You can do anything if you have patience. You can (even) carry water in a sieve—if you wait until it freezes.”[1]

What are your responses to crabby sales clerks, whining children or rude drivers? Does putting up with people’s quirks ever seem as impossible as carrying water in a sieve?

Face it. We all struggle with this problem, but consider Paul’s message in Col. 3:12-13.[2] “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive, as the Lord forgave you”.

It is possible to excel in good will, maintaining softness and consideration in our dispositions and manners. We can remain undisturbed when people frustrate us.

“Come on,” you’re thinking. “Am I really expected to remain peaceful when I’m ready to pull my hair out? The kids stuffed the hamper with clean clothes to avoid hanging them up. A soccer ball clogging the eaves caused an unexpected shower. And my spouse lost the keys for the third time this week.” Yes, sometimes people hassle us, but God’s mandate is clear. “Bear with each other. … Forgive.” There’s not much room for argument.

Successful daily living for a Christian demands an answer to the struggle with impatience. I propose three practical helps to bear with each other. All are rooted in our relationship with God and require waiting on Him. We can learn to (1) put up, (2) shut up and (3) hold up.

In Psalm 103:10 we are told “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ” God’s grace offers undeserved favor. He puts up with a lot from us, and initiates and encourages change. We can follow His example with those in our homes, in the churches we serve, in the work places we share and in the shops we frequent. We can refrain from the enforcement of what is due. Proverbs 19:11 says “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” Jeremiah said: “Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? ” (Lam. 3:39).

Put Up

“Fine, but I need more practical suggestions, ” you say. Okay, here goes. Solomon talked about catching “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards ” (Song of Solomon 2:15). What “little things ” could you put up with to give patience half a try? Could you be an acceptor, rather than an exceptor who says: “You’re a great guy, except for …” ? When someone bugs you, could you watch yourself so you’re not tempted to respond in the same way? Would you observe the “one-fact rule “? This rule commits you to believe that when you’re tempted to be impatient, there is at least one fact you don’t know which might offer a logical explanation for the other person’s behavior.

For example, my husband and I hadn’t had a date in at least two months and it was an especially festive occasion, because our mutual … birthday time had arrived. I was anticipating a surprise party I had I planned for him. A small group of  friends planned to meet us at a familiar oriental restaurant. I worked at looking nice, using his favorite perfume to add just the right touch. With the babysitter armed with instructions and snack we headed for the car.

Behind the wheel, my husband asserted: “Let’s go for Mexican food!” That would have been a delightful suggestion—except that our friends were waiting at the other restaurant. I worked at remaining unruffled and said sweetly, “I think Chinese sounds better tonight. ” The retort came swiftly. ” No, I want a big enchilada.” After some haggling, it became apparent that he had chosen tonight to be demanding, unreasonable and interested only in his own cravings. This was unlike him. The discussion went past a bad beginning and dark thunderheads formed inside the car. This was going to be a big fight.

Finally, I screamed in frustration. “You dope! I have a surprise party planned at the Chinese restaurant. We have to go there.” He laughed, and that made me even angrier. He laughed so hard it took him five minutes to tell me that he too had planned a surprise party—at the Mexican restaurant. My impatience revolved around the one fact I didn’t know.

It has been said that “imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.”[3] Consider how an elderly friend of ours used humor to motivate obedience in his children. He shared this fond memory. “There she was, face set like flint and determination written in every furrow of her teenage brow.”

“I just have to go to that party, Dad. Everyone, who’s anyone, will be there and, besides, I need some place to wear my new clothes.”

“Diane, it’s not a good idea. We don’t know this family and we won’t be home that night to bail you out if you need us.”

“Aw c’mon, Dad. I could call you at the dinner party if I had to.”

“It’s against my better judgment, hon.”

“But, Dad. …”

Our friend continued, painting a hilarious picture of himself. In response to his child’s begging, he did his well-known, soft-shoe dance routine, ending with a combination of steps that found one arm in the air and the other hand graciously open before his daughter. With a smile, the word “no ” came musically lilting off his tongue. It was his standard response when his mind was made up. His daughter knew not to press him further. There could have been an ugly scene with a loud and careless word exchange. Instead, the communication was pleasant and has provided many laughs in the following years. Humor is a valuable safeguard, and laughing will help us bear with others.

“Shut Up”

If we’re honest, most of us would admit that we respond to frustrations with fiery words rather than with stilled tongues. Our God is all-knowing, all-wise and available anytime. He is able to justly avenge. We can share what we like and don’t like with Him and save the encouraging things for the ears of others.

Some time ago, a Virginia couple called with an invitation for us to visit them for a weekend. I was ready to pack immediately, but my husband suggested we think about it. “The four-hour ride will be pleasant and we haven’t seen them for so-o-o long,” I insisted. My husband was strangely noncommittal. I decided to drop it, at least for the day. The next morning I was more determined. I got the same response.

On the outside I remained silent. On the inside I was shouting demand at my spouse. What’s wrong with him? Doesn’t he know how much I need a break? I fumed. But I initiated no more discussion.

As the deadline for making the decision drew nearer. I became less willing to say nothing and eventually made my final appeal. Apologetically, my husband said: “I don’t understand it myself. I just don’t feel right about going.” This was my logical engineering executive responding in a most illogical way. Since when has he made a judgment based on feelings? I thought accusingly. I felt cheated but decided to cheerfully keep quiet.

The Friday in question arrived. We stayed at home. Saturday I awakened feeling sorry for myself and I told God all about it. Soon after lunch, our eldest son left for a touch football game with some buddies at the church. His next communique was a phone call from the local hospital. We quickly drove to be with him, as his badly fractured leg was X-rayed, set and put in a cast. I knew then why we weren’t supposed to go on our Virginia weekend. I was glad I had chosen to “shut up” about it.

Certainly there is a time to appeal but it must be done wisely. In his book, Caring Enough To Confront, David Augsburger states: “The crucial element (in confrontation) is—does it foster growth? Does it invite maturing? Does it set another more free to be?[4] Both the words and the timing of our appeals must be chosen carefully, with a caring attitude.

If you are in doubt about whether to appeal or to clam up, silence is a good road to take. “A man of knowledge uses word with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue” (Prov. 17:27-28).

“Some people talk, not because they have something to say, but because they have to say something.”[4] We can commit ourselves to making what we have to say “helpful for building others up according to their needs” (Eph. 4:29).

Hold Up

When babies are dedicated to the Lord in our church, it has become a tradition for our pastor to physically hold the children up. Admiring eyes get a good look at the chubby cheeks, half-cocked eyes and drooling mouths. The Lord Jesus brings us before His Father’s throne regularly “always living to intercede for (us)” (Heb. 7:25). I can picture Jesus holding us up like tiny babies. God’s admiring eyes penetrate our being, overlooking obvious evidences of immaturity.

An effective way to bear with others is to lift them before the Father’s gaze in prayer. Then, surprisingly, we find ourselves seeing those people through God’s eyes, and He always sees potential. Samuel took this principle seriously. He said: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23).

We can experience triumph in this matter of forbearance. “The world seeks victory by trying to get back on its feet, the Christian by getting down on his knees.”[5]

It’s a fact. God calls His people to patience in everyday living. We’re often too quick to tolerate our own faults, while being not so lenient with others. We need to take the challenge and try the three loving responses that make bearing with others possible. We can train ourselves to put up, shut up and hold up. With those who test our patience, only God can affect the cure. But, in the meantime, we can responsibly endure. God motivates us to love, and “Love is patient” (I Cor. 13:4).

Marilyn N. Anderes, member of Mount Oak United Methodist Church, Mitchellville, Md., is a free-lance writer and women’s Bible study leader.

[1] M. Dale Baughman. Teacher’s Treasury of Stories For Every Occasion (Englewood Cliffs. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Inc., 1958). p. 145.

[2] All Scripture is quoted from the New International Version of the Bible.

[3] Ibid., p. 98.

[4] Vern McLellan. Quips. Quotes. and Quests (Eugene. Oregon: Harvest House Publishers. 1982)  p. 19.

[5] Ibid., p. 25.