Barnabas File

Pastors have always realized that there will be large numbers at church on Easter Sunday, and it has nothing to do with them.     Of course, this was not true last year, and it was not true this year.     Although some churches were able to meet again physically, many more were involved in worship online, as they have been for the last 14 months.   Despite everything, Easter happened.   God’s people celebrated the Resurrection in church buildings, open spaces, and their homes.  The physical numbers were not important; they never have been.  Numbers don’t valid the message.  If we are depending on larger numbers of believers gathering in worship to be a testimony to faith, we are fighting a losing battle.     A recent Gallup study reported that church membership in the United States has fallen below fifty percent for the first time.  Whether conservative, moderate, or liberal, all churches hav...

“God expects nothing more from you than to live that life for which you were created.   He [sic] wants you to be yourself.”    This is the simple but profound message of Living Your Strengths , a book based on the Clifton StrengthsFinder ® and the research of the Gallup Organization. I was first introduced to the idea of Strengths Psychology through First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman and Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham and Donald Clifton (the designer of the inventory).     My attention was focused on the concept once more when I heard Marcus Buckingham speak at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit several years ago and began thinking about this in relation to the church.   Living Your Strengths by Albert Winseman, Donald Clifton, and Curt Liesveld makes the application of the idea directly to the believer and the   life of the church. The approach is summarized in this way: “God has created the one...

How do you measure success?  For many, it is a nice house, functional car(s), and a well-stocked refrigerator and pantry.  Just to have these things makes us richer than the majority of people in the world.  Of course, we don’t stop there.  We would like our share of electronics, opportunities to eat out on a regular basis, a few “toys” (name your favorite), and a variety of entertainment options.  If we are a bit more introspective, we will share our desire for personal health, good family or friend relationships, a challenging vocation, and a growing relationship with God. If I asked you to prepare a list of things that make one successful, you would pretty quickly come up some of the things I have already noted.  In doing this exercise, we describe our preferred reality, the type of life we work to create despite economic downturns, sickness, catastrophes, and relocations.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but this perception of r...

Have you ever seriously considered the assumptions that Christians embrace in their church involvement? These are things that we have picked up along the way.   It is unlikely that they have been adopted as church policy or even specifically taught, but they have become ingrained in our psyches. Over the years, I have observed a couple of interesting assumptions that Christians seem to have embraced.   First, if I enjoy doing something, then it is not “God’s will for me.”     This may come from all the testimonies that we have heard about ministers “struggling” with their calling.   Or it may be a result of the idea that God doesn’t really want us to enjoy ourselves and demands self-denial.   We might summarize this as “If I feel good about it, obviously it is the wrong thing for me to do.”   This says a lot about our concept of God, doesn’t it? Second, there is the idea that there are some things in the church that anyone can do.   For...

What’s your calling?   I think that more Christians are becoming aware that they have a calling even if they are not clergy.   The observation that “our baptism is our ordination to ministry” has taken on new meaning for many people in the pew as they have rediscovered the concept of “vocation” as a personal calling from God. As individuals discover their calling or vocation, they are also becoming aware that not every person fulfills his or her calling within the faith community.   In Growing an Engaged Church, Albert Winseman points out that “there are far more opportunities to discover one’s calling outside the walls of the congregation or parish.”   I think what he is saying that our calling does not necessarily have to be in a traditional place of service within the congregation. Winseman suggests that there are three questions that spiritual leaders need to ask to help believers turn their dreams or inclinations into callings. What are your tale...