{"id":32272,"date":"2022-09-10T16:03:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/revitalization-requires-a-passion-to-do-church-differently\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:03:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:03:02","slug":"revitalization-requires-a-passion-to-do-church-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/revitalization-requires-a-passion-to-do-church-differently\/","title":{"rendered":"Revitalization Requires a \u2018Passion to Do Church Differently\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Singkham photo – Pexels<\/div>\n

By Joy Allmond<\/em><\/p>\n

When Brian Moss surrendered to the call to ministry in 1985, he didn\u2019t do it the conventional way. And he didn\u2019t do it in the conventional timeframe.<\/p>\n

He did it after spending nearly 20 years as a systems engineer for one of the world\u2019s largest tech companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be rich,\u201d says Moss, now the pastor of Oak Ridge Baptist Church in Salisbury, Maryland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on a fast path to being successful in the business world. But God pulled the rug out from under me, shined the light on how shallow of an aspiration that was, and just completely altered my future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss, who didn\u2019t grow up in the church, had spent a long season of his Christian life with a passion to serve\u2014yet with no clear direction\u2014volunteering for practically every ministry his local church offered.<\/p>\n

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One morning over breakfast in 1993, his mentor, an older pastor, leaned over the table, looked Moss directly in the eye, and bluntly said, \u201cSon, you need to go to seminary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, Moss put his Tulsa, Oklahoma, home on the market and moved with his young family to Ft. Worth, Texas, where he had enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

By 1999, upon seminary graduation, Moss knew two things: He wanted to be bi-vocational, and he wanted to go where others wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a missional heart,\u201d he says. \u201cSo that moved me to be bi-vocational\u2014with a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pretty soon, Moss began to open himself up to the idea of going to non-Bible belt locations.<\/p>\n

When Moss answered the call to Oak Ridge Baptist Church (his first and only pastorate) in Salisbury, Maryland, balancing marketplace and ministry while leading a dwindling congregation turned out to be the least of his concerns.<\/p>\n

Oak Ridge had shriveled to around 30 after a season of divisive conflict.<\/p>\n

Upon Moss\u2019 arrival, the first two things handed to him were a proposal to change the church\u2019s bylaws, and the budget, because the congregation was going to vote in a month.<\/p>\n

And if those items weren\u2019t overwhelming enough, he discovered an affair between two high level leaders in the church during his first two weeks at Oak Ridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought to myself: What have I done?<\/em>\u201d recalls Moss. \u201cI called my pastor back home and got all kinds of counsel. I prayed like I hadn\u2019t prayed before. I figured out pretty fast that I didn\u2019t know how to lead a church.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was one thing, however, he had on his side.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my (pre-existing) leaders were pruned,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey had a passionate desire to do church differently from what they has seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that, Moss says, is \u201cthe number one thing lacking\u201d in today\u2019s struggling churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have a passion to do church differently,\u201d he says. \u201cThey have a passion to have more money. They have a passion to have more young people. And they have more passion for seeing the church come alive, but they have no passion to do anything differently to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year before Moss arrived at Oak Ridge, the search committee spent a year on their knees in prayer asking God to do something miraculous\u2014to revitalize His church in Salisbury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had already gone through the \u2018broken\u2019 phase,\u201d says Moss. \u201cThey were looking for something new. I don\u2019t know how to revitalize a church as long as the people in power don\u2019t love Jesus enough to change<\/em> the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

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See also  What Do Churchgoers Want to Change About Their Churches?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Back to the basics: simple changes for any congregation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Moss says any church\u2014regardless of size, history, or budget\u2014can become more effective in reaching people for Christ.<\/p>\n

But with one caveat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re willing<\/em>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For Oak Ridge, being \u201cwilling\u201d meant making adaptive\u2014not catalytic\u2014changes during the early part of their season of transformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, \u2018making changes\u2019 didn\u2019t mean we had flashy lights on stage, along with a rock and roll band,\u201d he says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have that. We were still traditional; I wore a suite and we sang hymns.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Moss says Oak Ridge has since become less traditional, those changes didn\u2019t happen overnight. Slow, small changes are the key\u2014changes any church anywhere can make.<\/p>\n

And \u201cchange\u201d looks quite different from one congregation to another.<\/p>\n

The biggest and most important change a church can make to take steps toward revitalization is the simplest one, says Moss.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost churches would double in size if they simply became friendly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about authenticity and love that flows out of your heart. When you love Jesus, you have to love what He loves. If you don\u2019t love people, then you don\u2019t love Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially in a less-churched context\u2014like Salisbury, Maryland\u2014how does a church reach people with the gospel, and how do they move them toward steps and stages?<\/p>\n

Moss says according to his experience, context in North America isn\u2019t an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you present the gospel clearly and if you meet needs compassionately, people will respond,\u201d he says. \u201cI just believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, he says, people are still human beings with a common need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem of sin, deep felt needs, worry, fear\u2014those exist for all people in every culture,\u201d Moss explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is to figure out how to create a doorway into their lives, often opened through compassionately meeting their needs,\u201d he says. \u201cThe culture around us is not the problem; it\u2019s the culture inside the church. That\u2019s what\u2019s preventing the church from growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the passion they had and the changes they\u2019ve made, Oak Ridge has grown from a struggling group of 30 to a thriving congregation of 1,200.<\/p>\n

But Moss issues a warning against holding on to traditions too tightly during times of transitions. This, he says, can be one of the greatest hindrances to reach and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditions aren\u2019t necessarily bad,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when tradition trumps truth, it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss says churches should do everything they can to be ready to receive the people in their communities\u2014with all of their good and bad. Because, this missions-minded pastor says, the United States is one of the largest mission fields in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us lose concept of that,\u201d he says. \u201cWe think of missions as foreign. But there are radically lost people here. We have the greatest opportunity for the gospel\u2014an unbelievable opportunity\u2014if we’re willing to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joy Allmond<\/h2>\n

@joyallmond<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Joy is the executive communications manager at Lifeway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n