I was struck by the opening lines of this news item from Baptist Press: “Kingdom passion drives 71-member church“.
Prior to 2004, Macedonia Baptist Church’s heart beat almost solely for its members.
“We were a bunch of older folks who pretty much attended church for ourselves,” said Gerald Williams, a member of the Fayetteville, N.C., congregation. “We were self-centered in a lot of our church work.” [emphasis added]
The post goes on to detail how this small church transformed its emphasis into kingdom work. Giving, growing, serving, the church is gloriously different today. But I wonder, how many of us are just attending church for ourselves?
I’ve seen plenty of churches that seem more like a club. People attend because its what they are supposed to do. They do their thing, do the rituals, pray, sing, preach, etc. But its all about the social connection and their need to be obedient and go to church. At church, the conversation revolves around the weather and what they did last weekend; then, they leave, hardly thinking twice about the things of the Lord or serving the lost, caring for others, missions, anything until the next time they darken the door.
Often these churches prize sound doctrine. They are all about being Biblical. Yet each member lives for his family, his job, and his financial well being.
Come to think of it, I too often go to church for myself. While I might think of the things of the Lord at times during the week, I’m often simply storing up doctrinal facts and thinking about this and that doctrinal controversy. And I’m thinking about my family and my job, too.
Why is it so easy to live in the world, as if this world is all that matters? Why is it so hard to pull away from our own often very large and weighty concerns and look to the fields which are white and ready to harvest?
Lord, give us eyes to see the need, give us a heart to live for Your Glory and to spread Your fame. Lord help us to serve to love and to live for others. May we go to church for others, to serve them, love them, and be prepared to live for them.
Before we jump in to the blog posts I’ve been spotting lately, let me remind you of Bob’s Blog Finds. In my sidebar you’ll notice that I show the last 10 posts I’ve shared from my blog reading. The posts I share there don’t always make it to these blogroll posts, but they are worth a read. You can 
Mitt Romney looks too good. He’s slick and smooth, almost slippery. He sounds presidential, they say. Well, to me he comes off as very…shall we say…political. Better yet, savvy. He says what people want to hear.
It seems lately that I’m always highlighting another Keith Getty or Bob Kauflin song. I don’t want to make it seem that only GettyMusic and Sovereign Grace Ministries are producing good songs!