Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
10 Things to Expect from Your Church on Christmas Sunday
There is no better day for Christmas than a Sunday. For those of us who believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Sunday is the Lord’s Day. It is the day of the week in the life of the believer for us to worship God with His people, the Church.
The majority of churches in America will conduct worship services. For pastors, the church leaders who attend, and the laypersons who come to our churches on Christmas Day… expect much from your church on Christmas Sunday.
10 Thoughts on How to Have a Meaningful Christmas Sunday Worship Service
Celebrate Jesus’ Birthday: Remind people this is the day we join millions of Christians globally in celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Even though the service will also have reflective moments, the overall intent of the service needs to be joyful and celebratory.
Sing Christmas Carols and Christmas Music: Please know, many people that do not know Christ will be guests of your church members. Many of them will know Christmas carols, so sing them, and sing them traditionally. This will help them identify with the day. Additionally, Christmas songs evoke personal emotion and Christmas memories.
Emphasize Baptisms: Christmas Day can be a wonderful time for people to follow Christ in baptism. Families are together and a Christmas memory can be created.
Conduct Communion: Practicing communion, the Lord’s Supper, is a tremendous way to share the gospel story and commemorate Jesus’ death until He comes. Before you do this, the powerful set-up is the story of the gospel and the need for Christ for those who do not know Him personally. At the end of the Christmas worship service, extend a public invitation to follow Jesus Christ.
At times, we encourage families to take the Lord’s Supper together. After I explain the gospel and the elements of the Lord’s Supper, I encourage only those who know Christ to participate. Then we ask families to go to one of our many stations to be served, then find a place at the altar area or go back to their seats to take the elements together. If possible, have someone in each group pray for their family. If someone appears to be alone, encourage families to invite them to join their family for the Lord’s Supper. People will love this experience as they share it together.
Flow, Hook, and Moment: In any worship service, but especially Christmas Day, the flow of the service is important. When the worship flow is strong, create a hook, something the people can remember. A hook can be a strong testimony, a powerful song, the experience of the Lord’s Supper, a video with children, or many other things. When the flow is strong, the hook is set, then we pray for that God moment they will never forget. Only God gives the moments, not us.
Promise Your People Beforehand the Christmas Service Will be Less Than One Hour: In our worship planning, we scheduled our service to be fifty to fifty-five minutes in length from beginning to end. Our desire will be fifty minutes. Provide yourself latitude so the service does not appear to be rushed.
We will also offer Christmas Eve services, but we are designing our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services as distinct and different services. If people only come to one by their choice, we urge them to come on Christmas Day because it is the Lord’s Day. We design our Christmas Eve services to be thirty-five to thirty-eight minutes in length. We will receive an offering for our Ministry Budget and other items in all services. Giving is part of worship for Christ followers, even on Christmas weekend.
Encourage People to Come Dressed How They Would Dress for Christmas: If this is extreme casual, come. If it is formal, come. If it is somewhere in between these two, come. If family tradition is to wear pajamas all day, I think we can all agree that’s a tradition best left at home.
Celebrate Those Present and Seize the Moment: Do not bemoan those who are not there or mention their absence other than being out of town with family.
Remember to be Sensitive to All People: Your services will be full of hurting people. Christmas is a sad time for some who are going through their first Christmas without one or both of their parents, a spouse, grandparent, child, or a close and influential person in their life. It can be a sad time for families who are without a job, have limited resources, or are living on the edge within their own family relationships. There is also a group that is very miserable, only there to fulfill the desire of a family member. Be sensitive because Christmas is not always a happy day for everyone. A pastor’s prayer time that day can help deal with the recognition of these personal challenges, praying for God’s strength and power to get them through the day.
Determine to be a Testimony: Challenge your members and attenders to be a testimony to their family by being part of worship on Christmas Day. Encourage them to adjust their traditional schedules to accommodate for this special day. We are Christians. We worship the Lord on Sundays. Invite your family members or friends who may be in your home for Christmas to join you. Do not let people in your home keep you from coming if they do not want to come, and do not minimize the dynamic personal experience you will have when you come. It will be special. There is nothing like worship with God’s people to set the day in order for Christmas, the day we celebrate Jesus coming to this earth to save us from our sins.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Pastors: How You Can End the Year Faithfully
With the holiday season upon us, how can you end the year faithfully? In other words, what should your focus be for the last few days of this year? You can lead aimlessly or aim purposefully.
I would like to challenge you personally and professionally. Here are some challenges I believe will help us all end the year faithfully.
Personally
I want to challenge each of us to end the year personally in the highest way possible. How?
1. Evaluate where you are with God.
Draw aside to insure all is right with God. Deal with yourself. Talk to God about your own sinfulness and challenges honestly. Practice repentance. Seek fresh empowerment from the Holy Spirit. This is something I believe everyone should do.
2. Examine your relationship with others.
In our present culture, relationships can often get messy and misunderstood. As Pastors, we frequently run fast, and usually that is not to our advantage. Therefore, we need to use this season to examine all of our relationships again. Do not underestimate the influence of a personal call, email, text message, visit, or even a hand-written personal note. The holiday season is the time of year many are hurting and need a special touch. We can all do more to encourage others around us.
3. Elevate your walk with Christ.
Use this season of the year to elevate your walk with Christ. Read more of God’s Word and spend additional time with Him in prayer. Use your personal time with God to pray about what He has before you in the new year, personally and professionally. Spend extra time with God to concentrate on your personal walk with Christ. Be ready personally to launch into the new year in a powerful way.
Professionally
Now that I have suggested four steps to take personally to end the year in the highest realm of faithfulness to God, let me do the same professionally.
1. Consider the status of your church spiritually.
Just as you would have your vital signs checked at an annual physical, stop long enough to check the vital signs of your church. Pastor, honestly before God, how is your church doing? Is your church healthy? If it is healthy, how do you know? If your church is not healthy, what will you do about it? Determine to end the year faithfully.
2. Sharpen your leadership for the future.
Once you have considered the status of your church, it should help you know more about how to lead it. Where will you lead it? What will you lead the church to do? Consider having a demographic study done on your community to understand how to better reach people. If you have already done this, is it time for another study? Are you leading strategically to minister to your community compassionately for the purpose of making disciples of all the nations? Sharpen your leadership for the future. If you will do this, you will lead faithfully.
3. Commit yourself to teach the Word of God faithfully.
As the pastor, your highest call is to bring glory to God by teaching and preaching the Word of God accurately and faithfully. This means you must draw aside to consider what you are going to preach in the year ahead and how you are going to preach it. Will you teach through a book of the Bible or several books of the Bible? Are you going to deal with subjects like marriage, family, finances, the future, and do it driven by the text of Scripture, leading people to walk in the depths of God’s riches? Or will you do a combination of the above? Whatever you do, commit yourself to teach the Word of God more faithfully than ever before in your ministry.
4. Challenge your church to finish the year with financial faithfulness.
I am convinced that pastors need to challenge the people of God to finish the year with the highest level of financial faithfulness to God. It is incumbent upon us to do so for the people themselves, but also for the work of the church. A person cannot say they are walking in faithfulness to Jesus without practicing biblical stewardship. As pastors, we need to step up and challenge God’s people to:
- Honor the Lord with the first ten percent of all God has entrusted to them throughout the year.
- Honor the Lord with gifts of generosity above the first ten percent, giving to international missions, church vision specifics, or benevolence.
If we want God’s people to walk with Jesus faithfully, we need to challenge them to be faithful financially.
As the pastor of your fellowship, plan now to finish the year both personally and professionally, with the highest level of faithfulness.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.