Why I'll never be good at NCD.

The guest preacher this morning was a big name in New Church Development.  He spent his whole career planting new churches and helping them grow.

I'm thankful that there are people who are called to and gifted for that kind of ministry.  I'm not one of them.

That I'm not one of those people is never clearer to me than when I hear one of them preach.

This morning's preacher concluded his sermon with the admonition, "remember, God didn't create the church for you, God created the church so that you could go out and bring other people to it."  [emphasis mine]

That just doesn't work for me.  I've heard the sentiment before (most recently in a youth meeting that I went to).  To my ears, it amounts to "the people here are only important in so far as they can bring in new people."

I've always felt that my gifts and call are for the people who are already here.  I think they are important in their own right, I don't think members of the church have an expiration date.

And, I kind of like the feeling that the church is at least a little bit for me.

Comments

[Jenny]

Amen, sister!

[Doug]

The sentiment doesn't make sense to me. Why would they come if the church isn't for them? That sounds like a pyramid scheme, not a church.

I'm ok with evangelism, but shouldn't you be bringing people to something that actually has its own value?