““You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:13-16

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Retracing Our Steps

Two weeks ago, I preached on how it is that you should rightly understand your lives in relation to money. Briefly, all that you have is God’s, and he has designated you as a steward of those things in your realm. Your right relationship with God depends upon submitting all you are and have to him. Or, as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The Lord has entrusted each of our members with differing amounts of wealth and potential. If the church is rightly proclaiming Christ and him crucified, and if we have true disciples in our midst, then we will overflow with financial and other resources despite our small size. This all depends upon your right understanding of yourselves and of the nature of the church. If you do not see yourselves as Christ’s peculiar people, and if you do not see the church as the bride of Christ, then you will not feel as though the way you share your money with this church matters. It is my role as pastor to continue making the case for your discipleship and right participation in the church.

Last week, I preached on the context of Nowata. After ten years of ministry here, I cannot help but feel like I understand a good deal of the different forces at play here. I worked to describe our mission field here in ways that you could understand and share with me. As was made clear last week, we are living and called to work in a context of great spiritual darkness and decay. There is much working against us. Even so, the Holy Spirit is stronger than any worldly force. If we are submitting to his guidance and lordship, then we will prosper and succeed. Indeed, we do not have any other choice. It was for such a time as this that God has raised us up. We should not be dismayed or intimidated by our enemies. We must trust that God will prevail through us.

If we rightly understand ourselves, the church, and the Holy Spirit, then we should be committed to a shared way of life aimed at the salvation of the world immediately around us. To rehearse some basic realities of our ministry context that I laid out last week:

* Addiction is very common, tearing people and families apart.

* The destruction of the family and normalization of “alternative” family arrangements is increasingly common, such that our children are increasingly damaged.

* Folks are retreating into their homes, withdrawing from voluntary associations, getting narcissistic and warped.

* People commonly spend their money and worship in other counties, neglecting Nowata businesses and churches.

* The community of Nowata fills itself with diversions and distractions so that it doesn’t have to ask bigger questions and seek bigger answers that only the church has to offer.

Majority Religion in Nowata: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Something I didn’t have time to talk about last week is the local religious orientation. At least half of the town is not tied at all to a covenant Christian community, otherwise known as a local church. Many are openly hostile to Christianity, or at least the institution of the local church. Some of these have been hurt by church in the past, but many of them have never been close to a church and carry many unfortunate stereotypes about Christ’s people.

As I talked about last week, a good number go to large churches in other towns. Most of these are large churches where they can attend irregularly and anonymously. Nowata has at least fourteen churches within city limits. A couple country churches exist. Perhaps three of these churches see more than 100 people in worship per week. On any given Sunday, I estimate that maybe only 20% of our town participates in worship in any capacity, including online, which doesn’t really come close to approximating what Christ has ordained for us to do.

The majority religion of this town is not actually Christianity. It is something called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It is a broad awareness of the fact that there is a God and he wants us to be moral and happy. A majority of people in this town will confess their belief in God, and maybe even in Jesus. Yet most of these will also eagerly confess that they think pretty much everyone who believes in God will go to heaven, and they see no problem whatsoever with the fact that they haven’t read their bibles, they are not an active part of a covenant community, and their lives aren’t any different from those around them. Most have no notion of holiness. That is the majority religion. It is the faith of demons: confessing that there is a God while living in ways that spurn him (James 2:19 ).

Local churches have largely been pressured into accommodating such a culture. A good deal of public outrage and offense is reserved for any churches that preach the exclusivity of Christ, the call to holiness, the reality of damnation and sin, or the requirement to be born again. In the age of social media, people who speak clearly on these things are routinely derided and scandalized online. Clergy and regular churchgoers have learned that they should not be too vocal about a high standards faith out in public, lest angry voices take exception to them.

The Attractional Model of Evangelism: A Dry Well

For that reason, our churches have largely adopted what would be called an “attractional” model of evangelism. They build programs that are attractive to consumers to get them through the doors. Youth groups, daycares, festivals and block parties, holiday meals, fundraisers, concerts, plays, addiction recovery groups—all these things are done to attract people. The hope is that people will come with a worldly hunger that can be fed, and in the meantime Jesus can be offered. A hypothetically successful church that does this will be able to do a sort of bait-and-switch for folks, where they will eventually come, not to have their worldly hungers filled, but God will develop within them a spiritual desire that is then met by the church. This is a model that our own church has also been inclined to use.

Yet the problems with this approach are twofold: 1) Other churches are much better positioned to do this sort of stuff than we are, and they are ahead of us, and 2) This approach doesn’t seem to work very well, anyway. The churches in town that utilize this strategy see lots of turnover. Moreover, these strategies are less and less effective. It gives the sense that churches are fighting for scraps. Moreover, just like government assistance breeds a generation of people who feel entitled to free money, churches that continually seek to attract and entertain worldly folks breed a generation of people who feel entitled to the church on their terms. Not good.

The Plan/Strategy

It is at this point that I will now finally deliver what was promised a couple of weeks ago: an answer to the question of how it is that our church can and should do ministry in this town. The reality is that we have already built out a strong foundation upon which to do the hard work required. The strategy, going forward, is: to remain firm in our witness in a town that largely has its ears stopped. We need to do hard labor, backbreaking work, removing stones from the Lord’s field and planting seeds of faith that lead to a future harvest.

I think the first thing to insist upon is that we will do faithful ministry in this town by requiring basic truths of the faith to be taught and believed: Sin defaces the image of God in us, separates us from him, and guarantees our damnation. The only source of hope for us is the person and work of Christ Jesus, who took our punishment as a substitute for us on the cross. He has sent us his Spirit to give us the new birth and teach and empower us in matters of holiness. The purpose of all of our lives is to love and serve God and one another continually. The church has been established by Christ to call sinners to repentance, to serve as a mission outpost for Christ, to collectively walk in newness of life and equip the saints for ministry. We need to insist on t