What are we doing here?
The Big Question
“What are we doing here?” I overheard a church member ask this question one Sunday. I noticed grief in his eyes while he explained his love for certain practices during worship on Sunday morning. While hearing this man share his heart I thought to myself, “what a great question.”
“What are we doing here?”
The more I think about this question the more I become overwhelmed.
Narrowing our focus & defining the mission
Did you know that in Sullivan county there are roughly one hundred and sixty thousand people? Sixty percent of that one hundred and sixty thousand people claim to be religious. This sounds incredible until we realize that “religious” according to a government census is defined as anyone who adheres to an organized belief system. So someone who indicates on a census card that they are religious could mean multiple things. It could mean they are a Christian, Mormon, or even Muslim.
For the sake of easy math let’s give that sixty percent the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say sixty percent of Sullivan county are all Christians. That would mean sixty percent of Sullivan county has been reached. Yay, Christianity is winning in the buckle of the bible belt. But wait, let’s dive a little deeper.
What about that forty percent of the one hundred and sixty thousand people in Sullivan county? That still leaves roughly seventy thousand people within a thirty minute radius of Blountville Christian Church who admittedly do not know Jesus as Lord.
I’ll ask again…
What are we doing here?
I’m certain that you, like me, do not want to be a church that is so caught up in its own affairs that it forgets the ultimate mission that Jesus has given his church, to go and make disciples (Mt 28:19). In Sullivan county, alone, this is a big mission.
So what is BCC doing?
Right now we are reaching new families. Our student ministry and children’s ministry is growing fast. Just seven months ago we had about twenty five kids in both services and this last Sunday we had over fifty not including the number of middle school and high school students. From August to now we have baptized a total of four people, three of those being kids. We have had five families join our church and just last Sunday February 5th we had a high attendance of two hundred and forty five people. My hope is that this is only the beginning.
How can you be a part of reaching the 70,000?
1. Pray
God hears the prayers of his people. Pray that we as a church can continue to be effective in ministering to the lost and unchurched in our community.
2. Invite
A personal invitation on Sunday morning is a powerful tool. Most people walk through the doors of a church simply because their friends and family invite them.
3. Give
As much as we do not like to talk about giving, making ministry moments happen is not free. The more we financially have as a church the larger the ministry impact we can make.
Help us stay on mission as we continue work hard in reaching the seventy thousand in Sullivan County who do not have a church home.