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There It Goes and Here It Comes
 by Dr. H.C. Wilson, Atlantic District Superintendent

In a handful of days, 2003 will slide into the dustbin of history while the sentimental strains of Auld Lang Syne are heavy on the air. The threshold of every new year always and inevitably permits/requires us to look back wistfully at what cannot be changed and look forward optimistically to the unblemished possibilities of this new 365 days.

Our over-the-shoulder glance back reveals, for us as a district, many points of praise. A top quality pastoral corps; all pulpits filled; many who accepted Christ during the year; record attendance numbers; record dollars raised for both local and international ministries; continued development of our camping/retreat facilities; record numbers at both Beulah and Catons, and more.

There are also those things now receding into the shadows of the memory that could have been – perhaps should have been – different. These things we must now release and along with the praise for progress made, be consigned to the ever-growing memory bank of what was. There it goes!

Here it comes! Now is the time that with the intensity of a tiger-eye focus we turn to 2004. We approach this new year against a backdrop of a changing cultural milieu that causes the true “Christ ones” to stand in increasingly stark contrast to our surroundings. These are the greatest days in my lifetime to be a person of the Light. The brightness of any light is determined in part by its candlepower and in part by the intensity of the darkness in which it is shining.

We determine our own candlepower while our culture darkens allowing us a marvellous but potentially costly atmosphere in which to brightly shine. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine….

To keep our light shining at peak levels, at maximum candlepower, in 2004 I have been pondering ……

  1. Am I living by a truly Biblical worldview? Are we teaching/preaching a truly Biblical worldview?
  2. Do we place too much stress on program attendance, the satisfaction level of our children and their parents, and on our facilities but perhaps not enough on the less easily measured matter of individual spiritual development? We ought to do the latter and not leave the former undone for this is not an either/or proposition but rather a both/and matter.
  3. Are we prepared for the coming challenges to our long-held and cherished foundational views on moral and sexual issues? Are we teaching these views to our people? Watch out for what the KJ calls people with itching ears.
  4. Are we fighting the right battles? Across history, churches have greatly reduced their impact by squabbling internally over matters of preference that have no real eternal significance. The old adage that calls for unity in essentials, tolerance in non-essentials and love in all things is still a valid recipe for church health.
  5. Am I, are we, keeping on our frontal lobe the truth that the church building exists for those who do not attend it? Christ was into “seeking and saving” and told us to be into “going” – making us the church. The building is merely a place to congregate those already found and those who are yet seeking.

On to the future. Polish the tiger-eye focus on Great Commission ministry in 2004. Ratchet up the candlepower. Here it comes.
 

 
 


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