Thermometers tell the temperature.
Thermostats regulate the temperature.
I want to be a thermostat.

I want to turn the heat down, not simply report the heat. Even from a quick purview of social media, it seems that all around me (not at my local church, thank the Lord!) the temperature has been rising over any number of issues. Angst is everywhere. Anxiety, fear, anger and worry drive people into heated corners. People are venting. Rhetoric is high. It’s hot. 

I don’t want to add to the rising social media temperatures. I don’t want to report on every heat-producing juicy detail, and in so doing keep the fires smoldering. I want to be like a thermostat and lower the temperature.

How does one turndown the social media and conversational (read: gossip) heat?

• Accept that you don’t have all the facts. You might think you have all the facts, you probably don’t.
• Acknowledge there are two sides to every story. Usually there are more than two sides.
• Avoid rumors. Remember the “telephone game” in youth group? It starts with “I love red jelly beans” and after going through several people ends with “There are monkeys in the trees.” In other words, the beginning story and the ending story have nothing to do with each other. It happens in real life. Don’t believe everything you hear. 
• Don’t demonize one another. People can disagree. On pretty big theological and biblical positions, people can differ; but that does NOT make either person a demon. The other may share your eternal accommodations. Be careful to demonize those that Jesus loves.  
• Limit your social media vacuum. People tend to follow (and so only hear) like-minded people. We all do it. Just acknowledge that good people might disagree with the viewpoint on which you are constantly exposed.
• Ask yourself: Do my posts, language usage, and tone reflect Jesus or do they add to the heated rhetoric?
• Above all: Love. Be compassionate, kind, gentle and patient. 

Be a thermostat. Help turn down the heat, don’t add to it. 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Every pastor in the Church of the Nazarene must submit an Annual Pastor Report (APR). It contains the financial and attendance data from the previous church year. This data reports valuable information for the denominational research team. While the APR information may be prized to those few people in research labs and PhD candidates, a new APR short form could reflect more of what Jesus told us to track in the local church.* 

The Jesus-inspired APR Short Form would not have worship attendance (Jesus didn’t tell us to gather crowds); it would not include total monies raised (to Jesus, generosity wasn’t determined by the size of the gift. See: the widow’s mite); and it would not include monies spent on buildings (there are no directives from Jesus to build any edifices). Jesus wasn’t overly impressed with money, buildings or crowds. 

What would be included? Jesus’ Great Commission prioritizes baptisms and making disciples. Baptisms are easy to track (who got wet?). Discipleship is harder. Our disciple making matrix has been classroom (small group) learning.  A better determiner of disciples-making is service involvement. Discipleship is caught not taught (although that is an oversimplification. Obviously, teaching is involved). Instead of counting Sunday School (small group) numbers, let’s track the number of people serving in some capacity. The new Jesus versioned APR would reflect baptisms the number of people serving (questions 1 and 2)

In Jesus’ famous judgement day, sheep and goat parable (Matthew 25:31-46), the priorities are feeding the hungry, offering drink to the thirsty; sheltering the stranger; clothing the naked; caring for the sick and visiting the prisoners. In other words, prioritizing the poor and justice matters. Any numbers on a APR should reflect the hours that disciples are in the community and dollars spent on addressing issues of poverty and injustice. (questions 3 and 4).

Here’s what the entire new APR form would look like:

Number of Baptisms
Number of People involved in ministry/service in the church
Number of hours spent in ministry/service in the community
Dollars given to help the poor/needy.

To appease the folks in Lenexa, there could be a box at the bottom of the form with the following question: Did you pay your apportionments in full? Yes or No. (Note: Jesus never told anyone to pay apportionments, but including the question would make the bean counters happy and show a commitment to the denomination).

That’s it.
That’s the form. 
Four numbers to track and one question to answer.

This Jesus-inspired APR short form would be basis on which success and failure are determined and what is highlighted at denominational gatherings. If we get those four numbers right and we focus on just those four things, then all the other numbers on the APR long-form will take care of themselves.

Let’s simplify and prioritize the things that Jesus called us to prioritize. 

*The long form with its bazillion questions (slight exaggeration) could still be collected for the researchers. Somewhere someone might benefit from knowing the number of children enrolled in Caravans (If you have to ask what’s “Caravans” put “zero” in that column), or maybe not.

**This post in no way is a dig at the research team at the Nazarene GMC. They do valuable work, and I deeply appreciate their efforts. The post is directed toward what is most beneficial to the local church and how churches can be laser focused in accomplishing the mission of Christ.

Thanksgiving week is the week to count your blessings. “Name them one by one. And it will surprise you what they Lord hath done.” At least that’s what John Oatman’s lyrics and Edwin O. Excell tune reminds us to do. (Yes, the Count your Blessings jingle was written by a guy named Edwin O. Excell. Google it. It’s a great name. But I digress…). With apologies to Mr. Oatman and Mr. Excell, what if we did the opposite? What if we looked at all the things for which we are not grateful? What if we counted our troubles and named then one by one. Name all the bad habits, troublesome hang ups, deep hurts and mean people. What if we turned Thanksgiving upside-down?

I’m not Thanksgiving’s version of the Grinch. I like Pilgrims, turkey and Detroit Lions’ football (win or lose). I like being thankful too. My intentions are not to be a “Debbie-Downer” during this festive week. But what if we created a “not-so-thankful” list, and then immediately handed (metaphorically, of course) the list over to God. What if we were to give God all the junk for which we are not pleased with and say, “God this “not-so-thankful” list is now yours and my prayer is that by November 2024 this list is flipped! Instead of bitterness, hurt or anger, I want to be thankful. 

Not thankful for a nasty habit? What if by next year, you and Jesus have defeated it?

Not thankful for some part of your body type, personality, or lack of capability? What if by next year, you learned to appreciate the person God created you to be.

Not thankful for a painful past? What if by next year, you look at your past with sadness, but also with amazement on how God has enabled you to move beyond the pain of your yesterdays and into a joyous celebration of your todays and tomorrows!

Not thankful for a mean or dishonest person?  What if by next year that person grew a big, hairy wart on the end of their nose? No, I’m joking. What if by next year God either changed them or changed your outlook toward them? 

What if your “not-so-thankful” list was turned into next year’s very thankful list? Then (thank you Mr. Oatman and Excell) you will be surprised, pleasantly and joyfully surprised, at what the Lord has done!

Did you see that Texas A&M University decided to fire its football coach, Jimbo Fisher, and bought out his contract for 75 million dollars? You read that right. They are paying him 75 million to do what Karla wishes I wouldn’t do, sit on the coach and watch football. A public university is giving a coach (a winning coach by the way) 75 million to go away. Jimbo might not have won enough football games for the Texas A&M fans, but he won the lottery and he didn’t even buy a ticket. I wonder how all the hard-working professors, class room aids, and janitors in Texas A&M Aggie-land feel about an idle football coach making slightly more than they do (by “slightly,” I mean more than they will ever earn in their entire life). If you need evidence we live in a crazy world with mixed up values, consider this “Exhibit A.”

Take a wild guess of how much Nazarenes worldwide in 2022 gave to missions?  

$75,482,018 

Nazarenes gave about the same amount for missions as what Jimbo Fisher will get for sitting on his couch twiddling his thumbs. 

$75,482,018 was given by Nazarenes to pay the salaries for missionaries all over the world, to establish medical clinics, schools and pay for a hospital in Papua New Guinee. It paid for emergency relief to disasters through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. It paid for churches to be built; radio broadcasts to be made; and help to be offered in literally thousands of ways. It paid for the world-wide effort (well, in 164 countries effort) to evangelize and show and tell the world about Jesus. $75,482,018 did a whole lot of good.

It’s hard to raise $75 million dollars for missions. Back in the day in the Church of the Nazarene, there were two big offerings that funded the world-wide mission effort: The Thanksgiving and Easter Offerings. That was it. Typically pastors would stand in the pulpit on the Sunday before Thanksgiving (this Sunday) and encourage mission giving. Pastors would say stuff like, “The Bible talks about tithes AND offerings. Bring your tithe which will fund the local church AND bring an offering to be given for missions.” There were special Thanksgiving envelopes provided by the denomination and everything. The Thanksgiving Offering was a big deal. It was a reminder that we need to be generous toward missions. Some churches still receive a Thanksgiving offering this week (our Mission Outreach Sunday was in October when we took pledges for mission giving). All are efforts to raise around $75 million. 

I don’t know what Jimbo Fisher is going to do with his $75 million. I hope he tithes to his local church. I hope Jimbo is generous and does good with his money, but it won’t come close to doing all the good that is being done around the world with virtually that same amount of money. I hope you are generous with your slightly less than $75 million (by “slightly” I mean a lot less). Whether you have a little or a lot the Paul writes, “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. 2 Corinthians 9:7. 

According to the US census bureau, the number of people who acknowledge attending a weekly religious service has gone down slow but steady since 2008. But those who disclosed that they never attend church has risen dramatically (see graph).

This explains the decline in attendance in most churches. The “regulars” are coming (although not quite as regularly); the “once-in-a-whiles” are not coming at all. 

Why did the “some-timers” become “no-timers”? Studies will show that there is not a single factor which has led to this decline in the de-churching of America. There are plenty of reasons. Some valid. Some not. 

Here’s the problem: If people have this life to determine their eternal accommodations, then there is no time for a detailed review of all the variants and subset reasons why the “some-timers” became “no timers.” Let the PhD candidates wrestle with those questions in their doctoral research projects. In the meantime, the situation is more like a building fire than a specimen to be examined. We are not afforded the time for analyzing the circumstances that led to the fire; it’s time to rescue the perishing (wasn’t there an old hymn by that name?). It’s time to go on the offensive. But how do we do that? How do people who have never come or don’t want to come or who have been hurt in the past by the church start coming or come back to church (and discovering Jesus)? 

The attractional method stopped working. “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work either. Christmas Cantatas, bus ministries, and cold calling on neighbor’s doors armed with the four spiritual laws might be met with someone armed with a Colt 45.  Most of the things that worked pre-2000s don’t work today, yet churches still want to play by the 1990’s rule book.

What works? Relationships work. Love works. Getting the church into the community, not asking the community to come into the church. That works. Blessing the community in as many ways as possible works.  Many in the world don’t think they need the church (or Jesus), it’s time for the church to show the world all the good and love the church (and Jesus) provides. When the church does that– it’s beautiful. It’s attractive. “No-Timers” become “One-timers,” then as they see authentic love within the pews, the “once-in-a-blue-moon-timers,” discover Jesus (or rediscover Jesus) and become, glory upon glory, “all-most-always timers.” 

Reversing the downward trend is as simple as Jesus instructions, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  It’s living into Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “For Christ’s love compels us.” As we are compelled to bless our community with Real, Authentic, Love—they will see Christ and His Bride in their beauty and return once more.

We used books when I was a kid. Real books with paper and pages and everything. A phone book. The Yellow Pages The Wish-book from Sears and Roebuck. Encyclopedia Britannica. A Webster dictionary. A road atlas. All were staples of every house (we had everything but the encyclopedia). 

Cars didn’t have computer chips then. Only NASA had computers. Not houses. Not cars. Our cars had seat belts, but who used them? Car seats for babies? C’mon, I was in my mama’s arms. As I got a little older, I would curl up on the floorboard of the back seat and sleep. As a teenager, on several occasions, I was a passenger in the back of a pickup truck. Not the backseat (there were no backseats in pickup trucks), I rode in the cargo bed. Bumpy roads were both fun and scary. 

I owned a Walkman on which I played a cassette tape (the eight-track generation was before my time). I made a mixtape from my favorite songs off an AM radio station. Later I ordered cassettes and then CDs from Columbia House. I had a boombox too. My dad called my music choice “devil music.” I would tell him it was Christian music. Petra, Stryper and DeGarmo and Key were a few of my choices. I’m not sure my dad was convinced. His favorite words: “Turn it down!”

Cameras and phones were two completely separate things. Cameras used film, which we would take to Fotomat in the parking lot of K-Mart (my hometown had the distinction of the very first K-Mart). Several weeks after the picture-worthy event had happened, we would get the pictures back. Usually someone’s head was cut off or they weren’t looking at the camera. My brother Fred was never smiling. Sorry, no retakes. 

Our phone was a rotary variety and was located on the kitchen wall with a 12-foot (usually tangled-up) cord. We had a party line. That sounds fun (Party Line!  Yippee!!), but in fact it wasn’t fun. “Party Line” meant we shared the phone line with the Evans family who lived kiddy-corner from our back yard. We had to quietly lift the receiver to see if someone from the Evans’ household were already talking on the phone. Mrs. Evans was always on the phone. My brother Fred got in trouble for listening in on Chuckie Evans’ teenage conversations (maybe that’s why he wasn’t smiling in the family pictures). 

Life is different these days. Technology is different. Somethings are better (no party lines). Somethings are worse. I don’t pine for the “good old days,” but I do pray for better days ahead. Everything has changed, but the author of Hebrews reminded us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus is the Constant. Here’s the profound truth: Jesus hasn’t changed, but Jesus changes everything, In the midst of a constantly changing world, Jesus is the Rock on which we stand. Our world needed Jesus then. Our world needs Jesus now. Jesus was the answer then. Jesus is the answer now. 

Everything has changed, but nothing has changed. We still need Jesus!

If there are heavenly mansions (in the way we think of mansions); I hope Christians who can’t get along with other Christians here on earth are next door neighbors in Glory. A fundamentalist-leaning who loves Jesus living beside a progressive-leaning Christian who also loves Jesus— having to borrow cups of sugar when baking a dish-to-pass for the heavenly pot-luck banquet. Wouldn’t that be the shocking irony of heaven? FYI… words of wisdom from an antacid-popping-pot-luck survivor: if there are pot-lucks in eternity, it won’t be in heaven. But, presumably, there will be people who disagree on some pretty weighty issues here on earth residing in Beulah Land. 

If we are going to spend eternity together, it makes sense that we start the get-along process here on earth. According to Paul, since believers have been made new in Christ, they have a new ministry. Paul calls it “the ministry of reconciliation.” 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18. 

In other words, Christians “ghosting” other Christians or bashing fellow believers on social media does not compute in “the ministry of reconciliation.” Any misunderstandings, grievances and differences within the family of God should be a point of deep consternation for any true follower. 

The ministry of reconciliation is active. It doesn’t happen without effort. Those made new in Christ can’t assume the other won’t receive the reconciliation advances or worry that their attempts at reconciliation might be weaponized against them. A new creature reconciled in Christ becomes a reconciler. That means bridging the gaps, tearing down the walls, sending the extra texts, leaving the extra voicemails, going the extra mile and extending the arms of friendship. It’s taking a “whatever-it-takes” mentality into this “ministry of reconciliation.”

Eugene Peterson’s version puts it this way: We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. (2 Corinthians 5:19. MSG). Can’t we drop our differences? Can’t we make things right? We better try. If the heavenly housing supervisor has a sense of humor, we might be neighbors on Golden Avenue.