A world with as many centers as there are human beings — that is the cause of all the chaos and disintegration in the world of men.  The message of the Bible, therefore, is this: God, not man, is the center…  The Gospel … is an attack on [the] man who is his own center.  — Emil Brunner

Lindsey’s baby is home from the hospital! Here are some photos- and note that the mural on the wall in the baby’s room is hand painted by Ruby C.

That’s the happy granny and the visiting Vicar…

According to the Times Online

Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.

As goes Europe, so goes America. Sooner or later. And further

According to Religious Trends, a comprehensive statistical analysis of religious practice in Britain, published by Christian Research, even Hindus will come close to outnumbering churchgoers within a generation. The forecast to 2050 shows churchgoing in Britain declining to 899,000 while the active Hindu population, now at nearly 400,000, will have more than doubled to 855,000. By 2050 there will be 2,660,000 active Muslims in Britain - nearly three times the number of Sunday churchgoers.

And there you have it- a bit of a look at things to come.

According to the President of the SBC, Frank Page.

The Southern Baptist Convention is rapidly dying, and resistance to change could kill over half of the denomination’s churches by 2030, the outgoing SBC president said May 1. Unless something is done to reverse the downward trend, Southern Baptist churches could number only 20,000 — down from the current total of more than 44,000 — in fewer than 22 years, South Carolina pastor Frank Page said. His comments came in a conference call with pastors, hosted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Page said the problem “resided in the churches” that refuse to change to stop their inevitable demise. He said the SBC downturn is not the denomination’s fault – because of poor programming or lack of emphasis on the denominational level. “The reality is it’s our fault,” Page told the Pastor’s Disciple-Making Network, an initiative of the North Carolina convention. “People rarely rise above the level of their pastor’s spiritual life, and it is critical that pastors maintain a vibrant walk with Christ.”

Lucas came into the world this afternoon- so we congratulate mom and dad, and Ed and Donna, very happy grandparents!

The Church of Jesus Christ lives by the power of the Holy Spirit; that is the secret of its might.  It is the power that binds believers together and the secret of their communion.  Where the Holy Spirit is absent, there is neither Church nor community.

The Association is partnering with an Association in Iowa and their representatives will be here on May 13th. If you would like to find out about the details of the Partnership, meet with them at the Harriman Cracker Barrel that day at 1 PM.

HOMECOMING is May 25^th! Plan to attend, invite your friends, and enjoy what’s always a wonderful day of singing, worship, and fellowship. Don Long is our Preacher and the Singing service begins at 10:15.

And don’t forget, tonight is ‘Dinner and a Movie’ at 6:30.  Bring some soup or some sandwiches and join us!

A Pastor in Britain has written concerning the decline of the Methodist Church there (but what he says applies everywhere it seems to me):

If your church is in decline and not growing, it is because your congregation has decided to die rather than to live (alas, there is no in between when it comes to churches). The majority of our churches are not growing, thus we have a huge challenge before us. Still, our major challenge is not to find good resources for helping a church grow and live into the future; our challenge is to have pastors and churches who want to do what is necessary to live into Christ’s future.

This ties up with what I have seen in the UK, in various denominations. Too many churches are attended and led mostly by people who are quite happy for their church to decline. They recognise that they are personally getting older and will eventually die, and their expectation is that their church will decline with them and also eventually die. They have no vision for the church being revitalised and no will to make any of the changes that might be necessary for this to happen. Indeed they resist change of any kind. They welcome new members, including younger ones, but only if these people conform to the way things have always been done.

And, from what I have seen, the same can also be true of specific groups and ministries within churches.

Is there any hope for a church in this condition? Well, nothing is impossible with God, and he could revive such a church with his Holy Spirit. A new pastor with a strong vision just might be able to get a church like that going again, by stirring up any remaining embers of true spiritual life, but is more likely to break himself or herself in frustrated efforts to beat a dead horse into motion.

In a very fine essay Paul Coughlin writes

Another pitfall of overprotection is a heartbreaking irony: Because over-parented children are taught to obsess over themselves, they don’t learn how to connect with others. Helicopter parents, who think they are drenching their children with love, are raising lonely sons and daughters. The kids’ constant self-focus, developed under the tonnage of unending parental intervention, handicaps them in every social setting.

Self-focused kids—whether they’re shy and withdrawn or brash and mouthy—do not reach out to other people. They’re not friendly, so they don’t make friends well. Their near total self-consciousness appears to others as self-absorption. What they need is wise guidance and encouraging nudges. Problem is, that’s exactly what many overprotective parents find distasteful and don’t want—nudging their kids outward, even little by little, would negate their constant presence and persistent meddling.

And when they do allow their children to enter “the realm of others,” by demanding special consideration, they expect others to coddle their child. They tend to unleash harsh words and passive-aggression on those who don’t, whether grown-ups or youngsters. Such parents, mostly mothers, stack the deck against their own best interests as they contaminate play and turn their children into the pariahs of the kid world.

He says many other wise things as well, and his essay is perfect for those who hover over their children, managing their every moment and forming their every thought for them and hindering their normal social interaction. Do read it all.

The Annual Church Profile report from the Tennessee Baptist Convention is out- and decline is the word of the day.

All areas reported by churches declined except Sunday School enrollment and financial giving, reported Libby Eaton, information specialist of the TBC. The number of TBC churches reporting this year also declined — 3.4 percent — from last year. The TBC has about 3,000 member churches. Eaton said she had hoped the number of reporting churches would increase as church secretaries and association secretaries are trained to report online. The TBC has offered online reporting for two years via TeD (Tennessee Electronic Database).

The cure? Commitment.