by guest writer, Caleb Dyck
first shared on his own site, Truth Set Free 

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
 

How good is the church at using the time that it has? I am thinking of both how it utilizes its time throughout the week, and then how well the church is using the opportunities that are unique to its current place in history.

First of all, how well does the church make use of its time during the week? Most churches that I have ever been involved with have been very busy places. Almost every night of the week has some sort of ministry happening. The staff of the church are always busy, and the volunteers are often stretched to their capacity. However, are our churches busy with the right things? We have ministries for people in every stage of life. But, are we actually being effective?

Most churches can not possibly field a team of staff and volunteers that can effectively cover the wide array of ministries that are possible. They only have a limited amount of man hours to contribute to any cause. So, would it be more responsible to focus the majority of the time on a few ministries that can really make an impact, or is it better to try to spread out enough to touch each of the bases?

I don’t know if there is any one answer. I think that each church needs to prayerfully consider how to be the best stewards of the time that they have and then move forward into the areas that they feel they have been called to work in.

Secondly, we are part of a global church that exists in its own unique spot in history. Each generation of the church has its own set of challenges, along with opportunities to advance the kingdom of God. Each generation builds on the foundation of the saints who have gone before. As the church of the present, we have a period of time that is allotted to us. What each local church needs to do is look at what ways they can contribute in our current context. The church is notoriously bad at keeping up with the times. As a church, we need to make sure we are aware of what is going on in the world around us and respond to the needs in a timely manner.

We don’t want to be the church that completely missed the struggles and needs of our generation.

We don’t want to be the church that is clueless to the bigger picture of our generation.

I want my generation to be the generation that seizes the day and fearlessly presses forward and storms enemy strongholds.

I want my generation of church to stand on the shoulders of giants of the faith and make a stand that reverberates for succeeding generations to come.