Category: resources

Resources ~ Part 3 ~ The Time of the Church

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.

I hope that I am not disappointed.

Resources ~ Part 2

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

In my first post about being responsible with our resources, I mentioned three big areas. These areas are time, money, and talents. In this post, I am going to discuss the idea of being held accountable for how we spend our time. We are a people who are easily distracted, and we like it. We know that we waste time, but those darn cat pictures are just so fun to look at. 
 
In my own life, I have wasted an incredible amount of time. The amount of time that I have spent watching television, playing video games, or mindlessly browsing the internet is simply embarrassing. I spent several years with grand plans of doing something great with my life and making a difference in the world, but when it came right down to it I would just waste the evenings and weekends on mindless entertainment and amusement. The worst thing was that I knew exactly what I was doing, but I didn’t have the willpower to actually do anything about it. After all, why save the world today when you can put it off until tomorrow?

Those days are now behind me, but I still sometimes wonder just how much time I still waste. I am a decently busy individual. I work a normal, full-time job, have a family to spend time with, volunteer in a couple of different capacities, and take classes on the side. Often, with everything going on at once, I have a hard time slowing down and designating time for the important things like investing in my spiritual needs. Sure, I am involved in a couple of different ministries and I am in the process of preparing for a future of serving the church, but my spiritual relationship is more important than acts of service. Especially with the advent of smartphones and other electronic devices, all my free time can easily be absorbed in mindless things like social media and entertainment. I can often find myself at the end of the day without finding time for prayer, and I know that if I was more interested in talking to God than I was checking status updates, I would have found plenty of time for prayer.

In order to combat this, I need to do a couple of things. First of all, I need to make sure I am creating strict priorities for myself. I intellectually “know” that prayer is a priority, but I don’t live my life that way. That needs to change. Also, in order to have an honest picture on how much time I waste on my phone, I have put an activity tracker app on my phone that tracks how much time I spend on my phone, and what I am doing in that time. I am somewhat afraid of what I will find. My goal is to be spending more time in the Word and in prayer each day than I spend wasting time on my various digital devices.

I don’t know how much time I have on this earth. I have spent years of my life on nothing of value, and those are years that I will never get back. While it is easy to look back and lament the lost time, there is nothing that I can do now to change the past. I need to now make sure that moving forward I am making the best use of my time. For the remaining time that I have left, I hope to learn to be a faithful steward of what I have been given.

  
Next post, enough about me, how is the church managing its time?

Resources ~ Part 1

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

We have all been given a certain allotment of resources by our Master, and we will all be called to account for how we used what was entrusted to us. Everyone has received something different and unique. While we can break down these resources into categories, subcategories, and down to the most intimate detail, the three big areas that I would like to look at our time, finances, and talents. I want to focus on these three because I feel that as a (North American) church these are what we squander and waste away more than anything. 

Some people may be blessed financially and use their wealth to further the advance of the Gospel but waste their time in frivolous pursuits.

Some may be poor and work 60 hours a week to provide for their families, but they may have other talents that they have been given that they can use to bless those around them.

Everyone has something to give, and as a North American church, we have been given incredible resources and have the opportunity to put those resources to use. Are we going to hide them away, squander them, or are we going to invest them in what is truly important?

 
We need to look at our own lives and be critical of how we spend our time, money, and gifts. If you were performing an audit on your own life and habits, how would you score? I know that for most of my own life I would have returned dismal results. In the next couple of posts I’ll be taking a look at each of the different areas in greater detail and discussing ways that we personally and as a church can make better use of what we have been given for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.