No Bishop Connie Shelton.., We are not Sorry.

Dear Bishop Connie Shelton,

You mentioned in your video, that you are keen to remove the harmful language in the Methodist book of discipline, around homosexuality. You then you went on to gas light UMC members that disagree with your position as having ‘Vilification’ and ‘Demonisation’ as a part of their personal character. You then suggested that the same people take their ‘Mean Spirited Arrogance with them and leave the United Methodist Church”…

People are certainly leaving the United Methodist Church this week and taking their buildings and church property with them, yet none of them are people with issues around ‘Vilification or Demonisation”. Neither are they Mean Spirited or Arrogant.., – Yet on that, it also can be true that what we see in others, that we most dislike; often can be what is actually true of ourselves first and foremost. I’d ask you and the remaining leadership of the United Methodist Church to prayerfully consider that suggestion.

We are not Vilifying Bigots because we believe in Holiness and Purity before God,

We don’t “Demonise” anyone, not even you Connie. The hand of true Reconciliation has long been offered to you and your fellow leaders, yet its you, and your group that have chosen to close the door on being reconciled.

We are not full of hate because we reject sinful behaviour. We do emphasise the words of Jesus though, to tell people that have come to Him to ‘Go and Sin no More”; because of the freedom that it brings from being enslaved to the world and its various substances, addictions and worldly values.

You’ve taught us what its like to not go along with the crowd and for that I am grateful. Seeing the many people and congregations voting themselves out of the United Methodist Church these last weeks, has been an incredibly liberating experience and the freedom and joy that its bringing to congregations, all over the nation is a miracle in itself. Being set apart for the Christian Faith that John and Charles Wesley founded and not following you and the peer pressure given to make the doctrinal changes to embrace the Unitarian Universalist Faith is certainly the harder physical choice, but its the choice that God is calling us to make as we seek to follow Him and the call that He has placed on our churches and us as individuals and groups before Him.

Farewell Bishop Connie Shelton; as the true number of the UMC churches leaving under your watch, becomes known; do not forget, that you can reopen the door to turning back to the truth of Scripture, and the Christian Faith that these Methodist churches burn for, any time you wish. Join with us in prayer, for the many new GMC churches that are being planted, out of the UMC churches that voted to stay UMC. Either way, Christ will be glorified here today, irrespective of anything that is done or said here. Yet know that the invitation to being reconciled is still open to you. For as Jesus said…,

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come to him and dine with him and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne”.

Peace., if you want it,

Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton and ‘Mean Spirited Arrogance’.

As you may be aware, a video is circulating featuring Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton of the UMC North Carolina Conference. Many UMC and other Christians in general are quite taken aback by the language used to describe them and their faith. For your reference the video is posted below and the diatribe begins around the 8.30 mark.

Here is a transcript in part,

“From general agencies to local churches its time to risks, to take small steps towards God’s vision; instead of holding tightly to to self protection and preservation. I pray that we remove the harmful language around homosexuality from the book of discipline and that covenant love can be celebrated in marriage and our LBQT sisters & brothers called by God who have gifts & grace for ministry will be ordained in church. I long for the day that all who remain UMC and value our diversity will commit to lives of unity gifted by the Holy Spirit. No more Vilification, no more Demonisation, will we trust one another’s convictions? If not, then its time for those with mean spirited arrogance to move on and quit causing chaos in the meantime. When the UMC emerges from the general conference in 2024, may the Holy Spirit overwhelm us with a spirit of generosity…”.

I’d like to focus in on the judgement made on people by Bishop Connie that people who stand for the same Biblical Methodism that John and Charles Wesley founded, are “Mean Spirited and Arrogant”. This is a classic bait and switch technique used to demonise and mock people that disagree with them. Its openly dishonest and completely unacceptable conduct for a Bishop, or anyone on the payroll of the UMC to behave in that manner, its also openly hate speech against Evangelical Christians members of the UMC.

Still.., the 2024 UMC Conference will be an interesting one after the sheer number of UMC members and congregations that have decided to move on, – with their property and buildings transferred out of the UMC with them…

Its reasonable to suggest that the reason for much of the recent panic and hysteria amongst some of the liberal UMC leadership is the fact that they were completely unprepared for the sheer number of congregations who over recent weeks have been voting themselves out of the UMC and into the Global Methodist Church or other groups or gone non denominational.

I suspect they thought it would be a minor number of congregations that would be leaving. It turns out that they could not be more wrong and and that there are more and more meetings now being called across the country to vote on leaving or staying within the UMC. There is also a growing number of cases where the stay vote is won by people who may not even attend the local UMC church, the local UMC church then meets the following Sunday to discover that the percentage of people that voted leave are no longer there and their church is now no longer viable. Many groups of leave voters are being joined by others and new GMC congregations are also beginning across the nation.

The main issue for the liberal leadership of the UMC is that the congregations that are leaving en masse, are not taking the top heavy liberal leadership of the UMC with them. The generous salaries and stipends provided to liberal Bishops and others remain the responsibility of the UMC denomination and the congregations that remain with them. The Global Methodist Church are naturally appointing their own Evangelical members to take up their leadership positions.

People like Bishop Connie Shelton sadly live in their own fishbowl disconnected from reality. They repeat the same left wing politics and theology over and over so often that they become immersed in their own poison. The same people have no recognition of the fact that their Methodism has nothing at all in common with actual Methodism as founded by John and Charles Wesley or as practiced by the original Methodists.

There does however need to be a time of truth telling in the churches that choose to remain in the United Methodist Church. The Truth that needs to be told is that they have moved from being a Christian Church to a Unitarian Church. The theology as preached and practiced by the UMC leadership has far more in common with the Unitarian Universalist Church than the Methodist Church. An appropriate and honest response for the UMC at the 2024 Conference would be to take a vote to Amalgamate and be United with the Unitarian Universalist Church and be called the United Unitarian Church where they can be genuinely United in vision and doctrine with one another as both liberal denominations simply continue to decline to oblivion..

Jordan Peterson, Pinocchio and The Sign of Jonah.

Fans of Jordan Peterson will no doubt be familiar with his deconstruction of the story of Pinocchio, if you are not familiar with it its definitely a lecture not to be missed as its easily one of his very best about an incredibly difficult subject that revolves around an existential concept, that in order for Pinocchio to become a real boy, that he must go into the depths of the belly of the whale and that he must rescue his own father. In order to do this, Pinocchio must face his own fears and enter the darkness and the very depths of the ocean to find Geppetto. I’ll leave the deconstruction there re Pinocchio but would like to bring some points forward about the Biblical story of Jonah which has several parallels here.

Jonah is an Old Testament prophet, he is called by God to go to Nineveh, a Gentile state in modern day Iraq, a place where they are doing heinous things to their neighbours and one another and are hated and feared by people for good reason. Jonah has no like or love for these people and fears going there, ultimately he would far prefer God to destroy Nineveh and watch it happen. Jonah chooses to run instead and gets thrown off a boat during a storm and is swallowed by a sea creature of some type, potentially a whale and three days later is spat up onto the shore by the same creature. Jonah goes to Nineveh, faces his fears and calls the Ninevites to repentance and essentially that is exactly what happens, this gentile state repents, gives up their idols and goes on to follow the God of Jonah.

What is interesting about this tale is that Jesus Christ refers to it directly in the book of Matthew, where it reads, “One day some teachers of the religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said ‘Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority’. But Jesus replied, ‘only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights“.

The trap that can occur to reading the account of Jonah is the obvious one, how is it possible for a person to live inside of some type of whale for three days and three nights? Its a trap because when people read the book of Jonah, this can be what takes the focus instead of the rest of the information presented there which is incredibly deep and well worth your time to study and to consider what its saying.

I’d suggest to you that Jesus answers that question though, how is it possible to live inside of a creature like that for three days and three nights? Simply put, it isn’t. Like how Geppetto comes to be inside the whale, the story simply doesn’t give us that information and simply considers it assumed to be the case. However the answer is more deeper and more existential than that. Jonah runs from God and reaches the point on the boat where the storm is absolutely raging and he knows that he is responsible for it. rather than see the other people drowned on the boat, he makes the decision that he will surrender his life to save theirs.. He has the sailors throw him overboard and the storm ceases and the ocean then calms down immediately.

Its reasonable to suggest that Jonah did what he said he would, he drowned in the water, was swallowed by the said sea creature and three days later was placed on the shore. The sign of Jonah is both death and resurrection.

Jonah goes on to become and incredibly different person over the chapters of the book of Jonah, but the central experience is Jonah surrendering his life to save others and being plunged into the darkness and the depths of the waters and losing absolutely everything. Yet its his willingness to face things that results in him being brought to new life.

Jesus Christ recognised this in Jonah and true to his word he would then go on to give everyone the sign of Jonah when he was crucified yet had done nothing wrong, yet willingly laid down his life for others, that others might have life in eternity, despite the sheer torture and pain and everything else that he was put through to see that accomplished.

The sad fact is that many people are not unlike wooden puppets that have no life in them and are either not conscious of it, and go in circles looking for answers on how they can actually find the real life that eludes them.

Jordan Peterson suggests that a good place to get started in finding real life is the Eastern Orthodox Church. He isn’t wrong, but I’m not sure that he thinks that the Eastern Orthodox are the only group in isolation either. His wife and daughter have both been born again through the Roman Catholic church after his wife believed that she was healed through that churches ministry. The point is to find a Christian Church that isn’t afraid to speak up for the truth against the current of the world. This week we are seeing churches from the Liberal / Politically Correct, United Methodist Church, meeting and voting to leave that denomination to form the Conservative / Evangelical, Global Methodist Church. Its my suggestion that a church affiliated with that denomination or another similar one is an ideal place to go and get yourself started and to find out what the Sign of Jonah is really all about in your own case.

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Why congregations are leaving the United Methodist Church,

As has been reported in recent days, there is current surge in United Methodist Church members meeting together and voting to stay as members in the United Methodist Church, or to vote themselves out of the UMC and join the newly formed Global Methodist Church, or another denomination or simply to remain independent. A number of churches are out already and this includes some of the former UMC mega churches like St Andrews in Plano Texas. Many more UMC churches will be holding votes after church services and throughout this week to choose to stay or to leave. In cases, churches have voted to stay within the UMC, but the groups of people that have voted to leave the UMC are now leaving in groups to form and to plant new churches with the Global Methodist Church.

For many its a difficult vote, even withstanding the fact that the UMC Leadership have turned to both Liberal and Unitarian Theology over the traditional Christian Theology of the Methodist Church as it was founded by John and Charles Wesley, Many longstanding UMC members are utterly sick of watching as the preaching of the Gospel has been replaced by the preaching of political correctness in its place.

Issues around the UMC leadership pushing LGBTI theology onto local churches are well documented as well as giving endorsement to issues around Abortion and the Christian view of Marriage.

An issue that has been of a lot of concern is the number of employees that the UMC have in leadership roles that are paid generous wages yet who have nothing at all to do with the same local church that is expected to fund their salaries and entitlements whilst they respond with continued criticism towards the evangelical members of the UMC and spend their time whiteanting the same members..

For many the news that their church has successfully gained a yes vote and that they are out of the UMC and into a new day with the Global Methodist Church is being received with joy and thankfulness to God for His help in getting them out. Many feel like the burden they have carried these past years is now no more. There exists sadness to for those members whose churches votes fell short and now face the difficulty of finding a new church to attend after many years of faithful service to the Methodist Church.

As hard as these recent years have been, new day has dawned and its time to walk forward into the new dawn. Its time to evangelise the Gospel like the Methodist church once did with the shackles now removed. Many churches will see new members coming in simply from people who wanted to be a part of the church, but would not because of the corrupted nature of the former denomination and who would see a UMC church and simply drive on by to a local Baptist or other church as a result. Jesus tells us not to hide our light under a bushel, get the word out on the streets about your new church.., yes you should run and be a volunteer for the church for an upcoming Alpha course, the opportunities for you are endless, just don’t be tricked into hiding your light once again, – you are indeed and absolutely called by God for such a time as this.

The UMC Unitarian Universalist Church

In recent days the media has been full of reports of different United Methodist Churches meeting and taking a vote on staying with the United Methodist Church or leaving the UMC and taking their property with them. Many of the churches leaving will be joining and founding the Global Methodist Church, an openly Evangelical Christian Church, Rather ironically then, the Global Methodist Church has far more in common with Methodism and Christianity in general than the United Methodist Church ever will.

If you happened to have read about these developments in the media, you would be likely to believe that the issue that caused the whole problem was the Gay Marriage issue, or issues around that. Whilst this issue gets the media focus, the actual issue that set the scene for this situation was the widespread acceptance of the doctrines of the Unitarian Universalist Church by many leaders in the United Methodist Church. These ideas were not only accepted, but the Wesleyan Doctrines of Evangelical Christianity were also rejected in favour or Unitarian Universalism.

These are the six ‘sources’ of Unitarianism,

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
• Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
• Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
• Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
• Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

The blunt fact is that Unitarian Universalism suggests that they embrace all faiths, but then are also opposed to the belief that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Unitarian Methodism as practiced by the United Methodist Church rejects Jesus Christ as being the only way to the Father and suggests that there are in fact multiple ‘Ways’ and paths one might take.

The Unitarian Universalist Church stand for nothing at all except for Left Wing Politics and the shifting version of Left Wing Theology that changes in each direction that the wind blows and as often depending on what issue is popular in the media at present. The Methodist ideals of Holiness and Sanctification before God are vigorously opposed by Unitarians and the only doctrine that they seem to defend is their rejection of original sin.

What the United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America all have in common is that they are all flaming liberals and the denominations experiencing the fastest decline of members in all the churches in the United States. It appears that left wing political and theology based churches don’t actually do so well once all the Evangelical Christian members have left the building. The people that willingly give and support their local church and yet who are also then ridiculed and mocked by the left wing liberal leadership of their churches.

As above, in recent days a number of congregations have voted themselves out of the United Methodist Church and into the Global Methodist Church. New GMC churches are also being planted already already as the new denomination begins. The road for many of these congregations has been quite rough and various stumbling blocks have been put in their way as corrupt officials attempt to retain them in the former denomination.

Be encouraged and be of good cheer the Global Methodist Church might be a new denomination, but its openly based on the Methodism that was promoted by John and Charles Wesley. Its never the wrong thing to speak the truth and stand up for the truth and to choose to do the right thing, even in the face of towering liberal opposition and their various threats, Much joy is being reported as churches break loose from the former United Methodist Church and into the plan and the purpose that God has for them in being a part of sharing the gospel to all people and without shame or compromise.

God bless you as you seek him and find him in the genuine Methodist church and move away from the Imposter. You absolutely can do better than United Unitarian Methodism..

Renewal in the Dying Post Covid Church

Recently in my local supermarket I saw two elderly couples embrace and remark that it was great to see one another again. It turns out that they go to the local Uniting (Methodist) church around the corner, The husband of one couple remarked that really it suited them to no longer attend in person and they enjoyed simply sleeping in on a Sunday morning and really they weren’t looking forward to having to actually go back and attend in person.

In a way I understand his point. Their local church is heavily left wing in its theology and its subsequent embrace of left wing politics, yet this is usually the case with most churches that embrace left wing politics over the gospel. The meetings are incredibly boring and the focus of the messages is always based around political correctness and there is no actual challenge to anyone there to change any aspect of their lives, the focus that evangelical churches in their denomination has is non existent and there is no call to holiness there, nor any focus on sanctification.

Yet the attitude that this man has, is also sadly permeating into other evangelical churches. For many, the various restrictions and shutting down of churches was openly welcomed because people felt that they wanted a break, and a break they got. It seems that today that many of the same people are clinging to the same excuses every time the church wants to do anything. The suggestion of returning to additional services, or bible study groups or other ministries is met with reluctance or a general lack of desire to help or to participate.

People seem to have genuinely forgotten what it felt like to them when they were first born again. Their enthusiasm simply leaked away until it was gone. Its the reason why we understand the parable of the scattered seed, the whole point is to be the seed that takes root and grows and multiplies.

For many, its a long time since their life has been about the revelation of who Jesus Christ really is and discovering what His call and purpose for their lives is. His purpose for you can start with not locking yourself away in your house and rejecting the fellowship of your fellow believers. Many Christians fall into the trap of believing that they go to church “to get their batteries charged”. That is not true, if anything, others should feel renewed in their faith by the fellowship that they have with you. You are born again and you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You are not a battery, and the Holy Spirit is not simply the charge in your life.

My suggestion to you if you feel flat about your faith journey is to respond by leaping back into it, working on your prayer life, maybe start with a good book on prayer and why its so important, take up a journal and write about what you are feeling and bring it before God. Another really good idea is to speak with your Pastor, for both counselling and to speak about the possibility of your church hosting an Alpha course and you attending it as a participant or attending Alpha at another local church as a participant. Alpha will take you back to the start in a way, but it also will help you get your thoughts in order about who you are and why you are here and really what it is that God has for you to do.

John 17 14:15 Tells us that as Christians we are in the world, but we are not a part of the world in terms of its worldliness and its declining values. We have to remain as seed that has grown strong and multiplied. In cases like the couples church above, then yes, their church needs to join with the Evangelical members association and stand up for the faith rather than embrace sin and worldliness as a group. The newly formed Global Methodist denomination is being rapidly joined by many churches exiting the United Methodist Church for the same reason and the same renewal of Christian faith is happening in other denominations too and it can certainly be your story as well if you wish it to be.

Understanding why Jesus Healed the Blind Man, Mk 8:22-26

We know that Jesus did many miracles, many were recorded in the Bible and many more were not, yet in the Book of Mark, Mark relates to us this particular account.

“Mark 8:22 When they had arrived in Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. 23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the mans eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked “can you see anything now”? 24 The man looked around. “Yes,” he said I see people but I cant see them very clearly, they look like tree trunks walking around.” 25 Then Jesus placed his hands on the mans eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him away saying, “Don’t go back into the village on your way home.”

So here are a few points that might help us shed some light on what is happening here,

1, People had brought this man to Jesus and the same people had also begged Jesus to heal him, Beggars often were considered unclean in this society, yet people cared enough for this man to get him and bring him to Jesus, those people clearly had faith that he would be healed by Jesus although the blind man himself may not have had any faith yet. Perhaps its like today where people will invite a friend or family member to attend a church meeting or activity with them with the same ideal in mind.

2, “Bethsaida”, This miracle takes place outside of this village. In Luke 10;13 and Matthew 11:21 Jesus condemns Bethsaida because when its occupants had seen miracles, signs and wonders happen there they had continued to respond with disbelief. I would suggest to you that this miracle is for this man personally, not as a sign for the people of this place.

3, Jesus took the blind man out of the village and “led him by the hand”, again a person considered unclean and a beggar, Jesus was not afraid to touch him and personally walk with him, Jesus did not have his friends lead him, Jesus led the man himself.

4, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes and asks if he can see anything, – this is the first example of a ‘progressive miracle’ we are given in the Bible where a healing happens in two parts. Its not by accident, – anything Jesus does has a purpose.

5, Jesus touches the man’s eyes and his sight is both immediately and fully restored. he tells him to go to his home, but not to return to Bethsaida.

Its important to understand what Mark is telling us here, for most people we are often “brought to Jesus” by a friend or family member in the form of having been invited to attend a church service or perhaps to hear an Evangelist speak, in the modern times of multi media perhaps we come across or are led to different multi media presentations that share the same message. Its a message that can be both confusing and hard to understand. In order to actually understand, we to have to share in a form of enlightenment in our understanding, and its true that this same enlightenment can happen through a gradual process as was the case with the healing of this blind man. We are being shown that understanding too, also happens through a gradual process, it doesn’t happen all at once and that is quite okay.

Further on in the book of Mark (Mk 9:24) Mark tells us of another man who says to Jesus “I believe, help me with my unbelief”. This is a request that continues along this same line of progressive enlightenment. Everyone thinks doubt only happens to them and that few others struggle with doubt and not being able to understand what we are seeing or being shown. Jesus fully understands your doubt and your unbelief and he can also take you by the hand, he can lead you out of the village and he can and will open your eyes too and what was once cloudy and unclear will become your full vision fully restored as the revelation of who Jesus Christ really is opens up to you!

Youth Group in a Faithful Evangelical Church

As you look across the numbers of churches that are declining in your city, It can quickly become apparent that none of these churches have a church Youth Group, often there is also neither a Sunday School for children, nor are there any activities at all for children and youth in many declining churches.

People will often quickly say that the reason is because the church has no resources for young people and the energy and resources that they do have are committed to keeping the Sunday Service club meetings going in the manner that they have always been done.

I’d like to put it to you that the reason your church is declining and has no future in front of it other than becoming an apartment block or a retail centre is the negative attitude it has, and has had, in the past to young people which has ultimately come back to bite it with declining interest, an aging congregation and closure as the result.

Its sad to write these words, but the nasty and negative attitude that some people in churches have to youth groups and young people in their churches is just downright appalling. The blunt fact is that many churches have no Youth Group or Sunday School for Youth / Children and that is just exactly the way they like it…. These are often the same churches where members of the congregation will glare at the new parents of a crying baby and act in a manner that encourages them to realise they are unwelcome there, whilst of course saying the opposite. Often the lack of a Sunday School will be also justified by the suggestion that their denomination is the one that is closest to the truth as opposed to all the other churches in Christendom and thus its necessary that all children sit through the Liturgy / Morning Service accordingly because its all so interesting for them..

The simple truth is that all churches that are Evangelical in Intent and Practice need to have a Youth Group, a Youth Ministry and Activites for Youth and for All Age Groups within that church. Also, the same churches should be discipling these younger members in exactly the same way that the Apostle Paul discipled Timothy into the leadership of the church. In 1Tim 4:12 Timothy is referred to as a Youth. Its suggested by theologians that he is likely to be 16 years old or slightly older. There is no “get out clause” in Scripture that enables your church not to disciple your children and young people to the point where they can be church leaders as Timothy was, this is the example and practice set in the Scripture for you to follow.

Its also true that there are aging congregations that are faithful to the word yet have few or no young people attending. Rather than see this a negative, you should look at this as an opportunity to grow your church and see it change. Firstly you have to be open and honest about the situation, and the various issues over the years that have led to this, and start to sort out those issues, beginning with understanding why it is that people have left your church over the years and acting on the observations raised as opposed to simply ignoring them. You will need to invest in doing the various programs on offer like Contagious Christianity and others, as well as dropping your pride and seeking help from your denominational leadership and neighbouring congregations of your same denomination.

Perhaps its true that right now, your church cant support a Youth Group, yet how are the other churches in your denomination faring? People love nothing more than everything to be about their local church, yet several successful youth groups have been started by 2 or 3 churches sharing their resources and starting a youth group that represents their denomination. Having a “North Eastern Suburbs Youth Ministry Group” is a great way to get started, it just means you have to lose your blinkers and start working with other churches for an outcome that benefits you all. If those other churches grow, then you have done your job faithfully and well by your young people and yourselves.

Young people get an incredibly tough rap these days. Its the hardest age ever to be a young person and to be part of an Evangelical Church. We live in the days where our kids are repeatedly exposed to multi media and every temptation possible. Many young people in your church feel alone despite all the social media and everything that goes on around them. Many are working through their faith and are understanding what its like to have been exposed to the revelation of discovering who Jesus Christ really is and are unsure of what to do next and can openly be attacked over it to ensure they stay in that state.

Do commit to having a youth group and a youth ministry in your church. Do disciple your young people. Do invite them to your family home and run the Christianity Explained series of Bible Studies with them or similar studies, Do make them welcome, Dont be afraid to be the person who nurses the crying baby at church and drops around to the parents house with a cooked meal through the week. Its time to ditch the club mentality for good at your church and to get back to being an Evangelical Christian Church that changes the Hearts and Lives of people with the Blood of Jesus Christ and the Fire of the Holy Spirit, that is your call and purpose right now. Understand that this is exactly what God is calling your church to be renewed by through the Asbury Revival that has seen so many young people and others surrendering their lives to Jesus. It doesn’t have to, nor will it stay confined to Asbury, its time to hold up your own light in the darkness and take it up for yourself and your church today. This is where the journey can begin for you today.