How is your faith lookin’ these days?  Is it growing?  Shrinking?  Not sure or haven’t thought about it?  There probably isn’t a Christian around who would say that their faith is as strong as they would like.  So, the question is then:  How does one’s faith grow?  How does one become spiritually stronger?

Perhaps the easiest answer is through regular contact with the Gospel in both the Word and the Sacraments.  God the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith perhaps most visibly on Sundays as we attend church, hearing again the good news of what our Savior has accomplished and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  But is this the only time?

If it is, you’ve got a serious faith problem.  I’ve recently read an article by Prof. Forrest Bivens from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly about the spiritual growth of ministers.  In it, he offers a number of different “insights” in order to encourage pastors and teachers to evaluate their spiritual growth.  I think his first insight addresses this serious faith problem many Christians, myself included have.

Practical Insight #1:  Personal spiritual growth is an essential part of your calling as a Christian.  It is not optional.  So don’t waste time and energy approaching it halfheartedly.  It unrelentingly demands your attention and commitmet.

In other words, for us to consider our spiritual growth a once-a-week activity, or something that is optional or a “when I have time to” is a foolish mistake.  Our faith in some ways is much like a plant.  It is either growing or dying.  Not enough nourishment – water, sun, etc. – and the plant dies.  With plenty of water and sin, the plant thrives.  Our faith, with little or no nourishment from God’s Word, begins to die, and eventually will if left unattended long enough.  However, with regular, daily feedings from the Gospel, our faith thrives.

How do you view your faith and its growth?  Do you have a daily plan that you use to regularly and consistently feed and nourish your faith?  What do you think?  Any ruminations?

 Guest•er•ize (gest-er-ize): to make a church more responsive to its guests and better able to attract new ones.  Syn see service, care, love, acceptance.

 “Being nice to people is just the beginning of connecting people to your church…But being nice and smiling accounts for only about 20 percent, at most, of actually connecting guests to a church.  The important thing is to design systems that provide excellent service to those who attend your church…We must guesterize our churches.  Guesterizing your church occurs when you make guests the most important people at your church on Sunday morning.  It means responding to their needs in a manner that causes them to enjoy their time with you.  It means giving superior service so that they want to move beyond the first visit.  To guesterize your church, I recommend that you give your guests the following:

1. The “Ten-Foot Rule” and the “Just Say Hi” policy.  Whenever you come within ten feet of a person (especially those you do not know), smile and just say hi.

2. “The Five-Minute Rule”  The members of the congregation are instructed to speak to guests during the first five minutes following each worship service.  They were not to do any church business or any take down of chairs or talk to their friends until five minutes had elapsed.

3. “Everyone a Greeter”  Or a better way to put it is that everyone in your church should be willing to serve others.

 (McIntosh, Gary L.  Beyond the First Visit – The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church.  Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI; 2006, pg 21).

At Our Savior, we have done a good job at the first and third suggestion.  People are always very friendly, and many make a point to introduce themselves guest and express their happiness that they have joined us for worship.

What things does your church do?  What ideas do you have to make us better at welcoming at guests?  Any thoughts or ideas that your have been ruminating about? 

I’ve been reading a book entitled “Beyond the First Visit.”  It deals with connecting guests to our church.  I thought this was an interesting and eye-opening quote:

“Just a little more than fifty years ago, approximately 90 percent of a church’s guests came from the same denominational background.  This meant that they already understood the church’s theology, order of worship, music, values, and culture.  Such inherent knowledge allowed them to feel comfortable and at ease in the church…most newcomers knew how to fit in the church.

In today’s world only 30 percent of our guests will come from a sister church or one of a similar background.  That means that 70 percent come with little or no understanding of our church.  When nearly three-fourths of our guests arrive either with no church background or from a church that is quite different, there is a corresponding lack of knowledge about our church.  Most guests will not be familiar without worship format.  They will not know when to stand, sit or kneel.  Others will not know our songs, language, and religious jargon.  They will not know how to fit in or get involved in ministry.  Therefore, we must be intentional in developing effective ways to move guests beyond the first visit…”  (McIntosh, Gary L.  Beyond the First Visit – The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church.  Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI; 2006, pg 21).

Any ruminations, thoughts or ideas?

 ru·mi·na·tion   (rōō’mə-nā’shən) n.

1. The act of pondering; meditation. 

2. The act or process of chewing cud.

 Rumination is a fun word.  Few people use it, for that matter, I suppose it is possible that not many people even know what it means.  I must admit, the only reason I chose the word ruminate to describe thinking is because it seemed to be a good alliteration with “Rev.”

To ruminate means to think deeply about, to ponder.  The aim of “Ruminations from the Rev…” is to give you some things to ruminate about.  Its’ purpose is share ideas with you that I’ve read about, pondered, thought of, and ruminated over.  I use a slightly modified form of these blog posts at the church that i serve as an opportunity to explain the reason why we do certain things as well as to offer encouragement to continue to do things which are important to the ministry of Our Savior.

 What do I hope you do with it?  I hope you read it, think about it, ponder and ruminate over some of the ideas presented.  Let me know what you think about them, let me know your thoughts and ideas. 

I hope it makes you ruminate some!