It was around this time in 2007, uncertainty and anxiety were looming large in our family. Uncertainty because we didn’t know where we were going to go once I completed my seminary studies, anxiety because we didn’t know how we were going to make it in life and possibly rebuild a ministry as we gave up everything that was familiar, we left family and friends behind and made a move half way across the world to Boston. You wouldn’t understand what anxiety you go through under such circumstances unless you have made a midlife career decision as our family made.
In the midst of all that uncertainty we had a silver lining. We applied for various pastoral positions in different parts of the USA including Quincy. My wife wrote in her journal on 11/30 2007, “Praying for the options that have come up this week, EGC, Kendal Miami, and ECCOA Quincy. Regarding a multicultural ministry! Francis senses that the Quincy opening may be from the Lord” The profile of ECCOA looked good and promising on the website. But little did we know what we were getting into! That was the beginning of our prayer for Quincy and ECCOA. Fast forward three years, our prayers for our Church and different individuals have never been more intensified.
As we are approaching the end of the first decade of the new millennium I began to ask God what would be his purpose for me, my family and for our Church, in the next ten years. I believe that what we have seen or experienced in our lives so far is nothing in comparison to what God has in store for us in the new decade. The future glory of our church will be far greater than the former glory. We are going to see the hand of God moving mightily upon this Church.
In my seeking I was reminded of the call of God which came to me several years ago from Isaiah 58:12 “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
I sense my purpose is to repair, rebuild and restore the ancient ruins and age old foundations of the Church. I began ask God what are they? The Lord showed me that it is the Church in the post Christian society whose foundations are in ruins. After living here for five years I am convinced more than ever that the core foundations of the Church at large are in ruins. It calls for a response from us. It calls for repairs, rebuilding and restoring. So I searched for a biblical model where God used an individual and a group of people to repair, rebuild and restore ancient ruins.
My search led me to the Book of Nehemiah. Out of my study I’ve learned several principles which will help us in “Rebuilding a Healthy Church.” Did I say rebuilding a Healthy Church? Does it mean the current Church is unhealthy? Hasn’t Christ laid the foundations for a healthy church when he died and rose again? Then how come the Church is not as healthy as it should be?
It’s about time that we get serious with the job of demolishing unhealthy, faulty foundations that we have built our lives on and rebuild healthy and God honoring foundations.
We all know how important for us to be healthy. We do anything to be healthy, because we know when we are healthy we can accomplish more, the same applies to a Church. If the Church is healthy, what do I mean by that is if the people in the pews are healthy then the Church is healthy then it will have a positive influence on our community? Don’t we all want to see a Church that honors God and respects all? I’d like to be a part of that Church. When I say Church I am not referring to a building or a particular denomination but I am referring to the redeemed people. It’s you and I, who have been washed by the blood of the lamb, and gather here every Sunday to worship the living God and claim ourselves to be Christians. It’s not the building that needs repairs but it us who need to be repaired, rebuilt and restored based on his Word then the glory of God will once again shine through our lives which will attract others to Christ.
For a few weeks I will be talking on a series called, “Rebuilding a Healthy Church” Some of the things I will be sharing straight from my heart that may prick your conscience but bear with me. Let the Holy Spirit deal with us in ways that are appropriate. The principles we will discover during our study will help us rebuild our lives and others. My hope is that you will be honest with yourselves before God and none of you would sit in a position and think I don’t need any change, and I have arrived, instead you pray, God purge me, purify me, restore me and use me for your glory. Isn’t it easy to find faults in others than to admit our own mistakes? God is committed to change us from glory to glory. But the challenge is are we willing to be changed?
What God expects from us is maturity and growth. In Ephesians 4:12-13, we read, “So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”(Ephesians 4:12-13) The Fullness of Christ! That is our Goal! We are not going to settle for any thing less. Let’s begin our study of the book of Nehemiah.
I. THE CONTEXT OF NEHEMIAH:
A bit of background information will help us place the incidents of Nehemiah in the right context. After the death of Solomon his Kingdom fell apart into two rival states, Israel and Judah with two capitals Samaria and Jerusalem. During 627 B.C the southern prophet Jeremiah prophesied the fall of the city of Jerusalem, the exile of Jews to Babylon and their return. In Jeremiah 52:12 we read the destruction of Jerusalem, “The temple, the royal palace, all the houses and every important building was burnt down. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down and many were taken into exile to Babylon. Initially they thought it will last only for two years.
But nearly after 70 years around 520 B.C, Cyrus the king of Persia decreed that the remnant who survived the exile should return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the Lord.
Under the leadership of Ezra 42,360 Jews (Neh 7:66) returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple, but the walls of the city still remained in ruins. One hundred years after the first return Nehemiah shows up on the scene to repair, rebuild and restore the walls of Jerusalem.
II. A NATION IN A CRISIS: (Neh 1:1-4)
We don’t know much about Nehemiah except he was the son of Hacaliah. Nehemiah means “Jehovah comforts” Isn’t it amazing that God sent Nehemiah to comfort a nation that has endured war and devastation and in a terrible crisis? When all that was going on where was Nehemiah? He was in the citadel of Susa, a winter residence of Persian Kings. Unlike today in those days there was no CNN or Fox News etc to break the devastating news; it has to be spread through word of mouth.
One day Hananiah the brother of Nehemiah and some other men from Judah came to visit Nehemiah. He questioned them about the welfare of the Jews who survived the exile and he also wanted to know what happened to Jerusalem. The men said, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”(Neh 1:3) The Holy city! The city of their ancestors in ruins, and the gates were burned with fire? This is horrible news and a frightening thought for a Jew. It is unthinkable. The nation of was in a crisis!
Let me bring this story into our context. Are we facing a crisis today? The first decade in the new millennium has unfolded several crisis situations in the USA and the rest of the world. To name a few, the 9/11 twin tower attacks in 2001, the anthrax attack in 2003, the Afghanistan and Iraq war, General motors Bankruptcy, the Hurricane Katrina, BC Oil Spill, the current financial meltdown, house fore closures, Job losses and the raising unemployment.
Undoubtedly these crisis situations affect every one. But there is one crisis that comes even closer to home as Christians, that is the Crisis in the Church. The Church in the USA by and large is loosing its impact it once used to have on the nation. The core biblical foundations are in ruins. There is diminishing interest in God and the Church among the general population. This trend worries a lot of Christian leaders. Pastors are concerned about the spiritual and emotional health of their flock.
David T. Olson the author of Turning Church Crisis into a Spiritual Revolution gives a few signs of decay in the American Church: 1. The percentage of the population attending church on any given weekend has declined from 20.4 percent in 1990 to 17.0 percent in 2007. 2. Protestant churches between 100 and 300 in attendance are declining by 2% per year. 3. Lack of new church planting initiatives: to keep up with population growth, 2,900 more churches need to be started every year. 4. The growth rate of evangelical mainline and Catholic churches has been declining throughout this decade.
The painful truth however is that for most churches in America, ministry is more difficult today than it was 10 years ago. My pastor friends have said this and I too say the same with a little bit of experience that I had over the past two years. It is becoming more and more difficult to do ministry here. As I talk to my friends and read various reports I am concerned by the state of the Church in the USA. I began to ask myself why it is so difficult to minister in supposedly a Christian nation. What is contributing to the decay? How can we truly measure the success of the Church? Is it by its numerical growth or by its health? What are the symptoms of a sick Church? What are the signs of a healthy Church? What must we do to rebuild a healthy Church?
I realize that there are no easy answers to these questions, but if we want the Church to become vibrant and have an impact in this nation we must wrestle with these questions. That’s what we will be addressing as we embark on this journey of Rebuilding a healthy Church. When Nehemiah heard about the great trouble and disgrace that his fellow Jews were in, it disturbed him deeply, he sat down and wept. For some days he mourned and fasted and prayed to God out of which the LORD brought forth a plan of repairing, rebuilding and restoring. Nehemiah had to deal with the broken walls of Jerusalem. What are we to deal with, is it our broken lives, broken families and broken Churches? When we see and hear about the decay in the Church at large and our own Church, our personal lives and families, what should be our response? The answer to that question I believe lies in rebuilding a Healthy Church. Amen!
