No Better Investment

According to many, we are no longer living in a Christian nation. The times have certainly changed and a common expression is that this great land of ours has fallen from the ideals and principles of our founding fathers. The statistics tell the same story.

A Huffington Post article stated that 9,500–10,000 Christian churches are closing every year in America. Another source claims only 4,000-5,000 churches close yearly— for every 1,000 new church plants. We are closing more churches than we are planting. Regardless, our nation is quickly embracing secularism, humanism, and atheism- even socialism and communism- instead of Christianity. Perhaps some of the most troubling news is that a million people in America walk away from church and Christianity every single year. Unfortunately this group is multiplying so fast it’s hard to keep track.

It's important at this point to ask an honest question: “Is there any hope for renewal and restoration?” I believe there is, but it will only happen when the people of God are desperate for Jesus! This includes prayer, repentance, evangelism, and a commitment to plant thousands of new churches throughout North America. Over the past few weeks we have been talking about the funding opportunity of planting churches through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. We will conclude the Annie Armstrong offering on March 18. I want you to prayerfully consider supporting this offering. Another link to successful church planting begins with our mentoring ministry (Titus2) and the focus of passing the gospel to the next generation. At New Life, you have an opportunity to invest in lives of future pastors, missionaries, and church leaders.

A critical component of passing the gospel to the next generation is spending time with kids and students and developing healthy gospel centered relationships. On March 17 from 8 a.m. to Noon, Child Evangelism Fellowship will host a training at New Life for those interested in the Good News Club. I am excited about the opportunity to partner with CEF and host a Good News Club at Westview Primary School. Our first after school club will take place on Tuesday, April 10. If you would like to participate in the GNC make plans to attend the training which is this Saturday, March 17.

Another practical opportunity is our "adopt a student" emphasis called Titus2 ministries. On Sunday, April 8, at 5:30 p.m. we will have a seminar to talk about some core components of Titus2. The first layer of this ministry is focused on serving. As we have discovered, in our sermon series from Titus 2, a healthy church is a place where relationships are no longer dysfunctional. The reason I want to encourage you to adopt a college or high school student is for the purpose of developing healthy relationships. I am confident that Titus2 will provide tremendous gospel return as we take practical steps at advancing the gospel.

As you can tell the next few months will provide some great opportunities for gospel investment. There is no better investment than making a gospel impact on the next generation.

Pastor Billy