Suttle's Essay: My Prayer For The Church

I feel that the author's main point is summed up in the last paragraph. I feel all the main points go into “My prayer for the church is that leaders will crop up all over the place, ready and willing to embrace the way of Jesus. My hope is that a new generation of leaders is being raised up right now who are unwilling to allow the culture to set the agenda for the church. Instead of chasing after pragmatic success, I pray for those who have the courage to pursue faithfulness no matter what the perceived results may be. I pray that we’ll have the humility to see that we have no right to quibble with the results of our ministry life. We only have the duty to be faithful in all the small things and leave the results in the hands of the loving

It is “The church’s job is not to grow. The church’s job is not to thrive. The church’s job is nor even to survive. The church’s job is to be faithful. Our growth, even out survival, is predicated on the will and power of God. The church’s job is to be the church” (Suttle 27). At my old church when the combined with the church that they are now especially they started to focus on getting younger people to come to the church. There was also a lot of turnovers. They have many young people on the worship team. They were focusing on growing the church. Well, they were doing that people were leaving because of people the church because the did not like all the changes. The church wants my old church to be just like the other churches that they had. The only problem is that my old church had a bunch of older people and they do not like change. In this case, it would help if the church remembered to be the church. At my new church however it is way easier going and seeing as it is at the park district they need to set up everything up every week. As well as folding bulletins and shopping for things that they need. They even get people to greet and serve communion morning of. I feel this is a good example of the church doing its job of being faithful. Also, I feel the church is doing its job as the church. I feel that more church should try to be like this. I think that

It is that “The church doesn’t need technically proficient leaders. The church needs virtuous leaders” (Shuttle 125). In my old church, I feel like they wanted more people that had the experience. Also, they want the people from the better schools. They have a lot of different staff members and they are trying to do a lot more. They are at multiple different campuses as well. The church that I go to now is a lot different than my old one. My new church uses a lot more of volunteers. The church has four pastors, and two of the pastor's wives. That is it that that is on staff I believe. There is one more guy that I believe volunteers with sound. That is for less staff than there was at my old church. I also do not know about where they went to school but I think the main pastor is more equipped to teach than the other ones. The music pastor actually never preaches. They also have started to do one a month pretty much of no one speaking and just a space for worship and if the congregation wants to say anything they can. I feel that they more virtuous leaders then at my old church were if they tried some of the thing that my new church is tried they will hear complaints. I also think it helps that it is a lot more charismatic so people feel more open to yell things out, unlike my old church which was not charismatic at all. I feel that most churches focus on being technically