Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Roll with the Remnant

MIDWEEK CONNECTION

  

All over our nation and right here in Harrisburg, we are watching church attendance drop as people either walk away from church membership or leave one assembly to connect with another one across town. However, many of the places to which they shift, are experiencing a decline in attendance as well.

For ten years, we have held steady, hovering between ten and twelve people per week, month in and month out, year in and year out; as many different people have come and gone over time.

Just like the Lord told us, we have been more like a hospital or a medical clinic, where people, injured in their life’s journey, have stopped in just long enough for recovery and restoration. Afterwards, most of them have moved on to larger settings, where other needs can be met beyond what we have to offer.

For several years, we were discouraged by this assignment and role in this community, but now we have learned to accept it simply because it’s the assignment and role that God has given us.

At the same time, God has given us a core group who have committed themselves to helping us fulfill the calling that God has given us in this community.

There was a time when we were very disappointed because it seemed we would never establish the minimum capacity of people that we needed to carry this work. Now we realize, God took us through the Gideon process, at least internally, and today we are willing to roll with a remnant. Gideon started out with a vast number, but after God’s weeding-out process, he was reduced to less than 1 percent of his initial army. God showed Gideon that HE didn’t need a large number of people to complete the task. He just needed a remnant.

We believe that this process is spreading throughout our country. God is weeding out churches and ministries, reducing their numbers, reassigning many of His people into different assemblies. HE is setting up pockets of His true army so we will be in strategic positions as He launches forth a tsunami-like revival, sweeping across this nation.

That’s why we are still HERE and that’s why we’re still meeting each week. God told us to stop TALKING about the coming revival and the ripening harvest and to start BEHAVING like it's already here. That's why we changed the entire design and setting of the Urban Life assembly space. That's why, last Sunday, WE WENT FOR IT! We changed our meeting space to make it a lot more accommodating for ministering in a safe and intimate environment. It's an atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit can literally overwhelm us in the love and power of God.

So, from now on, feel free to invite family, friends, coworkers or neighbors to the Table of the Lord. A wonderful banquet awaits them. We believe God will meet people in a special way. They can come to the Family Center on any given Sunday. We don’t have an agenda from week to week. We’re just going to ROLL WITH THE REMNANT.