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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
- Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)
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I spoke some about the spiritual nature of our struggle, how we have been fooled into blaming each other, but how some of this is manifest even within my family and other families of the congregation. I invited people to come forward to the altar, but only if they seriously wanted to move ahead, and with these convictions in mind:
1. We refuse to be deceived any longer about the spiritual nature of our struggle. (Ephesians 6:12)
2. We will forgive all human foes for all that is past and all that is to come.
We refuse to be offended. (John 20:22-23, Matthew 5:23-24)
3. We will risk everything to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
We cannot do this halfway. (Acts 19:13-16, Luke 14:33)
Confident that Christ can build a powerful church even if only 2 or 3 persons would step forward, I issued the challenge, and 30 people came to the altar! The following week 3 more responded. This is a moment in Christ's timing that we cannot afford to let slip by. For the first time in half a century we can stop seeing ourselves as a church of declining members, and see ourselves instead as a core of 33 faithful followers of Christ who are growing.
It occurred to me that to reap benefits from this gift of the Spirit, it is important to mobilize these committed followers into a corps to really do the work of Christ. The sections that follow provide some clues on how I believe He calls us to action.
SECTION II. DEFINING THE CORE/CORPS.
I soon realized that though I knew what to call the group, I couldn't decide how to spell it. For it is both (Continued on page 2)
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SECTION I. A CALL TO ACTION.
For a congregation that has spent years avoiding conflicts, and has almost a tradition of steady decline (it has been the pattern for most of the last 50+ years), it would seem that some drastic measures would be needed to turn things around. On September 19, 2004, some members of the Avondale Church took an important step in allowing that to happen.
After several weeks in which the hurt feelings and intensity level seemed only to rise, your reluctant pastor issued a challenge to the congregation. If we are to move beyond the hurts of the past and into Christ's appointed future, we need to set some ground rules and hold each other to a higher level of accountability.
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