prayer

Train Yourself to Be Godly #8: Honouring Your Body in a Way That Honours Christ.

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*Training yourself to be godly may include honouring your body.

So you must honour God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

There is a website that lists 20 Famous Temples to Visit Once in Your Lifetime. These are incredible works of art and design.

A temple not on the list but would have been great to see is King Solomon’s Temple. Before Solomon built a temple, God had Moses and the Israelites build a Tabernacle, a tent. This is described in Exodus 25 – 40. We are given all kinds of details about what the Tabernacle was to be like, how to design it, what colours to use, who was to design and build or sew it, and what kind of furniture was needed.

And then we come to Exodus 40: 35. “Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle”. God came and lived on earth in the temple. Leviticus goes on to explain the role of priests who served in the tabernacle and details about sacrifices that were done at the tabernacle.

Many years later, when the Israelites are in the Promised Land, God asks Solomon to build Him a temple, a more permanent place of worship. There are four chapters in 1 Kings dedicated to describing the details of this temple (1 Kings 5-8) including measurements and designs and decorations to be used. 2 Chronicles gives us even more details about the temple in another six chapters(2 Chronicles 2-7).

“When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it” (2 Chronicles 7:1-2).

God comes in fire and smoke to dwell in the Temple. God comes to live in, dwell in this Temple, and He gave very specific, detailed instructions to ensure it was designed, built, and furnished just right. Think about how much detail, all those chapters of details, went into this place that God would choose to live in here on earth.

The Bible tells us that God no longer lives in a temple of stone, but in the hearts of believers. In 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17 we read: “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”

Did you catch that? Now, the temple is us!!

Let’s look at one more scripture. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.”

God is no longer living in a physical building, but in His people, and specifically in each one of us as believers. And the exhortation is to “honour God with your body”.

John 14: 23 says, “Jesus replied, ‘All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them and we will come and make our home with each of them.’”

Jesus, by the Spirit lives in us! The Father by the Spirit lives in us! We are the temple of God.

The phrase, “So you must honour God with our body” comes after a warning to flee sexual immorality. Many, if not all sins we commit, we do by using our bodies.

  • We lie by using our mouth.
  • We listen to gossip by our ears.
  • We lust for things with our eyes.
  • We dwell on temptations with our minds until we act on them or say no to them.
  • We hit with hands and use our feet to walk into places we shouldn’t.

But the very same body can…

  • Use the mouth to speak words of encouragement.
  • Use the ears to listen to a grieving friend.\
  • Use our eyes to see the needy around us and help them.
  • Use our minds to consider ways to help others.
  • Use our hands and feet to help in practical ways – and to walk into church and lift our hands in worship!

We need to honour God with our bodies, to recognize that we are the Temple of God, and then to invite Him to take up residence in our lives as he did at the Temple. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you as you surrender your body to be used for his honour.

We will look at a few spiritual disciplines next week, but for now, as you think of training yourself to be more godly, recognize that your body is a gift from God that He chooses to live in, so honour God with your body.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #7: The Encouragement of Fellowship

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*Training yourself to be godly may include fellowship and community.

It is a joy to be part of a church family that truly loves each other and cares for each other. There are some churches where people are truly experiencing fellowship as they encourage each other to become more like Jesus.

Hebrews 10: 19-25 gives a great description of what this fellowship can and should look like. It begins with a reminder that all believers are together in their relationship with Jesus. “We” can boldly enter the Most Holy Place – we – not just you, or just me, but the idea is that “we” can. And not just the people of the Old or New Testament. Not just Jews.

He is using inclusive language – as in “we are in this incredible journey of relationship with God together.” We are all on the same road to heaven, not on a bunch of unrelated individual roads or journeys, but we are on this journey of relationship with God through faith in Jesus together.

And then, in verses 23 -25, the author describes how we should be encouraging each other in our life with Jesus.

Verse 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm…

Let “us” hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm. “Us”. We are not clinging to that hope – that life raft – by our self. Our hope in Jesus is not something we have to hold onto alone. We are invited to hold onto our hope in Him together!

Verse 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

Let “us” think of ways to motivate one another. This may require a little creativity, we need to find ways of encouraging each other. The NIV says it like this: let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

The Greek word for “spur” actually means: provocation, stirring up, sharp disagreement. We are to provoke one another to good deeds.

So the NIV is right. A spur in the side of a horse gets it moving. A spur in your side from a Christian brother or sister may get you moving in the right direction as a follower of Jesus – provoking you to consider getting involved in acting out your faith. We are to stimulate our brothers and sisters in their journey with Jesus.

Our journey with Jesus was never meant to be a solitary voyage. I have a friend who loves canoeing. This summer, he went on a 10-day canoe trip, all by himself. While that is fun for him, that is not the right picture of the Christian life. The Christian life might be best pictured by a voyageur canoe, or those Chinese Dragon boats. It is many people working together and pulling in the same direction.

Verse 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another…

There are some who think they can have a personal faith in Jesus and a relationship with God, and they don’t need anyone else. That is not the picture of the Bible. We need to be intentional about meeting together. This is about more than joining others in a worship service but to meet together to encourage each other in our Christian life.

We need each other. We need to meet so we can spur each other on. We need to live life in connection with each other.

To encourage one another is to give one another courage. There are times one person has more courage than another. One person’s faith is stronger at one point than another. One person is discouraged or un-couraged and needs to be en-couraged!

Let’s finish with something practical. Here are some “Fellowship Questions” you can ask of each other when you meet with another believer. Move beyond the weather and sports and the latest hobby you are learning to finding ways of encouraging each other in our walk with Jesus.

1.         What have you been reading in the Bible lately?

2.         What have you been learning about your walk with Jesus?

3.         Do you have sense of how God is using you or wants to use you to love and do good deeds?

4.         Where are you discouraged or feeling down in your life?

5.         How can I encourage you or pray for you today?

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #6: Fellowship and Community

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*Training yourself to be godly may include fellowship and community.

Because of our North American independent mindset, many of us have missed the point that much of scripture addresses the Christian life with an expectation of connection. This is expressed and experienced in fellowship and community.

A simple definition for fellowship I heard is this: it’s two fellows in a ship. While this gets to the idea of fellowship, it is much more than two or more people in close proximity.

Fellowship (koinonia in Greek) is about “partnership, participation, sharing, communicating, and communing together”.

David Mathis defines fellowship as “less like friends gathered to watch the Super Bowl, and more like players on the field in blood, sweat, and tears, huddled in the backfield only in preparation for the next down.”Fellowship is joining in together with others to encourage and comfort and lift up. To do the “one another’s” of the Bible to each other: love one another, encourage one another, and so on.

Community is another word for fellowship. John Mark Comer describes it like this: “From coming together on Sunday for worship or eating a meal around a table to practicing confession to entering into spiritual direction, therapy, or mentorship – community is how we travel the Way together” (Practicing the Way). Community is experienced when we get to know each other well enough to be there to encourage, strengthen, or lift each other up when needed.

You may not think of Fellowship, or Community, as a spiritual practice, but they are. They are part of helping us to grow in our relationship with Jesus. This is one of the reasons that Hebrews 10 tells us to “not neglect meeting together… but to encourage one another”. They are practices we can choose to join into with purpose.

Fellowship and community are more than just being part of a church or attending every Sunday. Often, fellowship and community are experienced with a close friend or two, or in an intentional small group that meets regularly to help each other grow in their faith.

Stephen Macchia  suggests that fellowship and community are defined and experienced by the following:

  • Faithful presence
  • Honesty and transparency
  • Mutual submission
  • Confession and forgiveness
  • Joy: Laughter and tears
  • Listening and empathy
  • Attitude of gratitude

All of this can be summed up in being open and honest with a few people you trust so you can walk with them and they with you through your life journey with Jesus.

I encourage you to find a few good friends or join a small group, where you can get to know each other and care for each other in real, meaningful, and practical ways. Do this intentionally and you will be practicing fellowship and community as spiritual practices.

Watch for more on fellowship next week.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #5: Other Spiritual Practices of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly may include a rhythm of prayer and fasting, prayer and solitude, and listening or conversational prayer.

Last week, we talked about the spiritual practice of prayer. We have the privilege, as children of our heavenly Father, to talk with him about everything in our life. We can pray about all our concerns and thank him for all he has done for us.

There are a few other spiritual disciplines that are tied to prayer. It may be that you pray often, but haven’t tried some of the practices below. Or maybe you have tried them but have not intentionally made them part of the rhythms of your life. Check them out and ask God for direction on which one to try this week and which ones to incorporate into your walk with God.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer

The first practice is simply prayer but being intentional about determining when and where and what you will pray about. You could develop a prayer list about whom or what to pray for and schedule a regular time of day to pray. If you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you need to pray.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer and Fasting

Scripture is clear that fasting was part of people’s lives as they sought God – and usually prayer goes with the fasting. In the book of Esther, Esther asks Mordecai to tell her people to fast. She doesn’t ask them to pray, but that is the assumption – if they fast, they will be praying. They were fasting in order to hear from God and for God to give direction to Esther.

Fasting is simply going without food for a meal or two, or day or two. Some choose to fast for a week or more. Some emulate Jesus and his forty-day fast after his baptism. Some choose to fast by removing something else of importance from their life besides food, such as fasting from technology, or that special hot drink you like. The goal is to demonstrate that one’s desire for God is greater than our desires for other things.

You might want to include prayer and fasting in your walk with Jesus.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer and Solitude

Payer is talking with God. At other times it is just sitting and resting in the presence of God. To be in solitude. This is a hard one!

We fill our lives with busyness and with people and noise. Maybe you want to practice the discipline of Solitude – just stopping and being with Jesus. Sometimes I see this as having coffee with Jesus. Grab a coffee and just sit in prayerful thought as if Jesus is right there having coffee with you. This is less about what you need from Jesus and more about just being in his presence.

Wait. Maybe Jesus will say something – impress a certain thought or scripture on your mind. Maybe even give you direction for the day.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Listening Prayer/Conversational Prayer

Very often, our prayer time is a time of giving God a list of requests and thanking him for what He has done. Sometimes we sit in solitude enjoying being in His presence.

We also need to take time to specifically listen to God. This is not about getting through my list and going on with my day, but taking time to ask God questions and wait for His answers. It is about listening for His still small voice, or a sense, or a reminder of a scripture.

For me, listening prayer works well with a journal, I write down my conversation – what I am saying and then what I think He is saying. I then ask another question to clarify or to learn more, like in any conversation.

I encourage you to slow down and spend time with God, listening and talking with, not just to, God.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #4: The Spiritual Practice of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly will include intentional prayer.

It is easy to worry. We all face things that are out of our control, whether it’s the state of the world that we see in the news or the health conditions of loved ones. We don’t have to look far to realize that we do not control most things in life. This may cause us to worry, but scripture suggests an alternative.

Look at the words of Philippians 4:6-7,

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We are encouraged not to worry or be anxious about anything. Anything seems to, well, include everything. There is nothing worth worrying about. It won’t help us anyway, even if we do.

Instead, we are to pray and pray about everything. We should have nothing to worry about and everything to pray about. Everything. That means that everything we can think of or imagine can be prayed about. We should pray for those suffering with cancer and for persecuted Christians, and for our work situation or relationships, and even a parking spot or finding the right Birthday present for our spouse.

The verse continues, “tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

God wants us to communicate our need to him. He wants us to ask for help. And he wants us to thank him for what he has done for us. This helps explain what praying for everything means as prayer includes both asking for help and thanking God for all the help he has already given. That covers everything, doesn’t it?

The verse goes on to explain the peace we can have as we bring everything to God. His peace can become a guard for our hearts and minds so that we continue to experience his worry-free peace. This peace comes from “living in Christ Jesus.” We need to continue to remain connected to Jesus if we want to have peace.

As a child, I enjoyed flying a kite, watching it get smaller and smaller as I let out the string. One day, the string came off my spool. I no longer had control of the kite. What happens to a kite that is not anchored to the person flying it? The wind may blow it for a while, but it will eventually drop to the ground. The kite is only flying free in the wind when it is anchored to its master. We are only able to fly free in the winds of life if we remain anchored to our Master, and that anchoring, that string that ties us to him is our prayer.

We need a consistent and intentional prayer life, a plan for how we will pray, if we are to train ourselves to be godly or remain connected to the God we serve. If we want to train ourselves to become more like God, we must engage in the spiritual practice of prayer. This means that I will be intentional, not just to pray for meals or to say a prayer before I go to sleep, but to pray intentionally and about specific things and even in specific ways.

I would suggest you make a prayer plan. When will you pray? What will you pray about? And then ask God to speak as you pray.

As you regularly talk with God, he will help you become more like Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Spiritual Training Series #1: Train Yourself to be Godly

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Imagine you just received a baby picture from friends who just had a baby. What if they sent you a picture every year? What if you are like me and don’t clean your fridge very often? As you put up the picture from year five, you notice the picture from the first announcement. And then you realize there has been very little change. The baby is still hardly any bigger and doesn’t seem to have developed much. Unfortunately, there are some children who do not mature the way we expect, who never crawl or walk or communicate. This makes us sad because a baby needs to grow.

As followers of Jesus, we need to grow, too.

1 Timothy 4:7 says “train yourself to be godly”.

Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation”.

We are to become more “godly” or Christ-like. We are to continue to grow and develop spiritually to become a better expression of the image of God as we were created to be, according to Genesis 1:27.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he crated them.

Genesis 1:27

This is not just about our own hard work though. In Colossians 1:29, the Apostle Paul writes: “I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” Yes we are to train ourselves and work out our salvation and struggle. We have a part to play in our spiritual development, but this is never something we do no our own. Like Paul we can depend on “Christ’s mighty power that works within me”.

We can and should do our part. It may be that we choose to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that Christians have practiced throughout history. This includes prayer, scripture reading, fasting, sabbath, generosity, and so on. As we practice these disciplines, we make an effort to do our part as we invite the Holy Spirit to do His work in us to make us a little more like Jesus.

Whatever training we want to instill in our lives, we do need to train ourselves to become godly. For this to be a priority in our lives, we need to intentionally prepare a training schedule or plan. When will you read the Bible, and what will you read? When will you pray, and what will you include in your prayer time? When will you choose to fast, and what kind of fast? How will you practice generosity, and so on?

Think back to the time when you first became a believer in Jesus. We could say you were a baby Christian. What would that picture have looked like if your heavenly Father had taken a picture and hung it on his fridge in heaven? What would a picture he took this year look like? As I look back 51 years, to the time He could have taken my “spiritual baby” picture,  I trust that my picture – the me that God sees – would give evidence of much spiritual growth and maturity. Maybe the picture would not just include me, but other people around me who have come to know Jesus or been impacted for Jesus by me.

I pray that you are intentionally pursuing Jesus and looking for ways to grow toward every fuller spiritual maturity.

Keep on looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Persistent Prayer

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Believers have the wonderful privilege of talking to their God. We can pray and expect that God hears us. We can pray and expect that God will speak to us as we listen. What a privilege!

Many believers pray. May churches have prayer meetings and prayer in their services. But how long do we pray? Do we pray once and then go on with life? Or do we continue in prayer until we hear from God?

One day, Jesus told a story:

“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” – Luke 18: 1-8

Jesus uses this story to show the value of persistence in prayer. A persistent  resulted in the intervention of a judge who “neither feared God nor cared about people”. The judge finally gave in and helped the woman because of her persistence.

Jesus applies this story to the Christian life: “So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:8)

Jesus wants us to understand the value of persistence in prayer – not to have a reluctant judge or a reluctant God respond – but because we have a God who is much better than a reluctant judge. God loves us more than that reluctant judge. He wants to help his people; he honours those who persist in prayer.

Jesus continues in verse 9, “I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!”

Jesus wants his disciples to recognize God’s willingness to answer prayer and encourages them to keep on praying and not to give up. As followers of Christ today, we can similarly apply this message in our lives and persist in prayer.

Unless you have a clear answer from God, continue praying. The Apostle Paul wrote about a problem he had that he wanted God to clear up. He describes how he persisted in prayer three times and then stopped. “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12: 8-9) Paul didn’t stop praying until he heard God’s answer.

Keep praying until you get an answer from God. Persist in prayer.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

God Draws People to Himself in Creative Ways!

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A few years ago, I asked one of our members why she started attending our church. Her answer went something like this: “I read my horoscope, and it told me that I am a religious person, but not in the conventional way, so I thought I would go to church to find out.” Our creative God can use a horoscope to draw people to Himself!

I am preparing for a baptism service in a few weeks. A lady who is preparing to be baptized on that Sunday sent me a copy of her testimony of how she came to the place of surrendering her life to Jesus. It was a very well-written story explaining that she came from a family that had no interest in God, but God began to work in her life. She explained how she lingered a little longer than usual on a social media post about Christianity. The algorithm picked up on that and began highlighting other verses and Christian thoughts for her. She realized she was against the Bible without ever having read it. She started reading the Bible. She met other Christians and had meaningful conversations with them and started attending a church. God drew her to the point of surrendering herself to God through faith in Jesus. She described how she had just recently burned her tarot cards and is truly trusting Jesus. Our creative God can use social media algorithms to draw people to Himself.

I don’t know how God drew you to Him, but He is creative in how He works. We see this in scripture as well. God sent Philip to meet an Ethiopian official who was reading Isaiah in his chariot, and the official surrendered himself to Jesus. Peter preached to a crowd on the day of Pentecost, and three thousand people gave their lives to Jesus. The Lord knocked Paul off his horse and blinded him to draw Paul to Himself. Zacheus was up in a tree when Jesus noticed him, and Zacheus’ life was changed as Jesus went to his house and opened his eyes to a new reality of faith in God.

Jesus said in John 6:44, “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me.” We are told that the Father draws people to Himself. But we are not told how that drawing may take place. God is creative and has all kinds of ways to break into hard hearts and draw people to Himself.

The examples I shared of people I have met make it clear that God doesn’t need you or me to begin bringing people to Him. In both cases, once they were interested and searching, God arranged for them to meet people who could help them along their new journey of developing a faith in Jesus and growing in relationship with God. We, as people, do not, and cannot, make anyone believe in Jesus. We can share stories about Jesus, and we can pray for and with them, but it is God who opens their hearts to faith in Him.

We have a role to play in people coming to faith in Jesus. We may encounter people at various stages of their journeys and have opportunities to be a part of their journey whenever we encounter them. Some may not have heard about Jesus, and we have the privilege of sharing the story of the Saviour of all people. Some may have heard about Jesus but never realized they needed to surrender their lives to His Lordship. Others may already have been drawn by the Father and are looking for someone to help them understand the decision they have made.

Whatever stage we encounter people, we can pray for them, we can share what we know about Jesus, and we can invite them to make a decision to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. We have an amazingly creative Father God who invites men and women and boys and girls to faith in Jesus in whatever way He chooses. Let’s be aware of people in our life who are searching and whom the Father has been drawing so we can help them understand and begin their eternal life of faith in Jesus.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Persevering Through Leadership Challenges

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Leadership is not for the faint of heart. Leaders can expect to face challenges from those they lead. Church leaders are not exempt from this reality.

I recently met with a church board who were facing these kinds of challenges. Some of the congregation were complaining that the board wasn’t leading well, others said they would never submit to the board’s leadership, and others said they didn’t even know who the leaders on their board were. Leaders can expect to face condemnation from every angle, facing criticism for being both too controlling and at the same time not leading strongly enough.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:1: “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.” It is a good thing to desire to be a leader, but Paul immediately follows up that statement with a list of qualifications a godly leader should measure up to. Not just anyone can be a leader.

Once you are a leader, you are entrusted with the care of those you are called to lead. It doesn’t matter how you came to your position; you have to believe that you are there because God wanted you there. Whatever system your church uses to select leaders, the assumption is that the church trusts God to guide that process. That means you are not just there because some people in the church wanted you there; you are there because God wanted you there. This is important as you face challenges from those you are called to lead. If you believe God put you in that position, then you can persevere with His strength, no matter the challenges.

How can you face these challenges and continue to lead?

Believe you are called to your leadership position by God.

When you are called by God, you can trust Him to help you persevere through tough leadership challenges because He will empower and equip you to do so.

Pray and read scripture.

As a church leader, you need to be in tune with God and to hear from Him as you navigate the hard seasons. Take time to talk to God about your challenges. Ask God to help you understand those who criticize you. Listen for God’s direction, either directly to you in prayer or through scripture.

Read the Bible with the desire to find answers to your challenges. This could be through examples of good leadership in scripture. It may be that you are encouraged by Paul’s letters to churches and leaders. Read so you can be encouraged by the Word of God.

Learn and grow in leadership.

I have found that reading leadership books, attending seminars or conferences, and listening to podcasts has encouraged me and helped to equip me to tackle various challenges I have faced as a leader in the church. We can learn from the stories of others. We can gain knowledge, skills, and encouragement from others who have faced similar situations.

Leadership can be exciting when everyone is working well together, but it can be difficult when people you are called to lead do not trust you and question every step. I hope you can find encouragement in your calling, find direction in God’s Word, and hear from God in prayer. Continue to persevere as you face challenges.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Is Your Church Declining or Growing?

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You may have heard some of the discouraging statements about church closures recently. A study by the National Trust of Canada “predicted that one-third of Canada’s 27,000 faith buildings, most of which are Christian, would likely close permanently in the next 10 years.”[i] The narrative around church closures includes conversations about the decline of religious affiliation in Canada. A January 8, 2022 Global News Report stated: “Religiosity in Canada is at an all-time low, with recently released data from Statistics Canada showing only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It’s the lowest it’s been since they first started tracking this statistic in 1985.[ii] The Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research, in a 2024 article, stated an opposing view, saying “overall the Canadian Christian Church had only 2% fewer net congregations in 2019 (23,675) than they did in 2009 (24,138).”[iii] While pointing out that there are only a few fewer churches, the article acknowledged that religious affiliation is indeed down.

I understand that churches do sometimes close. The church I started in as a youth pastor no longer exists. At the same time, I am very encouraged as I think of the churches I have served as a transitional pastor over the last 5 years.

I have served seven churches, of which three were growing even during their transition, and all the rest were stable. Not one of the churches was in continual decline.

So what might this mean for us as pastors and church leaders?

There may be times when a church should close. Some of our rural communities are declining as people move away for school and jobs, which may mean a church closes for lack of people. Some churches may need to close because they have lost their mission and are no longer serving as a church, but a Christian club for a few dedicated members.

So what does this mean for church leaders?

We need to remind ourselves that we are serving God’s church. It is His church. While we can definitely do our part, we need to ask God to step in and bring revival where necessary and grow the church. We need to remind the church of our mission to make disciples who make other disciples. We need to give people hope and joy in their relationship with Jesus. We need to look for ways to bring spiritual renewal and transformation into our congregations, beginning with us.

We cannot lead people where we aren’t going first. Are you hungry for God? Are you digging into His Word, hungry for more of Him? Are you reading books on spiritual renewal? Are you praying and inviting others to pray with you? Are you loving your neighbours and those in the community around the church building?

Pastors, God wants us to use our gifting and calling to draw people ever closer to Jesus. I am convinced that when people fall in love with Jesus again, they will come alive. They will experience Him at work in their lives. As we ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, He will fill us and empower us for holy living and bold sharing of the gospel.

Quit preaching “self-help” sermons. Preach Jesus from the Gospels. Preach about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Introduce spiritual disciplines and invite your church to practice them. Show your members the full life that can be theirs.

God is still at work. He is still drawing new people to Himself. New believers are asking to be baptized. Some of your members are hungry and searching for more of Jesus. Encourage those who are already searching and ask God to open the hearts of others.

Are churches closing? Yes, some are, but yours does not need to be one of them. Be proactive. Do not assume the decline of your church is inevitable. God is still at work, renewing believers and reviving churches. May yours be one of those.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

[i] New report suggests opening churches to the masses as attendance dwindles

By The Canadian Press

Published: June 22, 2025 at 7:43AM EDT https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/new-report-suggests-opening-churches-to-the-masses-as-attendance-dwindles/

[ii] [1] ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever

By Ashleigh Stewart  Global News

Posted January 8, 2022 5:00 am

 Updated January 17, 2022 3:21 pm https://globalnews.ca/news/8471086/religion-decline-canada/

[iii] Hope For the Future: The 2021 Canadian Census

Rev. Dr. Lee Beachhttps://flourishingcongregations.org/hope-for-the-future-the-2021-canadian-census/