Saltford Community Church

The Bible is a big book, in fact it is a library of 66 books in all.

Where should you start to read the Bible?

You can do what I did when I first started to read the Bible. I started at the beginning with the first book Genesis and the first chapter. It was great to start off with, so many wonderful and amazing stories, but after struggling through the next book Exodus I came to Leviticus and I gave up. A better way to read the Bible is to start near the end at the New testament with one of the Gospels such as Mark, it is the shortest, but any of the Gospels is a good start.

 I want to give some advice about reading the Bible, because it is God’s Word, and it can seem complicated and difficult, but it really isn’t; as long as we do one of 2 things.

 1] Ask God in prayer to help you read it. After all it is God’s Word and He wrote it down for us so that we can understand what He wants us to know.

2] Read it simply. What I mean by this is we must not over complicate what the Bible says. Rather whatever it says take at face value and believe it.

For example: in the very first verse of the Bible [Genesis 1 verse 1] it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” So, what do those words tell us?

God created everything; heavens and the earth and He created us. It tells us that we have a Creator and because of that, we belong to God. We didn’t just happen by a series of happy coincidences starting from some organic chemical pool, billions of years ago. We were simply born into existence by God. If we try and over complicate things by asking “How did God create us?” then we move away from what God wants us to know. From the Bible and its simple statement of fact we can say we are created by God.

Believing that gives us a foundation of a  ‘Biblical’ worldview which is very different to the views of many in the world. But seeing this statement from the Bible as truth it then enables us to believe all of scripture as being true, which it is!

Because all scripture is true and Jesus said that it is. [John 17:17; “Your Word is Truth.”] Then we know that all the promises of God are true. Such as John chapter 3 verse 16 [ God so loved the world that He gave His only Son [Jesus] that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life]. That verse is totally true.

It is important to us that the Bible is true, our whole eternity with God depends on it. Therefore, because the Bible is God’s Word to us, we must not ignore it, disbelieve it or accept only parts of it, rather we must read it, study it, know it, and meditate upon it.

As a pastor I like to see worn out Bibles.

So, keep on reading and believing.

 Should Christians vote in elections?

A couple of weeks ago we had the local council elections. I was left in something of a dilemma, who should I vote for. There were 2 lists of candidates one for the regional mayor and one for the Police and Crimes Commissioner. I didn’t know any of their names or their views. I don’t think it was my fault, it was just because of the pandemic there was nobody going around the doors and no literature, coming through the post. For me I confess it was very confusing; who do you vote for?

However, this got me thinking “Should Christians vote?” Now you might think what a silly question. Of course, we should vote. For some ‘Christian’ groups the answer would be no!

What does the Bible say?

To answer that question; we need to go to Romans chapter 13. Verses 1-7, but verse 1 is the important one to note.

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” [NKJV]

What this means is that there are 2 institutions appointed by God in this world. One is the Church and the other is the secular authority. One is concerned about the eternal salvation of the individual and the community’s spiritual well-being. The other is to be concerned about the maintenance of law and order, the health, wealth and physical well-being of its people and the protection of the Church as it seeks to go out with the Gospel and build up the Kingdom of God on earth.

Of course, both are failures in what they are seeking to achieve, that is because we live in a fallen world and people are sinful too. That doesn’t mean that both organisations shouldn’t try to do better with God’s help.

Further the role of the local church or a national grouping of churches is to be that of guardians of God’s Word and to speak out when local governments or the national government are promoting laws contrary to God’s Word.

Where then does that leave us when it comes to voting? I suggest not in party politics.

We need to challenge candidates about their views on issues directly related with “What the Bible says.” There is a whole range of subjects that the church [local] should engage in with local politicians and a larger grouping of churches should engage with national politicians.

The politicians may not accept our views but we have a right and I think a mandate from God, as the Church, to express those teachings which we find from the Bible. The trouble is that of the two great institutions that God has appointed for our world; the one [Government] has moved away from God’s Word and the other [the Church] has remained silent.

For the sake of the Gospel the Church and indeed the local church cannot and must not be silent on issues that are ungodly, the promotion of which will send many away from God to hell itself.

There is to be a great Day of Judgement when everyone will be brought before our Lord Jesus who is Judge and Lord of all. Will we be ashamed before the Lord because we kept silent and rebuked by the lost because we did not tell them?  

Thoughts on Small churches.

Over the last 40 years I have been involved in both large, middle and small sized churches. Probably middle sized [100 member] churches are the ideal. However, the ones that I feel passionate about are smaller churches. Large churches are just too big. My ministry started by being involved in a church planting work in Bala, North Wales.

Here are some thoughts:-

1] The danger of being a ½ empty church rather than being a ½ full church.

This happens when a church used to be large/middle sized and now has become smaller. The tendency is to think back to what was considered or thought to be better days.

Whereas a church plant is often seen as an exciting work, where every person and every work are important. When you think back there was nothing there.

2] The failure to remember that the church is God’s Church. We can have the mindset that it is all down to us.

We are small because of us, it is our fault. Because we aren’t doing enough, not working hard enough, haven’t got enough vision etc,. Then we can get depressed by it all and lose our joy in the church, in the work and even in God.

3] Need to ask a question why is the church small?

There could be any number of reasons for this. Sin, geography, the age in which we live. [when I was first in the ministry a small church was then a church of about 100], traditions rather than doctrine. Even to such things as what does the church look like from the street, is there a good welcome, do people feel comfortable in the building; or again does anyone know that we are a church or even there?

Publicity, education, social concern are things to consider. Do people know what a church is about, apart from hatches, matches and dispatches.

Is it small because God wants it to be small?

Pros and Cons of a small church compared to a large one.

Pros:-

Every single person in a small church is important.

Much closer and deeper fellowship.

You can get things done quickly [ you don’t always need a committee or church meeting to plan something].

There shouldn’t be to much in the way of cliches.

The services can be much more informal and personal.

Little in the way of church politics.

Problems are often fewer and smaller and can be dealt with quite quickly.

Cons:-

Fewer people to do things, often it is the same people doing most of the things in the church.

Less money to pay for pastors, outreach, equipment and publicity, missions and missionary support.

The gifts in the church might be limited; ie musicians and music.

The teaching, preaching and evangelistic ministry of the church might not be the best. Training in the church might be limited.

Again when certain key individuals leave the church or get sick then the church can look very frail.

It has often been said that the future of any church is only one generation, and that is for big and small churches alike [I have known some ‘big’ churches implode and cease to exist].

Crowds attract a crowd and one of the biggest problems for a small church is to attract people through its doors.

Small churches aren’t always good at cultural changes. [neither are big ones for that matter.]

Positives for all churches small, middle and large.

A] God does not change. His desire is for people to have eternal life through believing in His Son Jesus.

B] The mission of the church has not changed. To go out into all the world with the Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20.

C] The Gospel has not changed and it is still through God, the power of salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1:16.

D] The Bible has not changed. The Word of God provides us with all that we need to know in order to serve our Lord Jesus. 2.Timothy 3:16-17.

E] The effectiveness of prayer has not changed. We can call on God our Father and He answers the prayers of His church, big or small.

A book to read: The Big Picture for Small Churches. John Benton E.P 2020.

A challenge to us: Pray that God would build His church.