Living with Certainty in an Uncertain World

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NIV)

Fear is the path to the dark side. –Yoda

There has always been uncertainty. But I must admit that today there seems so much more uncertainty on the loose. We have the war on the Ukraine, energy prices spiking, social unrest, pandemic and healthcare challenges, a mental health crisis and I’ll throw in a spiritual crisis as well.

Churches are challenged in a way they have never been challenged before. On the one hand, there is so much brokenness in the world that finding a place to minister the gospel of Christ is easy. But Christians are people too, and they face the same issues as everyone else and many are overwhelmed with all this uncertainty, they need help as well.

With that said, I’d like to point out a few things about uncertainty and the worry it brings to help us in the days to come.

First, there is no shortage of things to worry over in this life.

We learn to worry as children. We worried about our toys. Is someone going to break them? What if I lose them? We worried over our friends. When would I see them? Would any of them come to my birthday party? In school, who am I going to sit with at lunch?

We are established into worry in our youth. We worry about our clothes. Are they the right brand and style? We worry about dating. Who would go out with me? We worried about grades in school. Am I going to pass algebra? I can’t even spell algebra.

We are entrenched in worry in adulthood. Am I going to graduate college? Can I support myself? Who am I going to marry? What about children? Am I going to ever be able to retire? Is my health going to hold out?

Second, worry is a disproportionate level of concern based on an inappropriate measure of fear.

In most cases it is a preoccupation with things we cannot change. What if the war in Ukraine becomes a WWIII? What if I have a car accident? What if I get sick? What if a meteor hits the earth? There is nothing you or I can do about it.

Certainly, we can be cautious and perhaps we should. We should drive our cars circumspectly. We should eat healthy and exercise regularly. We do what we can do and leave the rest to God. That means turning our worry over to God in prayer.

Third, worry is built on a false narrative: If I worry enough about something happening, it won’t.

Maybe this isn’t you, but I imagine you know someone who thinks this way. They are worried that no one is worried over something that no one can do anything about. They cannot relax one bit until someone else is worried simply because someone must be.

I had a landlord who lived in the same townhouse building as Karen and me. One day I went for a run early in the morning and saw that his car had been broken into. I knocked on the door of his townhouse to tell him. His first reaction was, “I knew that was going to happen!” The guy lived in fear of the next bad thing.

Wow! I’m getting all anxious just writing this stuff down. We need some balance here. In Matthew 6, which is part of the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is encouraging us not to waste our valuable time and energy preoccupied with the uncertainty of material things in this world. He goes on to say:

“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25–34, CSB)

Fourth, worry takes over when we are on the throne of our lives.

Jesus names the basic things that cause us worry: food, clothing and tomorrow. But he wants us to remember that our Father in heaven already knows what we need and will meet our needs. He is telling us that God is not only in charge, but that God is responsible for our lives. After all, we are part of the family of God!

Fifth, we cease to worry when we seek God’s kingdom first.

What this means is that we make God’s kingdom and his priorities first in our lives. It means we continually look to God and what he is doing in our day-to-day life. When we face adversities, we can meet them not with anxiety but with faith that God will see us through.

Seeking God’s kingdom first doesn’t mean we don’t do other good things. We just do them in proper order. There is a proper time, means, and moderation. Much of our problem with uncertainty is that we worry about the things that we cannot change and that eclipses getting involved in the things that we can change.

Last, when we focus on God’s kingdom and His righteousness first, God is with us in the present moment.

After all, isn’t God’s presence the only thing that can bring certainty to us in a day of so much uncertainty? It was God’s presence that Moses could not do without. Moses was charged with leading Israel into the Promised Land, but the nation had sinned. The LORD told Moses that he would not go with them but would send an angel ahead to make the way. Moses said that if the LORD would not go with them, he would not go. Moses knew with certainty that peace would never be found in riches, intelligence, success, or might. However, it would be found in the presence of God.

I urge you today to seek the presence of the LORD in your life. It can only be found in Jesus Christ. Christ made a way for us to live in his presence both now and for eternity. Salvation is more than a home in heaven, it is heaven having a home in you.

Social Media Do's and Don'ts For Christians

I remember years ago a college friend wasted his first semester in wild behavior, which included avoiding his classes. He failed every course that semester. What was worse is that my friend was from the town in which the college was located. His dad was a major influencer in the town. I was nearby in the college dorm when his father paid him a visit near the end of the semester. I overheard the dad say, “I told you to remember who you are. It has taken me a lifetime to build up our family name in this community and you have torn in down in a matter of weeks.”

He verbalized a true principle. It's extremely hard to build and keep a good reputation, but so easy to lose it.

It pains me to write this, but many of our Bible toting, church going Christian people are losing their good reputation and more importantly, Christ’s reputation by posting and reposting content on social media that is opposed to the Spirit of Christ and the Scriptures that they claim to honor. This needs to stop now.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32, ESV)

Like it or not, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then you're to represent him in person and online. Has your social media behavior been reflective of Jesus? Sure, you can be engaging. You can be humorous. You can even be controversial. Jesus was all of these. But he was not crass, vulgar, or partisan. You can stand on principles, but you don’t have to be condescending or obnoxious. Share the truth in love. Don’t burn relational bridges before they are even built.

We are designed for relationships and such etiquette or manners are important. If we violate these manners, then we and our message will not be received well.

When thinking about social media manners, it is important for all of us to be aware of things we should do that will help others to receive us and our message and of things that we should avoid. Here are some general “do’s” and “don’ts” for social media.

Do’s

1. Do think before you post.

The dangerous thing about social is the way you can instantly have your immediate thoughts posted online. Not every thought that pops into your head should be expressed out of your mouth or through your fingers. It’s always better not to write and post your thoughts when you are angry or upset. This could come back to haunt you later.

2. Do write your messages and updates in a word processing document first.

This may at first seem bothersome to you, but this will help curb that immediate urge to send messages that have not been properly thought through. It will also help you to take a second or third look at your posting before it is up before the world.

3. Do listen to others.

In communication there is the message, a sender, a receiver, and filters on both sender and receiver. Often the intent of the sender is not perceived by the person on the other end. This requires the receiver to send a message back to make sure it was received correctly. We all have filters. In face to face communication it is a lot easier to understand the message. You have voice tone, facial expressions and body language besides the words. So in communicating through social media, you will need to be extra careful to discern what they are saying. Asking for clarification is a good thing. It also tells the other person you are making the attempt to understand them.

4. Do build quality relationships.

People are still people whether online or in person. They will respond to you if they feel like they really know you. In order to have a quality relationship you must be genuine, not fake. People don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to be honest, fair and kind; especially if you’re presenting yourself as a representative of Christ.

5. Do account for your actions.

The internet has caused some distance between people and for some, the distance has made them think their actions will not have any accountability. You cannot do or say whatever you want on the internet without losing the respect of others. It will harm your witness for Christ. If you do something that you regret, then be accountable. Admit it, and then ask forgiveness from them and God. Learn from your mistakes and move on.

6. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Yes, this is the golden rule taught by Jesus. For you it means more than just being nice, but be nice as well. Say things that you’d want others saying to you. Respect them and the community. You represent more than yourself. You represent the followers of Christ who are also online. Why make it harder for them? Make sure those who are recipients of your witness have a positive experience.

7. Do personalize your Facebook messages.

The messages need to speak with your voice. At first glance, some reposting that you are thinking of doing may not really represent you. Even if you go ahead and share, you should add a qualifier to that post.

8. Do a check on people who want to “friend” you.

As a personal rule, I don’t friend someone unless I personally have met them or they are friends of my friends and have some possible connection with me. I don’t “friend” people if they have a similar interest, for example, in books or movies as me. There has to be more than that.

9. Do graciously allow for others to not “friend” you.

They have the right to refuse a request just as you do. Respect their decision.

10. Do remember you are on mission.

Though Facebook has been called the ultimate in narcissistic experiences, you can be online for other reasons. There is nothing more important for us a Christ follower than to help others come to know and follow Jesus. Have fun, relax and as opportunity arises, share your convictions in a Christ-like manner. You will likely have an opportunity to share your personal salvation story.

Don’ts

1. Don’t “friend” strangers or try to get them to “friend” you so you can sell to them.

Many today are using Facebook as a way to promote their business or service. You may not agree, but there use to be a line between friendship and sales. Mixing the two is like joining a Bible study group so you will have more prospects for your cookware sales. You will not grow and they will feel used. You should join the group to grow spiritually, not put money in your pocket. Make your invitations and postings in such a way that it brings value to those who read them. Perhaps this is the best way to look at it. They will come back for more.

2. Don’t send a “friend” request without an introduction.

Tell them who you are and why you want to be friends. Don’t assume they will remember you. If you are like many adults who are finding old classmates from years gone by, they are realizing that people change and memories fade. Enough said.

3. Don’t keep inviting friends to participate in games, groups or causes.

If your friend is interested, they will join. If not, they won’t. Limit your invitations to two. Be patient, not everyone is on Facebook every day. Give them a little time to respond.

4. Don’t put anything on Facebook that you wouldn’t want your pastor, future boss, or mother to see.

Again, enough said.

5. Don’t put anything about anyone else that they wouldn’t want their pastor, future boss, or mother to see.

6. Don’t ever share in a news feed any private conversation or message.

Just in case you didn’t realize, Facebook news feed and story posts are completely public to all your friends, and if allowed, to your friends’ friends. Keep private matters private. If you're not sure if it’s a private matter, treat it as one. You won’t have regrets. True story: When I was a pastor, of my deacons at the church complained about me to a former pastor of the church, and get this, on the Facebook newsfeed! He thought he was writing a private message. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do a thing. There were so many people who jumped on him that he immediately apologized on FB and to me personally. I never had any problem from him every again!

7. Don’t ever post when you are overly tired, emotional, or distracted.

8. Don’t forget that whatever you do on the web stays on the web…forever.

This isn’t Las Vegas. By participating in any website or internet activity you are basically leaving behind a digital fingerprint. A shock for many comes when they Google themselves. They discover, to some extent, what is public out there about them. This is just scratching the surface for someone who really knows how to find information about you on the web, which includes your social media involvement. Think about maintaining a certain level of professionalism on the web. You will thank yourself later.

Of course, there are many other suggestions that could be made, and each of us are different. In our day all of us could use some extra grace and extending grace is a good way to make at least the online social media world a little better.

Five Ways to Improve Your Church’s Website

There are lots of ways to improve a church website, many more than five. In just a matter of moments I jotted down 15. But you don’t need or probably want 15 ways to improve your website. Five for now is good enough. However, I must give you a warning. I may have gone a little too deep into a couple of the ways. With that said, here are my top five suggestions.

1. Add Fresh Content Weekly

No one is going to keep coming back to the same content. Isn’t the idea of having a website to put new stuff on it regularly? For a church, having some new content weekly is a worthy goal. After all, churches operate on a weekly cycle, pastors sure do. Remember “Sunday is coming!”

Fortunately, you don’t have to generate all the content. There is a whole church for that. I do have a few suggestions however for finding fresh content for your website.

First, add a blog or vlog (video blog). Perhaps your site already has a blog. Then schedule out bloggers for the next several months. Have different people in different ministry positions write it as guest bloggers for you. Tell them to write between 500 to 800 words maximum. You can give them topics or just let them write about what interests them. Use a google calendar to schedule when they are due.

Second, you may have some old content that you can bring up to date. This will allow you to have relevant content without having to write all new stuff. For example, several years ago I wrote a piece on using Trick or Treat on Halloween as an outreach opportunity for a family. I gave several easy to do ideas. For several years our state Baptist paper and even Baptist Press ran the article. The only changes were the dates and some of the resources available. You may have content related to calendar events like this. You may be also to repurpose some other content. If you are a preaching/teaching pastor, you may have sermons or lessons that could be repurposed for a blog on the website.

Third, you can have new content added by allowing others to add content such as comments to blogs and to forums. The internet is a rich hub of information and user opinions. People today are more willing to share their sentiments on subjects they feel most connected with. Therefore, creating a sense of community within your site is a good idea to promote a regular readership. This all begins by asking readers to comment on questions or issues that you bring up in your blog. You can also thread them to a forum.

2. Use free online tools to optimize

There are several tools and strategies that can help your website become more recognizable on the internet. I’ll just mention a few. One of the tools and strategies is to use SEOs, or Search Engine Optimization. This will increase your website’s ranking in Search Engines. The web service I use has a tool that will help anything I post and every page on my site have the best SEO. It is part of the package. You may have that on your site as well.

A second tool is checking the Google Search Console data to see what keywords are bringing visitors to your site. If your content doesn’t already contain the most popular keywords your site visitors are using, it’s time to revise some of your posts to include those keywords—where they’re a natural fit. You can also use those keywords as a list of potential topics for new content.

If you don’t already have your church listed in a Google Business Profile, you really should create one. This will help people who are searching for a church in your area to find you faster. It will also help you to give them the best directions to your church with service times and opportunity to receive ministry. This is free and it allows you to take charge of the way your church or ministry appears on Google Search and Maps. I’ve corrected and make more clear directions for several ministries using this tool.

3. Update the website’s design

Every year or 18 months I recommend changing the layout of the site. Within two to three years, change the color scheme and design. Not doing this is like wearing the same clothes every Sunday. It gets old and boring.

One important thing about the design is to make sure it looks good on mobile devices. Right now, on our site, we have 53% mobile to 47% desktop. The website builder we use allows us to view every page, before and after we publish them on a mobile as well as a desktop view. It is amazing how some things that I put on a page change when viewing on a smartphone or tablet.

4. Invest in social media

If you don’t have Social Media icons integrated into your website then this is a simple way to update your website that could see huge benefits for your church. This connects the two together.

Popular Social Media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have become indispensable

tools in helping churches promote their ministries. They allow you to personalize the guest experience, strengthen your branding and familiarize yourself with your potential attenders.

By setting up a social presence and adding this to your website in the form of icons, you’ll give your website visitors the chance to engage with your ministry on another level. It also means that they may decide to follow you on social media, allowing you to target them with content and stay at the forefront of their minds.

Furthermore, if these visitors begin to follow you on social media, they can potentially become promoters of your church’s ministry by re-posting, liking and sharing your content with their own social media friends and followers.

I’ve written more about what not to do on social media here: Five Things I’ve Noticed on Church Social Media…

5. Make it someone’s job to stay on top of the website

I figure by now you’re thinking that this is more than an “add on” job for the youth pastor or admin assistant. It is that important. This will take dedicated time, energy, and cultivation. If you have staff meeting, you likely take prayer requests, go over the calendar, check the offering and attendance, etc. When it comes to checking in on each of the church’s ministries such as worship, assimilation, small group ministry, you will need to also go over your digital footprint. Others have said this before and I have echoed them, your digital (online) team is just as important as your worship team. This is the world we are in right now, and it is moving more in this direction every day.

I want to be as kind as I can, but this is so important to understand. The world is not going to conform to your old ways of communication. They will just leave you behind. You may not like it, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t talk to people with whom you are not engaging. The Apostle Paul said he would become all things to all people so that by all means he might win some (1 Corinthians 9:22). I believe if Paul were alive on earth today, he would be using online ministry to the max!

Before guests enter your doors, they have gone through the online doors of your church. If you don’t have your best foot forward online, then you may lose them before they ever come in person. If you don’t any online presence, and many churches don’t, you are missing out on engaging people in this not so new anymore frontier of outreach and evangelism.

If you begin with these five ways, over time you will see a digital presence in your church that you can be proud of and where first timers and members will visit often. It will become another location of vital ministry for your church.