Sharpening Christians

It’s Saturday night and time for the next installment in RaisinGenNext by Elihu. Blessings and enjoy!

(This article is part of the series “Building GenNext.” You can read the previous post by clicking here.)

What happens when you use a knife repetitively? Over time, the blade starts squishing tomatoes instead of slicing them.

Pencils need sharpening. Pens need refills, drills need charging. Tools have to be maintained in order to be effective.

In a similar way, we are instruments of God. Are we sharpened, filled, and charged for action? Or, are we gunked up, run down and dull?

If we are going to be strong in the Lord and those in our congregations are to be strong, we all need to stay sharp with continuing education and training.

In the past few posts, we have discussed the necessity of equipping children and new Christians. Experienced Christians need this equipping as well, albeit on a more advanced level. Like the tools mentioned above, we need regular sharpening to stay effective.

Our churches are dwindling, not just in size but in effectiveness. We heap the responsibilities of growth and teaching on a handful of people and fail to train replacements! We need people who will teach classes, visit the elderly, reach out to the lost, lead worship, train children, show hospitality. In other words, we need to train ourselves out of a job so that when we die, someone else will be there to pick up where we left off. Do you honestly think the preacher is the only one who is supposed to be doing these things?

If this is the current state of affairs in your congregation, it’s time to light a metaphorical fire under your members….read the rest of the post here: Sharpening Christians