Business as usual is a place I generally am uncomfortable. This makes for status quo and maintenance. Somehow, I've always looked for more. When we consider the gospel and our faith in God, I feel quite the same. I believe that God has more for us than we're realising. I expect that He wants us to increase our faith and hope to scale new dimensions of grace.
Down deep, this is not about me. It's about God, who is larger than our greatest imagination with provision for immense outcomes and unlimited love. When He brings change in our lives, he desires a changed world. When he plants hope in your heart, He's moving toward hope for all. His love has no limits. His grace has no measure. When we think of Him, we cannot think about business as usual.
Ezekiel 7:2 (MSG)
2 "You, son of man—God, the Master, has this Message for the land of Israel: " 'Endtime. The end of business as usual for everyone.
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7 comments:
even on the surface, it's not about us. Not sure what your motivation for writing this post Jim. But glad you did.
The term "Business as usual" is supposed to call people back to their main reason for existence.
It doesn't imply keeping the status quo. It implies a refocus on the core business. Any business that deviates too far from its main purpose for long finds itself in trouble.
It's unfortunate that Eugene Petersen added to the text of Ezekiel using a deviation of this great phrase. If the land of Israel was going about "business as usual" according to their original purpose as a nation, they would never have experienced the Syriac disaster.
Considering the overall decline in this Territory of soldiers made and attendance at worship (particularly over the past couple of years), maybe it's time that TSA got back to "business as usual"?
Thanks Jeff and anon.
Anon. Whilst you're welcome to your opinions, your suppositions about the recent decline in the territory are unsubstantiated. If you'll read the blog again, you'll discover that business as usual is not wrong or right as long as our efforts value the extraordinary promise of God.
HI, just wondering what are the attendances at worship in the territory for each of the last 5 years... that would be long enough to give a picture of whats going on. You hear in the media that attendances are going down, but what is the real picture ?
I agree with you John.
The figures should be easy enough to obtain. Otherwise Christian Research Association should be able to help.
From my observations of different Corps around Victoria, anon's suppositions do seem to have some merit. But let's get the facts.
Although this is not the topic of the post, I wanted to ask a question of those writing about attendance.
What are you classing 'attendance at worship' as? Be aware that 'worship' is not just Sunday meetings!
Let me challenge you to go along to your local Corps and spend every day there, possibly from 7am till 10pm (if not all the hours in between) and see the people that your Corps Officer and leaders are meeting with. Sit in a Mainly Music, Community Lunch, Playgroup, Companion Club, Home Bible Study, Home League, Youth group, Street or Sports Ministry.... I think you will discover that 'church attendance' needs to be counted by more than just how many seats are being filled on Sunday!!!
Are numbers really declining? May God continue to bless The Salvation Army and those with the passion to serve!
The army records attendances for everything, so they figures must be available, hopefully we can get some official figures posted here.
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