In light of my post from yesterday (“Witch Hunt“), I want to start a new periodic feature here on Cerulean Sanctum, “Two for Tuesday.” My aim is to open up the blog to readers to suggest two ideas for ministry or for solving intractable problems that face the Church, particularly in North America.
So if you’ve encountered a ministry problem that you have some answers for, please post the problem and your ideas for solving it.
In keeping with the “two” idea, you can:
- List one problem with two possible solutions, or…
- List two problems and a solution for each.
Or if you are totally stumped for practical solutions to a problem you are personally struggling with, post it here and let us take a crack at it. One of the best uses of the Internet is to get great minds together to solve tough issues.
To get the ball rolling, here’s a problem to start with and two things we can do to help resolve it:
- Problem: There are many elderly people who have senses that are betraying them in their old age, particularly their eyesight. This can make the Bible hard to read. For those in nursing homes especially, there may be few options for reading the word of God on a regular basis without assistance.
Solution #1: Donate a copy of the Bible on CD (and a CD boom box to play it) to your local nursing home. This could be done for less than $100 and yet it would continually enrich many people’s lives.
Solution #2: Go down to the nursing home yourself and read the Bible to anyone who wishes to hear it. The nurses there are helpful with pointing out folks who would love this. And the best part of going yourself is that you might be able to lead someone to Christ or be blessed by the wisdom of an elderly saint.
So, who’s next?
Problem: Worldliness, particularly (in the U.S.), a wholesale acceptance of American political and cultural values in the church. What’s good for America ain’t necessarily what’s good for the church.
Solution #1: Do consistent Bible study and expository preaching.
Solution #2: Pray very hard.
Milton,
I’m violating the “2 fer” idea here, but I must add to your post:
Solution #3: Start acting like a true community. When one hurts, everyone hurts, when one rejoices, everyone rejoices, and when one has a need, everyone works to meet it.
I’ve blogged about the lack of political commentary here at Cerulean Sanctum, but I’ll say it again: We Christians have got to be very wary of the wagons we try to hitch Christianity to. One day those very same wagons may roll right over the top of us.
Amen and amen.