Las Vegas, Nevada Church
Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers - Part 2                     printer-friendly     MP3

This is a follow-up discussion to Numbers, Numbers, Numbers –Part I. You may wish to read or listen to this before proceeding.  The focus on this piece will be the Church Locator Office, which is part of the Web Site Office. 

Background
We receive all these inquiries as e-mail here at the Web Site Office.  I send them over to the Church Locator Office for processing.  The director of that office determines whether we have a church or fellowship group within reasonable driving distance to them.  If one is found, he sends the person an e-mail with contact information for that group.  Usually this is the name, phone number and e-mail addresses of the local contact person, local minister and the area coordinator.  As the e-mail is sent to the person, carbon copies are sent to all the contact people we provided.  This lets the contact person, local minister and area coordinator know that this person may contact them.

If there is no local ICG group near the person making the inquiry, we, in our reply, ask them if they would be interested in seeing an ICG fellowship group established in their area.  If we receive a positive response, we notify Headquarters who may assign a minister to conduct a campaign in that area.  This generally takes place after we have three or more households in a twenty-five-mile radius.

Some local ICG groups, upon receiving their carbon copy of the inquiry response, go ahead and contact the person with some sort of invitation or information about their local services.  In recent years we have logged more than 100 such inquires a month or 1,200 a year.  Twelve hundred inquiries would total some 4,000 new people [members and families] being added to Sabbath and Holy Day services.  Clearly we are not seeing this.  This has led to some members submitting e-mails to this office.

E-mails Received
I received two e-mails from members in a single week.  Each expressed some frustration as to why the inquiries about local ICG churches were not resulting in more members.

The first e-mail the member expressed a desire and longing for more members in her area and a frustration with those who say they will attend but never do.

The second e-mail had four questions for me:

1. I understand that God does the calling however don't we as members have a role to play? I mean it’s kind of like the man who prays for a job but never fills out a job application.

2. Is it wrong to have church ads in a local newspaper letting people know when and where we meet?

3. To offer literature to the general public at public events meant for that purpose?

4. To print pamphlets and newsletters for local congregations to be distributed locally.

I gave each member a lengthy reply, as each bring up a number of elements.  I will address these elements with excerpts from those replies.

The Checkbox in the Literature Request Form
I firmly believe the checkbox is more an aspect of the gospel message than a device for adding members to the flock.  I do not believe a vast majority of those checking the box are being called.  They click it out of curiosity and as an extension to what they are gleaning from the gospel message

Remember, this checkbox idea was never used in church history as a devise to call someone.  Individuals were, almost without exception, called from a radio, TV and now Internet spreading of the gospel message.  In other words, they came to the Body by a directly calling by God.  God fills them with His truth.  The idea of attending a church to be fed comes later in the calling.  It is an outgrowth of the Calling and not the kickoff point.  If we liken the Calling Process to a football game, the part of the process resulting in the called one attending church comes sometime just prior to halftime and not the beginning of the game.

Therefore, we should not look at the Church Locator process and that little checkbox as a device for growing the church.  It might be a factor used in the greater Calling process, but it is not the chief agent or means by which this is done.

Built in Resistance

It is sort of a shock for someone to make contact with a host, then to find out services are held in a local home or that no minister will be present.  This does not generally sit well with people.  It is a religious culture shock.  "What, no church building, now pews, no hymnals, no deacons and no lectern with minister speaking live and in person?"  Shocking.

If the person being called is presently attending a secular church, they witness large buildings with huge parking lots.  Lots of glass.  Inside ushers greet them with earphones hooked into a central control room that insures an usher greets everyone coming in.  There is generally a huge multi-media screen with an initial showing of announcements.  There is a one hundred-member choir and a fifty-piece orchestra.  The lectern is made of crystal and the pews come with cushions.  Some use laser light shows and the points of the ten-minute sermon are flashed on the 40-foot viewing screen.  There are schools and playrooms for the children, a dining hall, about thirty after-church activities and even a Bible bookstore in the lobby.  I saw all these things at a local community church of a relative.

Imagine the knee-jerk resistance of these individuals being invited to visit a stranger's living room.  It is difficult enough when they find out services are in a rented room at the local Best Western or Super 8 motel.

Timing and the Calling Process
People clicking the checkbox may have come in contact with the Work of God the very day they are filling out the on-line literature request form.  The idea of attending a church is often not even in their minds.  I venture to guess that, on average, the concept of attending a church is six months to a year or more down the road from that initial contact of the gospel message.  When God calls someone, He is much more interested in the initial feeding of His Word into their hearts.

This is not to say we should take the checkbox off the form all together, but rather understand how it works within the calling process.  With the checkbox in place, the person requesting literature or a CD at least knows, in the back of his or her mind, that there is a church connected to all they have heard.  This will serve the person later in the process.

Therefore, it might not be the best of ideas to have the host making contact right away with that person.  At the very least, let the contact be passive using mail or e-mail, just to let them know we are there should they have an inquiry.  I am not sure any kind of invitation to attend is warranted that early in the process.

The wonderful thing about Godly Calling is that the church does not have to go to any great lengths or take much action to make it work.  Other than the spreading of the gospel, we really are in a position of waiting and responding to their actions and inquiries.  We do not go after them, as other religious organizations do.  Godly Calling is a miracle and those God has chosen to be called [meaning from being on the street to placing into the Salvation Process] get absolutely called.  Nothing can stop that process...even the person being called.  There is no such thing as God calling someone and them not responding.

Therefore, when you think about it, there should be no frustration on our part.  The called are going to be called.  God chose them to be called prior to the foundations of the earth being laid.  You can count on the fact they will be called.

What if...

What if God does not have anyone in mind to be called in the next ten years in a given state in the US or province in Canada?  Should we fret?  Absolutely not.  The focus, based on its weight of importance is as follows:

1] Spread of the gospel.

2] Feed the existing flock.

3] Attendance of the firstfruit to his or her individual Salvation Process.

4] Responding to God as He grows the church.

The point is we are in a Win-Win or Can't-Lose situation.  Since the process of Godly Calling is a miracle and since the list of those being called is in God's will and timing, all we need do is sit back and let the process run.

I now wish to address the four questions of the second e-mail.

Question One:  I understand that God does the calling however don't we as members have a role to play? I mean it’s kind of like the man who prays for a job but never fills out a job application.

The role humans play in the calling process is essentially passive.  That is, it cannot be proactive as we define the word.  Our role is to focus on the spread of the gospel and being examples of Christ in the Salvation Process.  We cannot get it in our minds that we are going to do something ourselves that will definitely result in new members to the flock.  If God, long ago, looked ahead and determined who He would call, then those are the ONLY ones who will be called whether we do nothing or expend ample resources in hopes of adding to the flock.

In reality, God is calling people.  He uses us to achieve this purpose.  We are busy spreading the gospel.  God uses the spread of that gospel to call individuals according to His will.
 

Question Two:  Is it wrong to have church ads in a local newspaper letting people know when and where we meet?

No, it is not wrong to place ads.  It is part of the gospel-spreading process.  It is a dropped seed.  Realize that letting it be known that there IS a Church of God is part of a greater gospel message that has an effect, even if that person hearing it is not called till he or she is resurrected in the Second Resurrection.

Understand however that space ads do not have a great track record as far as gleaning members.  Despite that we have space ad examples posted at the Church site in Church Resources:  As you will see, these ads are devices to spread the gospel. They are effective even if they are run a thousand times without one member being the result.
 

Question Three: Is it okay to offer literature to the general public at public events meant for that purpose?

Again, this is gospel spreading.  Gospel spreading is used by God to glean members.  It is not the distribution of booklets and tapes that glean members.  All you are doing and all you get credit for is putting out some booklets.  God gets all praise and credit IF someone is called.

Remember that no leader, no minister, no member and no church have any power to convince or convert, in and of themselves.  We have no commission to call or convert.  IF someone is convinced, they are convinced by the power of the Holy Spirit in the hands of God.

I am a minister and I preach almost exclusively, the Salvation Process.  However, I have no power to save anyone or to get him or her into the Salvation Process.  Indeed, my preaching is only for those already in the Process.

Question Four:  Is it okay to print pamphlets and newsletters for local congregations to be distributed locally

This too is gospel spreading and not the work of calling someone.  See the distinction?  I am for all manner of gospel-spreading...booklets, tapes, ads, newsstands, handbills, fair booths, campaigns, public Bible Studies, radio, TV, Media access channels, Internet, Podcasting, web-casting, booklets in dentist offices, booklets in libraries, invitations to services, churches working with charities, working in a local disaster, running a food and/or clothing bank and just about anything else you could think of [assuming there are no prohibitions or laws or policies that would preclude any of these].

None of these actions or elements result in an individual being called by God unless it be His specific will.

OVERALL CONCEPT

We will see vast new increases AFTER the Great Tribulation with the 144,000 and the Great Multitude but we will not see these people in ICG services clearly.  They are called just before Christ returns.

Question is, just how many firstfruits are needed?  How many are needed 100 years before Christ returns?  How many 50 years before He returns?  How many 7 years before He returns?  Do we need 100,000 in the ICG?  A million?  Only God knows.  Who determines the need?  Clearly God does.  He determined the need about the same instant He began looking ahead into history to see who He would call, where and when.

In my lifetime, there was never as many as 200,000 members in the Body of Christ and today, I suspect the number is somewhat less than 30,000 today.

I have no power or knowledge over what the numbers will be.  I have no idea who God will call tomorrow, next month or next year, if any.

I have no doubt that many in the church pray for more members and if it be God's will, we will have them.  I actually spend a lot of my prayers in asking God to keep current members in the Salvation Process. 

CONCLUSION
Do all you can to build up your local church.  Do all those gospel-spreading things enumerated above.  Just keep in mind that it all resides in the mind of God what will happen and only He has the power to call and put members into the flock.  If you are supporting the spread of the gospel and moving forward in the Salvation Process...you ARE doing your part in the Calling Process of God.

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Las Vegas, Nevada Church of God - part of The Intercontinental Church of God and The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association - Tyler, Texas