State of the Church 2022

State of the church 2022

First let me say thank you all for your prayers and support over the last few months

This morning like most every year this is one of the favorite sermons we do at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship

This is our State of the Church Address

I am not sure if I told you last year but the church I was a member at in Pittsburg, my Pastor down there did one of these one time and I really enjoyed it, I don’t remember it but I like the idea of it

So we do one each year

For most of you, you know how this will work

We like to highlight some things that happened last year

Then we like to end with where God is leading us in 2022

In 2021 our churches average Big Church attendance was 98

Our average Sunday School attendance was 64

And what is great is there is still room for people to show up and attend Sunday School and Big Church

Children's Church attendance

VBS Attendance

Average attendance

Children 42

Youth Workers 17

Adults Workers 40

Total Average Attn 99

VBS 4 salvations and 1 rededication's

Youth

The Youth were busy busy last year

They did 14 plus different studies

They memorized 5 verses, I think the only people that would give them a run are the AWANA kiddos

They read through 4 books of the Bible as a class and studied them

They had 19 different events throughout the year

The youth saw 5 salvations or rededication's

They baptized 4

Church our Youth Group is in good hands

Total Gospel Conversations - approximately 216 Gospel conversations and that is probably low, because some of you had Gospel conversations on your own praise the Lord

We had about 20 church members trained in various ways to share the Gospel

Total Church Wide Salvations 11 salvations total along with about 10 people prayed to receive Christ during One Conversation

3 youth, 4 VBS, 1 rededication's 10 one conversations

Total Church Wide Baptisms - 7

New members - 8

Giving - $220.225.26

Total General Fund - $184,463.37

Total Designated - $35,788.89

Annie Armstrong - $1,985.00

Lottie Moon - $2,940.00

Colombia Mission Trip Fund - $8958.02

Church wow what a great year

But we know that a church is more than just numbers at the end of the year right

Like anything we encountered different trials and rough spots but wow God did something amazing last year and I believe He is going to continue that work into and through 2022

God is going to continue to use Maranatha Baptist Fellowship to be a light in the community and to spread that light to the nations if we will continue to be obedient to the Word of God

It is fun to look back and see what God has accomplished through us. Knowing that God was the one doing everything and decided to use us

Ivan Vorster challenged our church and even our men to come up with a verse and or promise for the year

Of course I took that to heart

Our leadership began to pray and come up with many different verses, all of which very well could have been our direction and may well be our verses in the coming years

But this particular verse will help keep us focused as we continue on with 2022

Our verse for 2022 is going to be

Matthew 28:19–20 NASB95

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

You may be a bit disappointed

You may be thinking shouldn’t that be our verse ever year

Like that should be the church answer for all churches right

This verse is telling us to go and share the Gospel

You are absolutely right, it is commanding us to go out and share the Gospel with a hurting and lost world

But this verse is so much more that

This verse also call us, commands us to go and teach others what we have learned from God

Gospel Focus and Jesus’s Teachings

That is our theme for 2022

And for me the pastor that is where I have landed, we are going to be preaching through the parables of Jesus this year so that you and I are prepared to go and share that with others

So that we can fulfill the great commission

We must be prepared to share

1 Peter 3:15 NASB95

15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

To go and share the Gospel with a lost world is not a script you memorize, it is not a question you ask

Church the Gospel message at it simplest form is that Jesus loves them and you so much that He died to pay for your sin

That Jesus loves them

I get so concerned with getting to the question or staying on script that sometimes I push the Holy Spirit aside when really the Holy Spirit is telling me to simply tell this person or that group of people that Jesus loves them

And that is not the whole Great Commission

The rest of the story is to teach them what Jesus taught you

Now if you are sitting here and you immediately go wait I don’t what that is, lets talk after together

We are to teach and tell people what Jesus has taught us

What Jesus taught us through the Bible and even in our individual lives

So that after we share the Gospel with them

After we share that Jesus loves them and cares for them and desires a relationship with them we can begin to share with them what you have learned personally from Jesus

To do that we must be in the word

If we are going to share with people what Jesus taught us it would make sense that we know what Jesus taught us

Matthew 4:4 NASB95

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”

This is where we get our wisdom, our energy, and our drive

Church it is time with Jesus through reading His word that we get life

Our time in the Word of God should be the most important part of our day

But sadly it is the least important if we are being really honest, because it is so readily available

As I read through scripture I see that God will use and pour out blessings on those who are obedient

This is how we remain obedient church

That we prepare ourselves to share the Gospel with a hurting and lost world

We are doing that, you can come to One Conversation and get the practice in a safe place and then go out and watch it

And we are learning that not everyone is a go out and knock on the door but that everyone is to evangelize

But church it requires you to continue to practice at home

But it doesn’t stop there

It is a continued growth in Christ

To do that we must be reading the Word of God

That is where we get to know God and where we learn from God directly from His words!

Church you have as many if not more than most people in the world and sadly we don’t read them

So church this year our focus are vision and are direction will be sharing the Gospel, training your to share the Gospel and of course sharing the Gospel to a lost world

And we will be focusing on teaching what Jesus taught to that we can teach and disciple people in what Jesus taught and to do that church we must be reading the Word of God ourselves

Let us pray