Youth Ministry – Rebuilding After COVID, Part 4

By Shane Thacker September 14, 2021

Check Out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series on the LeaderTreks Blog!

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” – Revelation 19:7-8

Can you imagine? What a glorious day this will be! But from now until that amazing day, let me ask you: What is your local church being “clothed” with? If we’re honest, sometimes it’s easier to see what our church is doing wrong as opposed to what they’re doing right.

Now that you have assessed yourself, it’s time to assess the church. When you can get a clear picture of what your church is doing, you’ll see clearly the direction your church needs to go. It’s learning what your church does very well, and the ways that your church struggles. A word of warning though: We have to be really careful to handle with care on this assessment; after all, this is the Bride of Christ! 

To do this assessment, get with the “Paul” in your life that we talked about from Part 3, and go through the following questions; think of it from the perspective of your church as a whole:

Is your heart in the right place to take this assessment? 

Are there any “specks” or “planks” (see Matthew 7:3-5) that might get distort your view? Are you personally holding a grudge, living in sin, etc.? If so, you need to hold off on this assessment and work on that before assessing your church.

What are the “righteous deeds of the saints” that your church is clothed with? 

Look through each passage and ask, is your church living out the following principles:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27

“²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

“⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. – Acts 2:42-44

What are the struggles within your church body?

After looking through the previous passages, the struggles are hopefully very clear! If your church has no impact on the community it is planted in, then hopefully you see the direction your church needs to be going. We’re called to be the “light of the world”. 

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16

For the light your church is displaying; is it under a bowl? Distorted by sin and division? With the “Paul” in your life, talk about how to address any issues that came to light during this discussion, and pray about the direction you should be heading next. 

Next blog: How to Lead a Team.