Ambassador of Holiness

Speaker/Guest: Bill Ellis: Oakmont

Golf Video Segment: was humorous and yet I had no idea what the point of the video was about.

We need churches that does more than welcomes people of faith into a new set of doors. We need churches that are welcoming to those who may have not yet experienced faith for the first time.

Were the disciples Christians? Not technically, Christ had not died yet for their sins, and they did not know that he was going to either.

• Two ways of understanding what the church is:
○ Functional View: the church is God's place in the owrld where you go to do God things
○ Incarnational View: the church is not only a place that performs functions, but it is a place where God dwells. It is a people in whom God lives.
There are two kinds of people who attend church:
a. Those who "go to church"
b. Those who see themselves "as the church"

Our challenge is to help people who me3rely "go to church" become those who see themselves "as the church," and help them find the part they are to play in putting God on display to the world.

"People aren't tithing to God, they're paying for services that the church provides in way of programs; when they're dissatisfied with the programs, they take their money and leave."

"The American Church in Crisis"
1. Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church--half of what the pollsters report.
2. American church attendance is steadily declining.

The culture has changed so dramatically that people are no longer identifying themselves by their religious views.
3. Only one state is outpacing its population growth (Hawaii)
4. Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.
5. Established churches--40 to 190 years old--are, on average, declining.
6. The increase in churches is only 1/4 of what's needed to keep up with population growth.
7. In 2050 the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.

"It was C.S. Lewis who observed that 'there exists in every church something that sooner or later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it." (as quoted in The Forgotten Ways, by Alan Hirsh, p.55)

What are the right questions we should be asking?
1. Should we be asking "how can we get people to come to our church?" Or, "How can we get our people to engage our community?"

"Christianity is better received as a voice of one crying in the wilderness than a city preacher on a podium with a bullhorn." -John Schaffer

2. What are ways we can engage and bless our communities beyond the walls of the church
3. If your church was removed from your community, who besides your attendees, would miss it?
4. How can we get people to down-size in order to make room for compassion in a super-size me culture?
5. How has consumerism infiltrated the way we do church?

Bill has recognized that they're ready to pull the plug on Children's ministry for his home church because what they're realizing is that its become more of a drop off locale for families. What they're recognizing as a result of this is that parents are shoveling the Christian education responsibilities onto the church for their kids, rather than parents owning the responsibility to teach their kids and rear them as well. Now they are realizing that parents are needing to be educated on how to be parents.

If kids down participate in worship with their parents how are they going to realize this is something they'll need to continue on into adulthood?


I thought that Bill presented some of the more critical concerns our generation of leaders are pressed with. Unlike many of the other speakers, Bill presented a rather visual picture of what the future of the church and this country may be facing in the next couple decades. Since this is the church and country we are going to lead, I found most of what Bill to share tonight to be most resourceful than any other speaker this semester! Thank you for bringing him to share a little about his life and theological/philosophical positions on the church and the world today.