Tuesday, November 19, 2013
What Pastor Jim Actually Said Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013
In case you were not at Tinney Chapel worship this past Sunday, Nov. 17, and/or have not accessed the video of Pastor Jim Hilton's sermon, the following is a very brief capsule summary of the essence of his 30-minute sermon. You might still want to access the video, but if you just want to know the bare essence, what he said about church growth and, especially, what he did not say, read the short essay below:
TINNEY TALK
(11-19-13)
Observations by
Joe Dan Boyd
‘DATING THE CHURCH,” was the sermon title listed in the
church bulletin at Tinney Chapel UMC this past Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013, and the
Scriptural basis was listed as Ephesians 2:11-13, 19-22. Despite the printed
title, the sermon topic was Church Growth, and during his delivery, our Pastor,
Rev. Jim Hilton, said the title of his sermon should have been “Do You Really
Want To Grow?”
The Pastor spent some time reviewing lessons that many of
us recalled from Tinney Chapel’s landmark Vision & Values Workshop of
September 8-10, 2000, conducted by consultants Don F. Renshaw, D. Min. and
Richard B. Hearne who later became Lay Leader of the North Texas Conference.
Some of you will also recall that this Workshop was in the form of a
scholarship (a gift) to Tinney Chapel from the District and Conference because
of our church’s potential as then viewed by our District Superintendent and NTC
Bishop.
“The service at
Tinney Chapel UMC seemed crowded to the Consultants and initially we could not
find a place to sit,” was one of the conclusions on page 17 of the Consultants’
printed report on our church, titled Achieving Excellence In Ministry.
“The sanctuary will seat approximately 100 persons. Applying the 80% rule, the
church will ‘feel’ crowded at approximately 80. It has been the Consultants
experience that in rural settings the rule is more like
70%...Therefore...Tinney Chapel is at maximum capacity and the church can
expect little growth with the present facilities.”
This past Sunday,
Nov. 17, our current Pastor, Rev. Hilton made the same point and emphasized
that Tinney Chapel appears to have three options available. The first two
options are available if our church decides it wants to grow: (1) Expand the
current sanctuary via a new building program, or (2) Meet for worship in our
8,000-square-foot, fully paid-for Family Life Center. The third option is
available if our church is content with its present size and does not decide to
grow significantly. (3) Make no changes and continue to worship in our present
sanctuary.
Our Pastor
made no recommendation to our church on which option to choose. Instead he simply asked us: Do you really
want to grow? Are we ready to make that decision?
