NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND CHURCH OF GOD
Written by Dr. Walt Mauldin
Executive Director, Smoky Mountain Children’s Home
At a recent Westmore Sunday morning worship service, Pastor Kelvin Page shared about the time God called Moses, the person who would become known as the leader of a nation. As I thought about this amazing story from Exodus, chapters three and four, reflection soon followed.
Read MoreIn a world that utilizes well-edited clips and sound bites to influence our emotions and responses, please remember to practice emotional maturity!
Read MoreTraveling in church circles I hear the latest cliches, buzzwords, and missional ideologies. Sometimes these things are even worth remembering. Most of the time these words/cliches/ideas change quickly enough that there is really no need to try to remember them. However one of these ideas that has taken root has the theme of the church being a hospital or emergency ward for the hurt and wounded of the world.
Read MoreAbout 15 years ago a sermon was preached entitled “When the majority isn’t right.” The message spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of living in a democracy. To the point, it spoke of the fact that sometimes the majority votes and makes the wrong decision. Then, those in the minority are at the least somewhat affected by the majority’s decision. Boy, it would be really easy here for me to speak of the 2020 Presidential election. I digress!
Listen to some instances where the majority voted and got it wrong.
Read MoreWe stand on the precipice of a new year, 2022. What will the new year bring? Maybe for the first time in our lives, we really have no clue. After all, our plans for 2020 and 2021 had to be rather drastically altered at times to adjust to the mandates and health concerns of our own church families. Often, goals, events, and typical outreaches planned for our churches had to be scrapped or adjusted because of new realities. Most pastors have been living on untried ground not really knowing what to anticipate next simply responding in faithfulness as an opportunity to minister presented itself or scrapping long-term goals to shorter more manageable time frames…..BUT, maybe this is not a bad thing!
Read MoreListening to Christian radio this morning I was struck by the conversation. The show centered on “how does the church get its attendees back post Covid?” It was stated in the broadcast that many churches are seeing as much as forty percent decline from before Covid and that most of those who have defected show no interest in returning to church at all. This struck me as a biblical prophecy concerning a departure from the faith in the last days and the righteous scarcely being saved but that will need to be another discussion.
Read MoreThe Gospel, from the Greek “evangelion” means good news. It is the message of God’s salvation by the work of His son; Jesus Christ. The Gospel is unique because it is a message that both enlightens the mind and carries the hope of transformation from condemnation to freedom for everyone who will embrace its truths and call upon the name of the Lord.
Read MoreIt has been said that “desperate times require desperate measures.” I’m going to support this theory albeit with a very important caveat. Taking drastic measures within a church perspective must be birthed from a visionary understanding of changed ministry needs and never from the perspective of panic induced by shock/fear. If one has not already experienced an epiphany concerning the meager results being produced by the church over the past few decades in regards to mission and our failure to counteract and convert an increasingly secular culture, then hopefully events of 2020 have served to cause you to be “woke.” This new “wokeness” should serve to help us realign missional priorities that have long been askew. Two seemingly overlooked missional objectives in desperate need of “reprioritizing” are evangelism and church planting.
Read MoreI like so many of you have been trying to make sense of the past several months as well as predict where we may be headed. I’ve listened to doctors, pundits, reporters, people on the streets, and prophets. As of tonight we continue to be besieged by pandemic, peaceful and non peaceful demonstrations, riots with looting, burning buildings, Marxist ideology, idealogical clashes on social media turning brother against brother, accusations of systemic racism in both the secular and ecclesiastical cultures, unbalanced reporting, cancel culture, political posturing, growing global threats, and suspicion. The list is actually much longer.
Read MoreWe of the Faith have known that these are perilous times and that we are living in the last days. We know this because the Bible, our authoritative guide for faith, life and doctrine reveals this to us. We live, more so now than ever before, with the expectation of Christ’s soon return for His church. The world events surrounding this latest pandemic has sparked a new hope, even longing for Heaven, our home.
Read MoreThere is no disagreement that America needs more churches. Statistically, new churches reap a greater harvest than older established churches, meaning that new churches reach new people quicker than older churches. These facts ring true in NNE. So, the question is not will we plant more churches. We will! The questions are where, what model will we employ, who will be the planters, and what will the new church look like?
Read MoreSometimes we become hardwired to do things in a predictable way. This is often due to repetition without change, cultural expectation, and academic training. We are guilty in the church of conformity to well-worn programs, methods, and thoughts.
Read MoreChurch revitalization has become a much discussed topic in recent years. It has been said by many church demographers that over 90% of all local congregations need revitalization. Personally, I consider revitalization as an ongoing process rather than an event or season. Many believe revitalization to be a complex issue, requiring the involvement of trained professionals to steer the local pastor to a healthier ministry and congregation.
Read MoreIn our most recent Vital Zoom Meeting (first Saturday of each month at 8pm) we were asked, “are you the Hulk or Ant-man?”
Read MoreYou will often hear me speak of “servant leadership.” It is my opinion that the term leader should never be used without the word servant preceding it. Let me give you a little insight as to how my views of “servant leadership” have been formed.
Read MoreEngage C3 is our regional theme for The Northern New England Church of God.
Engage our CALLING through interaction with the Holy Spirit.
Engage our CONGREGATIONS with mission.
Engage our COMMUNITIES with evangelism.
By focusing on these three vital areas of ministry, we join the larger Church of God family as we seek to FINISH THE GREAT COMMISSION! Every pastor and every church is VITAL in reaching this audacious goal.
Bishop White
Northern New England Church of God State Executive Offices
2 Winslow Road
Falmouth, Maine 04105
(704) 689-1150
(207) 956-7740
Copyright 2024 Northern New England Church of God State Executive Offices
