Church resources - How should you use them?

Church resources – How should you use them?

As Christians we are blessed with a number of resources that can help us grow in our Christian life. This fact inspired us to survey young Christians to evaluate opinions about accepted forms of church and biblical resources. Of the 185 participants the majority were: female (63%), <35 years old (72%), from the United States (70%), and evangelical (70%). See the full data at Different Forms of Church and Biblical Resources.

The survey showed that Christians viewed their local assembly as a valid form of the church (86%). However, many also considered broader community-based Christian relationships (61%) and online fellowship or Bible study (46%) to be legitimate manifestations of the church.

Regarding spiritual life, the local church was noted most often as benefitting expressions of the Christian growth in: prayer (86%), praise (90%), fellowship (90%), outreach (81%), and learning scripture (86%).

However, community Christian contacts apart from church also helped Christian growth (range of the 5 expressions noted above (41-51%). In addition, online interactions with individual Christians (31-43%), and organizations (26-33%), especially in learning the Bible (56%), were important in helping Christian growth. In contrast, local parachurch organizations were reported as meaningful by just 12-22%.

Within the local church itself, the resources that most helped participants' Christian life were: the lead pastor's sermons (79%), the worship service (70%), fellowship (59%), and Bible studies (58%). In contrast, the least important resources were identified as: accountability groups (22%), and non-teaching church-based service such as a helps ministry or assisting with childcare (21%).

Parachurch organizations assisted just over a third of participants, most typically with Bible study (38%) and fellowship (37%). Online resources also helped through streaming other church’s worship services (40%) or sermons (27% or their own pastor's worship services (35%) or sermons (34%) Internet-based Bible study groups (35%) and fellowship (30%) also were identified as beneficial.

How can we best use Christian resources?

Here are some hints: 

• Mindset - Realize that it is up to us ultimately to assure that we provide sufficient resources in our lives for Christian growth. No one can do this for us. 

• What to include? - We call these the five tools to maturity listed in Acts 2 verses 42 and 47 which describe the activities of the 1st church in Jerusalem. They are:

o praise 

o prayer 

o fellowship 

o Bible study 

o outreach 

These experiences need to be in your life in balance to assure proper Christian growth.  Further, no individual source such as a pastor’s sermon, as good as it may be, can supply all our needs. 

• Set a goal - consider carefully the resources available and be proactive in making sure that all the five tools for maturity are developed in your life. 

• Service mindset - while you greatly will benefit from the fruit of your planned experiences to enhance maturity in your Christian life, realize ultimately your goal is to give to others, the resources from which you now take, to other believers. Consider carefully how you can give back to them it actions and in speech.

Our survey demonstrates that young Christians are intent to take advantage of a variety of resources to assist their spiritual life, which most commonly derive from the local church. However, they also utilize online resources and other local individual and parachurch organizations to further their Christian life. 

Christians should plan carefully to include these resources in their Christian life in balance: praise, prayer, fellowship, outreach and Bible study to achieve a mature Christian life. 

William C. Stewart, MD

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