This coming Sunday marks the halfway point of 2020, so it’s a good time for this year’s check up and goal-setting for the rest of the year. This first half of the year has been a most strange one, so perhaps these questions can guide your check up:
- What truths have you learned about God during the first half of 2020? If you can’t state them, perhaps you either haven’t spent enough time with God or haven’t thought regularly enough about this question.
- How many non-believers now know the gospel because of your personal evangelism this year? Most of us probably have to base our answer on digital evangelism this year, but we still need to ask the question.
- Are any sins present in your life in January still haunting you in June? Unless we take intentional steps toward repentance and accountability, we remain stagnant in our spiritual growth.
- On a scale of 1-10 (with “1” the weakest and “10” the strongest), how’s your time listening to God through His Word? We’ve been limited in mobility this year, but that’s not always made it easier to set a side time to read the Scriptures.
- On a scale of 1-10 (with “1” the weakest and “10” the strongest), how’s your time talking with God? More specifically, evaluate whether your prayer life has grown this year.
- Do you love the church more now than you did at the beginning of the year? Again, 2020 has been so different that church has been unique this year. Nevertheless, we need to keep growing in our love for the local body.
- Would your spouse and children say you are walking closer to God or farther from Him today? Our wicked heart can skew our own assessment of this question. Your family’s opinion is often more accurate, even though it might be painful.
- Who is that unlovable person you need to love supernaturally today? Most of us have somebody who meets that qualification – and who needs us to press beyond our frustrations for the sake of grace and the gospel.
- Are you praying daily for your church’s approach to regathering? All of us who lead churches need your prayers.
- What God-sized challenge are you tackling? Be honest: can you do most or all that you’re doing in your own strength? If so, ask God to stretch you beyond your abilities for the rest of this year.
Let us know how we might pray for you as you do your own check-up and set new goals for the remainder of 2020.
Chuck, I greatly appreciate your semiannual spiritual self-inventories. I have two prayer requests. The first request is for prayer that the church in which I have been involved for the past few years and for which I was at one point a candidate for pastor does not regret its decision to regather. The church is located in a community that is about a 25 minute drive from the community in which I live. The congregation is small and its members live in several different communities. The congregation primarily consists of elderly people who have one or more pre-existing conditions. In at least two cases members have contact with people in the high risk category. Some members have been observing recommended precautionary measures; others have not. The latter have been pushing for the relaunching of in-person services. I did not support the decision to regather but I was in a minority.
The second prayer request involves All Hallows Murray which I launched with an online service to meet the need for such a service for members of the other church who were then sheltering in place. The original plan was to gather a core group, to identify and meet community needs, to find a meeting place, and to launch an in-person service or gathering. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic changed that plan. I need the Holy Spirit’s guidance as what should be my next step and how I should go about it. The need that the online service was meeting no longer appears to exist. I live in a community that has been experiencing a slow but steady rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and in which most churches to my knowledge are not relaunching their in-person services or gatherings at the present time.
Just prayed for you, Robin, about both important matters. Thank you for your commitment to prayerfully seek the Lord’s wisdom.