Is God an American?

As we enter independence day weekend feelings of patriotism and valor flood my mind. I have never served in the armed forces ,but some of my favorite films are that of heroism in the heat of battle. This of course doesn't make me the expert on everything military, it just makes me appreciate those who put themselves in harms way so that we can experience the freedoms we so often take for granted. Which is why we should be constantly thankful for our veterans who have given their lives under the colors of red, white and blue. America has throughout her history been willing to give aid to countries oppressed by evil empires, and offer hope to those less fortunate than us.

So to answer the question of this blog, it would seem unpatriotic to say that he is not. However God is not a citizen of any country, in fact he is the king of all the universe. And like America, he offers freedom to those who are reborn into his kingdom. His freedom comes in the form of ridding us from our sin and breaking the chains that hold us back from being all that God wants us to be.

It is very interesting to me though that we have the reputation of being the "good guys." We have for centuries been willing to give our lives for the sake of our freedom. Being willing to die even for those who we may disagree with. When we live selflessly like this, we live like Jesus did. Now I fully understand that not everyone who gave their lives as an American was a Christian. But the model of service, loyalty, heroism and selflessness was originated when God sent his son into the world to die for us. So in conclusion lets be thankful for our veterans, their bravery and to God where we find everything we need to live fully alive and fully free. Have a great independence day and God Bless America!

Mother Hen Ministry

It always strikes me as a church leader to see people who have had a relationship with Christ for decades, yet dont posses the basic tools to be a consistant disciple. Much of this, of course, stems from peoples unwillingness to fully bring their sin to Jesus, but there are some who rely far to much on church leaders and t.v. evangelists to bring to them what they need on a daily basis to survive as a follower of Christ. The book of Hebrews adresses this in chapter 5. It speaks about those who should be able to handle the "solid food" of Christianity, but are only able to handle milk. In other words, they are baby Christians.

Which brings me to the title of the blog: If all we do as christians is come to church gatherings where the leader is dishing out the food that God has given them throughout the week, then we are like baby chicks. The leader goes out and finds food, they chew it up and spit it out to all who are attending and all the baby chicks go home only to repeat the process next week. If we are to be true disciples, we must strive to be mature christians regardless of our age, background or circumstance. This means that we simply "grow up" in the ways that Christ has laid before us. We stop being needy people and become those who meet the needs of others.

God desires that each and every one of us to be sustained through prayer and study outside of the walls of our gathering places. Our churches must be places where the community of Christ is built and we can strengthen one another in our daily walk with Christ. Lets stop making church the only source of our spiritual food intake for the week, and be people who are devoted to reading scripture, praying and living a life of worship. This does not mean that we stop attending church because we can feed ourselves, it simply means that in order to become an authentic disciple of Christ, we must be devoted to scripture, prayer and fellowship. This was the formula for true spiritual success for the first century Christians. People were coming to Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

We have a community full of people who need to experience Christ, and God is looking for us to take part in what he is doing in their lives. In order for us to do this, we must first get out of "baby chick" mode and become an authentic disciple.

Pastor Aaron Shirek

FCC Ministers and Leaders Blog - Welcome

Welcome. We are excited to have an online location where the various leaders and ministers of Faith Christian Church of Mauston can share the things on their mind and their heart in relation to ministry, culture, and the word of God. Please check back soon.