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A Letter to the Churches
May I step into your confessional booth? My Calling is to serve by helping you to hear God’s Call and be a witness to your faith. I am sorry for failing you. The proof is in the pudding. Our churches are not growing. We are not doing evangelism effectively. I have been doing my ministry of Evangelism in the Prophetic Spirit for 41 years but have not been able to help you turn the tide of our churches losing their focus. I have not been able to convince your people about the importance and urgency of doing evangelism.
The first years of my ministry church growth books and articles were popular and influential to pastors and their churches. I realized that what they were writing about and my vision of evangelism was very different. Church growth is a goal – evangelism is a ministry. Church growth is counting heads – evangelism is changing hearts. Church growth is marketing – evangelism is sharing. Church growth is bringing people in – evangelism is moving people out to be witnesses.
Why am I preaching evangelism while our country is crying out for social justice? Evangelism is foundational to the ministry of the Church. It must be revived and revised to include the “fullness” of the Gospel, salvation for self, and salvation for society. God is asking us not to preach evangelism, but to do evangelism, to save our society from injustices and give us hope through love.
In my travels among your churches I meet so many talented and dedicated people, I see no reason why we can’t stop this free fall we are in. I know the pandemic has stopped us from reaching out to people in handshaking and hugging ways, but we still can touch their hearts and show love through prayer and modern technology. I believe a great awakening in our churches is in our reach. Let’s talk about it, pray about it, and make a move that will make a difference.
Moving Forward
St Luke UMC, Memphis, TN
I don’t preach denomination, although I have one. I grew up in Sunday school, youth group and as an adult in the Methodist and United Methodist Church. My first dates with Pam were at each other’s Methodist Church youth groups. We were married in a Methodist Church. I was trained in a United Methodist Seminary. The first two of our four children were born in a Methodist hospital. What would I do without my church and my denomination?
The United Methodist Church has struggled the past several decades seeking agreement on the LGBTQ issue. The Church has decided to go different directions. I was hoping and praying that we would stay United and open to serve all people, in membership and leadership.
I am an evangelist, a messenger of the Evangel for God. My altar calls will always be to all people because God’s love will not allow it to be any other way.
Let’s remember, we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and a denominational disagreement cannot change that, and must not hinder us from being who we are called to be.
Kimball, Servant Evangelist
A Thrill of Hope
Christmas is a wondrous and joyful time of great HOPE! Hope can turn a weary life into a wonderful life. This story did not happen at Christmas time, but it reminds us of what Christmas is all about and that God wants the Christmas spirit to live in us all year long.
I served with the Missions Area of the Ontario First United Methodist Church as they reached out to the marginal and homeless people of the Inland Empire. This was a quarterly event that included dinner, singing, worship, and arts and crafts with the children. During one of these events, we became aware that there was a need to give special attention and hope in the weary worn community we were serving.
We invited a homeless family to our home in Mt. Baldy for a few days to get them out of the rat race of seedy hotels, lice, and discouragement. The children, ages 6, 4 and 3, could not play outside because it was too dangerous.
Photo by Adam Whitlock
In those three days in Mt. Baldy, the parents washed dirty clothes that were piled high in the trunk of their car, enjoyed a few walks by themselves, dreamed and made plans for their lives. The children squealed with happiness as they splashed in the creek, climbed up in the treehouse, hiked to the orchard with Charlie, our neighbor’s Border Collie and picked fruit, played ball in the front yard, and made cookies for the first time in their lives. They also took baths. The little three-year-old took four bubble baths in one day! Her sparkling clean soft curls bounced as much as she did.
They all helped with meals and ate as though they never would again. They were eager to hold hands and say grace before eating.
Photo by Cristina Gottardi
Tears flowed from their Daddy’s eyes when he came in from a walk and heard his children singing and laughing. He asked me if I knew some of the hymns his grandmother had taught him as a child. I did and he joined us in singing those hymns. It surprised his children to hear their daddy sing and that he knew about God and Jesus. I believe he surprised himself and felt better when he remembered he had a foundation of faith that would help him.
The children were tucked into beds with clean sheets each night but on their last night, they wanted more. They asked Pam and me to tell them a story, teach them how to pray bedtime prayers and sing a goodnight song like we did with our grandchildren. Their mama and daddy joined us.
All scrubbed and clean, tummies full with a hearty breakfast, plus a bag of goodies prepared for each of them, they left the mountain with hugs and kisses and a sheer pleasure, but most of all, with a sense of hopefulness instead of hopelessness. We discovered that it’s not only adults who need hope in their lives, children also hunger and thirst for hope. The next week we went to the motel to see them, but they were no longer there. We prayed they had begun life anew with hope.
God sent the Christ child to give our weary world a thrilling sense of hope. Giving HOPE to others is one of the greatest gifts we can give at Christmas.
Don’t Let The Fire Go Out
This is the title song of my newest CD. In the song, I sing about “a restlessness to be.” We think of restlessness mostly as a feeling of the young, but age is not a true factor. This restlessness comes from wanting to move from a dissatisfaction of the old, with a hungering to try something new.
Restlessness can be a good thing, a creative thing, and a positive change. Holy Spirit restlessness is completely different from ambitious restlessness ~ one drives us inward and the other drives us outward. Holy Spirit restlessness moves us outside of ourselves, as the song says, “crying out ~ send me.”
I am certainly not young, but I still feel a restlessness that gives me an edge, an eagerness and exciting energy to change smoldering embers into burning flames. I would be privileged to come to your church with God’s message.
“Don’t burn out. Keep yourselves fueled and aflame” – Romans 12:11 (The Message)
Click here to download Kimball’s new music for free.
(song artwork © Lily Lee, cross artwork © Wulf Forrester-Barker, creative commons)
The Heart Of Hallelujah
This is a picture of my 5 year old grandson, Luke, singing his little heart out and praising the Lord. I’m not sure he knows what praising the Lord is all about, but I do know he loves singing and dancing in his church choir. Our job as parents, grandparents and church family is to teach him the deeper meaning of praising the Lord, having the heart of hallelujah as a child of God. I want my grandson to grow up not seeing the church as a somber institution, but as the joyful Body of Christ.
I have written a new song entitled The Heart of Hallelujah. I wanted to write a song with words that would lift our spirit, and a tune that would get our toes tapping and our hands clapping. Take a moment and listen to this song and feel the joy it brings.
All of life should be lived in hallelujah, which means, Praise to the Lord.
Agape,
Kimball Coburn, S.E.
Rethink Church
“Called to be the Church, yesterday and today”
The United Methodist Church is in a campaign to “Rethink Church.” I like it. It’s catchy and hopefully will cause people to see church in a new light. For seekers it’ll help them to see a church that is open to doing things differently.
Rethinking deeply, profoundly and prayerfully is a demanding spiritual exercise. It means putting our imagination and creativity to work. Rethinking church means preaching the Good News in ways that excite people and calls them to action. It means genuinely reaching out to people because we care about their souls. It means being bold enough to challenge and change the reality of our decadent society. It means being innovative in worship. There is no one style of worship that fits all. True worship is warm, moving and uplifting. It should be indigenous to the people.
Rethinking church is thinking again how Jesus taught us to live our lives for one another and in community. It’s a “re” word that is part of the family of renew, revive and reformation. To do this:
We need to look around today
We need to speak to every age
We need to go beyond the walls
We need to witness and live so all can see
GOD’S ALIVE!
If you’re thinking, “Kimball is on the verge of writing a song,” you’re right. In fact, I’ve already written and recorded it. I hope you will download it, enjoy it, and share it.
Agape,
Kimball, S.E.
Kimball Boyd Coburn 