A young, ambitious pastor was called to serve in a certain church. He was warned by his predecessor that the congregation was dead.. But he accepted the call because he believed with God’s guidance he could bring life to that church. He was an optimist and he worked hard, visiting the members, preaching his best sermons enthusiastically, he tried to develop an outreach or lay visiting program so that visits might be done in the homes of the active, the inactive and new people moving into town. The harder he tried, the more he knew that his predecessor was right, this was a dead church. The spark for ministry, the excitement of preaching and sharing the gospel message was not there. So one Sunday he made a startling announcement to the few who were gathered for worship. He said, In as much as you are a dead congregation, unresponsive to resuscitative efforts, unresponsive to any effort of pumping life into the workings of the congregation, in as much as the vital signs of the congregation are dead, I will conduct a funeral for this ’dead ’church next Sunday morning at 10:30. The members. the few who were there, buzzed with excitement following the service. One said, What’s ’s he trying to pull anyway? Another said, I don’t understand? The pastor and his announcement of a funeral for the church was the main talk of the tiny rural town during that week The phone lines were hot with talk, the coffee shop was filled with men talking about what they expected next Sunday. Sunday arrived, and as the people gathered, there was an open coffin in the front of the church. As the 10:30 hour approached, the pastor looked out and saw that every pew plus some chairs were filled for this funeral service. He began the funeral service by reading scripture, he shared prayer, he even gave a very sad sermon on the demise of this over 100 year old church and congregation. After he finished his sermon, he did something which again startled the membership. He asked the members to please rise and past slowly by the open coffin to pay their last respects to this now dead church. Slowly, they shuffled pass the coffin, their faces assuming disconcerting expressions as each peered inside. The coffin was empty except for a mirror. As each person peered into the coffin to view the deceased each looked upon his or her own face. (Unknown Author from Sermon Illustrations)
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 12:19:38 +0000