[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fcircuit-riding-members":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fcircuit-riding-members-surround":67},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":49,"date":50,"description":16,"extension":51,"image":52,"meta":53,"minRead":54,"navigation":55,"path":56,"postType":57,"publication":58,"publicationUrl":52,"seo":59,"stem":60,"topics":61,"__hash__":66},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fcircuit-riding-members.md","Circuit-Riding Members",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":46},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,34,37,40,43],[14,15,16],"p",{},"Circuit-riding preachers played an important role on the American frontier. These itinerant evangelists traveled on horseback, preaching wherever they found a hearing in log cabins, schoolhouses, and outdoor clearings. Some of them served a circuit as large as a dozen congregations where they preached on a regular basis, rotating from one church to another on different Sundays.",[14,18,19],{},"These brave souls accepted a rugged lifestyle as the price of their ministry. Also known as \"saddlebag preachers,\" circuit-riders traveled light, carried their belongings in saddlebags, ate off the land, endured cold and rain, and slept in crude dwellings or camped outdoors. Many died at an early age. Methodist circuit-rider Francis Asbury (1745-1816) traveled 270,000 miles and preached 16,000 sermons. The tenacity of circuit-riding preachers gave rise to a proverb: \"The weather today is so bad that nothing's out except crows and Methodist preachers.\"",[14,21,22],{},"Today a few itinerant evangelists still travel and preach for multiple congregations, but for the most part the circuit-riding preacher disappeared along with the Pony Express. In our day, we are seeing the rise of a new phenomenon: the circuit-riding member.",[14,24,25],{},"The circuit-riding church member moves freely from one congregation to another, never settling into one church. In the past, just as a baseball player played his whole career with one team and a factory worker stayed with the same company for decades, a church member generally stayed with his local congregation for a lifetime. During the first 19 centuries of church history, worshipers walked to church or rode a horse and buggy on Sunday morning. There simply weren't a lot of options except to stick with the local church through thick and thin. The invention of the automobile changed all that; and radio, TV, and the Internet created many more alternatives to regular church attendance.",[14,27,28,29,33],{},"In ",[30,31,32],"em",{},"The Second Coming of the Church"," (Word Publishing, 1998) George Barna noted that increasing numbers of Americans view their local congregation as a \"spiritual pit stop\" rather than a \"church home.\" According to Barna, several factors contribute to this trend: (1) our transience (15 to 20 percent of all households relocate each year), (2) our preference for variety in church experiences, (3) our perception that spiritual growth is a process of discovery rather than a commitment to a faith group, and (4) our view of religion as a commodity we consume instead of an investment we make.",[14,35,36],{},"It's good to visit and learn from different churches. When my family led a ministry for university students, our children had few peers their own age attending our church, so our son found encouragement in another church's youth group.",[14,38,39],{},"But if you see the church as a commodity rather than a commitment—if you see yourself as a consumer of services rather than a servant, as an observer rather than a participant—you will never know the full joy of biblical fellowship. Circuit-riding Christians enjoy their freedom, but they miss out on the deeper relationships and the healthy accountability found through consistent involvement in a church where members serve one another in love and elders shepherd the flock with wisdom and grace over the long haul.",[14,41,42],{},"Megachurches aren't alone in facing this problem, but they are especially vulnerable because their large size makes it easier for a sporadic attendee to slip in and out unnoticed and remain disconnected. That's why healthy churches of all sizes find ways to nurture members in small groups, encourage hospitality, and connect their members beyond a casual handshake at the church door on Sunday morning.",[14,44,45],{},"A branch bears no fruit if it's cut off from the vine. An ember burns out if it's not connected to other hot coals. A hand cannot perform its function if it's detached from the body. And even a circuit-riding Christian needs a place to grow and people to love.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":47,"depth":47,"links":48},2,[],"First Look","2007-06-24","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fcircuit-riding-members","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fcircuit-riding-members",[62,63,64,65],"Church Leadership","Spiritual Formation","Discipleship","Intergenerational Ministry","ZSWT0AIr5myJV5Xhqb1wx7szomku7-A75vMZOYdyTEE",[68,73],{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"Churches on Fire","\u002Farticles\u002Fchurches-on-fire","articles\u002Fchurches-on-fire","One of this summer’s hottest news topics has been the so-called \"church arson epidemic.\" Any form of arson is a horrifying crime, but it's especially distressing when someone slaps the face of God by burning a house of worship. Adding fuel to the fire is the possibility that some of the church burnings have been motivated by racial hatred.",{"title":74,"path":75,"stem":76,"description":77,"children":-1},"Cities? Who Cares?","\u002Farticles\u002Fcities-who-cares","articles\u002Fcities-who-cares","Several years ago my friend Darrel Brandon wrote about how it feels to minister in an urban area, using the book of Jonah as an illustration. His outline of Jonah goes like this:"]