What happens to infants when they die?

The eternal destiny of those who die in infancy remains a difficult question to answer, though it continually and unavoidably arises in pastoral sitautions. Two books which give very helfpul biblical and theological insight on this issue are (1) R. A. Webb, The Theology of Infant Salvation (1874; reprint, Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publicaitons, 1981) and (2) John MacArthur, Safe in the Arms of God: Truth from Heaven About the Death of a Child (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2003).

Church attendance and avoidance

I was very interested to read a recent Barna report that listed the latest statistics on church participation at
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrowPreview&BarnaUpdateID=293

Of most interest to me personally was the categories of attendees/non-attendees that Barna calls the Unattached: people who had attended neither a conventional church nor a house church or some other kind of "organic faith community" in the past year. The statistics say that 1 out of every four adults is "unattached" and one-third of them have never attended any kind of church at all any time in their lifetime.

Particularly telling to me were some of the characteristics of the Unattached. They are:
*more likely to feel stressed out
*less likely to be concerned about the moral condition of the nation
*less optimistic about the future.

There are several more characteristics, but this is enough to remind me of the challenge we have to reach our world with the good news of salvation and hope. We certainly do have our work cut out for us.

Valuable documents

Tax time is right around the corner and thinking of that reminds me of an article I recently read about the things a church treasurer should have on hand. It might be helpful to look through this list for your own church and make sure you and the church board know where each item is located:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/yc/2008/001/4.12.html

Among the ten items listed in this article was one item that struck a cord with me as a layperson who has spent quite a number of hours assisting in a local church office: a list of members.

It reminded me of the day I was looking for the book that listed all the charter members of the church for use in a church history someone was attempting to write. I could not find the book although I knew it existed because I had been the one to enter the names originally.

After searching unsuccessfully for some time, I mentioned my quest to the pastor, who responded, " Oh, that book. I threw it away when I was cleaning out the office one day. I figured it was not of any value to us now."

Needless to say, the lesson here is DON'T TOSS ITEMS OF HISTORICAL VALUE!!