Re:If you came to Maranatha SDA church.

If you came to Maranatha SDA church located at Hopkins United Methodist church, 717 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN 55305, the chances of seeing pastor Birai preach or even know who he is, are very minimal. Why so?

My take on pastoral ministry is quite different. How so?

1. I believe in a philosophy of "decreasing so that others can increase." I therefore go for fair distribution that is meant to build my fellow pastors, elders and the entire church. And because of this:

A. I preach once(usually the first Sabbath of the month)and occasionally twice, if need be.

B. One Sabbath in a month,we invite a guest from the Twin Cities or out of State.

C. Another Sabbath is for an elder, one of the members, or a departmental Sabbath.

D. Another Sabbath is for one of the two pastors.

Furthermore:

Every 1st Sabbath of the month-Elder Francis Kamara, our 1st elder, is the pastor in charge to oversee the smooth running of the day's program.

Every 2nd Sabbath-Pr Kenneth John.

Every 3rd Sabbath-Pr Yabesh Maroko.

Every 4th Sabbath-Pr Birai.

If a pastor is not on duty,he sits like any other member and enjoys the blessings of the day, unless his services are needed.

In addition:

Every Sabbath, we have an elder, deacon,& deaconess on duty who is responsible for the smooth running of the day's programs.

The reason why there is too much fighting in some churches is because some feel left out. To avoid such, the following will most definitely help.

The pastor should do the following:

1.Avoid being at the pulpit every week.We also need to take a back seat and be preached to.We need to learn from all.
2.Avoid being the focus.A pastor need to understand and be ready to move any time he is asked to. A pastor should avoid making the congregation depend on him 100%. Instead, he should make it easy to move to another church and make it easy also for whoever might take over from him.
3.A pastor should avoid the temptation of leaving everything to himself, his family, relatives, and close friends.

When all is said and done, the church should be a place where God's children come to for blessings and not the other way around.

To sum up,there is need to:

1.See ourselves as God's children.
2.See ourselves as brothers & sisters.
3.Learn to respect others.
4.Be flexible and considerate.
5.Learn from others.
6.Be peace makers and not trouble makers. 7.Pray for one another.

If we go for the above and many more,then church will become a place we'll look forward to every week. Don't you think so?

Just a thought.

Pr Birai-612-386-4608
www.ThemaranathaSDAchurch.org