Entropy?
Entropy (from high energy to low) happens in churches; maybe faster than we care to acknowledge? Paul established the church in Ephesus around year 53-54AD (Acts 18-19). While imprisoned in Rome (year 61AD), seven years after the tremendous revival of Acts 19, he wrote the church a letter of encouragement. Paul reminds them that they are saved through the blood of Christ, through faith in His sacrifice, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to destroy the devil's works through fighting a spiritual war. How long this had effect is unknown but I believe in an early date for the writing of the Revelation of Christ. If it were written before 70AD, they were in need of another revival in 7 years because the first church Jesus addresses in the book of Revelation is Ephesus (Rev 2:5). Why do I say this? Because of FCOP's experience after seeing one of the most significant church expansions in modern history. We’ve witnessed churches that went from that miraculous growth to in need of refreshing, even after a few years. This story shows my point:
On Sept 17th, a photo popped up on my Facebook feed. The young girl’s backside was terribly burned. She was from Battambang Province and I was hoping some church in that area would respond. I did not know the circumstances and due to the possibility of an abuse situation, I instructed our General Supervisor, Som Art, to make an inquiry. I also contacted a personal friend, Dr. Reid Sheftall, a plastic surgeon who came to Cambodia 22 years ago to do reconstructive surgery for burn victims, to get his assessment. He came back to me with a diagnosis of, "second and third degree burns." After multiple phone calls, Som Art got hold of the father who explained that the little girl had been playing when she fell backwards into a dishpan full of boiling water. She was transported to Khanta Bo Pha Hospital in Siem Reap.
We sent our local pastors to pray for her and to bring some help. It turned out that they were a very poor family but that the father had come to know Jesus about 15 years ago at one of our churches. He was even on the worship team but, as too often happens, through family pressures and inadequate discipleship, he fell away about 10 years ago. Our pastors prayed for her and are supporting the family through her recovery. The family is back in the church and we believe they have "come back to their first love," Jesus Christ.