By Don Madlena
DOUGLASVILLE, Georgia--Several months ago I realized that if we, the Douglasville congregation of the Worldwide Church of God, are to grow, we need to evangelize.
How can we evangelize if we don't know the people of our community? And how can we get to know the people?
We as a church have broken out of our cocoon and as a beautiful butterfly we are soaring, a church on the move, making a difference for the kingdom. And guess what. We have noticed other butterflies out in the world.
I feel that the Holy Spirit has led us to see that we need to be accepted by these other butterflies--these other churches and Christians of our community.
And what better way to get to know them than by meeting and praying with them. I found out that a group of Promise Keepers meets every Saturday morning for breakfast. And then I found a Christian businessmen's luncheon that meets every Wednesday at noon.
Through these meetings I have met many Christians, and some doors have opened for our church as well.
I have had lunch with several pastors and brethren in the community and am getting to know them personally and finding out more about their churches and the community we serve.
I began attending Douglas County Ministerial Association luncheons, which take place in a different church the second Tuesday of each month.
Twelve pastors were in attendance at my first meeting in November.
My second meeting was Dec. 9, and about 30 pastors were in attendance.
After lunch we gathered in a circle for discussion and prayer and went through several stories that had occurred over the past month with different pastors.
At the end of the discussion, the facilitating pastor, Gene Evans, said that last month (November) was one of the most exciting, inspiring meetings that the association had ever had. And the reason for that was the inspiring testimony of "our brother Don Madlena of the Worldwide Church of God, explaining the changes that his church has been through in the last several years."
Then he said: "Don, many of these pastors were unable to attend last month's meeting. Would you mind giving this inspiring testimony again?"
During the next five or 10 minutes of my testimony I could see the eyes of some of the pastors filling with tears. I heard: "praise God," "hallelujah," "amen" and "wow."
Some of them had heard about or read about some of the changes but were skeptical that a church that was once looked upon as a cult by some people could actually change and come to Christ, and not just one congregation, but the whole denomination.
Somehow, actually hearing it from a member of the church seemed to testify to the fact that these changes really had occurred.
At the end of my testimony, when we usually go around the circle and pray, Pastor Evans said, "Let's all pray for Don Madlena, his local congregation, and the Worldwide Church of God as a whole."
Then the host, John Alexander, said, "Let's have him get in the center, and let's all lay hands on him as we pray."
It was moving for me to be at the center of those prayers coming from the hearts of those pastors. I don't think there was one person in the room I didn't hug afterward.
With many of the hugs, the pastors would say, "Welcome to the body of Christ."
I felt that somehow that day those prayers connected the Worldwide Church of God with the body of Christ, at least in our community of Douglasville.
I had two offers of halls that we can meet in for free. I have several lunch appointments and have been asked to come to a couple of services. It's hard to put into words how encouraging and inspiring this was for me.
Sometimes in the Worldwide Church of God we can get caught up in the pain of people leaving, problems, questions and even loss of income. In some of our church areas the members and even the pastor can still be in the grieving process and can't see the incredible, awesome miracle that God wrought in the Worldwide Church of God.
So, I just want to encourage pastors and members to reach out in the community and get to know other Christians.
Tell our story, because we, like Paul, were blind but now we can see. Our church is on the move. It's the butterfly soaring out there. It's wonderful to see the body of Christ coming together and the walls between denominations coming down.
Dec. 23, 1997, WN, page 11
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