In 1354, an earthquake shook the Byzantine city of Kallipolis (modern Gallipoli). Shortly thereafter, the Ottoman Turk armies swept into the city and took it. The significance of this event is that it gave the Turks their first foothold on the European mainland and would eventually allow the Turks to take the Byzantine capital, Constantinople in 1453.

As I was reading about this event, it occurred to me that once a force or power gets a foothold in the church, the church will begin to fall apart. The cause of Christ will go on, of course, but that local assembly will struggle to make gains because someone else has invaded their territory.

Here’s thought #1 about footholds:

Satan gets a foothold when you become internally-focused.

The church is a kingdom – Christ’s kingdom – and kingdoms need to be focused on the borders as much as the capital. One of the reasons the Byzantines lost their struggle against the Turks was that they had stopped defending themselves. They hired mercenaries and paid for naval vessels and crews so they did not have to do the work.

And the question:

How do you keep a church active and moving forward?