Beyond Outreach

Remembering a Church Plant

2012-02-13T11:38:00.001-06:00

A Story

A little over a decade ago, I was sitting in a lunch meeting of fellow ministers at my church. One of our associate pastors had been sharing with us over the past week that he would be moving on to a new ministry.

He was to help re-launch a church that, for all practical purposes, had died. There were still a handful of people who maintained the legal charter and kept up the property, but that was it.

Over some really good hamburgers, this brother shared his vision for what the church would become. “We are going to need some donations to get started. We need a video projector and a laptop computer, a sound system, and some chairs,” he confided. “We’re going to have a praise band and the whole thing is going to be contemporary.”

I am not sure what the other ministers were thinking at this point,but I listened with fascination as he described what the worship service would be like. It sounded cool, for lack of a better word. (To be honest, it wasn’t the kind of church service that would have appealed to me personally, but it seemed like something that would get a crowd.)

He then told us that there were several members from a number of different churches who would form a start-up team and become the charter members of the new church. The church would launch with services of nearly 100 in attendance.

Observations

I am not sure how long that church plant lasted, or if it is still there to this day. I do know that the presentation was enough to influence my missionary strategy when I first arrived here in Brazil. There were two very appealing things in that idea. One, was that by doing the same thing, I would be starting something unique and different. Two, I would have a pretty good level of control of what was going on.

I never got anything like that off the ground here, and I am glad I didn’t. Today, I really think that this method of planting churches (though it has its appropriate place and usefulness), is often built on a couple of faulty assumptions.

The first assumption is that if we have a better meeting space, more interesting programming, higher production-value media, a better band, and cooler websites, then we will better engage people and in turn disciple them better. (This applies both to traditional and contemporary styles. Just replace better bands with better choirs and orchestras.)

I haven’s seen where excessive focus on delivery and production increases a church’s effectiveness in transforming people. In fact, there seems to be a correlation that increasing the quality of the performance decreases the level of meaningful participation of the congregation. Discipleship is not passive, and never will be.

The second assumption is that new churches are best started with a core group of established Believers. These believers are perceived as offering a certain critical mass that gives credibility to the organization and stability to its structure. The problem is that most churches are no longer evangelistic as a defining characteristic once their meeting space is reasonably full and their budget is covered.

Church Plant or Transplant?

Recruiting a number of established Christians to leave their churches, even temporarily, to create a similar or improved version of what they are doing in another place is really a transplant rather than a plant, kind of like digging up an oak tree and moving it to another place. Nothing new is established.

Starting a new church among newly evangelized Christians in a way that is size appropriate with a structure that matches the need is more like planting an acorn. It will grow as its DNA intends.

An oak tree and an acorn are the same in their DNA, but much different in their appearance. I can pick up and acorn and put it in my pocket. I can’t do that with an oak tree. In fact, there is not much I can do to an oak tree. It’s too big.

A single acorn can produce an immense oak. A single, growing oak tree can produce countless acorns, each with the potential to produce another oak tree. It makes no sense to “plant” churches in a way that is akin to transplanting an oak. It is expensive, task heavy, and in the end, produces nothing. (One might find a place where the tree can grow better, but it is still the same tree.) Instead, oak churches should be producing and planting acorn churches abundantly.

Seven Billion Souls - Considerations for Evangelism

2012-02-03T14:16:00.001-06:00

World Population: 7,000,000,000 and counting.

A few months ago the newspapers and magazines here in Brazil were headlining the the 7,000,000,000th baby had been born somewhere in India. This, of course, just a guess based on the UN’s 2010 Revision of the World Population Prospects. According to the US Census Bureau we won’t reach that number until March 12th, 2012.

The world population has increased by 4 billion since 1960.

The amazing thing in these reports is not really that we’ve made it to seven billion as a planet, but that it has come so rapidly. Fifty years ago there were right at three billion people living on the planet, now there are seven. According to most predictions, in just fifteen years time, we will add yet another billion to our planet.

Discipleship must outstrip the population growth rate. In the US, it doesn’t.

In the US, our Southern Baptist Convention churches are discipling at this rate:

There are about 313 million people in the US, less than 5% of the world.
There are about 16 million SBC Christians, about 5% of the US population.
It takes 50 SBC Christians together a year’s time to baptize a single disciple.
Each baptism comes at an average cost of $35,000 in church spending.
It takes 65 SBC churches together a year’s time to start one new church.

*Source: 2010 church growth indicators for the Southern Baptist Convention

Now, to be fair, one must also consider that the SBC is the largest missions sending agency in the world, and these numbers do not reflect the foreign mission work these churches fund. On the other hand, delegating someone to “do the work for you” is not really full obedience.

The bottom line is that disciple making and church planting are not in the DNA of the majority of SBC churches. These churches, by their fruit, show that they either do not know how to grow the kingdom, or do not care. Personally, I believe they do care, but just don’t know how to change.

Questions for your church.

Is my church currently reproducing spiritual newborns at a higher rate than the population growth?
Is my church currently reproducing other churches at a higher rate than the population growth?
What is it going to take to be able to answer those questions affirmatively?

*UPDATE

I just started reading an article that is putting some perspective on this. The article “When Feelings Bend Statistics,” gives some good arguments against the unnecessary pessimism with respect to world evangelization. The article is over 2o years old, but gives a good reason for pause on the hand wringing.

Here is an interesting graph from the article:

Back to This Blog

2012-01-23T20:06:00.001-06:00

I started this blog, at least the concept of it and the first few posts, while I was sitting in the waiting room at the local oncological hospital. I would regularly take my mother-in-law for radiation therapy for months in 2009. Waiting rooms are the biggest time outs in life. Life goes on hold. It can be a good opportunity to read or write.

I’ve just gone deaf again. Another time out.

Today, I sent word to all my English students that I would be suspending classes for a while. I will continue to keep and build on my ministry schedule, but my teaching work is now on hold.

I plan to use this quiet time (I do expect it to be temporary) to get back to posting on this blog. I have several others which have taken center stage lately. This is my favorite blog, though. I look forward to regularly posting here starting in February.

My Favorite Posts of 2011

2011-12-28T06:43:00.002-06:00

Here are my favorite posts on going Beyond Outreach from 2011, a year with few posts.

Daily Evangelism
The best evangelists I know are not pastors or preachers. They are not ordained. They are not very good public speakers. They are not “leaders” in the business sense of the word. Most of them work full time jobs, but they are lower-middle class at best.

What separates these evangelists from the rest of the pack, including me, is that they can not have a conversation about anything without including Jesus. Read more ...
Excluding People from the Good News!
Ninety Percent of church evangelism methods, discipleship materials, and ministry strategy targets the highly literate. In fact, the overwhelming majority of church ministry is done in such a way that it is difficult or impossible for an oral preference learner to follow.

Many churches have not addressed the need to evangelize and disciple using oral methods because they have not felt the need. There are always enough literate prospects in the area to grow a church. The result is, that a great number of people are selectively excluded from the gospel message. Read more...

When Values Collide
It is among those outside of traditional church culture that the fields are white unto harvest. This is where the lost sheep have gone...[Unfortunately,] many Christians think that crossing cultures is a step beyond the general mandate.

One of the great challenges for churches, however, is to make that transition to real evangelism among those who don’t readily fit. Many churches don’t even understand that a transition is needed because they have a skewed perspective of who they really are... But the values a church claims to hold are not always the values a church demonstrates by its actions. A church’s true values are revealed in their behavior, not their mission statements. Read more ...
Top Evangelistic Churches–Things to Copy
Just 3% of the churches in the Georgia Baptist Convention accounted for more than 26% of all the baptisms in the state association in 2008. These churches reached and baptized nearly ten times as many people as the typical Georgia Baptist church of the same size.

These churches were studied and the Georgia Baptist Convention published a booklet revealing the statistics and lessons learned from these churches... Here is my summary of the top ten observations underscored in this booklet. Read more...

Daily Telling
All day long I will tell the wonderful things you do to save your people. But you have done much more than I could possibly know. -Somewhere in Psalm 71
One of the greatest means of evangelism is a daily broad-based telling of what you have learned of God each day. Like scattering or sowing seed, some will land on good soil and produce a harvest of souls. It is neither argumentative nor manipulative (a straw-man argument many make against witnessing). Read more...

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Daily Telling

2011-11-14T11:32:00.001-06:00

All day long I will tell the wonderful things you do to save your people. But you have done much more than I could possibly know. -Somewhere in Psalm 71

But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. –Somewhere in Psalm 73

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. - Somewhere in Psalm 66

One of the greatest means of evangelism is a daily broad-based telling of what you have learned of God each day. Like scattering or sowing seed, some will land on good soil and produce a harvest of souls. It is neither argumentative nor manipulative (a straw-man argument many make against witnessing).

Start your day with meditation on God’s Word and prayer. Spend the rest of the day telling people, everyone, as you can and as it fits, what you learned from God. If there is no natural in, just say “Today I learned something about God,” or “God taught me something today,” or “I read something interesting in the Bible today.” Just leave it out there. Some will ask, “What was it?”

Share. Do this daily.

If you don’t meditate of God’s word regularly, you won’t have much to share, and you will keep quiet. So, build this habit too, if you haven’t already.

(Oh, and if you are the singing type, by all means, sing!)

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. –Somewhere in Psalm 89

An Example from Ecuador

2011-11-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

I posted earlier in A Guide to Getting Beyond Typical Church Outreach about good soil producing a minimum 2,900% increase. (By the way, now that I am recovered from surgery and travel, I plan to post the rest of that guide soon.)

I also posted an example of this in post WWII China in the post An Observation of Good Soil.

Guy Muse, one of our IMB missionaries serving in Ecuador relates another great example of this declaration of Jesus. This story is so simple and personal. A great read. Here is an excerpt.

What follows is an attempt to briefly describe how seed planted in the life of just one person has produced well over the 100-fold described in Matthew 13...

Marlene was a member of a local Baptist church in Guayaquil. For several years she tried to motivate her fellow brothers and sisters to be more engaged in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. Excuses were always along the lines of "it is not in this year's budget," "we have a meeting planned to discuss this next month," "we have several outreach activities planned this year that will hopefully bring some new people into our church," "we don't have the money to plant a new church." No surprise that little to nothing was being done.

Marlene was part of an organic church planting training we were asked to do at her church through an invitation made to us by the pastor.
At the end of the training, Marlene respectfully requested permission to start a new house church, explaining to her pastor she wanted to put into practice what had been learned during the training. Her pastor gave his blessing.

Within a few weeks Marlene had won several friends and neighbors to the Lord through her house-to-house visitation, and through contacts made in her local business.

The first year Marlene baptized 18 and spent many hours discipling these new believers. They began meeting several times per week in Marlene's home as a new church start. The "mother church" with all their programs, budget, and paid ministry staff baptized three people that same year.

The story continues, relating how the discipling of one specific couple led to an entire family network coming to Jesus (30 fold), then how relatives, friends and neighbors were reached (60 fold), and finally how this turned into a network of new churches of new believers (100 fold). Read it all in the post 30,60 and 100-fold on The M Blog.

Where do we go from here?

2011-10-28T13:11:00.001-05:00

In one of the Looney Tunes cartoons, Wiley Coyote was giving chase to the Roadrunner through a series of pipes. These pipes became wider and wider, or narrower and narrower. The gag was that the two grew or shrank proportionally as they ran through them.

In a ironic moment, Wiley Coyote had gone through a small pipe while the Roadrunner had gone through a big one. It was at that moment that Wiley finally caught the Roadrunner. After standing there for a second next to a bird 10 times bigger than he was, Wiley Coyote held up a sign that said: “Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?”

Christians and churches sometimes go through moments like these along the journey: A moment of glorious success, followed by a complete loss for what to do or where to go from that point on.

The church building is filled to capacity. – “Well, we wanted a full sanctuary, now what?” At this point churches can flounder. Should they go to a two-service classic/contemporary model? Should they invest in an expansion of the sanctuary, or a new building? Should they just let it be, knowing that at some point the numbers will drop? Should the church start a mission?

The neighbor accepted Jesus. – “Well, Rashaad decided to follow Jesus, now what?” At this point Christians often flounder. Should I try to disciple him myself? What do I teach him? Should I refer him to the discipleship director at the church? Should he be baptized while he is still living with his girlfriend? Maybe if he can just start attending church he will be discipled naturally?

John surrendered to the ministry. – “Well, John surrendered to full time Christian service or to missions, now what?” At this point churches sometimes flounder. Do we send him off to seminary? Do we let him preach a few times to see if he’s “got it?” Should we put him over a Sunday School class? Do we send him to Mexico for a week?

The people we invited to church came. – “Well I invited them and they started coming, now what?” At this point both churches and Christians can flounder. If they like the service enough, they will keep coming, right? Then they will get saved, right? Should we send the pastor to visit them? Should the family that invited them start discipling them? Who is responsible?

Can you think of any other successful moments in ministry that often get followed up with “Oops, now I just don’t know what to do?”

About Me in 2011

2011-08-02T09:24:00.001-05:00

These blogs are a hobby of mine. I have a history of updating them in spurts, and taking long unannounced breaks when other projects come up. There are a number of posts on the backburner right now, but I just haven’t had the time to write them out.

This year, 2011, started with a number of challenges for us. We returned from our Christmas visit to the US, only to find that we had to make some quick adjustments.

We found out that we had to move from our apartment and in short order. We prepared and moved into a house in a nearby neighborhood. Our son’s afternoon preschool closed down, so we enrolled him in a new preschool near our new place. We had to make a significant change in our budget and so we reduced it by a third and I started working teaching English again.

Though we have been planning to move to the US for a while now, our church search process has taken longer than we expected. We’ve come close, but God guided us in others directions. Following His lead, we have set a definitive date to move to the US even if that means moving without a church position. We are still watching for God’s assignment there.

In the meantime, there is much to do here. Loaise continues to run and manage her company, and plan for our transition. I am preparing to travel to a few different places in Brazil and lead training workshops this year. I am helping a local church to learn the ropes of starting daughter churches in nearby neighborhoods, and assisting its pastor and deacons in better organizing the church’s committee structure. I continue to teach Bible storying and oral discipleship methods in this city.

Those of you who know me, know of my challenges with hearing. I was born with hearing impairment and have used a hearing aid for 30 years. Even so, I have been able to learn other languages and work effectively in ministry and missions. Most of the time I don’t remember I am hearing impaired.

This year, I learned that I could receive a cochlear implant and hearing rehab through the Brazilian One Health System. I had never considered this surgery in the past, as it was both extremely expensive and indicated only for my hearing ear. This would mean destroying the hearing I already had.

Technology has advanced. I can now receive an implant for my deaf ear instead. By using both my health insurance and the One Health System, I can have this surgery without charge, and in my own city! This could significantly improve my hearing range and comprehension, and there is no risk to my hearing as it is now. What a blessing!

We continue to work hard in mission and ministry in Jesus name. There are many who need to hear, and many who need to follow. We are working steadily on transition as well. I also have a number of online projects that I will be revealing in the coming months. We continue to talk with churches in Louisiana, mostly in the Baton Rouge area, and believe that God has been preparing a church for us, as he also prepares us.

Where ever you live, continue to serve God, doing the hard work of evangelism and disciple making to the glory of Jesus. We are coworkers in his Kingdom.

Keep watching this blog and my others as I will be bringing new blog articles and updates.

http://stephenmyoung2.blogspot.com

http://smy2brazil.blogspot.com

http://beyondoutreach.blogspot.com

Churches are Unique

2011-06-29T14:24:00.003-05:00

When I began serving as a Minister to Single Adults, our church was deeply involved in a grief and divorce recovery ministry. That ministry has been going strong for nearly 15 years now. It has been a steady tool of evangelism and discipleship for the church, and will continue to be as long as the ministry continues.

What amazed me, though, was how so many other churches wanted to implement the exact same ministry. Our pastoral care pastor wanted so much to break out and expand to ministry to chemical abuse addictions, sexual addictions, homosexuality issues, etc. He is always looking for the edge. The other churches just wanted a reliable, predictable ministry that they could copy.

I often wondered why smaller churches never specialized.(The one I served in and with whom I maintain membership while on the mission field is a larger church.) It seems logical that one church targeting a specialized ministry area and another targeting another would be extremely beneficial to the overall goal of evangelism in a city. This is not something that can be organized from a hierarchy, however. Even so, if churches payed attention, each one could find a niche ministry, and that would be a good thing.

This concept of churches being unique is explored by Will Mancini. Here is an online version of his book you can browse through Issuu. (Issuu is a great web resource I will be using more in the future.)

The Church Unique Visual Summary is an engaging overview of the key concepts from the book Church Unique by Will Mancini. Have a look.

Open publication - Free publishing - More church unique

Pastors, Look Here!

2011-06-20T11:50:00.001-05:00

Okay, now that I’ve got your attention, I want to point you to a wonderful resource. Joe McKeever is the retired Director of Missions of the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. He is very active preaching and blogging.

Dr. McKeever’s blog is full of more good, Godly and practical advice for pastors and ministers than I have found in any other place. Here are just some of his articles that I have found interesting, helpful and challenging.

Ten Foundational Principles to Tell Your People Again and Again - If you have pastored for more than four or five years, or if you are in your second (or more) pastorate, you have learned the hard way that saying something one time to your people does not suffice. Some lessons--the most important ones, particularly--have to be said again and again.

The Trap That Snares Assistant Pastors – Church leaders told the preacher, "From now on, when you see you're going to be out of town, there's no need to bring in guest preachers. Joe can handle it." And that's when it began to happen. That snare that traps all assistant pastors at one time or the other began to be set for me.

Dealing With The Preacher-Eaters in the Pews - Pity the new pastor who walks into a church unprepared to deal with carnal leaders who enjoy their power positions and cannot wait to let the new minister know who's in charge.

Why I'm Angry At Some Preachers - You've heard them, I'm sure. Some well-intentioned but thoughtless man of God stands before a gathering of the Lord's people and in urging us to evangelize our communities will overstate the case. “Jesus told us to become fisher’s of men! He did not tell us to be keepers of the aquarium!”

Twenty Things I Wish I Had Known As A Young Pastor - I found this list the other day, written perhaps a dozen years ago. As a veteran of 42 years in the pastorate, I have made my share of mistakes and have compiled a lengthy list of regrets.

What To Tell A Hurting Church - One of the best parts of serving as a Director of Missions for a Baptist association is that churches in trouble call on you for assistance. That's also one of the worst aspects of the job.

The Ultimate Phobia: Why Christians Fear to Witness - Why are good, normal, otherwise confident Christian people scared to death of knocking on a door? I think I know, and it's not just that we don't know what to do or don't love the Lord enough or lack holiness. Sorry, Henry Blackaby, my dear brother. I think it's something else.

When Values Collide

2011-06-17T09:35:00.001-05:00

The heart of this blog is evangelism.

Baptisms have been trending down each year, and churches really are shrinking. Specifically, this blog is about evangelism and discipleship among those who don’t readily fit into a church’s culture. The American church is has been negligent in cross-cultural evangelism. As a result, in many churches evangelism is anemic at best.

It is among those outside of traditional church culture that the fields are white unto harvest. This is where the lost sheep have gone. As Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Many Christians think that crossing cultures is a step beyond the general mandate. There is a myth that only select missionaries are called to cross cultures in order to make disciples. The rest of us should only focus on people like us. But, the Great Commission actually commands otherwise! Jesus commanded his mostly Jewish audience to go to a mostly Gentile people and make disciples. In other words, the Great Commission itself is a mandate to cross cultures. --Joey Shaw via Guy Muse (reposted)

Churches are not transitioning.

One of the great challenges for churches, however, is to make that transition to real evangelism among those who don’t readily fit. Many churches don’t even understand that a transition is needed because they have a skewed perspective of who they really are. These churches readily make bold declarations and purpose statements. “We are a Great Commission church.” “Our purpose is to win the entire city for Jesus.”

But the values a church claims to hold are not always the values a church demonstrates by its actions. A church’s true values are revealed in their behavior, not their mission statements. This is the reason transition is so difficult. Churches try to implement new programs without understanding the conflicting values in the church.

Wayne Key gives a good example.

One church brought in a new youth pastor to reach out to the community. But when he began a skate park initiative, the trustee board stalled action so long that the initiative was killed. We helped the church discover it held an unspoken value—“Protect our Christian kids from worldly kids”—that directly counteracted its stated value—“Reach out to youth.”

When values collide, churches stagnate.

Value conflicts, especially between these unstated, unperceived values and the stated values of a ministry can lead to much dissension. The sad thing is, those on both sides of the issue feel like the other side is completely out of touch with what is really important. This can lead to distrust and disunity. It can kill a ministry and split a church.

The unspoken values of a church, revealed only by behavior will always win out over the stated preferred values of a church, unless they are recognized and brought to light. Only then can a church honestly wrestle through what they really value most. Once they have done that, they can change their actions, policies and perhaps even authority structures.

Help me out here in the comments section by suggesting some of the unspoken values that churches may have that can be barriers to real outreach and evangelism when they are prioritized to an unhealthy degree (or at all in some cases). Here are some that I have thought of.

Financial Stability
Cleanliness
Orderly Church Growth
Protect our Christian kids from worldly kids
Control
Convenience
Prominence in the Greater Community
Formality,
Being “Dignified”
Being a Pretty or Picturesque Church
Familiarity,
Protect our singles from singles of other races
Entertainment
Please add to this list and suggest ways of lovingly exposing these values to the church.

I was right about 50 to 1

2011-06-13T09:34:00.001-05:00

In my previous post I said “Years of church baptism reports seem to indicate that in a year’s time, typical church outreach wins about one person to Jesus for every 50 church members.” I was worried about that opening line, because it wasn’t sourced. I figured it out with a calculator and several annual reports from various state conventions.

Now, I can cite Lifeway as a source: http://www.lifeway.com/article/170781/

According to this article evaluating the 2010 SBC statistics on baptism and church membership, Southern Baptist churches reported 332,321 baptisms in 2010. Total membership was reported at 16,136,044.

That means that last year our churches won just one person to Jesus for every 49 church members. My observation was right on target.

This is sad.

Getting Beyond Typical Church Outreach. (Update)

2011-06-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

I posted “A Guide to Getting Beyond Typical Church Outreach, Part One” a couple of weeks ago. This article has become larger than a typical blog post and needs to be divided up even more. When I conclude I will likely post the entire article as a PDF download. This is an update of part one.

Years of church baptism reports seem to indicate that in a year’s time, typical church outreach wins about one person to Jesus for every 50 church members.

Of course there are many churches above and below the curve. Very large churches with a full spectrum of ministries, large budgets, and multiple staff members are generally able to reach a very predictable number of people each year. (It is actually kind of scary to see how some churches have the almost exactly same number of baptisms year in and year out.)

Sometimes, small churches with part-time staff and virtually no resources are able to out baptize the big ones. I recommend paying attention to those churches.

There are a number of churches, though, that do the outreach programs and follow them faithfully and struggle to baptize more than a handful of people in a year's time. When a church is not evangelistic, it is doing something wrong.

As I counsel churches to begin to break new ground evangelistically, these are things I believe to be essential.

1. Begin with Prayer.

Prayer is essential to reaching a city for Jesus. It is the starting point for everything we do, and should permeate everything that is done. Prayer ought to take up a significant portion of our daily time. When do not pray, our thoughts, our affections, and our work all serve our own interests rather than God’s. Without prayer it is impossible to succeed in ministry. You might as well not even try.

In my experience most Christians do not spend even ten full minutes in prayer each day. They may say prayers at meals, when getting up and going to bed, and during weekly church prayer meetings, but they do not spend as much time praying as they do talking on the phone or even watching commercials on TV.

Change this one thing and watch the Kingdom of God advance.

For further reading, see “Praying for Others as Outreach,” “How to Pray for Other Christians” and by Paul Watson, "Growing Closer to God through Facebook Prayer.”

2. Elevate Scripture

Scripture is our final authority for faith and practice. It is the source for all preaching and teaching. Everyone should be conditioned to go directly to the Bible for instruction, answers, examples and warnings. If dependence is established on any teacher (or Bible study guide or book), other than holy scripture and the holy spirit, then evangelism will stagnate.

Elevate scripture over constitution and by-laws. Lovingly challenge church leaders to compare policies with those of Scripture as they relate to evangelism, church planting, and providing for leadership. Let this comparison be the subject of prayer and an open forum. If church policies put burdensome prerequisites on obedience to commands in scripture, reproduction will be stifled.

Elevate scripture by teaching obedience. Passive learners, hearers only, are not only disobedient, but they model disobedience to new Christians. Obedience is more important than knowledge. Every Bible study should end with an opportunity for people to share what they will do in obedience to the passage learned. Gaining insight is not spiritual growth, obedience is.

For further reading see: Obedience Based Discipleship by David Watson, and Three Levels of Church Authority, by George Patterson (PDF)

3. Set a Goal for 10,000% Reproduction

That sounds silly, but it is biblical. Through the parable of the sower, Jesus likened the gospel to seed falling on the ground. On good soil the seed sprouts, grows and reproduces 30, 60, and even 100 times. That corresponds to a 2,900%, 5,900%, and 9,900% increase.

By comparison, my home association, the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, reported just over 42,000 church members in 2010 and just under 700 baptisms for the year. That is about a 1.6% increase. Over a generation of 40 years that corresponds to a 64% increase. According to Jesus, the worst yield in good soil should be a 2,900% increase.

Setting a goal requires your church to be intentional about reproduction and to have a plan. That plan must be bigger than your church and, really, bigger than your association. So many pastors prepare “bold” plans to fill their sanctuaries, or the sanctuaries of the new buildings they envision. Regularly filling a dream sanctuary to seating capacity is not a Kingdom goal.

When we settle for mediocre reproduction, we are negligent. Sinfully so.

For further reading see: How to Measure Success as a Pastor. When a Church Changes Size, An Observation of Good Soil and Grow Your Church or Reach Your Community?

Coming Soon:

4. Do the Hard Work of Evangelism

5. Become a Master of Group Dynamics.

6. Commission, Commission, Commission.

Top Evangelistic Churches–Things to Copy

2011-06-04T22:41:00.001-05:00

Just 3% of the churches in the Georgia Baptist Convention accounted for more than 26% of all the baptisms in the state association in 2008. These churches reached and baptized nearly 10 times as many people as the typical Georgia Baptist church of the same size.

These churches were studied and the Georgia Baptist Convention published a booklet revealing the statistics and lessons learned from these churches. I missed this booklet when it was first published, but it is free and a worthy read for anyone seriously thinking through what it will take to shift their church evangelistically.

Georgia’s Top Evangelistic Churches: Ten Lessons PDF 2.52MB

Here is my summary of the top ten observations underscored in this booklet.

Highly evangelistic churches prioritize evangelism. It seems too simple, but none of these churches were evangelistically passive. Each one had an intentional plan to reach out and this priority worked itself into all of the church body life.
The pastors of highly evangelistic churches lead the charge. These pastors all had an obvious passion for evangelism, they consistently preached the gospel and called people to repentance, and they stayed with their churches for longer than most pastors do.
Highly evangelistic churches call all of its members to evangelism. In each of these churches, there is a structure of involving and training all of the congregation in evangelism. The work is not set apart for just a few.
Highly evangelistic churches pray for the lost by name. These churches sought to identify who needs to hear and who needs to repent and prayed for these individuals and families regularly, by name.
All ministries in highly evangelistic churches are connected to evangelism. None of these churches had a unique ministry. All of their ministries were the same as ministries in other churches. The difference is that their ministries are connected to evangelism by design.
Highly evangelistic churches reported that a significant percentage of their baptisms came from revivals and vacation bible schools. These two ministries are still a staple of baptisms for many evangelistic churches. Incidentally, these two ministries usually involve the highest level of congregational participation of any ministry.
Sunday School and small group ministries are a hub for evangelism in highly evangelistic churches. 90% of the top evangelistic churches responded that they strategically and purposefully connect Sunday School to evangelism.
Visiting people in their homes is a key strategy for highly evangelistic churches. Evangelistic churches equip and encourage members intentionally to develop relationships with the unchurched and that extends to the home.
Highly evangelistic churches emphasize baptism for new believers. These churches call people from belief to action, from knowledge to obedience with baptism as the first step.
Evangelistic churches involve new believers in body life through small groups. These churches immediately put new believers into small groups, sunday school classes, and new-member classes.

Outreach and the Internet.

2011-05-20T09:02:00.001-05:00

Churches seeking to have an online presence can do so in many ways. The most obvious is to put up a website or blog. There are a couple of things to consider, however.

First, having an online presence for your church means a lot more than a registering a domain name and hosting a site. Church members must bring Christ with them into social networks, message boards, blogs, comments, instant messenger programs, news sites, video sites and the like.

Second, the target audience of a church web-presence should be unbelievers, not prospective church members. Reaching prospective church members can grow your organization and your budget, but reaching the lost grows the Kingdom.

Unbelievers don't care about your church building location, service schedule, calendar of events, staff members, doctrinal statements or various ministries. They are neither making plans to attend your church nor to listen to your online sermons.

Online outreach strategy should create and take advantage of opportunities for conversation between believers and unbelievers. Churches and believers need to be bringing the the message of the gospel into the daily internet chit-chat.

I will blog on internet outreach and online outreach in the future. A good starting place to learn is Paul Watson’s blog Reaching the Online Generation. Here is a good article: Eight Questions for Starting an Online Ministry.

An Observation of Good Soil

2011-05-18T06:45:00.001-05:00

This post is loosely related to my previous post A Guide to Getting Beyond Typical Church Outreach: http://beyondoutreach.blogspot.com/2011/05/guide-to-getting-beyond-typical-church.html

Kenneth Keathley, was a professor of mine at NOBTS. He has posted a very interesting article answering the question of how many Chinese Christians there are in China. He wrote:

[In] a recent First Things article (First Things, May 2011, pp. 14-16), three Baylor sociologists claim they have arrived at a reasonably accurate count, and they place the number at 70 million [Christians].

When the Communists came to power in 1949, there were about one million Chinese professing Christians at that time… The Communist government outlawed religion, so the fledgling Christian church was expected to disappear. However, by the last quarter of the 20th century it was clear that, rather than dissolving, Christianity was growing in China--and growing rapidly…

What can we conclude about these findings? On the upside, there is the simple fact that the church in China has grown from one million to 70 million. A 70-fold increase in 60 years is remarkable by anyone's reckoning. It also means that in China there are more professing Christians than there are members of the Communist Party.

You can read the full article here: http://www.theologyforthechurch.com/1/post/2011/05/how-many-chinese-christians-are-there.html

This is a 6,900% increase. That fits quite nicely in the curve or a 30, 60 and 100 fold return that Jesus cited in the parable of the sower. Good soil.

Reading Roundup

2011-05-13T18:04:00.001-05:00

What are the least churched cities in America? How does giving to missions affect local church budgets? How can one have integrity online? What is an inexpensive way to start a new church? Do churches have a life-cycle? Is each one reach one really the best evangelism strategy?

DJ Chuang: Least Churched Cities in America http://goo.gl/Ysb0k
Dan Bouchelle: The Crippling Lie of Zero Sum Math http://goo.gl/F6sDB
Luke Gilkerson: Internet Accountability Crash Course http://goo.gl/UpCmW
Les Puryear: How to Plant a Church with Little or No Outside Funding http://goo.gl/X3eYe
Thom Rainer: Where Have all the Churches Gone? http://goo.gl/pE45H
Dan Bouchelle: Why You Shouldn’t Try to Save a Single Solitary Person. http://goo.gl/Pvf9N

I want to add an older one to this list, because I think it gets to the heart of oikos evangelism and disciple making. Group dynamics and starting the right way are essential in both discipleship and multiplication. This is one of the best articles with respect to the group process.

Paul Watson: Small Groups that have the DNA of a Gospel Planting Movement http://goo.gl/VypO7

The Bulletin and the Sunday Morning Pulpit.

2011-05-09T12:19:00.001-05:00

Thoughts on Upgrading Church Communication

There was a time when the church was one of the primary social networks of a town. Announcements made from the pulpit were sure to be repeated and disseminated throughout the city. This is no longer the case, yet many churches still rely on the bulletin and announcements from the pulpit as their primary means of communication about upcoming events and as a principle method of recruiting.

Times have changed and churches have adapted to some degree. When I served as Minister to Single Adults, our singles began to work the cutting edge, using email groups (Yahoo Groups) to inform each other about bible studies, coffee socials, church events and the like. This was big, but that was 10 years ago. Now, social networks and text messaging are have joined email in the world of real-time communication.

Smartphones are permeating society and nearly all social classes, they function as one of the primary gateways to social networks and are the fastest growing means information exchange today. Ministries can send instant messages to massive numbers of contacts via smartphones and social networks, like twitter and facebook. It is now possible to create instant conference calls even over cellphones, send location maps for events, and share photos. In fact, nowadays entire books can be sent from one computer to another and one phone to another.

Churches and ministries might do well to learn how to implement group messaging applications for quick and effective communication. They also should consider how smartphones and social networks can be a tool in evangelism and discipleship.

Disclaimer: TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS DO NOT DO THE WORK OF EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP FOR YOU. IT IS EASY TO GET DISTRACTED AND END UP DOING A LOT OF NOTHING. BE CAREFUL.

That being said, here are some interesting applications I came across, but have not tried to use yet.

GroupMe http://groupme.com

Seesmic http://seesmic.com

Google Voice http://google.com/voice

Excluding People from the Good News!

2011-05-05T08:44:00.001-05:00

Ninety Percent of church evangelism methods, discipleship materials, and ministry strategy targets the highly literate. In fact, the overwhelming majority of church ministry is done in such a way that it is difficult or impossible for an oral preference learner to follow.

Look at these recent findings:

The National Institute for Literacy estimates that 47% of adults (more than 200,000 individuals) in the City of Detroit are functionally illiterate, referring to the inability of an individual to use reading, speaking, writing, and computational skills in everyday life situations.
Approximately half of these individuals have a high school diploma or GED, so this issue cannot be solely addressed by a focus on adult high-school completion.
A number of municipalities demonstrate illiteracy rates rivaling Detroit: Southfield at 24%, Warren at 17%, Inkster at 34%, Pontiac at 34%.

View a copy of the report in PDF format

Many churches have not addressed the need to evangelize and disciple using oral methods because they have not felt the need. There are always enough literate prospects in the area to grow a church. The result is, that a great number of people are selectively excluded from the gospel message.

To use a fishing metaphor, no one is fishing for Brim because plenty of Bass are biting their bait. The problem with this is that the church is not to be full of fishers of men in the sporting sense. The church is called to fish with nets. The call is to rescue the perishing. All of the “fish” in the water are dying and will die unless pulled out of the sea of death and given the water of life.

So many churches are not genuinely concerned with winning the lost. What they deeply desire is to reach enough people to fill up their sanctuaries and meet their annual budgets. The goal of many churches is not to preach to gospel to every creature. That may be the stated goal, but the real goal is to present the gospel to just enough to win a few each year and keep the church comfortably full. At least, that is what national evangelism and discipleship results seem to indicate.

Has your church considered orality in its ministry?

Here are some resources for learning how to evangelize and disciple others using oral methods:

Story4All – http://story4all.com Since most of today’s unreached have to, or prefer to, receive information via non-literate means, we believe it is essential that we communicate with them in a style and language that they understand. To this end we have launched the story4all podcast with a weekly show that will bring you news, interviews, discussion, reviews and links to resources that will help you discover the power of storying.

The International Orality Network – http://oralbible.com ION exists to influence the Body of Christ to make disciples of all oral learners and to radically influence the way oral preference learners are evangelized and discipled in every people group.

Simply the Story – http://www.simplythestory.org Most of the Christian discipleship, and even evangelism strategies use literate methods of communication. Importantly, the concepts we use for Simply The Story employ methods that are readily understood by oral as well as literate learners, so this very big gap is filled.

My Bible Storying Journal – http://smy2brazil.blogspot.com This is an on-line journal of some of my experiences teaching the Bible in oral form.

Interview with a Street Evangelist part 1

2011-04-25T06:35:00.001-05:00

On Easter Sunday, we had a barbecue here at our new home in Brazil. A friend of mine, Sergio, was one of the ones who came. Sergio is a man who is constantly reaping a harvest of souls for the Kingdom.

I had been unpacking some more boxes and remembered that I had put my audio recorder in a backpack. So, I went downstairs and got it. (We have often barbecues on the roof in Brazil.) I interviewed Sergio for about an hour.

In the next few posts, I am going to share some of his evangelism stories, and some of his thoughts on evangelism. The interview is recorded in Portuguese, and I may make that available at the end of this series. I will also finish with a post of my own observations from what he shared.

Sergio is an evangelist in the mold of those I wrote about in the post Daily Evangelism.

If only more churches had pastors like this…

2011-04-07T06:33:00.001-05:00

The covenant and prayer of A. W. Tozer.

This is the prayer of a man called to be a witness to the nations. This is what he said to his Lord on the day of his ordination. After the elders and ministers had prayed and laid their hands on him he withdrew to meet his Savior in the secret place and in the silence, farther in than his well-meaning brethren could take him.

And he said: O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and was afraid. Thou has called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. Thou art about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. O Lord, my Lord, Thou has stooped to honor me to be Thy servant. No man taketh this honor upon himself save he that is called of God as was Aaron. Thou has ordained me Thy messenger to them that are stubborn of heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected Thee, the Master, and it is not to be expected that they will receive me, the servant.

My God, I shall not waste time deploring my weakness nor my unfittedness for the work. The responsibility is not mine, but Thine. Thou has said, “I knew thee – I ordained thee – I sanctified thee,” and Thou hast also said, “Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” Who am I to argue with Thee or to call into question Thy sovereign choice? The decision is not mine but Thine. So be it, Lord. Thy will, not mine, be done.

Well do I know, Thou God of the prophets and the apostles, that as long as I honor Thee Thou will honor me. Help me therefore to take this solemn vow to honor Thee in all my future life and labors, whether by gain or by loss, by life or by death, and then to keep that vow unbroken while I live.

It is time, O God, for Thee to work, for the enemy has entered into Thy pastures and the sheep are torn and scattered. And false shepherds abound who deny the danger and laugh at the perils which surround Thy flock. The sheep are deceived by these hirelings and follow them with touching loyalty while the wolf closes in to kill and destroy. I beseech Thee, give me sharp eyes to detect the presence of the enemy; give me understanding to see and courage to report what I see faithfully. Make my voice so like Thine own that even the sick sheep will recognize it and follow Thee.

Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Forbid that I should be come a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling. Save me from the curse that lies dark across the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet – not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

I accept hard work and small rewards in this life. I ask for no easy place. I shall try to be blind to the little ways that could make life easier. If others seek the smoother path I shall try to take the hard way without judging them too harshly. I shall expect opposition and try to take it quietly when it comes. Or if, as sometimes it falleth out to Thy servants, I should have grateful gifts pressed upon me by Thy kindly people, stand by me then and save me from the blight that often follows. Teach me to use whatever I receive in such manner that will not injure my soul nor diminish my spiritual power. And if in Thy permissive providence honor should come to me from Thy church, let me not forget in that hour that I am unworthy of the least of Thy mercies, and that if men knew me as intimately as I know myself they would withhold their honors or bestow them upon others more worthy to receive them.

And now, O Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to Thee; let them be many or few, as Thou wilt. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven.

Though I am chosen of Thee and honored by a high and holy calling, let me never forget that I am but a man of dust and ashes, a man with all the natural faults and passions that plague the race of men. I pray Thee, therefore, my Lord and Redeemer, save me from myself and from all the injuries I may do myself while trying to be a blessing to others. Fill me with Thy power by the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Thy strength and tell of Thy righteousness, even Thine only. I will spread abroad the message of redeeming love while my normal powers endure.

Then, dear Lord, when I am old and weary and too tired to go on, have a place ready for me above, and make me to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting. Amen. AMEN.

Daily Evangelism

2011-04-04T14:11:00.001-05:00

The best evangelists I know are not pastors or preachers. They are not ordained. They are not very good public speakers. They are not “leaders” in the business sense of the word. Most of them work full time jobs, but they are lower-middle class at best.

What separates these evangelists from the rest of the pack, including me, is that they can not have a conversation about anything without including Jesus. Before the third sentence about anything and usually in the first, thanks is given to God. Before a conversation ends, there is an, offer, suggestion or even command to pray. Their vocabulary is peppered with words like blessed, love, God, Jesus, repent, forgive, pray, good, can you?, would you?, need, must, help, hurry.

Most of these evangelist have a quirk or something in their personality that either rubs people the wrong way or the right way. There is not much in between. These people are not apathetic about anything and to them everyone is valuable. For them, everyone is living out a decision to follow or reject God, there is no middle ground.

I want to be more like these people.

Questions like, “Did you share Jesus with someone this week?” or “Have you ever led anyone to Christ?” are very low-bar questions for these kinds of evangelists. They are like “Did you pray this week?” or “Have you ever read part of the Bible?” The thought is that it is pretty pathetic if you have to answer no and answering yes is nothing to boast about.

This is what is really meant by lifestyle evangelism.

Baptism Famine!

2011-03-11T19:40:00.001-06:00

During December and January, I visited my home. I spoke at some churches and did a little research about the association. You can see a map of where the churches in the association are located in my post Mapping Out. Here are some of the key findings.

In 2008 the average number of baptisms during the year per church was seven. In 2009 baptisms fell to and average of six per church for the year.

In all there were just over 600 baptisms for the entire association in 2009, down over a hundred from the year before. This in an area that encompasses nearly a million people. Worse, more than 300 of those baptisms came from just 13 churches. That means the median number of baptisms (the point at which the same number of churches baptized more as baptized less) was just two.

From 2008 to 2009 there was a net loss of three churches. One church was planted, four closed their doors for good. There are 115 churches in the association. More than 20 did not report a single baptism in 2009.

I spoke with the acting director of missions of the association and at least half a dozen pastors in the association. They tell me that these numbers are both bad and representative of the entire convention.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging with respect to changing this trend. Churches should be baptizing weekly and planting daughter churches regularly. Where this is not happening churches are sinfully neglect. It is time to return to the hard work of evangelism and the costly call to discipleship.

Preaching it Plainly, but Only in Certain Circles

2011-02-21T20:41:00.001-06:00

Are we even communication with those who don’t listen to sermons on Sundays?

A Shocking, Scandalous Message

Reposted from Ernest Goodman’s blog “Mission’s Misunderstood”

Joel Osteen was recently a guest on CNN’s Larry King Live Piers Morgan Tonight, where he was asked about his stance on homosexuality (clip here, entire segment here). Joel answered, in a round-about way, that he agrees with the Bible, and that the Bible was clear about homosexuality being “a sin.”

Outrage ensued. Joel was labeled “judgmental” and rebuked for “imposing his beliefs on others.” It was as if the audience had never heard a follower of Jesus communicate the belief that homosexuality is less than God’s best for humanity. Even couched in Osteen’s obliviously earnest grin, the Christian perspective on a social issue is foreign to the masses.

The truth is, it’s quite possible that millions of Americans have never heard that God has a different plan for humanity. They may never have heard a Biblical understanding of sin. Despite access to the Bible online, a church on every corner, and evangelists on TV, a great many people have never heard the gospel.

It would shock them that entry into heaven isn’t based on how good or bad we are. That God has interacted with humanity personally since the beginning of time. That Christianity isn’t about living like Jesus, it’s about dying to our sin-filled selves. The sad fact is that millions of people around us have never heard the gospel presented to them in an intelligible, coherent, and personal way.

The gospel is a shocking, scandalous message. We can never find redemption apart from Jesus. It’s offensive, really. Unfortunately, most people are not offended by the gospel because they don’t hear it.

Mapping Out

2011-02-12T08:04:00.001-06:00

I visited home over the Christmas holiday. I spent two months in Baton Rouge and enjoyed the fellowship of many churches. It has been a while since I have posted on this blog.

Today I decided to make a map of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge.

Click on the map to go to an interactive one, with zooming, panning, church names, etc.

Net-Drawing Stories

2010-11-23T19:37:00.001-06:00

There are a number of short little proverbs, parables, and sermons in the first five books of the New Testament. Each one takes less than two minutes to tell. They are great tools in the repertoire of a soul-winner. More than that they are broadly applicable and often serve as encouragement at the right time. Here are a few that are worth learning by heart in your own words and telling often.

Try learning and telling one a day for a month.

(Click on the stories with asterisks to read them as I might tell them.)

1	Treasure in Heaven	Matt 6:19-24
2	The Narrow Door*	Matt 7:13-14
3	A Hidden Treasure	Matt 13:44
4	The Very Expensive Pearl	Matt 13:45-46
5	A Fisherman’s Net*	Matt 13:47-50
6	Two Sons* (not the prodigal son)	Matt 21:28-32
7	The Shepherd’s Judgment	Matt 25:31-34,41,46
8	Gain the World, Lose your Soul	Mark 8:34-38
9	A Message for All People	Mark 16:15-16
10	Trees and Their Fruit	Luke 6:43-45 or Matt 7:15-20
11	Two Builders, Two Foundations	Luke 6:46-49
12	Do This and Live*	Luke 10:25-28
13	Fear Whom?	Luke 12:2-9
14	A Rich Fool	Luke 12:13-21
15	Repent or Perish*	Luke 13:1-5
16	How to Host a Dinner Party*	Luke 14:8-14
17	The Heavenly Banquet	Luke 14:15-23
18	Counting the Cost	Luke 14:25-33
19	The Lost Sheep	Luke 15:3-7
20	Lost Money	Luke 15:8-10
21	The Pharisee and the Tax Collector	Luke 18:9-14
22	Heaven and Earth Will Pass Away	Luke 21:33-36
23	A Criminal Executed with Jesus	Luke 23:38-43
24	Born Again… of Spirit	John 3:1-8
25	Bread of Life	John 6:25-40
26	Listen to the Father*	John 6:44-47
27	River of Life*	John 7:37-39
28	The Door (The Gate)	John 10:7-10
29	Resurrection	John 11:21-27
30	Real Faith	John 12:42-50
31	The Way, the Truth, and the Life	John 14:1-11

Gospel Presentations of Jesus #9

2010-11-17T11:33:00.001-06:00

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is also like a fishing net thrown into the sea. It collects fish of every kind. When it is full, the fishermen pull it up to the beach and sit down to sort out the fish. They put the good fish into baskets and throw the bad ones away.

That’s exactly how it will be at the end of time. The angels will come and sort the people. They will separate the wicked ones from the righteous ones. The wicked ones will be thrown into the flaming furnace, where there will be crying and gnashing of teeth.”

“Did you understand?” Jesus asked.

-- Somewhere in Matthew 13

Preach the Gospel To Every Creature?

2010-11-11T06:03:00.001-06:00

Mark 16:15 contains the simple command of Jesus to preach the gospel to all people. Here is how that command is given in a number of translations.

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.	KJV
Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world.	CEV
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.	ESV
So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News.	GW
Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation.	MKJV
Having gone into the world all together, proclaim the good news to all in the creation!	APB

Now, consider all of the people you know, all the people you have met and talked to during your lifetime. Is there, among them, one single person with whom you have not shared the gospel? Can you think of how many people crossed your path just in this past month to whom you did not announce the good news?

What?

What’s that you say?

There are a lot of them?

More than you can remember?

More than you can count?

Is that okay?

So, what do you plan to do about it: Feel guilty for a little while, then go get some coffee, or change the way you interact with people from here on out?

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. -Mark 16:16

The Nameless People

2010-11-10T08:27:00.001-06:00

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. –John 10:3

How many people do you know, but not know their names? (At work, school, the supermarket, etc.) We are all mostly nameless to the society around us. But God comes to us personally, calling us by name. He calls us to do likewise by being His ambassador to the nameless around us. I can’t help but wonder how many more would be reached if only we learned their names?

Alan Knox touched on this idea in his latest blog entry Naming the Marginalized.

It’s one thing to care for “the sick,” but it’s something completely different to care for Tina. It’s one thing to care for “the homeless,” but it’s something completely different to care for Charvin. It’s one thing to care for “the widows,” but it’s something completely different to care for Peggy. It’s one thing to care for “single mothers,” but it’s something completely different to care for Shonna.

We can say that we care for “the marginalized,” but never get to the point where we actually no someone who is marginalized. We can even give money to help “the marginalized,” but in fact, we’re actually paying someone else to care for individuals for us.

It is only when we get to know the person, to hear their story, to learn about their struggles and pain and hopes and fears… it is only at that point that we will know who to love them and serve them. We love and serve people when we are no longer caring for “the marginalized,” but we are caring for Benny, Belle, May, Creston, Cathy, and Jimmy.

If you want to begin to see through the eyes of the marginalized … then begin by getting to know their individual names.

I suggest making a list of all the people you see and know, but don’t know. Make a list of the nameless people in your life. Then start learning their names and get to know them.

More Lessons from a Missionary

2010-11-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

On my other blog, http://smy2brazil.blogspot.com, I began posting a series on the lessons I have learned from experience. Some of these things cross over to the American context well.

Here is the second installment.

More Lessons Learned: How to be a Missionary

Here is the original post.

Lessons Learned: How to be a Missionary

Group Dynamics of the 12 Disciples

2010-10-13T14:23:00.001-05:00

I earned my undergraduate degree from East Texas Baptist University. My major was Religion and my minor was Psychology. The minor, I owe to Dr Lynn New. He was so captivating in his required course “Introduction to Psychology,” that I kept taking his classes until I had enough credits for a minor.

I did not know it at the time, but his class “Group Dynamics” would be the one to help me most in my future ministry. As I began to pay attention to how groups form and function, I saw many parallels in the church. I marveled at how some people had a knack for attracting people and getting them into groups. While I understood the theory, I was not very good at it. I thought it was a mark of a good minister, to be able to organize people and create groups where people could grow in the Lord.

For me, the Biblical example was Jesus, who seemed to be able to just walk by people and draw them in.

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20)

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. (Mark 2:13-14)

I had not yet begun paying attention to how Jesus trained his disciples to disciple families and groups, nor had I studied the formation of churches in the book of Acts. If I had done that, I would have seen that the apostles primarily relied on others to form the groups.

The case of Jesus calling his group of disciples, however, is not as random as it it appears in Mark. There is a big back story. Here is my telling of it:

The Calling of the Twelve

Before Jesus began announcing the Kingdom of God, his blood-relative John the Baptist was preaching repentance and telling everyone that a special person was coming. When Jesus came to the Jordan river to be baptized, John pointed him out. “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Two of John’s disciples followed after Jesus when they heard that, and they spent a day with him getting to know him. One of those two disciples was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew then told Simon that he thought Jesus might be the Messiah.

The next day, Jesus went to Galilee and spoke to another man named Philip, who was from Andrew’s hometown Bethsaida. Philip went and talked to his friend Nathaniel just as Andrew had gone to Simon. “We have found the one Moses talked about. Come and see!” The following day, Jesus went with them to a wedding in Nathaniel’s hometown Cana. That is where he performed his first miracle, but only a few people saw it.

Jesus then went to Capernaum for a few days to visit family, and then on to Jerusalem for the Passover. When he went to the temple, he took issue with the money changers and chased them out. He also taught and performed a few miracles. Many people in Jerusalem started to believe in him, but he knew their hearts and didn’t trust them. However, there was one Pharisee named Nicodemus who met with Jesus and was convinced. From then on he supported Jesus among the Pharisees.

Now, After this, Jesus went out again to the Jordan area in Judea where John the Baptist was still baptizing people. Only now, some of his disciples were starting to follow after Jesus and Jesus began to draw bigger crowds than John the Baptist. John approved of this, but in order to avoid problems Jesus left with some of his followers and went to Galilee.

On the way he passed through Samaria and met the woman at Jacob’s well. He ended up spending three days in the village of Sychar where many Samaritans trusted in him. Then when Jesus finally arrived in Galilee, he was well received, and he also went back to Cana, and again to Capernaum. It was around this time that John the Baptist was arrested and imprisoned.

Jesus went out to the seashore and taught the people there. For crowd-control purposes, he sat in Simon’s boat. When he finished teaching, he asked Simon to push out and drop the net in deep water. Andrew and Simon pulled up so many fish that they had to call their partners over to help. So, Jesus’s cousins, the Zebedee brothers, James and John came over to help pull in the fish. Peter realized, then, that following Jesus would be even greater, and more dangerous calling than following John the Baptist. That is when Jesus called them to be His disciples and fishers of men.

There near the shore was Mathew, almost certainly a close acquaintance, if not friend of the fishermen. Jesus called him to follow as well. That very night, Matthew called a bunch of his friends together and threw a dinner party. He invited Jesus as the guest of honor. This happened quite a lot with Jesus in all the neighboring towns.

By this time, Jesus had quite a large number of followers. He went up the mountain to pray, spending the whole night there. Then, in the morning, he called all of his disciples together and chose from among them, twelve to be his apostles. These twelve would be close to him, and be sent out to represent him, preaching the gospel, and casting out demons.

He chose:

Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter
Andrew, Simon’s brother
James, the son of Zebedee and Salome, who was Mary’s sister
John, James’ brother, and also cousin of Jesus
Philip, John’s disciple
Nathaniel, also called Bartholomew, Philip’s friend
Matthew, the son of Alphaeus, also called Levi
James, the son of Alphaeus (possibly Matthew’s brother, but we don’t know)
Thaddeus, whose name was also Judas
Simon, the Zealot, and
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Lessons from a Missionary

2010-10-06T05:55:00.001-05:00

On my other blog, http://smy2brazil.blogspot.com, I began posting a series on the lessons I have learned from experience. Some of these things cross over to the American context well. Have a look.

Lessons Learned: How to be a Missionary

How to Pray for Other Christians

2010-09-22T15:50:00.001-05:00

When I began using a prayer calendar, I quickly realized that if I didn’t have specific prayer requests next to the name of a person for whom I was praying, I didn’t have much to pray about. My prayers were generic “Bless this person and his family. Meet their needs. Protect them.” etc.

In order to develop a vocabulary of prayer for other Christians, I began to survey the things that Paul prayed for as he prayed for Christians in another place. I made some observations from the letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians

Now, Imagine I were praying for you. This is how I would do it following Paul’s example.
As I pray, I would:

thank God for you.

ask the Father to give that you wisdom.

ask the Father to reveal himself to you, so that you know Him more

ask that your eyes be enlightened to see all God offers his holy ones, the hope, the rich inheritance, and his mighty power.

ask that you will really understand how God's same mighty power that resurrected Jesus works in your own life.

Ephesians 1:15-20

thank God for you

ask that your love grow, both in knowledge and discernment so that you can see what really matters and be pure.

ask God for your righteousness to reproduce in others.

trust God to supply all your needs according to His wealth and glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians

ask that you will know God's will, have wisdom, and spiritual discernment.

ask for God to help you live your life in a way that honors and pleases the Lord.

pray for you to do good and produce fruit.

pray for you come to know God better.

ask for God to strengthen you with his power.

pray for you to be patient and have the endurance you need.

Pray for you be filled with joy, and that you would be thankful to God because he has rescued us through his son Jesus.

Colossians 1

thank God for you and remember before Him the things you have shown in your faith

recount your works of faith.

remember your works of love.

recall the ways your hope in Jesus has given you preserverance.

thank God that when you heard the word of God, you believed, and remember what it cost you.

remember your faith and faithfulness in your persecution for encouragement in my own.

thank God for the joy I have because of you

ask the Lord to open the way for us to meet again

ask that God would strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holiness before the Father when Jesus returns.

ask that God himself would preserve you as holy in your thoughts, in your body and in your soul.

thank God that he is faithful to do it.

1 Thessalonians

This is a good exercise and a great way to pray for new Christians and for those you have led to the Lord or are discipling. I encourage you to take note, as you read the Bible, especially in the New Testament letters, what kinds of supplications are recorded. They are great examples of prayer. If you have found other good examples, please post them in the comments section.

The Message of the Cross?

2010-09-16T12:21:00.001-05:00

How well are our churches communicating the message of the cross and the resurrection? What does American society understand the purpose and benefit of believing in Jesus to be? What is the gospel, according to the man on the street?

Ernest Goodman recently wrote about a trend in the US in his blog Missions Misunderstood.

More and more, there are places… that have returned from Christian influence to the status of “unreached.”… To be sure, chasing the least-reached regions of the United States is like trying to put out flare-ups after a wildfire.

The west coast, the southwest, the east- each are defined by their sins and spiritual strongholds. Vegas is rife with debauchery. Seattle is stricken with irresponsibility. San Francisco is overrun with homosexuality. Boston is filled with post-Catholic angst. The Bible Belt is rife with cultural Christianity and political moralism. All of these places need the freedom that is only found in Christ.

What we’re seeing is the rise of a new category of missions. Some missionaries focus on unreached people groups. But… “reached” isn’t a permanent status. Just as the gospel comes to a people through the obedience of some, it can soon be forgotten through the disobedience of others.

Churches may be preaching the pure gospel from their pulpits on Sundays, but the doors of the buildings are closed and attendance is limited. How well is that same pure gospel getting out into society at large?

My observations:

People don’t talk about the resurrection of Jesus very much outside of their homes and their churches. The message of the Cross is unclear. The church has work to do.

Giving away E-Bibles

2010-09-15T13:36:00.001-05:00

Giving away Bibles has been a ministry hobby of mine for a long time. I have a tendency to give my own Bible away too often. There was a period of time when I couldn’t keep a Bible in my possession for more than a month. I just always found reasons to give it away. I still do. It usually goes like this:

“Did you ever hear the story of ____?”

“No?”

I begin telling the story. (I also have a blog about Bible storying).

As I tell, I open my Bible to that passage. When I finish the story, I show the person where it is in scripture.

I ask “Do you have a Bible that’s just for you?” If they say no, I give them mine.

“This is mine, but I want you to have it. I have another Bible at home that I can use.

If the person politely refuses, I just tell them to consider it a gift. I don’t insist. Nine times out of ten, they take the Bible.

Last week I discovered a really great, free program called E-Sword, which you can download for yourself by clicking the screenshot below.

It comes with the King James Version, but you can also download dozens of other translations for free. There is also the option to pay for some translations that are not available freely. You can also download free Bible study dictionaries and encyclopedias and a number of commentaries. Many are free, and some you must purchase. There is even a space in the program for you to write your own notes on certain passages, which you can access just like the commentaries and dictionaries.

These days nearly everyone is online and uses a computer regularly. Having a Bible on the computer can be extremely helpful. This is just one more way to give the Bible away.

E-Sword.net –> http://www.e-sword.net

Optional Bible Translation add-ons –> http://www.e-sword.net/bibles.html

The Thessalonian Church

2010-09-11T10:17:00.001-05:00

Towards the back of the New Testament, you will find Paul’s two letters to the church in Thessalonica. They were written before most of the rest of the New Testament. The book of Acts gives us the back story and how that church was founded. (Acts 17:1-10)

Paul had two to three weeks to establish the church, and then, abruptly, he had to leave it on its own for a while. Timothy was later sent to stay with the church for a time. Later, Paul wrote a couple of letters. He told them that he often tried to get back to see them again. It doesn’t look like he ever did.

How did Paul go from nothing to a thriving church in a couple of weeks? (With a budget of zero, by the way.) How is it that could he leave behind a church so quickly and yet praise them in letters as a strong and mature church, rather than sending lists of corrections and warnings? Can we apply any of what happened in Thessalonica to our work today?

It takes about an hour to do a careful reading Acts 16 - 17, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Let’s read through and look for clues.

1.	Our gospel came to you not just in words, but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much conviction (1 Thessalonians 1:5)
	There is no need to look at strategy, circumstance, correlations, tactics or anything else, if we don’t concede, first, that from start to finish, the planting of this church was a work of the Holy Spirit. “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127).

2.	They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in… (Acts 17:2)
	Paul evangelized an existing group. Rather than pull together people at random who would hear his message, he went to a group that already existed, had structure, and meaningful relationships.

3.	as was his custom… (Acts 17:2)
	Paul had an intentional strategy, going into each city. He walked his plan and let it play out.

4.	and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. (Acts 17:2)
	Paul did not stay very long, and established the authority as the word of God, not himself or another leader. Three Sabbath days can be anywhere from 15 to 21 days. The authority of God’s word and the Holy Spirit are all that is needed to begin a new church.

5.	explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." (Acts 17:3)
	Paul’s gospel presentation was all about Jesus and only about Jesus. There was no mixing of his message. It is nearly identical to what Jesus said in Luke 24:46: Jesus said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead…”

6.	And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. (Acts 17:4)
	Though there was the common element of the synagogue, there are three parts of the city’s society mentioned here. There was diversity in those who believed the message.

7.	“Now they have come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his home.” (Acts 17:7) They wanted to drag Paul and Silas out to the mob, and so they went straight to Jason's home. (Acts 17:5)
	Paul and SIlas appear to have followed the strategy/pattern Jesus instructed his disciples with in Luke 10. (Go in pairs, don’t take provisions for yourself, do go from house to house, but stay in the one house of the person of peace, eat and drink what they give you, etc)

8.	And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities… (Acts 17:6)
	Persecution hit the young church immediately, purifying its membership rather quickly.

9.	And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. (Acts 17:9)
	The church was self supporting from the get go. In this case, Jason, of the new church, had to leave a deposit to pay for damages in a possible riot.

10.	We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers… (1 Thessalonians 1:2)
	Paul, Silas and Timothy never stopped praying for the church and God’s movement and blessing. (Note: they did not pray for an end to the persecution)

11.	and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith… (1 Thessalonians 3:2)
	Paul made sure that the young church was established with the right elements of a church and did not forget to train up reproductive leadership. (remember his charge to Timothy “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2

12.	The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea… (Acts 17:10)
	The church sent the ones who brought the message of Jesus onward to the next place/group that needed to hear. The transition was very quick. This could only happen by through the development of inside leaders.

We will look at modern applications in a future post. This was just to get us thinking about how church planting happened in the New Testament.

A lot of writing to finish.

2010-09-08T08:29:00.001-05:00

Look for several new posts coming this month. (They will not necessarily be posted in this order.)

Now What? Part Three – Why discipling already-existing groups yields better results.

Now What? Part Four – How to change to discipling existing groups

What Kind of Ministry? - Envisioning having a ministry before knowing those who will receive it is putting the cart before the horse.

The Thessalonian Church - A look at how Paul started churches… including an audio post series

Ephesians 4:11 – Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Shepherd-Teachers

Why We Don’t Want Equlibrium – What causes churches to thrive and what causes them to stagnate.

Scripture… As We Live It

2010-08-11T13:01:00.001-05:00

Alan Knox has one of the best little series of posts on his blog. Its purpose is to get us to think about what Scripture says compared to how we actually live and what our traditions teach. I just have to repost a few here.

# 1

What then, brothers? When you come together, ~~each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation~~ find a place to sit, sing along with the band or choir, and listen to the preacher. Let all things be done ~~for building up~~ as prescribed by your leaders. (1 Corinthians 14:26 remix)

#115

Then after ~~fasting and praying~~ they had raised enough support and been approved by the mission board, they laid their hands on them and the mission board sent them off. (Acts 13:3 re-mix)

#96

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker ~~and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house~~ (Let’s keep this between you and me since this is a personal, private issue and some of these things could be troubling or embarrassing.): (Romans 1:1-2 re-mix)

#80

So I exhort the elders among you… ~~shepherd the flock of God that is among you~~ preach sermons, organize programs, officiate weddings and funerals, administer finances, supervise employees… (1 Peter 5:1a, 2a re-mix)

#79

For ~~I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you~~ you should repeat these words after passing out the bread during the Lord’s Supper but before eating the bread, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also ~~he took the cup, after supper,~~ repeat these words after passing out the cups but before drinking saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25 re-mix)

#66

From that time Jesus began to ~~preach~~ deliver 45 minute expository (or topical or narrative, take your pick) sermons, ~~saying~~ entitled, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 re-mix)

#64

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. However, if you try really hard, and study all of the different passages about the end times, and try to somehow fit the separate pieces together as if they’re all one narrative, I’m certain you will be able to figure out the day and hour. (Matthew 24:36 re-mix)

#47

And he gave the ~~apostles, the prophets,~~ the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ~~to equip the saints for~~ to do the work of ministry, and for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12 re-mix)

I really enjoy these and encourage you to visit his blog from time to time.

When a church changes size…

2010-07-19T08:43:00.001-05:00

DJ Chuang recently wrote “dynamics of different church sizes,” a nicely resourced blog about how churches tend to settle into a certain number of attendees and have trouble breaking that barrier. Here are some of the interesting thoughts:

When it comes to churches, there’s a sociology to the number of people and group dynamics. There’s much more going on than a generic spiritual gathering. There are certain church sizes that seem most common, as if a certain group settles into a certain size stability equilibrium.

This is true, and unfortunately an evangelism stifler. Churches usually stop “growing” when they reach 80% building capacity. The building is comfortably full and feels full of life and the church feels successful. Maintenance, programs and activities overtake the priority of reaching the lost. Churches also tend to stop growing when the size becomes greater than the skill of its leaders. Very few pastors are prepared for and effective at leading larger and larger organizations.

So, there are three options. One, spend more money on bigger buildings and a larger staff. Two, stop growing. Three, reproduce by starting new churches. We all know a ton of churches that have chosen options one and two. Do you know of any churches that choose option three? (though it is the only option that maintains an aggressive focus on evangelism.)

“The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings… Notice that researchers measured the median church size — the point at which half the churches are smaller and half the churches are larger — rather than the average (186 attenders…), which is larger due to the influence of very large churches.” -FAQ from HIRR

I knew there was something wrong with that old statistic that the average church is 200 members. I’ve had trouble finding churches that size. It is actually rare. Now I understand why.

“Most churches generally face growth barriers when Sunday attendance approaches 65, 125, 250 or 500.” -Break the next growth barrier

In my church-search interview process for finding a place of service as we finish up our work here in Brazil, I found a number of churches that are hovering right around those numbers. Each one has a certain group dynamic and comfort-level at their size. Any change from there will be uncomfortable. If the focus is on growing in general it will be worse, because growth is an end in itself. If the focus in on discipling the lost, the growth pangs will only be mildly irritating.

Now What? Part Two

2010-07-02T15:30:00.001-05:00

In my post Ok, they said “Yes.” Now what?, I proposed that the best discipleship process for new believers or near-believers is a family bible study in that person’s home with his close friends. Since this topic is being explored in other blogs (The Assembling of the Church and learning… ), I wanted to keep talking about this.

First off, let me give an example. There is a family we led to the Lord some time back. I wrote about them in my Bible Storying Blog in two posts “Rain, and showers of blessings” and “Who will deliver me from this body of death.” Please click on those links and read their story first.

Last night they came to our prayer meeting in the traditional church. Husband, wife, three children and their dog. Long story short, the dog fit in better than the family. Our church was very gracious with them, but it is obvious they just don’t fit. They try, but they can’t. Too many issues.

What will end up happening is that after a few weeks, they will be made to feel more and more unwelcome until they don’t come back. They have been church hopping since they’ve been saved, spending a month or two in each place before they give up and look for another. It is sad, and it is a story that repeats itself innumerous times in countless places. Life changing discipleship and spiritual reproduction never happen in those situations.

The harder, but more effective way to bring people up to being real followers of Jesus whose lives are transformed and who produce thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold increases is discipling people in their own households and with their own friends. This is especially true when the person being discipled does not naturally fit into the culture of your church.

“Now What? Part Three” is going to explore why, and “Now What? Part Four” will explore how.

A collection of sayings sewn together

2010-06-30T12:13:00.001-05:00

Sobering Thoughts About the Church (this is not original with me. I lifted interesting sentences, quotes and thoughts out of their own contexts and just stitched them together into these paragraphs.)

We are not genuinely concerned about the lost. We invite them to increase our membership and coffers. It is not a question of how many worship in your church, but how many will be worshipping before His Throne. Jesus did not tell the Samaritans to worship in the Temple. He told them that they can worship in truth and spirit anywhere. A church that has no heart for the lost is truly lost.

You can make a joyful noise with the ninety-nine on Sunday, which does not make heaven rejoice, or you can go and rescue a lost soul and rejoice with the company of angels in heaven. The church stands guilty of misusing praise and worship… reducing worship to singing choruses ad nauseam. But the heart wrenching cries of the lost are drowned in all these religious decibels. Shouting “Glory, glory!” does not glorify Yahweh but bearing abundant fruit does (John 15:8,16).

Most Christians have yet to open their portfolio of saved souls. Many set secondary goals of reading more Bible or praying more, rather than the primary goal of birthing spiritual children. It is easy to evaluate yourself. If you are good soil, then you should be bringing forth thirty, sixty and even a hundredfold fruit.

A mature church is one, which transforms the lives of those outside the church. A farmer gathers the harvest in the granary, disposes it off as soon as he can and immediately gets busy preparing the harvest field for the next crop, otherwise the land will be run over by weeds. The modern church gathers one harvest and keeps it in the granary (church building) until it rots. It does not prepare the harvest field for the next crop. The sin of the modern Christianity is that it preaches to the preached, comforts the comforted, blesses the blessed, converts the converted, baptizes the baptized, sinfully neglects the neglected and selfishly spends 99% of the budget on herself.

A church without the Great Commission is a just a club. A fisherman is not evaluated on the basis of club activities or the number of sermons he delivers to the captive fish. A fisherman is evaluated on the basis of how many fresh fish he catches.

The church exists to intercede for the meanest rascals, where they can be transformed, equipped and sent out into the world as extraordinary channels of His grace to rescue other rogues and scoundrels and good for nothing people. (Ezek. 3:17-19; Rom. 11:25; Matt. 24:14) God told Jonah, “I am concerned about all the inhabitants of the city” because He does not want anyone to perish. You are out of sync with God’s vision if your vision is limited to the welfare of your family or your church. The Great Commission should be the signature tune of every church.

gleaned from Victor Choudhrie

The Great Commission

2010-06-29T09:14:00.001-05:00

Nothing ground breaking in this post, just a reminder of what we are to be about. My dad said to me once, “If your church is always preaching the gospel and that is the only thing it ever preaches, it’s not going to stray too far away from what God intended. That’s the way I feel about it.”

That is the way I feel about it too. Here is a reminder.

‘Go into all the world and announce the Good News to every creature.’ Mark 16:15

‘So, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you…’ Matthew 28:18-20

‘The Messiah had to suffer and then on the third day resurrect to life again. In His name, the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be announced to all nations.’ Luke 24:7

‘I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, they must also be brought in… so there will be one flock and one Shepherd.’ John 10:16

‘Just as the Father has sent me. I also send you.’ John 20:21

‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.’ (Acts 1: 8)

Is your “church” really a church?

2010-06-28T20:45:00.001-05:00

The church of Ephesus was mentored by the apostles John and Paul. She lost her first love in just thirty-five years. She did not repent and exists no more.

"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place——unless you repent. Revelation 2:4-5

Our churches do need to be proud of their heritage of obedience to the Lord Jesus. They also need to train up every generation according to Deuteronomy 6.

4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 "houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 "then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

As long as there is enough money, it is easy to keep a non-profit organization registered and active, its building maintained and up kept, and its members busy with some activities. All that can be done even without a lampstand… without really being a church.

Please, please, please let your focus be on loving God by obeying his word and sharing our Lord Jesus with others. Nothing else we do is important in comparison.

How to measure success as a pastor

2010-06-18T16:00:00.002-05:00

Many pastors measure their success by looking at the size of the crowds they preach to. If the crowds are generally getting bigger, they feel successful. Their church members tend to use the same measure. If the crowd is growing, the pastor is successful. Pastors that have the biggest congregations in a city or denomination are considered elite.

This would be fine if the vision and goal of the church was to grow to be the biggest church in the area. But that is not what churches are called to do. They are called to bring the gospel to all peoples and reach their entire communities for Christ. It is impossible for any one church to do that. Impossible. It will never happen.

Communities are made up of so many different people with different personalities, social classes, languages, skin colors, work schedules, education levels and music preferences that no one church is ever going to be attractive to all of them. No pastor is going to be able to prepare a message with a low enough common denominator for that many different kinds of people. No one church is going to logistically be able to accommodate the sheer number of people, not even in a football stadium.

But why wouldn’t the pastor of a church that grows to 3000 people automatically be considered successful? Many would consider that wildly successful, and in many respects it may be. But, if the measure of success is reaching a community, how successful is it really? What percentage of the community of a city of 400,000 did that church reach? Less that one percent. Only three-fourths of a percent, actually. A drop in the bucket.

Pastors who want to lead their churches to reach the entire community or city need to find a way step back from being the face of the ministry. Like John the Baptist, they must decrease so that Jesus can increase. If a pastor really seeks to reach an entire city or community, he is going to have to stop counting his success by the number of people are listening to his teaching. The “score card” needs to change to show what progress is being made to reach an entire community, rather than what progress is being made to fill a building.

Here are just a few practical measures of success for pastors intent on reaching the community beyond their own church (the other 99.25 %):

1	How many new social groups, language groups, racial groups, affinity groups have been engaged with the gospel?
2	How many new leaders are you discipling, training and releasing to ministry?
3	How many new leaders are those leaders discipling, training and releasing to ministry?
4	How many social silos and communities are being prayed for adequately by yourself and your disciples?
5	How many new evangelistic family/friend (oikos) bible studies have started? How many have reached the point of baptisms?
6	How many new churches of newly baptized Christians have we planted?
7	How many of those churches have started new churches?
8	How many access ministries have started? How many of those have yielded a person of peace?
9	How many communities remain unreached? (lower the better)
10	How many new churches that you wouldn’t really fit into has your ministry started?

Ok, they said “Yes.” Now what?

2010-06-15T12:05:00.001-05:00

In my experience, most churches and their members just don’t know what to do after someone says “Yes” to Jesus. They do their best to get them baptized and into a new member’s class in the church, but that’s about all they know to do. I guess we just hope that these new believers will assimilate into the church, find a ministry to serve, and maybe start tithing.

Part of the problem is that many go about evangelism in a way that is just selling Jesus…trying to get the buyer to agree with their “gospel presentation.” Once that is done the person is won and they have done their jobs. Spiritual newborns are abandoned by the ones who led them to life, and are left for ‘the church’ to disciple. There are innumerable problems right there, but that is a post for another day.

The question is, “How should new Christians be discipled and brought into the church?” I propose that the two most popular methods, one-on-one discipleship and new member’s classes, are not very effective in producing followers of Jesus who lead others to be followers of Jesus.

One-on-one discipleship, ends up making following Jesus into a personal spiritual quest that is slow, prone getting side-tracked and private to the point of dysfunction. Individuals who grow closer to Jesus in a private way end up excluding their families from the process, often alienating themselves, to a degree, from the rest of their family. The result is a family that is that much harder to reach than before.

New member’s classes tend to focus much more on assimilating people into an existing church structure than leading them to becoming lifetime followers of Jesus. When spiritual precepts are taught, they are presented through study guides and with lists of proof texts. Learning scripture, doing ministry and obeying God are all funneled through the church’s existing structure. If the person doesn’t fit well, his discipleship will not go well.

People are best discipled in groups. Not groups of loosely related people brought together for a Bible study, but in their existing groups: their households (oikos), their close friends, the people they already spend time with doing their favorite hobbies. These groups already have relationships, authority structures and natural accountability. When they are unredeemed groups, they need to be discipled… brought to Jesus.

It is within these groups that a new believer, or even a true seeker should be taught how to study the Bible together with his loved ones, how to discover what God says through His Word together, how to change their lives to obey God’s Word with mutual accountability, and how to share Bible passages with friends and family. There is a simple process for this and it is easy to follow and easy to pass along to others. I will outline it in a future post.

The end result of this kind of discipleship, however, is that one new believer becomes a dozen new believers in a short time, and before long they become a hundred. That is much better than one-on-one, one at a time, or new members classes with five or six people, three of which remain in the church after a year’s time.

Gospel Presentations of Jesus #8

2010-05-19T13:49:00.001-05:00

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, come to me and drink. To all who believe in me, rivers of living water will flow from your inner being. The scriptures declare it.”

--Somewhere in John 7

South: A case study in going beyond outreach.

2010-05-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

In his book The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch recounts the story of struggle in his church to effectively reach and disciple the people in his community (pp 28 - 48).

South Melbourne Restoration Community was a 125-year-old church that in spite of its rich history had been declining rapidly during the last generation. Alan was a young seminary graduate when he and his wife were called to serve there. They were inexperienced, and SMRC was a desperate church contemplating an end to its storied existence.

Some time before Alan’s call to SMRC, God had already been working in the life of a completely unrelated, perpetually arrested drug dealer called George. This man found Jesus one day in the jail cell. When he got out, he shared the good news with his brother. Together, they made a list of everyone they knew. He and his brother then methodically met with everyone on their list and shared the new life they had found in Jesus. The process was messy, but in half a year’s time, they led 50 people to Christ. This included a young woman named Debra, with whom Alan would eventually marry. George’s disciples formed a wild Christian community, and Alan, an eager seminary student, began to help.

When Alan finished seminary, he was called to pastor South Melborne Church of Christ. Many in that wild band of Jesus followers soon joined this church as well. They infused a lot of life and a bit of chaos into that old church. The historic members of the church struggled through the transition, but God established them as one body. The result was a new personality and the church transitioned over the next five years into South Melbourne Restoration Community.

I am providing this background as an introduction, because this church went through a number of phases in its development. Some were effective in reaching people who are not reached by traditional church culture and some were not. It is helpful to see where the story begins. In the next post about South, I will continue to relate Alan’s story and look at why some things worked and why some things didn’t.

Before getting into that, notice how simple a process it was for George to lead 50 to Christ. He was a very new Christian with an extensive social network among the lost. He shared with his family right away, and then partnered with his brother (like the two by two instructions of Jesus) to share with everyone he knew. Since he trusted Jesus outside of the traditional church context, he was freed up just to obey what he was learning from scripture as best he could. Like I mentioned before, it was messy. But it was real.

We never see churches where a pair of its members lead 50 people to the Lord in six months. I believe one of the reasons for that is that fear of bad doctrine, or bad practice or simple fear of losing control causes churches to stifle the obedience of new christians precisely when they would have the greatest impact in evangelism.

Grow your church, or reach your community?

2010-05-04T10:56:00.001-05:00

This comes from David Watson via Guy Muse. If your church is looking for perspective in reaching its community for Christ, this article is a worthy read. As a missionary, I can not stress how strongly I concur with this portion of the article.

I am frequently asked to consult with churches who are interested in starting new work. The first question I ask is, “Are you interested in growing your church, or in reaching your community for Christ?” Many people see these as the same. They are not.

Growing a church is about getting more people to come to the church. The reality is that no single church appeals to even a miniscule part of society. Churches have personalities, and these personalities click with only a few. So, if you start out to simply grow a church, there is a limit to how many people can be reached, simply because most people will have zero interest in the church.

On the other hand, if you start out to reach a community, regardless of whether or not the new believers will come to any particular church, numerous churches with just the right personalities for new believers will be initiated. In the course of all these new groups being starting, the catalytic church or churches will grow.

One can’t reach a community by trying to grow a church. But, if one reaches the community by all means available, the church that does this will grow.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

http://guymuse.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-kill-church-planting.html

Bringing the Gospel through the gates of Hell.

2010-05-03T11:49:00.001-05:00

My cousin is working on the set of a new Nicholas Cage movie called Drive Angry. She forewarned us that this movie is a movie that contains gratuitous violence, sex, and nudity, has satanic spiritual themes and foul language. Obviously, these things dishonor God and are counter to his kingdom. So, why would she choose to work there if she is a professing follower of Jesus? Would Christ approve?

Of course, it depends on how she goes about her work in that environment. Many Christians today don’t talk openly about their faith in Jesus unless they are in like company. They tend to be loud when in the majority and quiet when in the minority. Though the root cause of this is probably timidity, the message sent is often one of self-righteousness and hipocracy.

If my cousin were to go about her work as a private Christian, keeping her following of Jesus a secret, she would simply have no impact for the Kingdom of God in that place. This would be like hiding a light (Matthew 5:14-15). But, we are admonished to become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which we shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life (Philippians 2:14-15). Private personal Christianinty is not Biblical Christianity.

On the other hand, if my cousin were to announce her resignation upon discovery of the nature of the current movie, she would be removing herself (and in her, the light of Christ) from this temporary community. By her actions, and possibly by her words she would condem their sins. But she would be disobeying Jesus (Luke 6:37) and denying forgiveness to those that need it (John 20:21-23).

If she works on this set as an openly professing Christian, she becomes a disturbing presence to those around her. As she openly talks of the spiritual themes and questions in the movie, she can share a true message from God’s story. This movie talks about angels and demons, heaven and hell, good and bad, child sacrifice and escape from punishment. Does not the Bible speak to all of those things? How many chapters of narrative, how many pages of God’s redemptive story speak to those same themes? What a ripe environment for spiritual discussion.

Of course the question will eventually come. “If you believe all these things, why are you here with us? Doesn’t this all offend you? We do stuff that you’re not supposed to do.”

And to that, there is an answer: “Of course it offends me. It offends God. But I care more about you than I care about being offended. I am here because you are my friend, and I want you to know there is forgiveness of sin in Jesus.”

Reaching the “Oikos”

2010-04-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

oikos (ancient Greek: οἶκος, plural: οἶκοι) is the Greek equivalent of a household, house, or family.

When I first read the word oikos in the Bible, it was in the passage of the Phillipian jailor and his family believing in Jesus and being saved and baptized (Acts 16:30-34). It is one of many examples of households or families believing together. You may remember the examples of Cornelius and Lydia as well.

Part of my ministry in Brazil is to train church members in evangelism. One of the ways I have done this is by leading workshops in Bible Storying and Oikos Evangelism. I thought it a rather clever name… Oikos Evangelism.

Unfortunately a quick google search showed me that Oikos has become another buzzword in the vein of: Missional, Emergent, Catalyst, Paradigm, Worldview, Metanarrative, Organic, Purpose Driven, and Praxis. So, my apologies in advance for using it.

I do intend to use Oikos as a label in the blog’s sidebar for post about reaching families rather than just individuals. Since I am short for time, the first practical post will have to come later.

Praying for others as outreach

2010-04-12T12:57:00.001-05:00

The top 100 church planters worldwide were interviewed and studied to find what was common in what they were doing, in the hopes that a new method or process might be discovered. After it was all said and done, the only common denominator was prayer. Three hours a day of prayer was the minimum… 21 hours a week in prayer. Most of these church-planting giants also work full time secular jobs at 40 to 60 hours a week. (My source for most of the information in this post is David Watson, but I can only point you to his website, not to the related research. I heard some of this on a recording.)

Most parents who model prayer for their children do so at meal time and and bed time. Those prayers are usually two-minute prayers. Our churches model prayers in worship, and those are usually two-minute prayers as well. Sometimes an inspired pastor or deacon will pray for a long five minutes. Sadly, for many people two and five minutes is the extent of their daily prayer lives.

Praying for 15 minutes, an hour, or two hours can seem like an impossible feat. However if you were to write down on a piece of paper the names of everyone you know, you’re not going to pray for them all in 10 minutes.

Try something like this with your church and your prayer groups for a month:

1. When you meet together. Pass out some lined paper and pens to all who are present.

2. Have everyone begin writing down the names of everyone they know personally. This should take a long while and the list should be very long.

3. Ask everyone to go back and put a cross (†) next to the name of everyone they know is a follower of Jesus.

4. Have them put a minus sign (-) next to every name of someone who is not a Christ follower.

5. Have them put a question mark (?) next to the name of anyone that they are not sure about their faith.

6. You may also want to mark on the other side of the name with a check (√) if you know for sure that they know that you are a Christian and know about your relationship with Jesus.

If someone has a list of mostly crosses, they are probably not building relationships outside of their Christian social groups and church. People who have mostly minus signs, are often new Christians or first generation Christians. (People in this group make the best evangelists.) If someone has mostly question marks, that person is probably not engaging their acquaintances and friends on a spiritual level.

Pray for your fellow Christians in their walk and as you remember them in prayer, consider how you can stimulate them to a closer walk with Jesus and to good works. Consider how you can meet their needs and love them. Consider what it means to be living as brothers and sisters in Christ with those people, even though they may not be members of your church or denomination. Do you pray with your neighbors and friends who are Christian, but not part of your church body?

Pray for those that you know are not Christian. Pray specifically for God to break down those barriers to faith in their lives. As you pray for them, consider how you in both word and deed can disciple these friends and acquaintances of yours to faith in Christ. Consider needs they may have and how you can help them in those areas.

Pray for those that you have ignored spiritually. As you pray for them, seek to know them better so that you can change the question mark to a plus or minus. Pray for opportunities and make commitments with God and your prayer partners to engage those question marked friends and acquaintances. Go beyond the superficial and begin talking about the place of God in your lives.

Ask forgiveness of God for the friendships and acquaintances in which you have been spiritually ambiguous. Make a commitment with God and with your prayer partners to right that wrong. Remember that our love for God is a part of our identity. (Deuteronomy 6:5-9)

Now, all this is more than a plan of involvement disguised as prayer. Prayer makes a spiritual difference in people’s lives. God’s Spirit moves as we ask for this in Jesus name. Consider an experiment that was tried in Phoenix, AZ, as documented in the book, The Praying Church Idea Book by Douglas A. Kamstra.

The church randomly selected 160 names from the phone book and divided then into two groups. For 90 days they prayed for one group while they ignored the other. At the end of 90 days they called all 160 homes, identified themselves and offered to stop by and pray for the family and any needs they might have. Of the 80 homes that were not prayed for, only one person invited them in. From the 80 homes that were prayed for, 69 people invited them to come over and of those people, 45 invited them into their homes. Felicity Dale

Prospects

2010-04-09T12:50:00.001-05:00

I used to cringe every time we met together for Tuesday night visitation and the minister in charge would say “Here are your prospects,” as he handed me a small stack of yellow cards. With one simple word, families became targets and people became profiles.

We would visit the families, tell them we cared about them, invite them to our church services and leave them a package of information. The ones who replied positively and came to our services became good acquaintances and even friends. The ones who didn’t show up at our church after a few weeks passed were no longer good prospects, and we forgot about them.

Jeff McQ recently posted on this very topic. His post is called Agenda Free Evangelism. Here is an excerpt.

Have you ever had a friend that got involved in multi-level marketing and after awhile every time you talked to that person, you felt like they saw you as a marketing prospect? If not controlled, it can affect the very fabric of the relationship, because you feel like that friend has an ulterior motive--an agenda for being friends with you. And if that person really gets sold on their product and scheme, if you don't bite after awhile, you stop hearing from that person. You aren't seen as a productive prospect anymore.

MLM is a good analogy for how I've come to see our current methods of evangelism in the church. We're supposed to befriend people in the world and try to bring them to Christ. We see these "friends" as prospective Christians, and we're going to use the avenue of friendship to convince them of the reality of the gospel, get them to come to our church, or what-have-you. It's an agenda-based relationship, and just like you can spot an MLM friend a mile away, people can spot Christians the same way. Most people aren't idiots; they know when they're being targeted, and they notice when we disengage because they didn't jump through the hoops within a certain amount of time.

Jesus called people to follow him. He instructed his disciple to go and live temporarily in the homes of those who would be reached. There is something about the fellowship, friendship and union that allows people to experience God and his love and believe. I think that is what John communicates in the opening of First John.

We are writing to you with respect to the Word of Life, the one who existed from the beginning. We heard him and we saw him with our own eyes. In fact our hands touched him. This Life appeared to us, we saw him and we are witnesses. That is why we declare that the Eternal Life that was with the Father and revealed to us. We announce to you what we have seen and heard so that you will be united with us, just as we are united with the Father and with Jesus Christ his Son. 1 John 1:1-3

So, I agree with Jeff. If there is anything superficial about our care our fellowship with others… it is NOT the gospel.

My prayer: Father forgive me for when I did not act in love, but only pretended to love. Help me follow the example of Jesus, living out love and speaking truth with integrity. Help me to learn from the mistakes I made when I tried to market the Gospel.

Baptism in modern thought

2010-04-07T07:45:00.002-05:00

This is not a theological post. I asked the question: “Have you ever been baptized?” on a message board that I frequent. Here are some of the responses:

Yes, in 1986...at the time I thought it was an important step for me, identifying myself first and foremost as a Christian and taking a step in faith...unfortunately within 10 years I had lost my faith and am no longer a believer. I still respect those who are - at least the ones who live a life of love rather than judge others - but Christianity is no longer my bag baby....sorry, I guess that's not what you wanted to hear...

I was baptized in 2003. The baptism itself didn't change my life, but giving my life over to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ in 2002 did. I'm a VERY different person now. Not perfect, but different. What man cannot do, God can do.

I was baptized when I was 15, but stopped being a believer about a year later

I got baptized as an infant. You know, every year in church those vows are renewed. It's either Holy Saturday or Pentecost, I can't remember which.
I got baptized "in the Spirit" one time when I was about ten years old, but it didn't take. I never spoke in tongues until much later. The only "baptism" that "took" was the one that I experienced in mid-life (about five years ago) when I was bathed in my own sweat and tears. Very real, and much better than holy water.

I was baptized when I was 12 years old, the Preacher from our church came to visit our house one day and sat down and talked to me and my brother. He asked us if we believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and if we felt He was our personal Savior, we both answered yes. We were both baptized at church the following sunday. I can't say that there was a major change in my life and I have not led a perfect life, but I have tried to keep His teachings in my heart.

In my experiences the majority of those who become baptized and accept Christ into their lives have really had some screwed up pasts. Drugs addicts, alcoholics, and criminals more specifically. It seems it takes near death experiences to learn to follow the good path. Then again, maybe they were the only ones who stood out?Don't get me wrong, I do drink every now and again, but I don't do drugs, nor do I steal, cheat, etc. Why should I get baptized again? I am faithful to my wife, I help my fellow man, and accept Christ as my savior. I guess I don't truly understand some things the church's do.

I was baptized in Jesus name about 8 months ago and my life has changed for the better.

I was baptized in a Baptist church as a kid, 9 YO or so. I think my Sunday school teacher felt it was her duty to get all the kids in her charge baptized before sending them on to the next age/grade level. What I remember the most is the interview with some assistant minister and the color wheel test to see if I was really "ready to accept Jesus Christ as blah, blah, blah ..." The conversation went something like this:

Minister: Tell me, what does the color red mean to you?
me: it means ‘Stop.’

Minister: Yes, it can mean to stop, but when I look at red I think of the blood of Jesus and how his blood washed our sins away.
me: Gross!

Minister: How about white? What does white make you think of?
me: Knee socks. We have to wear white knee socks for gym and they won't stay up, but the boys get to wear the short ones with stripes. That's not fair, is it?

Minister: Doesn't white also remind you of The Light? Jesus is the light, and has shown us the way to salvation.
me: Okay.

Minister: How about black. What does black ...
me: Batman!

Minister: To me, black represents darkness, evil. When I see black, I think of those poor souls lost to the devil.
me: Oh. Do you ever watch Batman?

Minister: What about green?. What is green to you.
me: Money.

We went through the entire color wheel, and none of my answers matched his. Despite my responses, I was deemed ready to baptize.

I was saved around the age of 10 and then baptized. Today, I am a deacon in a Baptist church on the Northshore. Am I perfect? No, far from it. But no one is. I suggest you seek out a bible-believing church and become active.

I was baptized when I was really young. I guess I was 7 or so. I don't really remember much about it. My father is a baptist preacher, so it was part of the drill I guess. I go to church about once every five years or so, I should go more for my dad, but I just really hate it. I think baptism is just like a lot of religious experiences, its simple emotion being called spiritual enlightenment. I started realizing that it was all a big con when I was in high school. People would be crying and feeling all spiritual and recommitting themselves to Jesus and I was wondering what was wrong with these people. I often wondered what it would be like if they put just a tiny bit of LSD in the grape juice for the Lord's Supper, and then started with all the call of the holy spirit con. Everyone would find Jesus that day.

I was Baptized when I was in my 40's at the same time as my three children (non-infant). It was one of the most memorable days of my life.

Do you really think that’s going to work?

2010-04-05T12:47:00.002-05:00

There is something discouraging about churches talking about winning the world for Christ, or reaching their communities for Jesus, when their primary strategy for doing this is having special meetings and inviting people to come hear the speaker.

When it is “successful” they proudly announce “God is doing big things here. We had 2 people come to know Christ in our revival services, and there were 3 rededications.”

Sporadic salvations in bi-annual revival services are just not going to get the job done.

Churches, please do better than this.

Gospel Presentations of Jesus #7

2010-03-27T07:39:00.001-05:00

Jesus said, “No one can just come to me. He must be brought to me by the Father, who sent me. I will bring that person back to life again on the last day.

It is recorded in the Prophets that ‘All will be taught by God.’ So, everyone who hears from the Father and learns of Him come will come to me.

This doesn’t mean anyone has seen the Father. The only one who has ever seen the Father is the one who came from God. And I can promise you that whoever believes will have eternal life.”

-- Somewhere in John 6

Little Things

2010-03-24T13:32:00.001-05:00

In our traditional church here in Brazil we have been having a little flood of baptisms. Ten here, three there, then six more. What is counter intuitive is that none of these baptisms are a result of any evangelistic push or visitation program. They are not the results of church programmed home bible studies nor any of our community ministries. They are just the cumulative result of members telling others about Jesus.

Our ministry forums (the preaching services, children’s church, crafts ministry, etc) are not where the real ministry happens in most cases. They are points of connection that make sharing Jesus possible.

One example is of a lady who came to our church during a Wednesday afternoon to ask for a basic basket (that is a box of rice, beans, flour, sugar, oil, pasta and salt) from the benevolence ministry. She came while the crafts ministry was meeting. During that time, she neither got involved in the crafts, or got a hold of a basic basket, because no one from the benevolence committee was there.

What she did get though, changed her life. She began talking to one of the women, who put her project down and paid attention to the newcomer. She learned her name and found out where she lived. She asked if she could pray for her during the week and what this lady needed. The week passed and she came back again the next week singing a different song. “I don’t need a basket, I need Jesus,” she said. “No one ever prayed for me like that before.” A friendship was born, and because Jesus belongs to one, he was shared with the other.

This ought to happen much more often.

So, if your church has an AWANA ministry or angel food ministry or any other kind of “outreach,” remember that the ministry forum is not the real ministry, it is just an opportunity for real ministry to happen. The real ministry happens through people, not projects.

Obeying the Great Commission

2010-03-08T10:23:00.002-06:00

J. Guy Muse is an internet friend of mine and fellow missionary serving in Ecuador. He astutely observes key issues that impede Ecuadorian churches from fully obeying the great commission in his latest blog post. I think his observations apply very well to traditional American Christianity as well.

Matthew 28:18-20 Because of its familiarity, most of us assume what we and our church currently do is fulfilling the Great Commission. But are we?
Here is how most believers in our Ecuadorian evangelical context interpret Jesus' words...

JESUS SAID: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
OUR INTERPRETATION? All authority has been given to to our pastor/denomination/church. They are our spiritual guides. What they have to say weighs more in what we do (or not do), than what Jesus commanded. Permission to engage in the Great Commission must first come from our leaders. Jesus is not sufficiently authoritative by himself.

JESUS SAID: Therefore, GO...
OUR INTERPRETATION? We understand "go" to mean come. Come to our church, youth group, event, concert, etc. Come is a lot more convenient for us than actually trying to find the time to go and engage relationally those who are lost and need the Good News. We go on mission trips, go to camp, go to conferences and concerts with high-profile Christian mega-stars, etc. The lost are expected to somehow find their way to us. They are supposed to come to our meetings and events planned for them. For the occasional permission granted to actually GO, those going are expected to bring home with them any who might respond. We can't have believers out there "doing their own thing" and starting "splinter churches." Real church is "mama church."

JESUS SAID: MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations...
OUR INTERPRETATION? Since we really do not know how to make disciples, we believe that what this means is that they need to hear the Gospel. Therefore, we focus on evangelistic events and invite people to pray and receive Christ. Church sports activities, Fall Festivals, youth car washes, Christmas pageants, and musical concerts are understood to be the appropriate means to reach people. Those handful who might raise their hand at one of our events are given an envelope of church literature. But "make disciples" is understood to be that they will now start coming to our church. There they will meet other believers, and hopefully learn more about God's Word and somewhere along the path turn into disciples (whatever that is).

JESUS SAID: BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...
OUR INTERPRETATION? This certainly does not mean I should be the one to baptize the new believer. If someone makes a profession of faith, it is my responsibility to make an appointment and introduce them to the pastor of the church. There they will be, 1) warmly received, 2) invited to participate in a new believer's class to prepare them for baptism, 3) when there are enough ready to be baptized and there are no circumstances which would prevent them from being baptized, 4) schedule a date on the church calendar, and 5) watch as the pastor baptizes them as part of one of our regular scheduled church services.

JESUS SAID: TEACHING THEM TO OBEY everything I have commanded you...
OUR INTERPRETATION? The newly baptized believer is then expected to begin attending church on a regular basis. There they observe how other Christians look, talk, and act. "Church Culture" is quickly assimilated about what is acceptable, and not acceptable. Basically it is understood that the new believer will learn God's Word through the listening of the weekly preaching of the pastor, and maybe a Sunday School class.

His full blog post and comments are available on the M blog
What do you think?

Red dots are churches

2010-03-02T14:16:00.002-06:00

There are more of them in Baton Rouge than I thought. This image was taken from a google maps search with the words Baton Rouge church. There are some dots that represent non-Christian religious sites as well, but not many of them.

As impressive as this is, if you play around with the map some you will see that there is an interesting gap. Almost nothing in the Mall City area. (In Baton Rouge, this is one of the oft cited areas of high crime and poverty.)

As George Patterson said…

We need to stop trying to push the camel through the eye of the needle. Everyone plants churches in the suburbs. Go to the poor!

Food for thought

Married and Buried? (1 of 2)

2010-01-21T12:07:00.002-06:00

It is rare to find someone who does not associate weddings and funerals with church. Churches expect their pastors to officiate at these ceremonies on a regular basis. This is interesting because the Bible has nothing to say about what should happen at weddings and funerals.

The church is never given a charge to oversee ‘holy matrimony.’ Those words are not even in the Bible. Marriage is sacred and watched over by God, but the church is nowhere commanded to perform or officially sanction marriage. What we do have in scripture are passages that encourage husbands and wives to love and submit to one another, encourage men and women to honor God in the way they treat their spouses, compare marriage to Christ and his church, and present weddings as a time of celebration.

(Malachi 2:13-3:5 is an excellent passage that both shows how our commitment in marriage directly affects our relationship to God, and foretells the coming of John the Baptist to prepare the hearts of the people for the arrival of Jesus.)

Likewise, there are no apostolic instructions to the church concerning funerals. Jesus himself had no funeral, he was simply buried. The same happened for Stephen in the book of Acts, “Godly men carried Stephen to his burial and cried in sadness over him.”

There is one key New Testament teaching about burial: Just as marriage is a picture of the union of Jesus and his church, a pre-death burial describes our union with Jesus. “For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and you are complete in him… You were buried with him in your baptism, and you were resurrected with him through the faith you have in the great power of God, who resurrected Jesus.” Colossians 2.

Even though there is no Biblical mandate for it, these two life events are deeply associated with the church. They are considered responsibilities of the church. For many, weddings and funerals are the reason churches exists in society. Over time, churches have let themselves be redefined by culture. There is no scriptural prohibition against churches participating in weddings and funerals, but these events should never, ever define the church. Jesus is the one who defines the church, fills her with life and gives her purpose.

When anything other than Jesus gets into the description of what the church is or what the church does, something has gone wrong.

Churches will continue to minister to those getting married and the families of those who have died. This is right. Churches do need to adapt somewhat, however, so that its services is not seen as a function, but as one more opportunity to shine the light and the love of Christ to all people.

Coming in Part Two: A full one in four Americans do not expect a religious wedding or a religious funeral at their death. According to modern culture, they will have no need whatsoever for ‘the church.’ (This is the problem with letting culture define what the church is.) In part two, we will look at how we can minister to people who have no association to church culture as they pass through these life events.

Lord, help the ones in Haiti!

2010-01-13T18:52:00.001-06:00

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared hundreds of thousands may have perished but there was no firm count.

Going beyond outreach means more than shaking your head and saying “That’s a shame.”

It means going beyond ‘saying a prayer for them.’

Do what you can.

Do more than anyone expects.

Give.

Go if you can.

Pray earnestly. Learn the names of cities, neighborhoods, people and pray for them. Remember those who are suffering, as though it were you suffering with them in your own body (Hebrews 13:3).

It’s not right. It’s not just. It is sin.

2010-01-10T13:17:00.002-06:00

At least 1.5 billion people in the world have NEVER even heard about Christ and the Good News. How easily that number slides off our lips with little comprehension of what it means!

One of the problems is that we are myopic and see what is close to us. That is why 97.5% of the money in the offering plates stays at home and only 2½ % gets to the rest of the world. That is why less than one tenth of one percent of Southern Baptists become missionaries. This is not right. This is not just. This is sin.

That is a quote from Avery Willis in his recent letter in which he informed those of us in the International Orality Network that he has been diagnosed with leukemia and likely has only months to live.

We forget how dark it is without Christ for those who have never heard, who have no hope, who don't even know that there is a Hope.

Downward Mobility

2010-01-10T11:33:00.002-06:00

I just want to be a Christian — a simple, radical, marginal, downwardly-mobile follower of Jesus. There’s nothing unique or spectacular about being a Jesus-follower. You just remember that God’s love is borderless. You just declare the Good News to the poor, as He taught us to do. And it all happens through relationships, not programs or organizations. -- Dave Black

I guess 8 years on the mission field gives a person a better perspective on the problems of clinging affluence while trying to effectively live out the gospel. It is very very hard to do, and probably more than 99% of the people that try to do both end up letting go of either a life fully lived for Jesus or the comforts and securities that affluence provides. On the other hand, it’s easy for people to ignore the words of a missionary as someone who has “forgotten what it’s like in ‘the real world,’” or some nut that was called to suffer for Jesus.

Sometimes… most of the time, you can’t have it both ways.

Recall the story of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 4. The wall was so important and so vital to be protected, that the construction workers carried swords in their belts as they worked. All those who carried supplies, did it with only one hand, so they could keep a weapon in another. During the building of the wall (52 days overall) they didn’t take their clothes off, not even to sleep and never put down their weapon, not even to drink water. That’s not a comfortable lifestyle, but it gave way to a glorious result.

What would you really be willing to trade of your comfort for the kingdom to advance?

Now a serious question…

Would you trade your car for a bible translation for an indigenous indian tribe of only 550 people? I dare you. I’ll help you do it if you’re interested.

Seventy-six Percent? Wow!

2010-01-08T10:58:00.002-06:00

According to the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, 76% of people in Louisiana say that they pray at least once a day. That’s pretty remarkable. It ranks Louisiana as the second most praying state, falling just one percentage point lower than Mississippi. Nationally 56% of people claim to pray daily.

You can read the state by state results for yourself.

There is something significant here. People in Louisiana appear to be overwhelmingly open to prayer. Even though nearly half of the Louisiana population (47%) does not attend religious services on a regular basis, more than three-quarters of Louisiana residents say they pray regularly.

Why shouldn’t prayer be a starting point in going beyond traditional outreach? Though people can be quite resistant to hearing a religious doctrinal presentation (which is essentially what a gospel presentation ends up being), they may be quite willing to have you pray for their needs and talk to God on their behalf. They may be open to praying together.

Prayer ought to be more effective too. Gospel presentations are instructions and a call to action. Prayer is action. In prayer, one stands before God. Once you’ve done that, something is going to happen.

Back to blogging

2009-12-28T14:02:00.001-06:00

For the past few weeks I’ve not been blogging. One reason is that my son spilt some water on our laptop and several keys have been working incorrectly or not at all. I went to see what a small usb keyboard would cost, but one that would be portable like the laptop was just out of our price range.

Today I downloaded a simple free program called keytweak that helped me remap the keyboard around the non-working keys. It worked wonderfully. So, I’ll be writing again in the next day or two.

God bless.

Who are we really trying to reach?

2009-12-11T08:01:00.002-06:00

Here’s a list of names. Have you heard of any of these people?

Max Lucado
Beth Moore
Michael W Smith
John MacArthur
Charles Stanley
Andy Stanley
The Gaithers
TD Jakes
Michael Card
Chuck Swindoll
Sandi Patti
Kay Arthur
Philip Yancy

Now, would you be interested in seeing any of these people if they were going to be speaking or performing at in your neighborhood? I’ve seen many churches hosting or sponsoring events with Christian “celebrities,” and treating the even as though it were the outreach event of the year. Churches sometimes confuse the popularity of these events with success.

There are two key problems with that kind of thinking. First, Knowing and belonging to Jesus goes way beyond being a fan of a Christian “celebrity.” Second, the people who are attracted to events like these probably already fit into your social circle and culture. Going beyond outreach means going to people who don’t really know who these people are and don’t care if they are in town or not.

In the end, it doesn’t even matter what the “celebrities” have to offer. We have nothing to offer except Jesus, the love of God made flesh, shown to us and shown through us. Make it a point to target your outreach toward those who don’t know or relate to the famous Christians.

Why we must go beyond outreach

2009-11-26T07:26:00.001-06:00

I grew up in a church that was always scheduling evangelistic events. We had revivals, retreats, conferences, camps and door-to-door visitation blitzes. For several years our church was consistently among the top 3 churches in the state for baptisms. Our church was one of the first I’d ever heard of to launch a seeker driven service. In fact, it was simultaneous with the traditional service, but held in the gym. In the midst of all this, I was hearing God’s voice in my own life, calling me to a deeper walk with Him and to serve in ministry.

Years later, I returned to serve on staff at my home church. One day I pulled out an old church picture directory and noticed a graph on one of the first pages. It showed the numerical growth of the church by Sunday school attendance. Every year, this number was bigger, and impressively so, up until the last year in the graph 1984, the year the directory was printed. The number was familiar, I looked in our records, and it was the same average Sunday school attendance for the year 2000. I did some more research and noticed a pretty flat line from 1985 to 2000. Fifteen years of non-growth.

The late Eighties through the early Nineties were those “golden years” of baptisms for my church. There wasn’t a significant increase in membership nor Sunday school participation. How odd.

I had also been doing some demographic research for our single adult ministry. Out of curiosity, I pulled the data for our zip code and a couple of others and noticed during the late seventies and early eighties there was a significant boom in the population. Our part of the city was going through development. New neighborhoods were being build and businesses were opening. The church growth lined up with the growth of that part of the city. The tapering off of church growth also lined up with the tapering off of the growth of that part of the city.

How often does that happen? Probably more than we care to believe.

Something else bothers me about this. Our church was a leader in the state of Louisiana in baptisms, and during that time there was no significant growth in church membership. What does that say for the rest of the state?

Sermon - Jesus the Missionary

2009-11-15T12:55:00.001-06:00

Sorry, this post was for another blog. Removing the URL.

God bless,

Stephen

Random Thoughts and Gleenings 1

2009-11-08T10:46:00.002-06:00

ON OUTREACH

Anytime you enter into a relationship for any reason other than friendship or actual relationship, you are just writing down the eventual date that the relationship will end. True relationship has to be about just that.

If we don’t have a genuine love for other people, we have probably forfeited our right to evangelize them! – Dave Black

People are never going to believe that God loves them unless they experience that love through you. – William Lane

We must call sin “sin.” but we can’t say, “deal with this first, and then we’ll deal with you.” – Chris Seay

However strongly we may disapprove of homosexual practices, we have no liberty to dehumanize those who engage in them. – John Stott

If you want to effectively reach out to the poor, you should stop acting as though you are a savior. Stop acting like you're "helping" him or her.

Evangelization is a process of bringing the gospel to people where they are, not people where you would like them to be. When the gospel reaches a people where they are, their response to the gospel is the church in a new place. -Vincent Donovan

The most effective outreach is not winning the souls of lost individuals and bringing them into our church. It is bringing Jesus to the lost person and establishing a new church within his household and social network.

Gospel presentations of Jesus #6

2009-10-30T11:38:00.001-05:00

Jesus said “I came down from heaven to do the will of the one who sent me, not my will, His will. And what is His will? That of all the people the Father has given me, not a single one would be lost, but that I would bring them all back to life on the last day.

You see, this is my Father’s desire, that all who come to the Son and believe in him would have eternal life. I will ressurect them on the last day.”

Everybody’s normal until you get to know them.

2009-10-19T12:25:00.001-05:00

I am not sure where I read that recently, but this is one of the truest statements I know. When you take it and apply it to a church context, though, it can be a devastating indictment. Do you attend a normal church full of normal people?

Gospel presentations of Jesus #5

2009-10-15T10:03:00.001-05:00

When Jesus was informed that some Galileans had been killed by Pilate while they were offering their sacrifices, he spoke. “Do you think that those Galileans deserved that? Do you think they were taken out like that because that they were the worst sinners in Galilee?”

“No, they weren’t” Jesus continued “But the truth is, if you don’t change your lives, if you don’t repent, you are going to perish too, just as surely as they did.”

--somewhere in Luke 13

“We ministered to them.”

2009-10-10T15:29:00.007-05:00

Sometimes I wince when I hear that phrase. People say it to laud themselves for having given a handout, said a prayer for someone, or donated some unneeded clothes. But often these words are repeated when all someone really did is keep a safe and sterile distance from someone else. The “ministry” may have been spontaneous, but definitely hastened toward some kind of neat closure.

The problem with this kind of ministry-at-arms-length is that it is really more about assuaging guilt than serving Jesus. We feel bad about someone’s situation and want to help. We know we ought to be more involved in helping others, but we are worried about becoming tangled up in someone else’s dysfunctional life. So we resort to giving something or making a superficial gesture of concern and sending them on their way.

A young man named Jace recounts one of these experiences in his own life:

This And yesterday I went to be a savior to a legally blind man who got robbed and now is facing eviction. I went to see him and meet him and eat with him. Instead, I was an actor trying to protect myself from another needy, messed up person. He wanted a long friendship, and I gave him a check for his water bill, a meal, a little cash to cover what he lost in his billfold and a conversation instead. Jesus exposed my evil heart to myself as I fumbled . . . I don't what to do about this guy. I've never had someone straight up tell me to my face, "I don't want to be another charity case. I want friendship." All the while I'm telling myself that I don't have time for another person in my life. . . Shapevine blog - The Radical Way

"I ministered to you" is condescending. I’m up here and you’re down here, lucky to receive whatever I am giving you. It creates an invisible social barrier that tells the person that they can not relate on the same level. It is also focused on what you are doing, and not on knowing the person. Many times this is just exactly what both parties really want. Both afraid of what kind of involvement really knowing the other person might require. It’s scary because the deeper you go, the dirtier you can get. But only in the fleshing out of a relationship, however awkward it may be, can real discipleship begin.

Consider the way of of the Savior.

Jesus went to the homes of people with bad reputations and spent time eating and drinking with them. He also went to the homes of proper religious leaders and shared meals there. He sometimes spent the night at the home of friends in Bethany and Capernaum. He even slept in a boat of fishermen. He sat and talked with a man that was considered a monster. When he travelled through Samaria he drank their water and slept in their villages when they let him. He slept outside many, many times.

Jesus touched people with leprosy. He stuck his fingers in a man’s ears and mouth. He was called a drunk. He held the dirty feet of others in his hands. Once, he picked up a severed body part from the ground. He went days without taking a shower. He grabbed the hand of a dead person. He let a prostitute kiss his feet. He even offered to let someone stick their fingers in his wounds.

What’s obvious is that Jesus didn’t worry about getting dirty or getting too close to the gross. He didn’t fret about social conventions and didn’t care if others would not approve. He didn’t mind the clinginess of those who didn’t know how to respond to his goodness. He was at home breaking the status quo and challenging everyone’s comfort.

So what does this mean for us? It means taking the risk and taking the initiative to begin a new relationship with someone we don’t know. It means humbling ourselves enough to make a sacrifice of our time and our privacy. It means placing everyone, even unseemly people on the same level as ourselves. It means going beyond being inconvenienced to changing the direction of our week, or month, or year… or lifetime.

Gospel presentations of Jesus #4

2009-10-06T20:16:00.001-05:00

Jesus turned to the dinner host and said “When you serve a dinner or have a dinner party don’t invite your friends, nor your brothers and sisters. Don’t invite other people who are like you, nor your well-off neighbors. You know you will get invited back to their parties. Instead invite the poor, invite the physically handicapped, invite the disfigured and the blind. You will be blessed if you do this, because you know they can’t do anything to repay you. God himself will pay you back for your kindness on the day of the resurrection of the godly."

-- Somewhere in Luke 14

Visitation Outreach (Part Three)

2009-10-03T20:10:00.001-05:00

Another misconception about visitation is that it involves salesmanship. A number of church members avoid visitation because they feel like they can’t do this well. Perhaps they feel like they need to know more theology, or be able to explain the “plan of salvation” in a smooth and interesting way. Many Christians have never personally led another person to the Lord and feel unsure about when “it” happens. Some worry that there is going to be a lot of explaining or debating. In the end, some only participate in visitation when there is an experienced leader there to walk the person through each step.

Part of the reason I am posting the Gospel Presentations of Jesus series is to show that there was no formula or outline that Jesus followed. He never tried to sell the gospel. Instead, Jesus treated every person and circumstance as unique. The religious leaders got tripped up on formulas and theologies, but Jesus quickly cut through all that. Just read through the stories of salvation and the healing encounters people had with Jesus. The only common thing you will find is that they trusted Jesus and wanted to be near him. The good news message is loving God and trusting Jesus.

Visitation is not about going into someone’s home and closing the deal. It is about meeting and spending time with people, learning their names, their stories, their joys and their blemishes. It’s about entering into fellowship with them and beginning new friendships. It is not condescending. It’s about common ground, allowing them know you on the same level; your stories, your joys, your blemishes and your needs.

As you have fellowship with others, you are introducing them to fellowship with God. Your union with Jesus gives you identity. It is part of your story. It is who you are. As you tell what Jesus has done in your life, you present Him. As you tell what you have experienced of God and learned of God, you are announcing the good news. Jesus taught this. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the One who sent me (Matthew 10:40).”

Getting people to make decisions by being a salesman and then passing them on to the organization for assimilation is not the way of Christ. Jesus commanded us to make disciples. That involves real fellowship, community, love and time.

Gospel presentations of Jesus #3

2009-10-03T08:23:00.001-05:00

Jesus said “Enter in through the narrow door, because the wide door and the easy path lead to hell. So many people walk that path. The narrow door and the difficult path lead to life, but not many people find it.
-- somewhere in Matthew 7

Gospel presentations of Jesus #2

2009-09-30T13:34:00.001-05:00

Jesus was at the temple and already teaching when some chief priests and other religious leaders arrived and came up to him. . .
Jesus continued “Tell me what you think about this. There was a man who had two sons. He went and told his older son, ‘Today, I want you to work in my vineyard.’
The son replied ‘'I do not want to,’ but later he had a change of heart, so he went and worked in the vineyard.
Now, the father also gave the same order to his younger son. This one said ‘Yes sir,” right away, but he never went to the vineyard.”
Jesus the asked them, “Now, which son did what his father wanted?”
The religious leaders replied, “It was the older son.”
“I can assure you that this is an absolute truth,” Jesus said. “Tax-collectors and prostitutes are entering into God’s kingdom ahead of you.”
-- Somewhere in Matthew 21

Visitation Outreach (Part Two)

2009-09-29T14:58:00.001-05:00

Visitation ministry most often goes wrong by being impersonal. The bigger the church, the bigger the problem, usually. Often ministries stop being ministries and become assembly line programs one step away from the tactics used by political organizations. Once a church has become comfortable sending unknowns to visit unknowns, it’s all over.

One first big step in getting back to being personal and real would be to eliminate all prospect cards and those little registration cards that get passed out on Sundays. Honestly, if no one in a church organization cares enough about a visiting family to meet them and talk with them, to learn their names, find out why they came and maybe trade phone numbers, why would one expect that these families are going to be open and excited about receiving a visit from some representatives of the church a week or two later?

Speaking of visitors cards. Why are those things so painfully detailed? Do we really think we are going to help ourselves by having all this information about someone we don’t know? My wife and I have collected a few of these cards during our visits to the States just to laugh at them. We’ve actually seen cards like this:

Civil Status
_Student _Single _Married _Divorced _Widowed _Remarried _Separated _Engaged
Education
_High School _Some College _Bachelors _Masters _Doctorate

“Ok, Bob. Here’s your prospect card. John and Louise Tucker, divorced, remarried, 3 children, one his one hers and one adopted. She has a Master’s degree. He has some college education, but didn’t finish college, evidently. They both work full time and they are both in their early forties.” Isn’t that putting the family at a disadvantage when meeting people they don’t know? If churches are going to use these cards, they ought not put anything but name, address, phone number and a place for comments. If you want to know more about visitors, get to know them. Don’t survey them.

Eliminating visitors cards can also lead to greater outreach involvement by the congregation. As it is, often times church members think that it isn’t necessary to approach visitors because the visitor cards are there and the “church” will make sure they get a visit and a gospel presentation. Without the prospect-card safety net, there will be more personal involvement… and it will be personal.

Gospel presentations of Jesus #1

2009-09-29T13:04:00.001-05:00

A master of the religious law stood up to question Jesus. What he wanted to do was find some evidence to use against Jesus in order to accuse him. He asked, “Master, what must I do to gain eternal life?”

Jesus replied, “What do the scriptures say about that? What do you understand of them?”

The man answered “You must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And also, love the next person as much as you love your self.”

“That is the right answer!” Jesus affirmed. “Do this and you will live.” - Somewhere in Luke 10

Visitation Outreach (Part One)

2009-09-26T19:47:00.001-05:00

Nearly every church I’ve been a part of had some kind of visitation program. Usually it was to visit those who had recently attended a worship service. Occasionally it was to check on inactive members or homebound members. Sometimes it was just some form of cold calling, like knocking on doors with “surveys.”

The program I participated in most before moving to Brazil was called FAITH. We would have visitation on Tuesday nights, and it was usually in a format of meeting together for 45 minutes to learn the FAITH outline and how make better visits, then going out in groups of 3 to visit “prospects” for about an hour. After visiting or attempting to visit the homes assigned to us, we would return to the church for a 15-minute sharing time.

Visitation is often a backbone of the outreach strategy of many churches. It has been used to varying degrees of success. Unfortunately there is an awkwardness about it that makes a great number of church members choose not to participate. It’s hard to disagree with them. In evangelistic visitation, ninety-nine times in a hundred, you are visiting someone you don’t really know.

It is very hard to develop any kind of real and meaningful relationship with the person in a twenty to thirty minute visit. This is even more true when a primary goal of the visit is to make a gospel presentation and call for a response. Add to that the courtesies of explaining who you are and why you are visiting and your time is about up. The visit is often concluded by giving the family an information package about the church, including its address and phone number and maybe a list of Sunday school classes.

There is an awkwardness to this kind of evangelism. It feels superficial, and it often is. Follow up is even more awkward. If the person made a decision, the visitor wonders if it was genuine or not. He has no way of knowing because he doesn’t know the person. Often when a person responds favorably to an evangelistic visit, their card is sent to a Sunday school teacher or some other person in the church for discipleship.

Its almost as if the message given is “Your decision is important to us. Our church cares about you and wants to help you in spiritual matters. We personally don’t care, but our organization does.”

There is a better way.

Out of sight, out of mind.

2009-09-22T13:10:00.001-05:00

It was the Sabbath day and Jesus took his disciples to the synagogue in Capernaum, where he taught the people. All the people that heard him were amazed at his teaching. They were even more amazed when a man overcome by an evil spirit began to shout at Jesus, because just as soon as he started, Jesus silenced the demon and freed the man. The whole city began to talk.

Later Jesus and the disciples went to Simon Peter's house. Peter’s wife’s mother was sick in bed with fever. Jesus touched her and she was healed. After sunset, people from all over Capernaum began to carry their sick and lame and demon-oppressed to the house where Jesus was. The whole city turned out and crowded the house. Jesus healed a great many of the sick and lame, and freed people from demons.

The next morning, before sunrise, Jesus had already left the house and gone to a quiet place outside of the city to pray. His disciples found him later that morning and told him that everyone was looking for him. But Jesus replied, “Let's go to these other villages, now, so I can announce the gospel there too. That is why I have come.” – a loose telling from somewhere in Mark 1

This is an amazing day in the life of Jesus. After everything Jesus did during that day, he could have remained at Peter’s house and established a mega-church at Capernaum that the whole city would attend. Instead, the next morning Jesus is nowhere to be found. When his disciple finally catch up to him, he basically says “There are people beyond this crowd who need me. We don’t know them yet, so let’s get going.”

Had Jesus chosen to stay put, I can imagine the disciples hard at work, organizing schedules and talking about renovating the house to accommodate more people. “Good thing you’re a carpenter, Jesus.” There would be a great many things to take care of. How many times a day would Jesus teach? When would be the specified healing times? When would they close up for meal time. What about cleaning? Bathroom space for all the people? Would the noise bother the neighbors. Maybe they could buy the neighboring houses and expand a little?

The disciples could have done a lot of work, good work, but that wasn’t what Jesus had called them to do. He called them to become fishers of men. Their calling was to mission, to leaving the 99 to find the one. So, bringing the light of the gospel to the ones still in the dark was the work that Jesus had them do. “Come, let’s go to other places now.”

Simon Peter’s house continued to be a ministry outpost. In the next chapter it is full of people again and having its ceiling torn open for a paraplegic. Our modern church buildings are and should also be ministry outposts, but to be effective in reaching out to a lost world, we need to learn a lesson from Mark chapter one. The meeting place was incidental, secondary. The real outreach was being done outside its walls and with no thought given to its prominence or status. People were first.

Are our churches really putting people first today? How much of your church budget is spent on the meeting place and its upkeep? How much is spent on people you haven’t yet met? See the point?

What are we really trying to do? (Part 2)

2009-09-17T21:07:00.001-05:00

The church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. --C.S. Lewis

How many times have you heard someone say that their church needs a song leader, or an organist, guitar player, secretary, janitor, web designer, sound man, business manager, nursery worker, youth leader, accountant, security guard, pianist, or a director for the family life center? Note how quickly the church mobilizes itself to act when it has been determined that there is a need in the organization. Resume collection, search committee meetings, interviews, tryouts and the like begin to fill the schedule of the church organization as it seeks to meet one of these needs.

All of this work gives the illusion of progress and growth, but it is really all about building and maintaining an organization. Is this what the church is really called to do? Of course not. The church is called to bring the fellowship of Jesus to the lost. Somehow, though, it has entered into the subconscious of many that the church must maintain its stability and structure as an organization. Once that has been established, a terrible prerequisite is placed on evangelism and outreach. It must only be done in a way that preserves the organization.

Part of the problem comes from confusing the church with the organization called, for example “First Avenue Church.” The church are those who are united together in one body by being united to Jesus and who belong to one another (Romans 12:5). First Avenue Church is an organization, run like a business, that represents the church in legal matters, owns property, and often has rules and a constitution.

These two work together, but they are not the same thing. If the non-profit organization called First Avenue Church bankrupts, loses its land, and dissolves as a legal entity, its members don’t cease to be a church. In the same way, if over the course of time the membership of First Avenue Church is no longer made up of people who are united to Christ, it may continue to be called a church, but is is most certainly not a church.

If the church were to follow the teachings and examples of Jesus and his apostles, it would be announcing the gospel to the lost and bringing salvation to sinners without regard to the cost to the organization. After all, Jesus did say “Whoever clings to his life will lose it, but whoever gives up his life for my sake will find true life.” Is that any less true for churches?

What are we really trying to do? That is the question that must be asked over and over again. Are we serving the needs of the organization that represents the church, or are we following the commands of Jesus with abandon? Is it okay to have a well-run, pretty and financially stable church organization, even if it means only a few will come to Christ through it? Would it be okay to bankrupt your organization, lose its property and dissolve its legal status if it meant that a great many would find King Jesus? It’s not always either-or, but only one of these should even be an option.

What are we really trying to do? (Part 1)

2009-09-16T08:39:00.001-05:00

And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ who fills everything everywhere with his presence. Ephesians 1:23

The first church I ever pastored was a small country church in a small, small town. I was a youth minister and college student at a Baptist university when they asked me to preach in view of a call. The church only had a handful of members and could only pay gas expenses for me to get there and back on Sundays. The building was nice and new, not very big, but more than adequate. They needed someone to preach and I needed somewhere to get preaching experience. It was a good fit.

We would meet on Sunday mornings at ten o’clock, all nine of us. We always divided into two groups for Sunday School, then we came together for the worship service. We would sing three or so hymns and pass an offering plate. Sometimes, one of the two young girls would provide the special music. Then, of course, I would stand in the pulpit and preach to the eight. We would sometimes sing a hymn of invitation and then the service would be over. That would be it until next Sunday.

Once we as a church had found a rhythm and a good flow to our services, we began to grow. Well, not really, but we did double and triple our worship attendance. I can tell you it wasn’t growth because there was a small layer of accumulated dry dust in the bottom of the baptistery. It had not been used in years. However, as inactive members began returning to our services, the sanctuary began to fill up with enough people to warm the building. The extra envelopes in the offering plate meant that the burden of paying the bills was being eased.

We never did baptize anyone during my few years there. Though it bothered us, it didn’t sting too much. Now, that is a terribly unfortunate statement, but there is some truth it. We had the illusion of progress. Things were changing and improving. In all of that we had accomplished something that made us feel . . . comfortable. We succeeded in what we were really trying to do.

Truth be told, I was always just a visitor there in that little town. The church had been there long before I arrived and planned to be there long after I had gone. It was, and wanted to be, a perfect picturesque fit to small town religion. These people love God, but it was culture that defined the church, and it was culture that set its priorities.

The unspoken non-negotiables of the church mandated that there be a building with a steeple and that its worship service be held on Sunday mornings. The service was to last an hour and included comunal singing and a lecture. The church had to be registered as an organization with several national and state entities and have regular business meetings.

With these cultural prerequisites, our outreach was reduced to seeking people who were willing to come and be a part of what we were already doing, on our schedule, in our way, on our property. This was not Kingdom building, it was organization building. What mattered most was building and maintaining the organization. This is what we were trying to do, and that is all we ever did.

This is why every church must continually ask the question, “What are we really trying to do?” It probably isn’t what we think. No wonder so many churches are stagnant and dying.

Beyond Outreach

2009-08-27T20:34:00.001-05:00

I am a 33 year old missionary and have been in Brazil for nearly 8 years. Prior to this I served in a large metropolitan church and in a small country church. My family and I are now preparing to move back to the US, near the Baton Rouge area, waiting as the Lord leads and provides an opportunity for us there.

Without losing sight of the church planting work we’re doing here (see my Chronological Bible Storying Journal), I wanted to begin this blog as a way to “think out loud” about how to sucessfully obey the command of Jesus to make disciples.

In American culture, Christianity is declining. This blog will focus specifically on what the typical American evangelical church can start doing or stop doing in order to make a greater impact for the Kingdom of God.

There are already many bloggers out there writing about the state of the church in America today, about evangelism and outreach, and about making disciples. I will likely refer often to other people’s writings and will include hyperlinks so you can read them for yourselves.

Here’s a thought:

If you’re going to reach people that others don’t,
you will have to do things that others won’t.

Beyond Outreach

Remembering a Church Plant

A Story

Observations

Church Plant or Transplant?

Seven Billion Souls - Considerations for Evangelism

World Population: 7,000,000,000 and counting.

The world population has increased by 4 billion since 1960.

Discipleship must outstrip the population growth rate. In the US, it doesn’t.

*Source: 2010 church growth indicators for the Southern Baptist Convention

Questions for your church.

*UPDATE

Back to This Blog

My Favorite Posts of 2011

Daily Evangelism

Excluding People from the Good News!

When Values Collide

Top Evangelistic Churches–Things to Copy

Daily Telling

Daily Telling

An Example from Ecuador

Where do we go from here?

About Me in 2011

Churches are Unique

Pastors, Look Here!

Dealing With The Preacher-Eaters in the Pews - Pity the new pastor who walks into a church unprepared to deal with carnal leaders who enjoy their power positions and cannot wait to let the new minister know who's in charge.

Twenty Things I Wish I Had Known As A Young Pastor - I found this list the other day, written perhaps a dozen years ago. As a veteran of 42 years in the pastorate, I have made my share of mistakes and have compiled a lengthy list of regrets.

What To Tell A Hurting Church - One of the best parts of serving as a Director of Missions for a Baptist association is that churches in trouble call on you for assistance. That's also one of the worst aspects of the job.

When Values Collide

The heart of this blog is evangelism.

Churches are not transitioning.

When values collide, churches stagnate.

I was right about 50 to 1

Getting Beyond Typical Church Outreach. (Update)

1. Begin with Prayer.

2. Elevate Scripture

3. Set a Goal for 10,000% Reproduction

4. Do the Hard Work of Evangelism

5. Become a Master of Group Dynamics.

6. Commission, Commission, Commission.

Top Evangelistic Churches–Things to Copy

Outreach and the Internet.

An Observation of Good Soil

Reading Roundup

The Bulletin and the Sunday Morning Pulpit.

Thoughts on Upgrading Church Communication

Excluding People from the Good News!

Interview with a Street Evangelist part 1

If only more churches had pastors like this…

Daily Evangelism

Baptism Famine!

Preaching it Plainly, but Only in Certain Circles

Mapping Out

Net-Drawing Stories

Gospel Presentations of Jesus #9

Preach the Gospel To *Every* Creature?

The Nameless People

More Lessons from a Missionary

Group Dynamics of the 12 Disciples

Lessons from a Missionary

How to Pray for Other Christians

The Message of the Cross?

Giving away E-Bibles

The Thessalonian Church

A lot of writing to finish.

Scripture… As We Live It

When a church changes size…

Now What? Part Two

A collection of sayings sewn together

The Great Commission

Is your “church” really a church?

How to measure success as a pastor

Ok, they said “Yes.” Now what?

Gospel Presentations of Jesus #8

South: A case study in going beyond outreach.

Grow your church, or reach your community?

Bringing the Gospel through the gates of Hell.

Reaching the “Oikos”

Praying for others as outreach

Prospects

Preach the Gospel To Every Creature?