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The Story of Your Life Is Changing the World

By
Lauren McAfee
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Are you a woman of legacy?

The idea of leaving a legacy may sound intimidating. But legacy is not meant only for the elite few who have great power or influence.

It’s certainly a grand word, and a daunting word at that.

So let’s start by what we don’t mean. Legacy is not the idea of leaving financial wealth to someone. It’s not reserved only for people whose names will be in history books, on monuments or in record books.

Legacy is far more.

It is the story of your life that lives on after you leave this earth. You write this story every day through the values you embrace and live out.

Your legacy can be positive or destructive, but the outcome is always up to you.

When viewed from this lens of small daily actions and how they add up, creating a legacy is the most important job we can undertake.

Legacy is crafted by our faithful everyday choices. Anyone can truly leave a lasting legacy—even you.

The hope for a legacy is: to outlive our lives by the impact we leave behind.

Now, whenever the subject of legacy arises among Christians, it is usually a reference to the legacy of men. It’s pretty safe to say that there are more men mentioned in the Bible, recognized throughout history, and likely to be recognized in leadership roles even today, not just in our country but around the globe.

Does this mean that women don’t matter as much? Of course not! We simply are more likely to be valued for roles that don’t get a plaque or an award.

This sentiment was reiterated by Bishop Ndimbe of Kenya when he said, “Train a man, you train an individual; train a woman, you build a nation.”

Not always, but most often, it is the women who have a directional and influential role in the way a society goes, because they are the ones most often taking care of that society’s most valuable asset: the next generation.

In a similar way, there are certain cultural and societal impacts that we women are uniquely gifted by God to make.

In every place on earth and in every time in history, right down to ours, women have been the keepers of the flame of family unity and the binders of the cords of connectedness. We are seemingly handcrafted by God Himself to be the conversation starters, the communication hubs and the culture keepers.

Typically, women serve as the family scribes and historians. With our scrapbooks, newsletters, cards and social media posts, we celebrate the milestones, keep in touch with friends and family members, share the news of both victories and challenges, and chronicle every aspect of family history.

We also tend to function as the cultivators of connection and relationship. Who takes the time to care for the office staff and maintain culture? Who plans the office Christmas celebrations and birthday parties? In most cases, it is we women.

We are usually the ones reading the stories or saying the bedtime prayers, snuggling in rocking chairs, whispering words of comfort, affirmation and biblical truth into impressionable little ears.

It is in our nature to pour ourselves into the ones we love, and that is a beautiful part of legacy. 

Legacy is so much more than your family history or the possessions you pass on to the next generation. As Dr. James Dobson once said at a conference, “Heritage is what you give to someone. Legacy is what you do in someone.”

All of this and more endows the Christian woman with an amazing power, not to mention an immense responsibility. Our unique roles and gifts provide us with the opportunity to be influencers. 

How we use that power is up to us. We can wield it in positive, negative or neutral ways.

As a woman, whether or not you happen to be a mother, you have an irreplaceable role in our society.

God created women with unique gifts and traits, and we all have an important role in passing on our legacy of faith.

Our hurting world needs godly women leaders now more than ever.

We can lead. We must lead.

Future generations will bless us if we press through our obstacles, fears and insecurities to meet the sobering challenges our families and communities now face, and invest in others.

Doing so will create a positive ripple affect for generations to come.

What will your legacy be?

This article originally appeared here.

Is Performance a Dirty Word?

By
David Santistevan
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

When you hear the word performance as it relates to your worship team, does it make you cringe? Or does it excite you?

In more conversations than I can count, I’ve heard performance thrown around as a dirty word.

“This is not a performance. This is worship.”

I get where these comments come from. Matter of fact, I’ve said them myself. What I want to guard against is demonizing performance. If you play music in your local church, there’s no need to avoid the word performance or think of it as something less than true worship.

Performance and worship don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

But I can understand both sides. Performance, when used poorly, is not of service to the church.

In church circles, we tend to view performance as:

  • Self-centeredness
  • Showing off
  • Making it all about the music
  • Being a rockstar

But performance, in the truest sense, is professionalism. Think about a true performer—they take what they do very seriously. A performer on Broadway wants to do their best in order to create an incredible, memorable experience for the consumer.

But that is also where performance becomes a problem. Let’s define:

The Problem

The problem with our performance is when we are simply creating memorable experiences for consumers. This is actually counterintuitive to the mission and CHURCH that Jesus died for.

Are we fostering an audience of consumers or a CHURCH of worshipers? There is a massive difference.

Are we using the stage as a spotlight for our own glory? Are we raising up fans for our music or a bride with eyes only for Jesus?

More so than manufacturing an experience for people, we want to create context for Heaven to heal hearts. A place where they can awaken to God’s ever-present nearness.

The Need

But performance isn’t entirely a dirty word. Oftentimes our lack of performance is an excuse for laziness. Sure, we want everything to be “about God” and “for an audience of One,” but our lack of preparation and performance quality has become a distraction.

We all know the popular Scripture in Psalm 33:3:

“Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the Word of the Lord is true; He is faithful in all He does.”

You know whey I love this? Immediately after commanding us to sing and play skillfully, we are presented with an objective statement about God—His Word is true and He is faithful in all He does.

When you think of someone who is true and faithful, do you want to be around that person? Do you trust that person? Absolutely. In an earthly sense, that person is trustworthy and professional.

As a musician in the church, I want to reflect that attitude. I want to be faithful. Faithful in my preparation. Faithful in my performance. Faithful in my worship. Faithful in my compassion for people. Faithful in my serving.

The prayerful, well-thought-out planning on Monday morning and the painstaking attention to detail of performance techniques can mean the difference between a worship experience that draws attention to yourself or draws attention to the grand story of God.

So what’s the answer? The answer is to be aware of the pitfalls. Beware when your performing slips into a template you execute for your own attention.

Do you struggle with this? How do you communicate this with your team?

This article originally appeared here.

Who Will Go After the One?

By
Jenny Funderburke Smith
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

During the first night of VBS I smiled at one of our best volunteers. This guy is a long-term kidmin volunteer, sports coach and even ex-military. He can handle it all. “How’s your night?” I asked, barely even waiting for an answer. “Oh, just fantastic,” he responded with a high level of sarcasm. I paused, realized that I should probably not keep walking, and turned back to find out what was going on.

This volunteer had a child in his crew who we did not know. He had signed up from our Facebook advertising. He was six years old. He knew every cuss word imaginable and he knew how to use each in appropriate context. He demonstrated this knowledge numerous times. He knew how to use his middle finger. If the volunteer said go left, he went right. To say he was a challenge would be an understatement.

Fast forward to the end of the week. The volunteer was done. He had used every bit of self-control he had to continue to show love to the child with no self-control. It has been a week of long nights and much frustration. There was light at the end of the tunnel…VBS was almost over. In fact it was the very last large group worship time, just minutes away from saying goodbye. During this end time, I mentioned from the stage something about kids who had trusted in Christ. Our challenging friend leaned into this volunteer and said, “Is she talking about me?” This volunteer responded, “I don’t know, let’s talk about that.” He walked through the gospel with this little one and eventually led him to Christ.

After all of the hoopla of the last night of VBS ended, this volunteer came to me with tears in his eyes and said, “I need to talk to you.” I thought he was mad at me and was never volunteering again. Instead he said, “I think I just led that kid to Christ.”

We learned more about the family. We learned more about his situation and his past. And it was truly heartbreaking. Our prayer is that we can continue to connect them with our church. To be honest, that would make our ministry harder. And messier. He is now a challenging kid who knows Jesus, but he is still a challenging kid.

But if we don’t reach this kid, who will?

Recently I read the familiar passage in Matthew 18:12-13:

“ What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the 99 on the hillside and go and search for the stray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the 99 that did not go astray.”

I love that passage (and we all sing about it in “Reckless Love”, right?). But I had totally forgotten or never realized that the passage is smack dab in Jesus’ teachings about faith like a child and protecting children at the risk of millstones.

The stray sheep we are to go after is a child.

We get comfortable with our 99 suburban children. We get very busy trying to make ministry more attractive and more entertaining so that we can maintain the 99.

Who is going to go after the one?

Who is going to go after the kid who is really tough behaviorally? Who is sharing Jesus with the child with special needs? Who is going to go to the child in the neighborhood that everyone drives to avoid? Who is going to reach the child who is homeless? Who is going to reach the kid who just got kicked out of school? Who is going to care for the kid in a far away country that is closed to the gospel?

I think our assumed answer to many of these questions is, “Someone else.”

None of us can reach every single child. However, the gospel calls all of us to love the kids who are hard to love. The gospel calls us to go reach the kids that everyone else has given up on. The gospel calls us to stretch beyond where we are comfortable so that we can reach the kids who are far from God. It is messy and it is tough. Your ministry will look different and feel different and possibly even smell different. The 99 we are used to are often much easier, but the gospel calls us beyond. After all God came after us when we were smelly and difficult and very, very far from Him. What can you do in your own context that involves going after the one?

This article originally appeared here.

Revelation: All of History Follows the Same Pattern, and Then the Lamb Wins

By
Megan Briggs
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

The book of Revelation can easily be considered the most complicated book of the Bible. Fortunately, the folks at the Bible Project have broken down the complex book to help us understand the meaning behind its symbolism and the ultimate message it communicates.

True to their typical format, the Bible Project sets the stage for us: The book was written by “John,” who is either the same John who wrote the Gospel of John or another John who was a messianic Jewish prophet and taught in the early church. While John is on the island of Patmos, he has a series of visions that he shares. Here is a key element to understanding Revelation: the genre of writing is Apocalyptic, which is a type of Jewish literature that contains symbolic visions which reveal a “heavenly perspective on history in light of its final outcome.” John also refers to the book as prophecy.

In the first video which takes us through chapters 1-11, we are told that John frequently sees imagery from the Old Testament, and instead of explaining all of it, he expects his readers to go look up what he is referring to. Another theme throughout the book is the number seven, which is understood as the number of completion (representing the seven day period of creation).

In the first half the book, we are given the visions of Jesus addressing the shortcomings of the seven churches, God’s throne room, and the contents of the scroll. In God’s throne room, we are introduced to the scroll, which contains information on how God’s kingdom will come fully to the earth. However, the scroll is sealed and its contents are inaccessible. Here is where John introduces the main character of the book: The Lamb that was slain. Only the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll.

By showing Jesus as the sacrificial lamb (and not, for instance, as the King of Kings), John is pointing to Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah who would die for his enemies. It highlights the fact that Jesus’s death wasn’t his defeat, but rather his conquest over evil.

Once the scroll is opened, we see God giving warnings to the nations, over and over again, about pending judgment for their rebellion. But here is a key theme of Revelation: God’s warnings and judgments did not elicit repentance, just like the plagues of Exodus only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Instead, the lamb conquered his enemies by loving them and dying for them. In the same way, God’s kingdom will be revealed when the nations see the church imitating the loving sacrifice of the Lamb. Not by killing its enemies, but by dying for them.

In the second video, we are taken through chapters 12-22. This portion starts off with the seven bowls that will be poured out on the earth because of the nations’ rebellion. Once again, we are met with the theme that God’s mercy (not his punishment) leads to repentance.

Next we are taken into a section (chapters 12-14) that John refers to as the “Signs,” where he explains the message of the open scroll in greater depth. We see a dragon persecuting God’s people and are told about the mark of the beast. These things are used to help us understand that Rome, or any other human or nation, is not the real enemy. There are dark spiritual powers at work behind these things. The theme of overcoming your enemies through loving them is reiterated. Jesus gives people a choice: Resist Babylon to follow the Lamb or follow the beast (what nations turn into when they put their trust in power-hungry earthly rulers) and suffer its defeat.

Up next, we witness the fall of Babylon, the final battle, and the marriage of heaven and earth. John draws on imagery of the great nations of the Old Testament who fall: Babylon, Tyre, and Edom, to represent these unjust powers (Babylon) falling. We also see the martyrs vindicated as Jesus returns (this time on a white horse with a sword coming out of his mouth, but still covered in his own blood) to proclaim and bring about justice. Babylon and all who choose them are “eternally quarantined” and not given the chance to corrupt the New Jerusalem. Finally, we get to rejoice with all of heaven in the union of the beautiful bride (the church) to the Lamb. In the New Jerusalem, we see all the nations working together in peace and harmony, and there is no need for a temple because God’s presence permeates the Kingdom through all creation.

At the end of this video, we are offered a summary of the entire book. Revelation reveals history’s pattern: All human kingdoms eventually become Babylon and must be resisted in the power of the slain Lamb. In the midst of this cycle, God promises that Jesus will return to remove evil from his world.

Is College Worth It for Students?

By
Jonathan McKee
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

How much do college grads make compared to those with just a high school education? How many college grads are unemployed compared to others?

As our kids grow up, they’ll inevitably face the question, “Is college for me?” As a caring adult, we can give them good information to help them make an informed decision…and the answer to these question might be eye-opening for them.

Recently I was writing our next Youth Culture Window article (to be posted in a couple weekends) about our kids being financially prepared to move out on their own, aptly titled “Less Likely to Leave the Nest: Why your 20-something might opt to live in your basement.” As I was poring through all the research about how expensive education has become, and how much our kids are racking up in school loans, I became distracted by a little rabbit trail contrasting the incomes of someone with a bachelors degree to that of someone with only a high school diploma. That disparity has grown immense in the last decade!

Pew Research embarked on a study a few years back that not only compares today’s young people to past generations, it also revealed the increasing gap between young adults with and without a college degree. Here’s a peek at their findings:

Similarly, in 2015 the Bureau of Labor Statistics posted their findings, disclosing a huge gap between incomes when you compare current educational attainment. For example, a person with a bachelors degree makes an average of $1,980 more per month than the someone with just a high school diploma. They also provided a helpful chart, including how higher degrees decrease the chance of unemployment:

Use reports like these to engage your kids in discussion about their future. Not every kid is college bound, but I know as I look back at my own parenting, I wish I would have had more discussions like this, and fewer lectures.

Jonathan McKee is the president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of over 20 books including the brand new If I Had a Parenting Do Over, 52 Ways to Connect With Your Smartphone Obsessed Kid; Sex Matters; The Amazon Best Seller—The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket; and youth ministry books like Ministry By Teenagers; Connect; and the 10-Minute Talks series. He has over 20 years youth ministry experience and speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers and parents on his websites, TheSource4YM.com and TheSource4Parents.com. You can follow Jonathan on his blog, getting a regular dose of youth culture and parenting help. Jonathan, his wife, Lori, and their three kids live in California.

This article originally appeared here.

Confession: Your Pastor’s Private Sins

By
Josh Reich
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Pastors, like any person, sin. While this may be surprising for some people as they put their pastors and their wives on a pedestal, it is true.

Because of the nature of being a pastor and the life they live, their sins are often not obvious and ones that no one will ever know about. In fact, some of the most hurtful and dangerous sins are ones that a church and elders can unknowingly encourage.

These sins are not in any particular order, just the order I wrote them in.

The first one is: Your Bible is for more than sermon prep. 

Most pastors spend the majority of their week in their Bible working on a sermon. There is a debate among pastors as to whether that should count as their devotions or if they should separate their devotions from sermon prep.

For me, my devotions are tied into my sermon prep. Right now, I am preaching through John. As I work on each sermon, I spend the first part of my week simply meditating on the passage I’ll be preaching from. This allows the text to become personal and work on my heart so my sermon becomes an overflow of what God is doing in me.

Because of planning ahead, I also use my devotional time to research future sermon topics and let different books of the Bible speak to me.

For example, a few years ago, I was going to do a series on Habakkuk, but on vacation really felt like I needed to read through 1 and 2 Peter every day while we were away. I had no idea why, just a sense that I needed to dive into these books. Through those readings, we changed our sermon calendar and I ended up preaching through those books.

Often though, pastors will use the reasoning that so much of their job and life is spent in the Bible. “I spend so much time on my sermon that I don’t need to spend time alone with Jesus.” I’ve never had a pastor tell me this, but it runs through many pastors’ heads.

What happens then is they preach from a dry heart, from a place that is not meeting with Jesus.

They spend so much time discipling other people that they aren’t feeding themselves. They don’t read books outside the Bible that challenge their thinking or bring conviction to their life.

As long as sermons are helpful, no one will notice this sin.

Pastors can fly under the radar for years on this and their elders, wife and church will have a hard time knowing.

Over time, it will become obvious that a pastor is working from past time with God, meaning, they are running off the fumes of years past. Because pastors often move from churches and job to job, people aren’t able to notice that he is preaching old sermons or using the same stories.

How do you know if this is happening?

Here are a few ways:

If a pastor has no new illustrations of God’s grace in his life.

The pastor does not talk about being pushed out of his comfort zone.

He has no conversations with unchurched neighbors.

He is not praying big prayers for the Holy Spirit to move.

His heart does not break for his people and those who do not know Jesus.

UPDATE: Willow Creek Leaders Resign: ‘Trust has been broken’ Over Bill Hybels Case

By
Megan Briggs
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Willow Creek leadership
Screengrab Youtube @CBS Chicago

Update from The Global Leadership Summit August 9, 2018

Prior to the first session of the 2018 Global Leadership Summit, Tom De Vries, President of the Willow Creek Association (WCA), addressed the gathering concerning the controversy surrounding Bill Hybels and Willow Creek.

Emphasizing the fact that Willow Creek Community Church and the WCA are separate entities, De Vries acknowledged, nevertheless, that the last several months have caused “tremendous turmoil for the Summit and also the Willow Creek family”.

As he’s said before, De Vries assured the group that Hybels’ association with the WCA has been severed with no path or plan of return. However, De Vries took the opportunity to apologize, on behalf of the WCA, “for the places we could and should have done better” when addressing the allegations against Hybels.

De Vries announced the board is still working on reconciliation between it and the people involved in the controversy. Moving forward, DeVries outlined three “commitments”:

The WCA board is seeking advisory leadership council for an independent investigation and will be offering more details about the council in days ahead

The WCA is committed to providing an environment that can be helpful in the dialogue about power dynamics between men and women as they lead together. GLS speaker Danielle Strickland will be addressing this topic later in the day.

They are also seeking to provide future opportunities for growth and learning on this topic. De Vries said the WCA has had a track record of dealing with the issues of the day head on. This is “just the beginning” of a journey toward offering ways for businesses and associations to equip and empower women in leadership.

In a shaky voice, elder Missy Rasmussen addressed the congregation at Willow Creek Church Wednesday evening at a Family Meeting. Rasmussen said she was there, on behalf of the elder board, to “acknowledge our missteps.” She then announced that the entire elder board would be stepping down and that they are “exhorting” Bill Hybels to acknowledge his sin.

“I stand before you heartbroken,” Rasmussen began as she relayed a message from the board of elders. Rasmussen explained the board now believes Hybels’ “sins were beyond what he previously admitted on the stage.”

Speaking of the women who brought forth allegations, Rasmussen specifically mentioned Pat Baranowski, whose story appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, August 5, 2018. The article included allegations that took everyone by surprise, including Lead Teaching Pastor Steve Carter, who resigned from Willow Creek the same day.

Rasmussen said that Carter made several requests of the board to address the allegations, and while they were able to “align” with him on several of his requests, he still disagreed with the board’s direction.

Admitting the investigation into the allegations it initiated four years ago was “flawed,” Rasmussen said they were focused on looking for evidence of an affair instead of determining whether Bill’s actions were above reproach. She also said they did not move quickly enough to “secure” Hybels’ devices during that investigation. Rasmussen said they trusted Hybels, which led to the flawed nature of the investigation.

When the Chicago Tribune article broke the story of the allegations against Hybels, some of the allegations took the board by surprise. What followed was evident to everyone watching the Willow Creek saga from afar: The board scrambled as it tried to limit damage as they determined how to address the new information they were not aware of. The board now acknowledges “this has taken too long and left you, our congregation, wondering why we did not respond.”

Elder Board Apologizes and Resigns

Rasmussen then offered several apologies on behalf of the elder board to “God, the congregation, the women, their advocates and those calling us to repent.”

Specifically, she named:

The people of WCC – The board is sorry they allowed Bill to operate without the accountability he should have had. Moving forward, they would like to “retain what is good and pure about Willow” while addressing the things that need to change.

To the women who brought allegations, Rasmussen said “the church should always follow in Jesus’s footsteps, to help the wounded find healing.” While Rasmussen said we will probably never know the full truth of what happened, the board has no reason not to believe the women. “We exhort Bill to acknowledge his sin,” Rasmussen said.

To Nancy Ortberg – the board is “sorry about the way your allegations were handled and the time it took us to truly understand your experience.”

To Nancy Beach – Rasmussen apologized for allowing “Bill to call your motives into question.”

To Vonda Dyer – the board is sorry they allowed Bill’s statements calling her a liar to stand. They now believe Hybels kissed her in a hotel in Sweden, as she claims.

To an unnamed staff member – the board apologized for allowing Bill to give his account without giving the staff member the chance to share.

Moving forward, Rasmussen said the entire board is stepping down. Turning to practical considerations, she described a “prompt” process of replacing the current elders that would begin August 15 and continue in stages through the end of the year.

Further, a governance expert is being called in to investigate the board and they are also convening a group to investigated Baranowski’s allegations against Hybels, specifically.

Rasmussen reiterated the board’s belief that Hybels is not above reproach. “If Bill had not already stepped down, he would have disqualified himself from leadership here,” she explained.

Heather Larson Resigns

Next, Executive Pastor Heather Larson took the stage. Speaking through tears, she said, “You, Willow Creek, have been my world for the past 20 years.”

She then went on to explain how she has attempted to manage her “brand new role” while navigating the allegations against Hybels. “Circumstances have been devastating and heartbreaking on many levels,” Larson said, and admitted she wished she could go back and do things differently.

Larson said the church needs a fresh start and that the staff need “a clear running lane” to heal and move forward. For that reason, she is stepping down from her position. At this point, a man in the audience yelled “We need you!” Larson smiled sadly and continued. The reality of the matter is, “trust has been broken by leadership.”

Steve Gillen, the pastor of Willow Creek’s North Shore campus, will take on the role of Lead Pastor, Larson explained. In closing she assured the congregation: “Please know that I am not giving up on this church; most importantly, God is not giving up on this church.”

Steve Gillen Takes the Helm

“This is a tough season, and we’re going to get through it together,” Gillen said as he began his brief speech.

He explained that the Bible instructs us that when you realize you’ve done something wrong, you must lament and grieve. “We need to do that,” Gillen said. But at the same time, Gillen believes Willow Creek needs “to be faithful to the call God’s put on us from day one.” By that, he means they need to continue their evangelism efforts to reach Chicago and beyond.

Gillen does not plan on staying at the South Barrington campus indefinitely. He described his task as to “get this congregation through these days” while the elder board looks for a new lead pastor. Then Gillen is planning to return to the North Shore campus, where he currently serves.

You can read Willow Creek’s full statement here.

More on this story here:

Update: Churches, Speakers Pull Out of GLS at the Last Minute

Willow Creek Continues to Teach Church Leaders…This Time Through Failure

Bill Hybels’ Accusers Are Not Ready to Move On

Willow Creek: No Collusion in Bill Hybels Allegations

New Allegations Surface in Bill Hybels Investigation

Bill Hybels Announces Resignation, Cites ‘harmful accusations’

Update: John Ortberg Responds to Bill Hybels Allegations

6 Church Killers That (Unfortunately) Have Stood the Test of Time

By
Cary Schmidt
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Today’s church killers are not that different from years ago. I recently came across a powerful quote from an 18th-century English pastor named Job Orton. Ironically, he wrote to the ministers of his day about doctrinal compromise. The struggles of churches nearly 300 years ago are the struggles of churches today. Read what he says:

“I have long since found (and every year that I live increases my conviction of it), that when ministers entertain their people with lively and pretty things, confine themselves to general harangues, insist principally on moral duties, without enforcing them warmly and affectionately by evangelical motives; while they neglect the peculiars of the gospel, never or seldom display the grace of God, and the love of Christ in our redemption; the necessity of regeneration and sanctification by a constant dependence on the Holy Spirit of God for assistance and strength in the duties of the Christian life, their congregations are in a wretched state; some are dwindling to nothing, as is the case with several in this neighbourhood, where there are now not as many scores as there were hundreds in their meeting-places, fifty years ago. … There is a fatal deadness spread over the congregation. They run in ‘the course of this world,’ follow every fashionable folly, and family and personal godliness seems in general to be lost among them. There is scarcely any appearance of life and zeal.”

Church Killers That’ve Stood the Test of Time…Unfortunately

It seems that Satan was neutralizing local churches 300 years ago in the same way he is today. Notice the ways churches decline, according to Orton:

1. Create an Entertainment-Driven Ministry—Orton writes “when ministers entertain their people with lively and pretty things.” I’ve seen two extremes in entertainment-driven ministry. Both are simply different manifestations of the same false assumptions and bad values.

The first bad model I saw was a contest-driven, circus-style, promotion-based ministry model. It was a model that bribed people to attend church, entertained them once they came, and attempted to “sneak up” on them with the gospel. It worked to get people to church, but it was weak in producing devoted disciples and rooted believers.

The second bad model I’ve seen is a concert-style, party-atmosphere ministry complete with loud rock music, smoke machines, laser lights and a lot of entertainment. Again, it works to get people to attend, but it lulls them into nonparticipation, nonworship and lethargic, carnal Christianity.

Both models fail because of two false assumptions. The first false assumption is that Jesus and His Word are boring and unattractive. The second false assumption is that people won’t respond to simple, biblical love and grace. These methods attempt to DISGUISE the gospel to “make it attractive.” The false assumption being, it’s not attractive unless we disguise it! This is REALLY BAD theology! Entertainment-driven ministry is a broken road.

2. Focus on “General Harangues”—Orton mentions leaders who “confine themselves to general harangues.” This is a church-family focused on debate and theological inspection over Spirit-led obedience and unified practice. The Word of God is like a window, and some people prefer to spend more time looking AT the window rather than looking THROUGH the window. Paul wrote to Titus, “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.” (Titus 3:9)

An honest Bible student is comfortable accepting God’s Word where it is clear and where it is unclear. An unhealthy church is content to “look AT the window”—to inspect and debate foolish questions that generate strife and contention. A healthy church is only content to practice what IS clear in God’s Word.

Unbelievers rarely come to these churches, and when they do, they rarely come back. Focusing on pointless debates, personal disputes and biblical conjecture is a broken road.

3. Teach Behaviorism Absent Love and Worship—Orton writes “insist principally on moral duties, without enforcing them warmly and affectionately by evangelical motives”—external duty without internal love as a motive. External conformity or performance-based acceptance generates a church family that looks good but is not motivated by true love and worship of Jesus. Enough badgering from the pulpit will manipulate many Christians into a manmade mold. But eventually those same Christians become disillusioned and hurt by man-centered leadership tactics.

Eleven Specific Ways to Pray for Your Pastor

By
Thom Rainer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

We all need prayer.

We all need to pray.

Pastors specifically need prayer. The Enemy will do whatever he can to destroy the ministry of your pastors. Will you consider praying for your pastors in these specific areas?

  1. Pray for wisdom for your pastor. These leaders are often confronted with incredibly challenging situations and decisions. They need God’s wisdom to continue to be the leader of the church God has called them to be.
  2. Pray for your pastor’s protection. Your pastor will be attacked in so many different ways. Your pastor will be tempted again and again. The Enemy seeks to destroy. The Enemy wants your pastor’s ministry destroyed.
  3. Pray for your pastor’s family. They too are attacked, criticized and sometimes bullied. They often feel isolated and alone. They need encouragement. They need prayer.
  4. Pray for your pastor to withstand the critics and bullies. Some of the critics and bullies are overt and aggressive. Others are passive-aggressive. All are painful. And every pastor has them.
  5. Pray against discouragement from comparison. Before this week is over, a church member will likely tell your pastor to listen to a podcast by another pastor “to learn how to really preach” (actual words spoken to a pastor). Other pastors will hear numerous comments about the other great church in the community. The message is real and painful: You don’t measure up, pastor.
  6. Pray against discouragement from members leaving. It’s hard for your pastor not to take it personally. It’s really hard when the departing member tells your pastor to take it personally.
  7. Pray against discouragement from decline. Two out of three congregations in North America are declining. That is a painful reality for your pastor. That is a discouraging reality for your pastor.
  8. Pray against discouragement from disunity. “I wish I had every minute back I had to spend refereeing church members.” Those are the actual words of one of the Church Answers’ pastors I serve. The Enemy loves it when church members fight one another.
  9. Pray for discernment for “yes” and “no.” Pastors are pulled in a multitude of directions. They are expected to be in so many meetings, so many social events, and so many pastoral situations. They are really expected to be omnipresent. Pray they will be able to say “no” more often. Pray for their families who often get the scanty leftovers of the pastor’s time.
  10. Pray for financial pressures. Many pastors are underpaid. They struggle day by day with financial challenges. Actual quote from a deacon: “I like for our pastor to be underpaid. It keeps him humble and dependent on God.” That deacon is enjoying a life of leisure from inherited wealth.
  11. Pray for gospel opportunities. Pastors are energized when they have the opportunity to share the gospel. Unfortunately, many of them are too busy to take time to do so. The demands of the church are just too great. These pastors live lives of inverted priorities and frustrating days.

Do we really want healthy churches? Do we really want to defeat the Enemy in these battles?

Pray for your pastor.

Start today. Take five minutes of each day to pray for your pastor.

It may be the greatest contribution you can make to your church.

This article originally appeared here.

Willow Creek Continues to Teach Church Leaders…This Time Through Failure

By
Megan Briggs
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

For decades now, churches and church leaders have looked to Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Association he founded to model godly leadership. As influential leader after influential leader took the stage of the annual Global Leadership Summit year after year, we learned a lot that we could take home and implement in our own companies, ministries, churches, lives, etc. This year, before the conference has even started, we are learning from Hybels’ and Willow Creek’s example. We’ve been learning since April. This year’s lesson: How not to handle accusations against a leader.

Surely they didn’t intend this, but Willow Creek is leading the charge on how to respond to the #churchtoo movement by giving us a real-life example of exactly what not to do.

Willow Creek always seemed to be several strides ahead of every other church and Christian organization in America. Now what we are witnessing is akin to a race in which the teammate ahead of you stumbles over a stumbling block and falls.

Willow Creek’s Attempt at Damage Control

The Chicago Tribune broke the news of the allegations against Hybels in April 2018. Hybels defended himself painting the allegations with a broad stroke, calling them all lies and the result of an effort to tarnish his legacy. The elder board of Willow Creek Community Church followed the suit of their leader. They denounced the Chicago Tribune article. When new allegations surfaced and respected Christian leaders who had been affiliated with the church in the past voiced their concern over how the church was handling the allegations, the church doubled down. Then slowly, their narrative began to change. It started with an apology to the women who had come forward.

Key leaders at Willow Creek, like new executive pastor Heather Larson, dropped lines such as “this church has never been about a person or about a personality” in the Sunday service announcements. Yet, after another big article with a new allegation broke in the New York Times, Steve Carter, Willow’s Lead Teaching Pastor, resigned. Now the elder board has announced the church will be subject to an independent investigation. Unfortunately, their half-hearted apologies and delayed action feel like too little too late.

Simultaneously, the Willow Creek Association (WCA), which organizes the Global Leadership Summit (GLS), started trying to disassociate themselves from Hybels in April. His image stopped appearing on their promotional material shortly after the news broke. On August 6, 2018, just days before the Summit, the GLS released a statement saying “Bill’s engagement with the Summit and Willow Creek Association was completely severed in early April. He has had no involvement in the 2018 Summit or Willow Creek Association since, and there is no path for him to return.”

On the eve of the GLS, news of churches pulling out of being host sites for the conference are surfacing. There are calls on Twitter asking the speakers to step down as well in a stand of solidarity with the women who have made the allegations. And yet, the WCA maintains it will have the same amount of host sites and attendees as years previous. When ChurchLeaders reached out to the WCA, they told us they have 700 churches registered as host sites. Yet the site where our leadership team is supposed to attend the GLS has pulled out and there are reports of others.

What Can Willow Creek Teach Us Now?

If you’ve attended the GLS before, you will recognize this quote: “Your culture will only ever be as healthy as your top leader wants it to be.” Hybels said this on multiple occasions at the GLS over the years. Unfortunately, this statement is all too true for Willow Creek right now.

This Is Why More People Identify as ‘Nones’

By
Bob Ditmer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

A new study is shedding additional light on the reason a growing number of Americans are claiming no particular religious affiliation. The group is collectively known as “nones.” Simply put, “nones” don’t believe the tenets of the faith.

Pew Researchers asked a representative sample of more than 1,300 of these “nones” why they choose not to identify with a religion.

The most common reason given (60 percent) was they “question a lot of religious teachings.” The second-most-common reason is opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues, cited by 49 percent of respondents.

Other responses include “I don’t like religious institutions” (41 percent), “I don’t believe in God (37 percent), “Religion is irrelevant to me” (36 percent) and “I dislike religious leaders” (34 percent).

Researchers split the respondents into three groups (“atheist”, “agnostic” and “nothing in particular”) to compile the numbers.

About nine in 10 self-described atheists (89 percent) say their lack of belief in God is a very important reason for their religious identity, compared with 37 percent of agnostics and 21 percent of those in the “nothing in particular” category. Atheists also are more likely than other “nones” to say religion is simply “irrelevant” to them (63 percent of atheists vs. 40 percent of agnostics and 26 percent of adults with no particular religion).

Previous studies from the Pew Research Center asked religiously unaffiliated Americans who were raised in a religion (who make up a majority of all religious “nones”) to explain in their own words why they no longer identify with any religious group. Some said they do not believe in religious teachings or dislike organized religion, while others said they are religious (though unaffiliated) or that they believe in God but do not practice any religion.

Previous studies have identified “nones” as the fastest growing religion in America. One-fifth of Americans now list their religion as “none,” up from only 7 percent two decades ago. Among adults under 30, those poised to be the parents of the next generation, fully one third are religiously unaffiliated.

How Calvinist Are the “New Calvinists,” Really?

By
Bob Ditmer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

By some estimates, 30 percent of seminary students consider themselves strict Calvinists, a stunning increase over past years.

While today’s young pastors are identified by John Calvin’s name, it appears the 16th century French reformer hasn’t shaped the New Calvinists nearly as much as present day reformed teachers, such as Tim Keller, John Piper, Al Mohler and a handful of others.

John Calvin’s five points, often referred to as TULIP, best define his theology. T (total depravity), U (unconditional election), L (limited atonement), I (irresistible grace), and P (perseverance of the saints). It is the “limited atonement” tenet, which can be translated into a belief that only some are predestined to be saved that distinguishes Calvinists from the rest of the theological world. It is also the issue that most closely connects calvinists with their progenitor.

How predestination works itself out in ministry is a point of debate.  Writing in SBC Life, Malcolm Yarnell, associate professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, observed that TULIP theology is causing division in churches. Steve Lemke, provost of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, warns: “I believe that [Calvinism] is potentially the most explosive and divisive issue facing us in the near future. It has already been an issue that has split literally dozens of churches, and it holds the potential to split the entire convention” (“The Future of Southern Baptists as Evangelicals,” April 2005). Lemke says that “the newest generation of Southern Baptist ministers” is “the most Calvinist we have had in several generations.” He warns that Calvinism can result in a lowered commitment to evangelism, saying: “For many people, if they’re convinced that God has already elected those who will be elect … I don’t see how humanly speaking that can’t temper your passion, because you know you’re not that crucial to the process.

John Piper has said that characterization is a misreading of Calvinism and the Bible. And Dr. Frank James, president of Biblical Theological Seminary, and a Calvin scholar, said his research shows Calvin was a massive church planter, planting more than 2000 churches in France over a 7-year period.

There is some consensus, however, in other ways Calvin has influenced today’s young pastors, or more precisely the evolution of Calvinism as espoused by Keller, Piper and others.

John Calvin Emphasized Intellectualism

One is intellectualism.

Brett McCracken wrote in an article for the The Gospel Coalition:

“Typical evangelical church kids in the ’90s—myself included—found themselves hungry, at the turn of the millennium, for a meatier, more substantive and biblical Christianity. We wanted more than just bumper-sticker Christianity. We wanted chapter-and-verse Christianity.

“Evangelicalism seemed more interested in relevance and trendiness than reverence before a transcendent God. The ‘emergent church’ movement gained some traction culturally but ultimately sputtered out, grounded as it was in revisionist rather than reclaimed theology.

“Calvinism provided something deeper, older, more thoughtful, and—for millennials like me—more coherent at a time of increasing cultural confusion.”

Dr. James told churchleaders.com that is also what appealed to him as a young man. “I wanted cogent logical answers and the reformed folks provided them,” he said.

But he is concerned that many New Calvinists aren’t actually reading a lot of Calvin. “What is purported to be Calvinism is really 17th century reformed scholasticism…a focus on theological precision.”

New Calvinists are also distinguished from many evangelicals by their concern for social justice. But it’s less likely those beliefs stem from Calvin than from today’s prominent Calvinists.

Rusty George: Pastors Need Community

By
Jason Daye
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Rusty George is the Lead Pastor at Real Life Church in Southern California; a multi-site church with campuses in Canyon Country, Valencia and a large online community. Under Rusty’s lead, Real Life has become one of the fastest growing churches in America–growing by 111% in 2011 alone.

Key Questions for Rusty George:

– Why do pastors tend to isolate themselves?
– Can pastors be truly vulnerable with members of their church?
– How much should pastors share about their work with their spouse?

[SUBSCRIBE] For more ChurchLeaders podcasts click here!

Key Quotes from Rusty George:

“The first step to ending isolation is to admit we need community.”

“If there was anyone who had the right to say “everyone else is an idiot”, it was Jesus…but  he continued to serve them.”

“The problem is we only look for people who are way ahead of us who can help us get to the where they are or those who are way below us because it makes us feel better about who we are.”

“The question we ask is ‘who’s desiring to be our friends’ and those are typically the one we avoid…the problem is sometimes people sidle up to you because you are the pastor.”

“There are some people that go to God on your behalf and there are others who go to you on God’s behalf. I stay away from the latter.”

“Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We go out on stage, we teach and then we hide out in our office and complain that no one wants to get to know us.”

“Practice vulnerability put yourself in position where you are shaking hands and let that lead to a lunch and let that lead to a dinner.”

“One of the difficulty of hiring friends is you no longer get to download some of the staff issues with them because they’re no on the staff.”

“When I stopped entrusting myself to God but entrusted myself to those in my church, that is when their opinion of me is where I found my identity. That’s only a job for my heavenly father.”

“Tell your story, share your pain, be vulnerable. You’ll be hurt again but it’s worth the journey.”

Links Mentioned by Rusty George in the Show:

Leadership Pain

pastorrustygeorge.com

Better Together

bettertogetherstudy.com

Rusty George on ChurchLeaders:

Your Pastor Is a Sinner

Jesus, Islam and Ramadan

Update: Churches, Speakers Pull Out of GLS at the Last Minute

By
Bob Ditmer
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Global Leadership Summit
Screengrab Youtube @Global Leadership Network

UPDATE: August 8, 2018: Churches, Speakers Pull Out of GLS at the Last Minute

On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a Colorado megachurch has pulled out of this years GLS citing the new investigation of Willow Creek Founder Bill Hybels.

Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs notified those planning to attend the summit at their worship center of the 11th hour decision to withdraw as a host site.

“By now you should’ve received word from the Willow Creek Association regarding Woodmen Valley Chapel’s withdrawal as a host site for the 2018 Global Leadership Summit,” the church wrote in an email to attendees. “I’m writing on behalf of the Woodmen team to apologize for the timing of this decision and any inconvenience it may cause you.

“We are grieved by events at Willow Creek Community Church and the Willow Creek Association,”Regrettably, after much prayer and careful consideration we made the decision to cancel our hosting of this year’s Summit. We feel this is an appropriate response until further investigation and information can clarify our concerns.”

Woodmen Valley staff told churchleaders.com that the decision only affects this year’s GLS.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday that another scheduled speaker had cancelled in the wake of new revelations into Hybels’ tenure at Willow Creek.  According to the Tribune, author Daniel Pink will not be speaking as scheduled.

Although three keynote speakers have canceled and several partnering churches have pulled out, Willow Creek believes there is little evidence that this year’s Global Leadership Summit is being adversely affected by the controversy surrounding Bill Hybels. Others disagree. 

Earlier this year Willow Creek’s founder and senior pastor was accused of inappropriate behavior toward women. In the wake of those allegations, Hybels resigned from the church and the Willow Creek Association (WCA). He will not be at the 23rd annual summit.

Established in 1992, WCA has operated as a separate organization from Willow Creek Community Church, but Hybels always served as a prominent faculty member of its summit and its board chairman.

Earlier this month, WCA announced three speakers chose to leave the summit faculty as a result of the scandal; Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington; A.R. Bernard, the pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York; and Lisa Bodell, founder and CEO of futurethink. They were replaced by leadership expert and author John Maxwell; Triad Consulting Group founder Sheila Heen; founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House T.D. Jakes; and vice-chairman of Morgan Stanley Carla Harris. You can find the list of this year’s speakers here.

Same Number of Churches Will Simulcast Global Leadership Summit 

WCA’s website says 600 churches are partnering in the summit and showing the events via satellite. That’s the same number as advertised last year, however, an unknown number of churches have withdrawn because of the allegations against Hybels.

By one individual’s estimates (Benjamin Ady), 232 churches have dropped out of hosting the conference since April. Ady told ChurchLeaders he garnered this number from comparing the list of host churches in April 2018 with the current list of host churches globally as well as direct communication with others.

Ady reached out to approximately 600 churches via email asking them to consider taking a break from hosting the Summit this year in order to “show solidarity with the multiple victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment at Willow Creek Community Church” and to bring light to the Willow Creek Association’s “dehumanizing response to the victims thus far”. 

In a statement posted on the website for Illinois’ Christ Church Oak Brook and Downers Grove, Senior Pastor Daniel D. Meyer said the church is “taking a purposeful pause” from the annual two-day leadership-building workshop because of its “high identification” with Hybels.

“Both the Christian and the American traditions have seen the value of stopping normal activities to observe a moment of silence…or to lower a flag to half-staff…or to issue a collective cry of lament—in the face of significant crisis, turmoil or loss,” Meyer wrote.

“We believe that the stories of the women that are now being told are deserving of this pause to listen, reflect and change,” Meyer added. “We feel that unless we stop to listen, some stories that need to be heard will not be told and we as a community will lose the opportunity those voices can give us to become more compassionate, just and holy.”

Grace Church in Ft. Myers, Florida, also backed out as a partnering church. Pastor Jorge Acevedo told his congregation he was afraid the coalition would harm his church.

“There is one primary reason. After careful and prayerful consideration, your pastors are concerned that even with Bill’s absence at the Summit, the unresolved accusations create a cloud of suspicion over the Summit. We in no way want to endanger the integrity and reputation of Grace Church.”

Listen to John Piper’s Iconic 7-Minute-Message that Inspired ‘Don’t Waste Your Life’

By
Megan Briggs
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Seventeen years ago John Piper gave a powerful plea to 50,000 college students in Tennessee at Passion’s OneDay event. His message inspired a book he would later write a few years later entitled “Don’t Waste Your Life.” Many pastors, leaders, and missionaries today say his book was instrumental in changing their lives and giving clarity to where God was calling them to serve today.

“There are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it [the American dream] and I get 40 minutes to plead with you DON’T BUY IT!” John gives us a great reminder we need to ask ourselves every single day: When we stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives, will we say we pursued our personal dreams and possessions or will we be able to say we lived for His glory?

“Don’t waste your life. Don’t waste it.”

Why Student Ministers Matter

By
Dennis Beckner
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Last weekend I met a student named Jeff who told me about his Life Group leader. The more I heard, the more I realized I needed to share his story. My hope is that in reading why Jeff loves his leader, you will be encouraged and realize what a difference you are making in the lives of your students.

Here’s what Jeff has to say about his leader (I left this unedited, except for some paragraph breaks, so you can see it just as it was written):

Hello! My name is Jeff and I’m a Junior in high school and I’ve grown up at the church my whole life. Because of my involvement at the church I’ve been around A TON of leaders. Leaders at summer camps, weekend retreats, serve trips, weekend service leaders and, most of all, small group leaders. Small Group leaders are my favorite. I’ve been through quite a few since the start of my small group (called “life groups” at my home church) in 7th grade. I’ve been asked to share from a student’s perspective what makes an awesome leader, so here we go!

My first account of an absolutely incredible Youth Ministry Leader was actually one of the first leaders I ever had. When I got thrown into a small group of 7th grade guys I just barely knew, I also got thrown into a group with the junior high pastor at our church and a high school student that were tasked with somehow, every Wednesday night, teaching us about fellowship and Christ Jesus.

Now I remember vaguely some awesome lessons our pastor taught us at small group, but I remember even more so, our high school leader, Blake, being so present in our group. Blake served at the same service most of the guys in our group attended so everyone once in awhile, after service a few of us boys would pack into Blake’s old 90’s Jeep Grand Cherokee and go get burgers.

Blake would take us to get food, hangout and listen to music, give us rides to church and would always, always be at group on Wednesdays. We would talk about cars and trucks and motorcycles and about going camping and listening to music and how girls were oddly becoming more and more intriguing and we would talk and hang out and do absolutely whatever. It didn’t matter what we were doing. It mattered that Blake, an older leader, someone that had some amount of responsibility, someone that probably had something more important to do, spent his time with us.

It didn’t always have to be a spirit-infused conversation about the Godhead. It didn’t always have to be a “sit down and let me tell you what I’m struggling with.” Blake was and is a magnificent leader because he was my friend first. So when I needed to have those conversations, ask those tough biblical questions, tell him the dark stuff, I was ready, willing and running to him because he wasn’t a just my leader, he was a dear friend. And I’m always so stoked to tell people he still is. Even after he resigned from leading our small group, even after he started having to pay bills and worry about a future and a girlfriend and so much more, he still is my friend.

I still meet up with Blake as often as I can and get counsel if I need it, but also we still talk about cars (Jeeps specifically because that 90’s Grand Cherokee became my favorite car and I now have a newer version of that same model, due solely to Blake’s Jeep), we, unsurprisingly, still talk about girls and still get lunch. Blake is, after six small group leaders, countless summer camp leaders and many more weekend leaders, still the best leader I’ve ever met. A great leader to me is anyone who is willing to generously give their time, but most of all, genuine friendship to students that need it. Doing that just allows Jesus to work through leaders even more effortlessly.

5 Reasons Church Online Might Be a Distraction to Your Church’s Vision

By
Rich Birch
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

If approached incorrectly, online church might actually be a distraction for your church. Church online can stunt your church’s impact if you don’t manage it correctly. Before you send me hate mail or decide that you’re no longer going to read my posts, please know that I have been involved in church online since 2009. Over the years I’ve spent an incredible amount of time, effort and money on making online church work, and I speak from a place of experience with both failure and success in this area.

We spent several years trying to figure out how to connect live video (or at least simulated live video) to a chat room so that we could minister to people digitally. A funny thing happened in 2015 when Mark Zuckerberg and his team at Facebook developed Facebook Live. This innovation, undoubtedly, made it much simpler for many churches to provide an online church experience to their guests, which was great because too many of us were spending too many resources trying to develop our own online platforms. While I’ve heard some interesting stories about churches that made somewhat of an impact, for many churches online church can become more of a distraction to our calling to build local churches where people meet face-to-face.

Before your church jumps headfirst into church online, or if you’re questioning whether your current investment of resources is worth it, here are five reasons why I believe church online might be a distraction to your church’s vision.

Does it move people toward community?

At its core, the tension within church online is achieving the movement of people from anonymity to community.

When we first started playing with the church online world, we had chat rooms where users could make up their own usernames. At the time I remember struggling with how we were going to help someone with the username “FancyBear213” become a fully devoted follower of Christ. If someone couldn’t even identify themselves with their own name and profile picture, how were we going to move those anonymous contacts into community with each other and get them plugged in?

Now granted, the folks at Saddleback Church have done an incredible job developing online community groups. You should study them and learn from how they are making that happen. Even so, most churches experience online groups as an anonymous mass. I’ve also seen churches count the attendance at church online in the same way that we count heads on Sunday mornings. However, there is a significant difference between counting IP addresses or “seven-second watch-times” and the people who come in person and actively participate in our communities.

I’ve written so much about how difficult it is to move people from sitting in a seat to plugging them in. This is a struggle we’ve all shared. How much more difficult is it then to move someone from the anonymous space of their phone or laptop to connecting with others in “real” life? There isn’t a clear path, and investing time, effort and energy at this point would be a waste of your resources.

At the same time, there are people attending your live services today, the old-fashioned Sunday morning crowd sitting in rows, who also aren’t plugged into community. Work harder at what could be a real growth opportunity in your “IRL” services.

Online tends toward amalgamation.

In the end, there will probably be one or two very large online church presences. There aren’t hundreds and thousands of online retailers; there’s Amazon. There aren’t thousands of places to stream shows and movies; there’s Netflix. There aren’t hundreds of incredibly popular, niche search engines; there’s Google. The same is bound to happen with church online. The drive of the Internet is to reward a few very large content and community providers. The network effect takes over and those providers with the largest communities win in the end.

Over time, some churches will figure out how to use this medium for outreach, but chances are it’s not going to be your church or my church. The contenders could be churches like Saddleback, or North Point, or Life.Church. These churches are indeed doing incredible work already, but the reality of it is online media tends to amalgamate into one or two very large, dominant leaders. The way that Amazon, Netflix, Google and a myriad of other online sectors have narrowed down to one or two leaders will also happen with church online.

On a Sunday morning sometime soon, take the opportunity to scroll through different online church experiences. What do you notice? They’re all very similar; they’re not differentiated from each other. Over time, what happens in an undifferentiated market is some player ends up becoming more dominant through significant differentiation. Every other player in that market offers a “commodity offering” while a single player or two stand out with above average differentiated offerings and gain the majority of the mindshare. Today we might not see a clear leader, but I believe that over time one will emerge.

Instead of focusing on how you can outdo some other large church on the other side of the country, consider how you can attract people who live within the vicinity of your church to come and attend. In fact, the act of trying to differentiate online could take you away from the value of reaching people in your own area.

The Three Most Important Things About Biblical Worship

By
Jeremy Roberts
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

This is an exciting week around Brushy Creek Baptist Church Taylors, where I have the opportunity to serve as pastor. Our new worship pastor, Tim Bottoms, starts today!

Brushy Creek has gone through a unique transition of leadership. I became pastor of the church in November 2017, following an under-shepherd, Dr. Ralph Carter, who faithfully served for 25 years. Alongside Dr. Carter, Robbie Sox served 25 years as worship pastor.

Today is the first day Brushy Creek has had a new worship pastor in 25+ years. This truth has caused me to think about the three most important things pertaining to biblical worship.

John 4:19–24 says, 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I. The Importance of Worship: Priority

A. God Desires it (v. 23)

John 4:23 says, But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 

Proverbs 23:6 says, Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies.

Mark 12:30 says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

B. God Deserves It

Exodus 34:14 says, For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 

C. God Requires It

II. The Ingredient of Worship: Principles 

A. Sphere

B. Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is freedom.

Romans 5:11 says, More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

C. Sincerity

John 4:22 says, You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Matthew 23:25–26 says, 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

III.  The Implication of Worship: Practice

 John 4:23b–24 says, For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.  24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Matthew 4:10 says, Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”

We must PRIORITIZE worship. We must grasp the PRINCIPLES of worship. Finally, we must PRACTICE it.

The original article appeared here.

Who Is Lynne Hybels…and What Does She Need From Us Right Now?

By
Christine Yount Jones
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Lynne Hybels is the wife of Bill Hybels–renowned founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois. This year in 2018, Bill has been publicly accused of sexual harassment and he has resigned from the megachurch he and Lynne founded. In the last few months as this media storm has rained down confusion and grief on those at the Willow Creek Community Church, Bill’s family has been unsurprisingly silent.

Let’s be clear. These are accusations. Nothing has been proven but an independent investigation is in the works right now to dig deeper into the accusations brought forward by numerous women against Bill Hybels.

We believe Lynne Hybels is so much more than just Bill’s wife.

Lynne Hybels Is an Author

Forty-five years ago with her then-fiance Bill, Lynne Hybels started a high school ministry that later became Willow Creek Community Church–a church for adults. Neither Bill nor Lynne could’ve dreamed that it would become one of the largest and most influential churches in the United States.

Throughout her adult life, Lynne is someone who has been generous to share about her faith journey. Lynne writes on her blog that 25 years ago “when I was forty and married to a very public pastor, I entered an era of spiritual and emotional crisis. In the deep soils of my soul, the earth quaked; my life crumbled. Though the crumbling was quiet, it was agonizing. I could not imagine that anything could mend the fractures that split my soul.”

And yet, she says that with her husband’s support and guidance from deeply spiritual counselors, she “spent the next decade discovering healing truths about myself and about God.”

Lynne writes that her dark night of the soul “was a painful and messy decade,” but she says, “I entered the places of my deepest brokenness and I found Jesus there, loving me. That changed everything. Divine love was a foundation I could build a life on.”

Church, can we pray that Lynne and her family will once again find that divine love is the foundation they can build (and rebuild) their lives on?

Bill and Lynne penned Fit to Be Tied: Making Marriage Last a Lifetime about marriage during this time. Lynne writes, “Bill and I wrote this book twenty-five years ago out of the struggle of our own marriage. We’ve wondered during various times of deep marital challenge if we should have titled it Fit to be Un-tied. But the truth is: The lessons we learned and shared in that book have proven to keep us connected to one another, to our kids and to God for over forty years.”

Lynne Hybels Is a World-Changer

After that challenging decade, God called Lynne to follow Jesus deeper into the brokenness of the world.

“I ended up in places like South Africa, Zambia, DR Congo, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq,” she writes.  “I met children orphaned by AIDS and women raped in warzones. I met families destroyed by the despair of unsurmountable poverty. I met refugees who had crossed country borders in the middle of the night with bullets chasing them. Such brokenness. Such pain.”

She writes, “But in the midst of what seemed hopeless I found hope.”

In 2005, Lynne wrote a book entitled: Nice Girls Don’t Change the World. She writes about this book: “At thirty-nine I was a people-pleasing ‘nice girl’ who knew how to keep everybody else happy but was seriously depressed myself. During the next decade, I gradually discovered hope and joy as I owned my own dreams, strengths, passion and calling to engage actively in the world.”

Oh, Church, instead of judging or clicking our tongues in disgust that we’re so often tempted to do in situations like this…can we join in praying for Lynne to continue to have boldness and courage?

Can we ask God to fill her with the peace that passes understanding?

Dear Church, can we pray for Lynne that in this time of brokenness for her family, that she will find hope? Again.

Hope. Hope that does NOT disappoint.

The Megapopular Churches That Celebrity and Instagram Built

By
Megan Briggs
-
celebrity pastors
Screengrab via Instagram / @chadveach

What do Hillsong NYC, Vous Church, Churchome and Zoe Church have in common besides Justin Bieber’s sporadic presence at their services? All four churches hail from the same theological tradition, have lead pastors around the same age, and have a dizzying social media presence.

“Instagram built our church,” says Chad Veach of Zoe Church in Los Angeles, California.

All hailing from the Pentecostal tradition, a denomination which sticks to pretty conservative views when it comes to hot-button social issues such as homosexuality and abortion, these churches have managed to walk a very curious road of appealing to the broader culture. Their pastors have also managed to avoid directly answering questions about their positions on tricky topics. Their aim is to reach “those far from God,” including celebrities and their fans.

While there are differences between the four churches, they are most similar in their message to the people they’re trying to reach: We won’t ask you questions about your lifestyle. Just come to church. Judging by their social media pages, the key to appealing to culture is to make church look fun and hipster.

The Rise of Zoe Church

Veach hails from the greater Seattle, Washington, area, where his father continues to serve as an administrator of the Foursquare Church, overseeing some 200 churches. Getting his start by working under Judah Smith of Churchome (previously called City Church in Seattle), Veach made the move down to Los Angeles in 2014 to start his own church.

What has become a common thread among a lot of young churches, Zoe started in an unconventional place: a nightclub called 1 Oak. Before that, the group met in houses. Now the church meets at the El Rey Theater on Wilshire Boulevard.

Veach estimates the church’s Instagram audience of 65,000 brings in about 1,600 physical attendees to the church’s services each week. So what exactly is so drawing about the church’s Instagram account?

A brief swipe-through of Zoe’s Instagram feed produces professional-looking shots of people looking as if they’re genuinely enjoying church. Nothing but smiles. And coffee. From baptism to fellowship time to worship, my goodness it all looks so polished.

In addition to the church’s Instagram page, Veach’s personal page is public and only slightly less polished than the church’s page. Plenty of pictures of Veach’s children and household-name friends adorn his account.

V O U S C O N F 2 0 1 8

A post shared by Chad Veach (@chadcveach) on

It’s very clear Veach is trying to appear approachable and relevant, and more important, that he won’t judge anyone. “Our church is a place where our doors are open to people of all backgrounds—regardless of where they are at in their journeys—and we hope all feel welcomed, comfortable and loved,” Zoe’s homepage reads.

Appearances by celebrities on the church’s Instagram account and services don’t hurt attendance, either. Actor Chris Pratt regularly attends Zoe, and even promoted Veach’s book on his personal Instagram account. Pratt has been seen at services with his girlfriend, Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver.

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