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Teaching Preteens – Hook, Look, & Book

By
Karl Bastian
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communicating with the unchurched

Teaching preteens can be intimidating! The larger the group, the harder it can be to gain and keep their attention. They just might pull out their smart phones and start texting a friend or fiddle with an app if you don’t engage them and capture their attention. So how do you hold the attention of these busy bodies and minds?

The good news is, preteens provide the best of both worlds. They still enjoy the fun of stuff from the world of kids (they aren’t “too cool” to have fun), and yet they are ready to get serious and be challenged, if you are willing to take them there. They don’t want to be treated like children. So you have to walk the line between fun and seriousness—it’s an exciting line to walk! (Keep an eye out for these watchwords: “Hook, Look, & Book!”)

Teaching Preteens – 7 Strong Approaches

1. Come out of the gate strong and fast. (“Hook!”)

Don’t start like a slow locomotive and gradually speed up. Preteens quickly evaluate whether you are going to be interesting. If you are boring at the beginning, they are going to check out mentally. Getting them to check back in will be a challenge. Demanding their attention from a place of authority hardly works with this age. While it may work with kids, it doesn’t with preteens. You have to earn their attention, not demand it. You can’t lead by authority; you have to lead with authenticity. Command, rather than demand, their attention.

So, don’t introduce your lesson by saying what you are going to talk about; just start talking about it. Don’t say, “we’ve been doing a series about…” or “for the past few weeks we’ve been looking at…” or “today we’re going to continue our study of…” Zzzzzzzz (boooooring)

Instead, capture them from the get-go! You need to engage them IMMEDIATELY with a story or question or joke that will head into the topic of your message. Don’t meander into your lesson. Start with a ZOOM or BANG or POP! Basically, never give them a chance to even start to decide if they are going to listen or like the message because they will be hooked from the first 10 seconds! (Hint: they won’t even realize it is a lesson!) They’ll just get sucked in. It won’t be until the end of your story or joke or question that you will bring it around to the fact that it is actually an intro to your topic, and POW, they will be IN to your lesson! And suddenly, it will be too late for them to check out, because they will already be in and wanting to go for the entire ride. The moment you walk onto the stage, begin as though you are in the middle of a story…or just telling the joke…or asking a thought provoking question. DON’T INTRODUCE IT. Just begin it. At a horse race, the horses don’t come out and stroll a bit, nibble at the grass, and then start running. Rather, the doors crash open and the horses burst out of the gate running full speed. Start your lesson that way, and your preteens will all be listening!

(By the way, this is an important “tip”—I’m not making a separate point, because I’m considering it assumed. Your lesson should be planned and printed. As the saying goes, “If you don’t have a plan for the kids, they’ll have a plan for you!” If you wing it, you’ll always come off looking weak. So with teaching preteens, have a written lesson plan so that you will have a structure you are following. You’ll come off as more prepared and have more control during your lesson time. You’ll also end stronger, instead of just fizzling out. If you start strong and end strong, the middle will take care of itself.)

2. Walk out and among the kids.

Don’t stay on the stage. Think of kids brains as screen savers that will turn on to something else if they aren’t jarred constantly. By walking around, looking every kid in the eye, and making them move around and look around, you keep “bumping the mouse” and making them stay alert and engaged. Use your whole body as you talk. Gestures and voice should be exaggerated – both excited and then minimized for emphasis. It makes your audience listen and concentrate. Engage not only their ears but their eyes and entire bodies in the listening.

3. Use props! (“Look!”)

People often think that props can only being used as “object lessons,” but this is limited thinking. Jesus used objects all the time. I use them even when I preach in “Big Church.” Why? As soon as you pull out an object, you suddenly have the attention of everyone in the room. It causes a reaction—anything from curiosity to laughter, depending on the object. It doesn’t have to be a full blown object lesson, as helpful as those can be.

This past Sunday I taught on John 3:19–21. It was a message on how people don’t like the “Light of Jesus” shining into areas of their lives that they aren’t ready for Jesus to have an influence on. Throughout the lesson, I simply held a flashlight. However, at the beginning of the passage it says, “This is the verdict,” so I pulled out of my bag a GIANT judge’s gavel. The kids cracked up laughing. I talked about what a verdict was and just held it as I read the passage. While not many people have that prop, it sure helped keep their attention. (Be a collector of props!)

Later, when we turned to Romans 12:1–2 and talked about not being “conformed to the pattern of this world,” I brought out my Star Wars pancake molds and talked about how the world would like to make them into one type of mold, but by letting Jesus shine the light of His conviction into areas of their lives that need change, the mold of their life can be transformed to be more Christlike—by the renewing of their minds. There was more to the lesson, but I’m just giving you examples of the props I used.

Using props engages the audience and holds their attention. Jesus the Master Teacher did this with adults. It is especially effective with preteens.

4. Use humor.

Preteens love to laugh! Tell stories, especially about yourself at their age—mistakes you made, funny things that happened to you, and lessons you learned. It makes you real, and it lets them know you aren’t teaching as one who is perfect, but one who has also made mistakes and is in process like them, and can relate to them. Be willing to be silly and make a fool of yourself. (I’ve been know to put on my Chicago jersey, a knit cap, and shades and break into 80s style rapping with older kids!)

5. Teach with and from the Bible. (“Book!”)

Let the Bible be your authority. Kids get lots of advice from adults. Everywhere they turn “grown ups” are telling them what they think they should do or not do—at home, at school, and now at church. I think it is very critical that older kids see and hear that our “advice” is coming from the Word of God. I strongly believe we should be preaching from a physical Bible. Let your students see you holding a Bible. Because I refer to a lot of Scripture when I teach, I will often print out the Scriptures I need to save time flipping around in the Bible, BUT I will still put my lesson plan in an open Bible so my students see my looking IN THE BIBLE throughout the lesson. (I’ve attached my lesson from last Wednesday below as a sample.)

Remember, God promises power and effectiveness when you use His Word to teach, so make sure your lessons are loaded with His Word. It will not return void! (Isaiah 55:10-11, Jeremiah 23:29, Hebrews 4:12)

6. Provide a practical application.

Always give the kids something real and practical that they can DO as a result of the lesson you taught. Never just talk at kids without providing an opportunity for them to respond in some real way during the upcoming week. Otherwise, you are just being a performer. If there is no way for the “rubber to meet the road” in their life in the next week, what good is your lesson? Give them some time to close their eyes and reflect on the lesson and to pray and listen to God and to allow the Holy Spirit to give them a thought or idea or application. It only takes 30 seconds or so, and if they are sincere, God will always provide that practical application for them. Then pray for them, and include yourself in that prayer so they know you too are always in process as well. You aren’t talking down at them, but praying with them as you too are still working on these things as a fellow disciple of Jesus.

Start out high energy and fun and entertaining, but by the end of your lesson bring it down. You can even come out into the center of the group, sit on a stool, and have the kids pull in close and get serious. You will have earned their attention and be able to have a heart to heart with them. Get down to business and then give them your challenge and have them reflect on what truly matters as it relates to the lesson. Older kids feel respected when you take them seriously. Many adults don’t do that. So when you honor them by talking to them as peers, they will step up to the plate and surprise you with how serious and grown up they can be.

7. Teaching Preteens – Bathe your lessons in prayer.

Last, but NOT least, pray earnestly that God would speak through you. You are only the messenger. It is the Holy Spirit who changes lives, not you or your amazing lesson!

May your prayer be the same as that of the Apostle Paul, who wrote:

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ… Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Colossians 4:3-4

BONUS TIP: Don’t use video.

I didn’t make this one of my seven tips because I know in #Stumin culture it might freak some people out. But my opinion is that in today’s world, our kids are inundated with luminous rectangles, and they are constantly viewing video. Today’s preteens are starving for real geniune relationship (whether they realize it or not), and we ought to deliver that to the max during the little time with them. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t ever use a video clip, or that I won’t ever, but I avoid it as much as possible, and I only use it if I think it is the BEST tool for communicating something that can’t be communicated better live. Simply put, I think we depend on visual media too much.

* These tips all flow from the classic HOOK, LOOK, BOOK, TOOK teaching technique that has been around for a century and is expounded upon in detail in the Kidology Handbook.

7 Reasons Why Christians Abandon the Faith

By
Frank Viola
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communicating with the unchurched

Since I’ve been following the Lord over the last three decades, I’ve watched believers — some of them being the most faithful and the most zealous of my friends — Christians abandon the faith, leave the Lord, and veer off into atheism or some other world religion.

(Keep in mind that the purpose of this blog isn’t to discuss the once-saved-always-saved doctrine nor to speculate on whether or not these folks truly knew the Lord. That’s an entirely different topic and not the one for today’s post. Rather, it’s to explore why these people—who in all cases had all the outward marks of being a true follower—decided to serve Jesus divorce papers and turn their backs on God.)

Whether you want to call it apostasy or backsliding is irrelevant. I want to stay with one narrow idea: the reasons why they said they bailed out on the Lord and abandoned the faith.

As I shuffle these people in my mind—some of whom served the Lord for over 20 years before they pulled the plug on believing in Jesus altogether—each of them said they did so for one of these seven reasons.

7 Reason Why Christians Abandon the Faith

1. The horrible, disgusting, nasty way that Christians treat one another in-person and online.

I wrote about this in “Warning: The World Is Watching How We Christians Treat One Another” and “The Art of Being a Jerk Online.” But it’s also one of the reasons why some Christians want nothing to do with following Jesus anymore. It’s because of the subhuman way that so many of His professing followers treat each other. Ways in which they themselves would never want to be treated, breaking the cardinal commandment of Jesus Himself—which fulfills the Law and the Prophets—in Matthew 7:12.

2. The canned, superficial answers they had been given to complicated questions.

Example: An 18-year-old is brought up in a Christian home. She is taught that God created the earth in seven literal days and that the earth is young. The 18-year-old enters college and she hears this idea ripped to shreds. She is confused and finally concludes, “If that’s wrong, then I have to throw out everything I’ve been taught in the Bible. Maybe it’s all myth.”

The fact is, this 18-year-old has never been exposed to some of the best thinking on the subject. She’s never been exposed to the sophisticated answers to modernity, to empiricism, to the problem of evil in the world. Nor has she ever been taught that one can interpret Genesis a number of ways and none of them mean doubting the authority, reliability or inspiration of Scripture.

The canned answers she received is all she knows, and they are proving inadequate.

Greg Boyd’s excellent book Benefit of the Doubt goes into some of this very well.

(Incidentally, to the fundamentalists who might read this post, I’ve not given my view on Genesis 1 and 2 here, so don’t assume it. I give my views on those passages in Jesus: A Theography. I find too many holes in macro-evolutionary theory (although there is clearly evolution within species, etc.), and I believe that Adam was a living, breathing mortal.

However, I have many friends who take all of this figuratively and they are more faithful to Jesus Christ than some of my fundamentalist friends. So if N.T. Wright or C.S. Lewis reads Genesis 1 and 2 completely figuratively, that doesn’t make them apostates. The real test of whether or not you really know Jesus Christ is if you love the brethren—1 John—and walk in Matthew 7:12. Many so-called “Bible-believing Christians” do not; they are hateful and dishonest people who will be shocked when they face God one day.)

7 Leadership Missteps That Limit Your Potential

By
Ron Edmondson
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communicating with the unchurched

I have been in leadership roles for over three decades now. I’ve led large and small teams in business, government, church and nonprofits. Along the way, I’ve learned there are leadership missteps which can limit a leader’s potential to lead well. 

My heart is for leaders. One of the primary purposes of this blog (and our podcast) is to share simple leadership principles I have learned; many the hard way. Often a simple idea is powerful when put into practice in your context.

Do you want to be successful as a leader? Of course, anyone who leads has this as a goal. There are some leadership missteps which can limit your potential to lead well.

7 Leadership Missteps That Limit Your Potential:

1. Trying to plan or control every detail. 

Ecclesiastes says you won’t plant if you watch the wind. Risk is always necessary for meaningful success. Is there something you feel certain you need to do – or there is a passion on your heart – but, for whatever reason, you’ve not taken the risk?

Leadership by definition involves guiding people into an unknown.

2. Lack of flexibility in leading.

Things change. People change. Times change.

Have a great worthy, God-honoring vision – make sure it’s grounded in truth and don’t steer from it, but realize the road to accomplish it may change many times along the way.

Changing the way things are done to be more successful is not a bad reflection on leadership. In fact, it’s a characteristic of good leadership.

What changes do you currently need to encourage?

3. Shunning or controlling some of the people on your team.

You can’t do it alone. No leader has all the good ideas. You need help.

One of the default actions of leaders is to isolate themselves and/or to control the actions of others. Many times this is out of fear, lack of trust, or sometimes even pride.

Leadership involves knowing people. It involves utilizing the knowledge, skills and talents of others – actually people better equipped to do some things than you are at times. And this should exclude no one on your team. Every person can bring value to the organization or they shouldn’t be there.

Who on your team is just waiting for you to get to know them, believe in them and let them go?

19 State Bills Seek to Restrict Transgender Athletes This Year

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

Legislators with at least 19 states have introduced bills this year that would restrict student athletes to competing in sports based on their biological sex and not their gender identity. Critics of the legislation claim it violates transgender rights, while advocates argue that restrictions on transgender athletes, particularly trans women, are needed to protect women’s rights.

“It will ruin the opportunity for girls to earn scholarships,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, commenting on transgender women being allowed to compete against biological females. “It will put a glass ceiling back where there hasn’t been one. I think it will destroy women’s sports.”

Wyatt Ronan, who is with the Human Rights Campaign, counters that such bills are “discriminatory anti-transgender legislation” and that “states that pass legislation that attacks our community will face severe economic, legal, and reputational harm.” 

State Bills—and a Federal Bill—Seek to Restrict Transgender Athletes 

The bill making its way through the Tennessee legislature says: “A student’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event must be determined by the student’s sex at the time of the student’s birth, as indicated on the student’s original birth certificates.”

Tennessee’s bill describes the physical advantages that biological males have over females, stating that, “Boys, on average, can be physically stronger than girls, having more skeletal muscle mass than girls and more upper-body and lower-body strength, which can result in injury to girls if girls participate in contact sports with boys.” The legislation reiterates Lee’s argument that allowing biological males who identify as female to compete in women’s sports poses an unfair advantage to women and will prevent women from winning awards and scholarships.

Quite a few of the proposed state bills refer to the disadvantages biological females have when competing against biological males. Some legislators have framed their bills as protecting women’s rights; several bills have the title, “Save Women’s Sports Act.” 

The following states have proposed legislation restricting student athletes who are transgender:

Arizona SB1637
Connecticut HB05795 and SB00324
Georgia HB276
Hawaii HB1304
Iowa HF334 and HF184
Kentucky SB106
Minnesota HF352
Missouri HB1077/HB 1045, HJR53
Mississippi SB2536
Montana HB112
North Dakota HB1298
New Hampshire HB198
Ohio HB61
Oklahoma SB331
South Carolina H3477
South Dakota HB1217
Tennessee SB0228 and HB0003
Texas SB373
Utah HB0302

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced a bill in the federal government similar to the one moving through his state’s legislature. It is called the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.” In a press release for the bill, Lee said, “When transgender athletes compete against women, women’s sports are no longer women’s sports; they become unisex athletic events. This bill would protect the opportunity of girls throughout America to athletically compete against other girls.”

Sen. Mike Lee’s bill and the other state bills follow the lead of Idaho, which last year passed a law banning transgender women from competing against biological females. After the law passed, the American Civil Liberties Union and Legal Voice filed a lawsuit alleging that the law was unconstitutional. They claimed the legislation was discriminatory and violated the right to privacy because of its requirement to verify students’ biological sex. A judge issued a temporary injunction against the law, and it currently “awaits legal review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Inclusive Georgia Church Faces Ousting From SBC

By
Stephanie Martin
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communicating with the unchurched

A Southern Baptist congregation near Atlanta says its ties to the denomination are in jeopardy because it openly welcomes gay members. Jim Conrad, longtime pastor of Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, tells ChurchLeaders the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has put him on notice because of his inclusion policy. Via both phone call and letter, he says, he was informed that the Credentials Committee “will recommend to the Executive Committee at its February 22-23 meeting that our church be deemed ‘not in friendly cooperation’ and be dismissed from membership in the SBC.”

Conrad tells ChurchLeaders, “The Credentials Committee is recommending that our church no longer be welcomed as a member of the SBC because we have welcomed LGBTQ believers as members of our church. While we recognize their rights and responsibility, we respectfully disagree and remain committed to sharing God’s good news with all God’s children.” 

Pastor Jim Conrad: Backlash Is ‘Unfortunate’

Although Towne View’s stance has led to a 30% membership decline, Conrad tells a local TV station, “You never tell someone, ‘No, you’re not welcome.’ ” He describes being asked by Brockton Bates, a gay man who was new to town, if he and his partner would be welcome at the church. That query caught him off guard, the pastor admits, but he concluded that Towne View is a place for everyone who wants to “love Jesus” and “serve Jesus,” no matter their sexual orientation or identity.

Bates, in turn, says he appreciates that stance, calling it “an appropriate one” and “a faithful one.”

“Towne View holds ‘no ill will’ toward the SBC,” says Pastor Conrad. Instead, “We’re ready to move and see what God’s future for our church is going to be.” When ChurchLeaders asked whether he’d challenge a possible disfellowship decision, Conrad said he doesn’t plan to appeal. Once the Executive Committee makes a decision, he says, “We will consider other options for alignment for mission and ministry.”

Is Towne View Evidence of Bigger Shift?

The SBC’s official documents equate homosexuality with sin, but several conservative groups accuse the denomination of softening its stance on LGBTQ issues. In August 2019, Reformation Charlotte posted a video of a sermon by Pastor Conrad and wrote, “If the fruit of the gay celibate movement led by The Gospel Coalition and the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty [Commission] movement has accomplished one thing, it’s been to move churches closer toward full acceptance and inclusion of homosexuality.”

The “Pulpit and Pen” blog also has criticized Conrad, saying the pastor prioritizes personal experience over Scriptural truth, condemns reparative therapy for homosexuals, and preaches egalitarianism. “ERLC and its liberal employees and research fellows should be proud of its work because it has been effective,” the blog states.

The SBC’s Credentials Committee, which reviews complaints against individual churches, is scheduled to submit its next report to the Executive Committee (EC) on February 23. Spokesman Jonathan Howe says the Credentials Committee “does not publicly discuss any submissions they receive unless and until they make a recommendation to the full EC for disfellowship and the EC chooses to act on that recommendation.”

How to Stay Motivated During a Pandemic

By
Dale Hudson
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communicating with the unchurched

Have you found being motivated waning during the pandemic? You don’t feel motivated? Your inspiration has gone AWOL?

Your excitement for work is just not what it used to be. Everything got turned upside down.

In person ministry shifted to online ministry.

And for those who have been able to have live services, the number of kids and families coming to the physical church building has been reduced to half or less of what the attendance was before Covid-19.

And on top of that, you’ve had volunteers step down from serving. In the majority of cases, they stepped down due to the virus and the risk of being infected. No matter the reason, when volunteers step down, it has a negative effect on you. It leads to self-doubt many times, as you ponder why they left. Was it my leadership style? Did they not feel appreciated? Did I not make it safe enough for them to feel comfortable enough to continue serving?

Then there are the online videos. Whether using someone else’s or creating your own, you wonder how many kids and families are actually watching them. Is it worth the time and effort I’m putting in to it?

All of these factors can lead to discouragement. Your motivation is slowly leaking out and not being replaced. You’re trying to stay motivated, but it’s hard due the factors I’ve listed above and others that you are working through.

How do I stay motivated?

How to I keep my passion on fire?

How do I keep investing in the ministry volunteers? Especially those who are thinking about stepping down or have taken a hiatus from serving?

Will things ever get back to “normal?”

It’s during times like this, that God calls us and equips us to lead well. But we must remember, before we try to motivate others, we must first be motivated ourselves.
Staying motivated during a pandemic can be a challenge for sure. But it can be done through intentional steps. Here are a few tips about staying motivated in the midst of a pandemic.

Wake up and get up. Get up and get dressed. Even if you are working from home. Don’t fall into the habit of sitting around all day in your pajamas. That can turn into binging on Netflix instead of getting things done. Treat working at home like you are working at the office.

Set goals. Set manageable goals that you can meet. Meeting these goals will help you stay engaged and focused.

Exercise. You need to jog. Lift some weights. Walk around the block. Do some form of exercise a minimum of 5 days a week. Yes, I know. It’s not easy. They call it a “workout” for a reason. It’s hard work, but the benefits outweigh any negatives you may experience.

Stay connected. If you are working from home, be sure you stay connected with what is going on. Information and clear communication is a necessary part of leadership. Communicate with staff members. Communicate with volunteers. Communicate with parents.

Push anxiety away. It’s hard to stay motivated when you are having anxiety attacks. Yes, there is plenty to be stressed about right now. Anxiety about the future abounds. But it doesn’t have to control you. Take it to God and leave it there. And if you are having severe anxiety, connect with a doctor asap. It may be a physical condition you are going through due to stress.

Stay positive…even when it’s hard. The months that have passed have been filled with one negative thing after another. Negativity is the easy choice because it doesn’t seem like there’s positivity anywhere to be seen. Work hard to see the good in every situation, no matter how terrible it may seem. Attitude is half the battle in any sport; you can be in the best physical shape but a negative mindset will crush any chance you have of coming out on top. Practice optimism, and you’ll be glad you did in the long run.

Spend extra time with Jesus and His Word. What a great opportunity you have to spend some extra time with Jesus in prayer and in reading His Word. Do this daily. You will soon find out that being with Jesus can help ease your fears and doubts. He is the master of the sea, you know.

It may feel like this pandemic is going to last forever. But it will eventually pass. In the meantime, keep your eyes upon Jesus and let Him fill you with hope. The sun will shine again. Better days are just around the river bend.

Do you have a copy of my book “Lead Well in Children’s Ministry? It will give you the tools you need to lead well during challenging times. It’s available at this link.

This article originally appeared here.

Six Types of Churches That Have Died During the Pandemic

By
Thom Rainer
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communicating with the unchurched

Six Types of Churches That Have Died During the Pandemic

My purpose is neither to be morbid nor sensational.

Death is a delicate topic, especially the death of churches. My purpose is to send a warning so changes can be made quickly and urgently. My greater purpose, ironic as it may seem, is to send a message of hope.

These six types of churches are described categorically, but the categories are not mutually exclusive. Many of these deceased churches fit most, if not all, of the categories. We have spoken with the leadership of these churches. The conversations were sad but enlightening.

All of the churches noted in these categories have either closed or announced their intentions to close. Thankfully, some of them generously gave their sites to healthier churches. We hope to follow their adoption progress closely.

  1. The aged church. For the churches where I have data, the median age of the remaining membership was 76. In all cases, we learned that the church had been a church of older members for some time. In many cases, they essentially ran off younger members who would have brought changes to their congregations.
  1. The fighting church. The deceased churches had numerous conflicts and, often, church splits. With each new conflict, the church declined. Guests stopped coming to the divided church. When the pandemic came, those who remained were too weary to keep the ministry of the church going.
  1. The deferred maintenance church. These churches did not make wise decisions to keep the facilities in good condition. One church argued over choosing the contractor to install a new HVAC several years ago, so they did nothing. Most of the churches simply refused to spend the funds. Giving in the churches declined precipitously in the pandemic. The churches literally could not pay the bills to keep the building maintained. 
  1. The run-the-pastor-off church. These churches pushed their pastors out either through forced resignations or firings on a regular basis. Every two to four years, they fired and hired a pastor. Usually, there was a power group in the church that did not want the pastor to lead. So that group concocted a reason to push the pastor out. Many of these churches could not find or afford a pastor during the pandemic. 
  1. The neighborhood-looks-different church. The neighborhood changed, but the church didn’t. Those in the church looked differently than those in the neighborhood. When the pandemic came, the members stopped making the drive to the church because they didn’t live in the church’s community. COVID exacerbated a trend that had been in process for years.
  1. The infant church. These churches were relatively new and did not have many members or givers before the pandemic. Some of the churches were in leased spaces that would not let the church regather during the pandemic. In all of these cases, the church had not reached sufficient maturation to survive the implications of COVID.

Please contact someone who can help you if you sense your church is on the precipice of death, or if your church is not healthy. That person could be in your denomination or network. We are also available at Church Answers. Contact us at info@churchanswers.com. Please seek help. Please have a willingness to be adopted by another church if possible.

Your church has its address for a reason. Your church is to be a light in the community where God placed you.

Don’t let that light go away. We are here if we can help in any way.

And also let us hear your stories, both the good and the bad. We can always learn more for God’s glory.

This article originally appeared here.

Water Cooler Conversations — Remotely?

By
Nick Nicholaou
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communicating with the unchurched

Good team communication is a challenge anytime, but even more so when working remotely. While that topic can address many things, let’s focus on how to have those comfortable and helpful water cooler conversations with team members who work at a different location.

The Challenge of Water Cooler Conversations

If we were working together in the same office setting, it’s easy to imagine the following situation:

I’ve been working on a project and been stuck on some aspect of it. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to overcome it but can’t seem to make headway. After frustratingly spinning my wheels for some time, I decide to go refill my coffee cup. While in the breakroom and stirring the cream into my coffee, you walk in and say in your typical cheerful way, “How’s it going?” I respond, “I’ve been hitting my head on a wall I just can’t seem to break through.” You ask, and I briefly tell you what it is.

“Oh, I’ve hit that one before, and found that doing such-and-such got me through it.”

That is a practical office-setting illustration of the word picture in Proverbs 27:17 – “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (NIV)

But those breakroom water cooler conversations are more difficult to have and benefit from when team members work remotely.  How do we have those casual conversations in this working remotely world?

The Solution

Our IT engineering team has a rule we took from a friend[1] that’s simply called ‘The 5/15 Rule’. If you’re facing a challenge, you need to try to solve it yourself for at least five minutes. But if you go past fifteen minutes, stop spinning your wheels and ask a team member or supervisor.

It’s not always comfortable asking for help. In fact, in the example above I never asked for help! But you were kind enough to offer me the benefit of your experience, and that is helpful team communication. Really, I should have shot up a flare for help once I passed the fifteen-minute mark.

What systems are in place for your team to send up a flare for help? Especially in this season when more of us are working remotely? Our team uses and recommends a private and secure IM (Instant Message) server through which we can IM anyone on our team. The solution we use is called OpenFire Server[2], and it’s a free solution that works well. Perhaps you use Microsoft Teams and its Chat functionality. That is also private and secure.

Leadership is wise to regularly encourage team members that it’s okay to not know everything, and that team members don’t have to solve every challenge on their own. Encourage your team to send up flares for help when they need it. The internal IM platform—in our case, OpenFire—is a good way to do that.

The Challenge – Amplified!

The challenge is even greater between staff and those in leadership! A natural unintentional barrier exists between staff and leadership that is often difficult to overcome. In fact, it is only overcome by focused time and effort.

Dr. Ted Engstrom, former president of World Vision International and author of more than fifty management books, liked to do what he (and others) called MBWA, Management By Walking Around. The idea was that throughout the week he would periodically walk through their offices and just say hi and visit. He would ask about family members and issues he was aware of, and follow up on prayer requests.

Leaders, who can’t easily do MBWA in this remote work environment, can log in to the ministry’s IM system and show their status as available. Throughout the week just throw a quick greeting to various members of the team! Follow up on a family situation or prayer request they shared. The IM system can become your breakroom or water cooler meeting place while working remotely.

A Quick IM Platform Caution

Many organizations have let team members choose any IM platform they’d like. It’s important to note that Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, and other similar IM systems are neither private nor secure. Like any corporate communication platform, it is wise to avoid any sensitive exchanges (about HR issues, sensitive organizational issues, and so on) over those types of public platforms. OpenFire Server can be setup on one of your organization’s servers, and can be set to be encrypted; thus private and secure. It can be accessed on just about any device (we haven’t found one yet that cannot access it over the internet), and the communications between those devices (tablets, smartphones, and so on) are safe. It can also be setup to keep a limited log of all IMs so they can be reviewed if there’s ever a legal necessity to do so.

Internal IM platforms can be healthy communication channels that can help avoid team frustration, overcome team member roadblocks, facilitate the sense of team among all staff, and can propel your team’s mission forward at a faster pace than it otherwise would be.

[1] Dean Lisenby, VP of Corporate Operations, ACS Technologies

[2] Ignite Realtime, provider of OpenFire Server

Christians in Kenya Fearful after Five Church Buildings Burned

By
Morning Star News
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communicating with the unchurched

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Arsonists set five church buildings on fire and threw feces on the charred structures from Jan. 20 to Jan. 24 in a village in western Kenya, sources said.

St. Monica Church’s building was burned on Jan. 20 in Otamba village, in the Nyaraibari Chache area of Kisii County. On Jan. 21, the buildings of the Worldwide Church with 100 members, a Seventh-day Adventist church and a Legio Maria (an indigenous movement that broke with mainstream Roman Catholicism in 1963) congregation were torched; at about 3 a.m. on Jan. 24, arsonists burned the building of a 250-member Pentecostal Church, all in the same village.

“Apart from setting the churches ablaze, the arsonists also committed the heinous acts of scooping human feces onto the buildings to discourage the faithful from attending their ruined churches,” an area source said. “A majority of the church members were afraid to attend services [in or near the ruins] in the aftermath of the burning of the churches, fearing that the arsonists might follow them right into their homes, risking the lives of their families.”

The churches incurred damages in the millions of Kenyan shillings to the structures, chairs and other items in the buildings, the source said.

The Church and Clergy Association of Kenya condemned the burnings in a press statement.

“We demand the investigating authorities to get to the bottom of the matter and expose the agents of such heinous acts,” the statement reads.

Church leaders have appealed to police to increase security in the area and find and prosecute the culprits. Daniel Ratemo, chairman of the Pentecostal Church, appealed for financial support and prayers.

A priest at the Legio Maria church called on police to find the arsonists.

“Evil should not overcome the good that the gospel of Christ brings,” said the priest, whose name is withheld for security purposes.

Kenya was ranked 49th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

This article originally appeared on MorningStarNews.org. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit MorningStarNews.org for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.  

LGBTQ-Affirming Cathedral Defends Decision to Invite Max Lucado to Preach

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

Editor’s note: Since the publication of this article, Dean Randy Hollerith has issued a statement apologizing for inviting Max Lucado to preach at the Washington National Cathedral. Hollerith said that when he initially invited Lucado, he was not aware of the “horrific things” Lucado had said about LGBTQ people. Once he became aware of those statements, Hollerith said his “straight privilege” blinded him to the pain he was causing and that was why he refused to rescind Lucado’s invitation. In an attempt to make amends, Hollerith is planning to help lead his congregation in an online discussion that will take place on on Feb. 21. Max Lucado has also responded to the outcry by apologizing for comments he made in 2004 about same-sex marriage that he says were “disrespectful” and “hurtful.” Lucado was clear that he holds to a “traditional biblical understanding of marriage,” but added that “LGBTQ individuals and LGBTQ families must be respected and treated with love.” The pastor expressed regret that his past comments distracted from his sermon and emphasized his desire to listen to and build bridges with “those with whom we disagree.”

The dean of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C. has come under fire for inviting author and pastor Max Lucado, who does not support same-sex marriage, to speak at the LGBTQ-affirming church. Dean Randy Hollerith has defended his decision to allow Lucado to deliver a message at the church on Sunday, Feb. 7. 

“We have to come out of our corners, find common ground where we can, and find ways to live with and see each other as the beloved children of God that we are,” said Hollerith in a statement to Kathleen Moore, who started a petition to rescind Lucado’s invitation. “We have all grown too accustomed in our silos and echo chambers. In order to start the process of rebuilding, we need to hear from each other.”

In addition to being a teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, Max Lucado is a well-known author who has sold over 120 million copies of his books. Anxiety is a topic he focuses on, and his message Sunday was about “how God can bring calm to our chaos.” 

Hollerith explained, “I don’t agree with Max’s views on LGBTQ issues. We can still hold our convictions and cling to our values in the midst of disagreement. But the work that we cannot ignore is the vitally important task of what Isaiah called ‘repairing the breach.’ That starts, first and foremost, with those with whom we disagree. When we only engage with those with whom we agree on every issue, we find ourselves in a dangerous (and lonely) place.”

Max Lucado Invitation Stirs Controversy

The Washington National Cathedral is a historic, Episcopal church located in the U.S.’s capital. The cathedral’s website says, “The Cathedral supports LGBT people in all aspects of its life and ministry. The Cathedral hosted its first same-sex wedding in 2010, and welcomed its first transgender preacher, the Rev. Cameron Partridge, to the Canterbury Pulpit in 2014.” According to former dean Gary Hall, marrying same-sex couples in the cathedral is the “most emphatic” way the church can communicate that God loves all people equally.

As of 2018, a gay couple in the Episcopal Church wishing to be married in the couple’s home diocese has the option to do so. A bishop who has a moral objection to same-sex marriage may decline to perform one and refer the couple to another clergy member. Bishops may not, however, categorically ban gay marriages from their dioceses. When Bishop William Love, who was over the Diocese of Albany, refused to allow gay marriages to be performed in his diocese, a disciplinary panel found him guilty of violating canon law and his ordination vows. Love subsequently resigned. 

On Feb. 3, the Washington National Cathedral made an announcement on Facebook that Max Lucado would be preaching on Feb. 7. The post received quite a few comments from people expressing their dismay about the decision. Some Facebook users (and Moore’s petition) found the decision particularly offensive given that the remains of Matthew Shepard are interred at the cathedral. Shephard was a gay college student who died in a hospital in Colorado after two men brutally beat him and left him for dead. Hollerith’s critics have argued that the dean’s decision to invite Lucado disrespects Shephard’s legacy.

The petition for the cathedral to disinvite Lucado has garnered over 1,600 signatures as of this writing. It received over 1,000 signatures before Sunday, and people are continuing to sign it even though Lucado has already delivered his message. Among its other complaints, the petition links to an article on Crosswalk in which Lucado compared homosexuality to incest and bestiality. 

While the article has since been removed “at the request of the original owner,” an article on Lucado’s website responding to the 2015 Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage implies that Lucado does not believe gay marriage is right or good. “The decision of the SCOTUS regarding same-sex marriage has the potential to leave many Christians anxious and troubled,” he wrote. “While those of us who hold to traditional marriage have a right to be concerned, we have no need to despair.” 

Even though there is no indication that Lucado affirms gay marriage, it is possible he is communicating his beliefs differently than he used to, in light of the fact that the Crosswalk article was removed. Last year, Christian influencer Alisa Childers expressed concern that Lucado had appeared on author Jen Hatmaker‘s podcast in an episode entitled, “Max Lucado: The Beauty of Disagreeing Agreeably.” Hatmaker has said she believes same-sex unions can be “holy” and has celebrated her daughter coming out as gay. Even though Lucado did not endorse Hatmaker’s views on same-sex marriage, Childers was troubled by some of his comments about unity.

Notably, the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson presided over the service at which Lucado spoke. Robinson, who is now retired, became the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in 2003. During the service, Robinson addressed the controversy over Lucado, saying he knew that a lot of people, especially in the LGTBQ community, “have been in pain” over Lucado’s invitation. Robinson, however, chose to participate in the service because he believed in the church’s “mission to be a house of prayer to all people.”

“Those of us who are LGBTQ know how slippery that word ‘all’ can be because, far too often, we have not been included in it,” said Robinson. 

In Hollerith’s view, the Washington National Cathedral should not only welcome Christians with whom the church disagrees but also welcome people of all faiths. “This Cathedral is a house of prayer for all people, proudly so,” Hollerith said in his statement. “That means this Cathedral, and this pulpit, are big enough and strong enough to welcome pastors, rabbis, imams, clergy of every faith. It does not mean we agree with everything they might believe, but it does mean that we exhibit and inhabit a sense of open handed welcome.”

Correction: The article originally stated that all Episcopal churches are required to bless same-sex unions. In fact, clergy who do not wish to perform a gay marriage may refer the couple to another church or clergy member. The couple, however, must have the option to be married within their diocese. 

James Brown: Black History in the Making

By
Maina Mwaura
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James Brown
Photo courtesy of Maina Mwaura

Sunday night was special in many ways to me. It was an incredible Super Bowl game, but also black history was happening right in front of me. James Brown hosted his 10th pre-game and half-time show. This marks an all-time high record for a sports broadcaster. I can remember meeting James Brown—or as I like to call him Mister Brown—during my darkest hour.

Dr. Fred Luter, who was the first Black President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), introduced me to him. If I am being truthful, the only person who knew that it was my darkest hour was my wife. I had just been fired from my position as a mission pastor at a large Dallas, Georgia church. A month prior, my wife and I sat down with the executive pastor to express concerns about racism within the church and staff. We were told that all was fine. I was the only black staff member serving in a region that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene calls home. I liked them. They did not like me. I was at the end of my career, or so I thought. To be honest, after over two decades in the ministry, I did not recognize the path that God had before me.

I had always wanted to go into journalism. I also knew that I was 40 years old. It was quite possible that my time to dive into this competitive field was indeed over. Then in a twist of fate—or providence—God brought James Brown into my life. I am not into sports. At all. However, a couple of years prior, I picked up Brown’s book in a local bookstore and read it all the way back home. Brown has been someone I had somewhat followed but never thought I would meet. Nevertheless, God knows what we need at just the right time. Brown would end up letting me shadow him for a story for three months.

I received an up-close-and-personal view into the life of a sports legend. As I followed Brown, I realized that the reason some people call him a legend is not that he is a great broadcaster; it is because of what he brings to the table. Brown allowed a complete novice to follow him around the shop, as they say in the news business. During our time together, I learned that he was a Christ-follower and an ordained minister. It also became clear to me that for the people on the set, Brown was not only a complete professional but also someone in whom they could confide. He is approachable to everyone he meets.

Photo courtesy of Maina Mwaura

My journalistic eye noticed the teachable moments he inspired. As a man of color, I listened to every word that he spoke and put it into practice. As I watched Brown interact with others, I saw him repeatedly listen first then respond. I will never forget during one part of the NFL Sunday Show, he called me over so that we could talk. Mid-conversation he abruptly turned to tell the wider audience the play that had just happened. It was such a reminder to me of how God deals with us. He is watching the whole earth, but He can stop at any moment to spend time with us.

It has been over four years since I shadowed Brown. Much has changed in my life. I have interviewed US Presidents, and over four hundred influential leaders along the way. Nonetheless, Brown is still there for me when I need advice. We usually correspond with one another weekly. He makes himself available to answer all my many questions.

In a culture and business such as broadcasting, egos tend to run high. It is one of the most competitive arenas that I know. People in the industry tend to look out for number one and—at times—can come across cold and callous. Brown is the complete opposite. When I tell others that I had the privilege to follow him for three months, they also look in amazement, almost as if it is not true. Sometimes I cannot quite believe that it happened.

Brown’s historical feat is black history on full display. His example should be honored and emulated. As someone who has been mentored by Brown, I can tell you from firsthand experience. He has not only mentored me, he has also invested in me in more ways than I have space to write. Even now, while writing this piece I find myself getting a little choked up that God would allow me to not only witness black history but also have the privilege of having Brown as a mentor and coach. Through James Browns’ mentorship, God gave me a strong foundation for my journalism career.

I would have to agree with Boomer Esiason on this one: “We’re in good hands with maybe the best studio host in the history of the sport.” I can second this statement, having experienced firsthand what makes him part of the long and great list of Black History moments.

Hershel Shanks, Who Made Biblical Archaeology Widely Available, Dies

By
Yonat Shimron
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communicating with the unchurched

(RNS) — He was not a household name, but in the sometimes arcane world of biblical archaeology, Hershel Shanks was a star, and often a rabble-rouser.

Shanks, the founder and longtime editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, died Feb. 5 at the age of 90.

After spending a yearlong sabbatical in Israel in 1972, Shanks, who was Jewish, fell in love with archaeology. Having discovered archaeology late in life, however, he subsequently devoted all his considerable energy to making the field accessible to nonscholars.

In 1975, he founded the Biblical Archaeology Review as a way to bridge academic scholarship with the lay public’s appetite for answers to questions about key archaeological and historical events from the Bible: Was the Jews’ exodus from Egypt a historic event? Which parts of Jesus’ life as recounted in the Gospels are historical and which parts apocryphal?

His biggest contribution may have been a decades-long advocacy for public access to the Dead Sea Scrolls, considered among the 20th century’s greatest archaeological finds. The scrolls, which were unearthed in 1947, became the purview of a key group of experts who controlled access to them.

But research into the scrolls held the promise of better understanding of Judaism in the decades before the birth of Jesus. Shanks, a journeyman journalist, understood this. In 1991, he announced the publication of 1,787 photographs of Dead Sea Scroll fragments never before seen outside of research libraries. He was sued for breach of copyright, a battle he lost.

He would go on to publish other archaeological scoops, often drawing the ire of professional archaeologists and academics who considered his tactics sensationalist.

Born in 1930 in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Shanks earned degrees from Haverford College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He then joined the U.S. Justice Department, where he handled cases in the United States Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He practiced law privately in Washington for more than 25 years, writing widely in legal journals. He even argued an occasional case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Then he made his trip to Israel. While there, he wrote a book, “ The City of David: A Guide to Biblical Jerusalem.”

From 1987 to 2004, Shanks edited and published Moment, a magazine that bills itself a Jewish take on news, ideas and culture.

Moment editor-in-chief and CEO Nadine Epstein called Shanks “a towering presence, a true force of nature” and said, “His legacy of opening up the field of Biblical archeology was a testament to his sense of justice and transformed not just Biblical archeology but the trajectory of both the Jewish and Christian worlds. He will be greatly missed.”

This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.

What Story Will Your Kids Tell?

By
Andrew Linder
-
communicating with the unchurched

What Story Will Your Kids Tell?

I recently heard this statement and it’s stuck with me… “If you want to know the health of a society, look at its children.”

Every one of us as parents/adults has a story – a story about our childhood, our parents, and our family culture growing up. We’ve all got both some good and some bad, some ups and some downs.

If I were to ask you about these things, you could tell me. Why? Because these things have shaped you into the person you are today.

In a real sense, your past has led you to your present, and who you are today is heavily influenced by your specific story.

Is Crazy the new normal?…

The world around us is a crazy place right now, and it seems to only keep getting crazier by the day. Our children can’t help but notice this. Their lives are affected by it. Their childhood is being shaped by it.

And many parts of their story are being written with a pen that they do not hold.

But while our world seems to be on pause, our kids’ childhood isn’t. Their story is still being written one day at a time.

Our perspective of the world around us will shape theirs. Our fears or our faith will become theirs. And our story will inevitably bleed into their story for the rest of their lives.

10-20 years from now, what kind of story will our children tell?

No, not so much about Covid, or the crazy year of 2020, but about you, your home, and your family?

If the health of our entire society was based solely upon your children, would our country and our future be in good shape?

What story will your kids tell?…

  • Will they talk about parents who loved them and loved each other?
  • Will they be able to say that mom and dad’s church-life matched their home-life?
  • Will their story include how they were given a godly and spiritual foundation to build their life upon?
  • Will they look at your family’s faith as positive or negative Christianity?
  • Will they tell of how you were patient and understanding, or harsh and unreasonable?
  • Will they mention that you were kind, humble, consistent, and humorous… or distant, serious, and always had to be right?
  • Will they remember being tucked in at night, told ‘I love you’ daily, and hugged regularly?
  • Will they tell a different story in the areas of your story that you wish you could have changed growing up… or more of the same?
  • Will they credit their passion for the things of God to you, or blame you for their lack of it?

These questions aren’t meant to be harsh, but they are meant to be thought-provokingly honest.

Parents, your kids’ story is being written RIGHT NOW – a story that they will tell for years and years to come.

No one holds the pen more often than you do.

You primarily hold the power to write the story that they will tell for the rest of their lives.

Pick up the pen. Write wisely.

Their health and the health of our society depend on it.

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh… Ecclesiastes 1:4

This article originally appeared here.

The Cosmic Effect of the Resurrection

By
Ian K. Smith
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communicating with the unchurched

I have noticed that something is missing when ministry leaders talk about the resurrection.

The Resurrection Is Not Just About Us

I sit on several boards that interview people for positions of leadership in God’s church—missionaries, ministers, and the like. During those interviews we always ask the question, “Could you please explain or give a summary of the Christian gospel?” Now one thing that heartens me is the fact that people always mention the cross. But sadly, people rarely mention the resurrection in their summary of the gospel. When prompted, they say, “Yes, it’s important,” but it’s interesting that they didn’t mention it first. Sometimes we reduce the gospel down to, “My sins are forgiven and I’m going to heaven.” At one level that’s true, but at another level that’s very individualistic and it’s very reductionistic to say that the gospel is all about me.

The Resurrection Changes Everything

Jesus’s resurrection does not only guarantee my resurrection, important though that is, but Jesus is going to raise the universe, the heavens and earth. He will usher in a new heaven and a new earth and we will be part of that. And so when we talk about salvation and the gospel in those categories, to not mention the resurrection is a very serious omission.

One of the things we need to realize is the fact that Jesus was not raised to heaven, he was raised to earth. We often confuse the resurrection and the ascension, but the gospels all agree and they’re very clear about the fact that Jesus was raised and appeared on earth for forty days before he ascended to heaven. It’s this resurrection that is the same physical body that was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. It’s this same resurrection that is the first fruits of our resurrection.

The resurrection is cosmic in its effects. Jesus’s resurrection changes everything, it forgives the past. It assures us of the fact that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but it also assures us of the future. The resurrection is the guarantee that the wrath of God has been appeased by the sacrifice of Jesus and it is also the guarantee of the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Content adapted from Not Home Yet by Ian K. Smith. This article first appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission.

12 Bad Habits Pastors Dropped During The Pandemic That We Shouldn’t Pick Back Up

By
Karl Vaters
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communicating with the unchurched

Did 2020 feel like a lost year to you?

If so, you’re definitely not alone.

But it wasn’t a lost year. Not if we don’t let it be.

One of the positives is that it forced us to define what is and isn’t essential in ministry. Most of the pastors I know dropped old habits that no longer work like they used to. If life during lockdown forced you to drop some bad habits, don’t pick them back up after the pandemic is over.

12 Bad Habits Pastors Dropped During The Pandemic That We Shouldn’t Pick Back Up

Bad Habit 1: A Focus on the Church Building

This is one of the main differences between churches that have adapted well during the pandemic and those that have not. Churches and pastors that consider their church building as essential to worship and faith have been devastated by not being able to meet in it. Many have had to close for good.

On the other hand, the congregations that have not just survived, but thrived during this season have recognized that our buildings are not as essential as we’ve made them out to be.

When this is over and we’re allowed to go back into our church buildings, don’t fall back into the habit of relying on them for all our ministry.

Let’s focus on doing ministry from the building, not just in the building.

Bad Habit 2: An Obsession with Attendance and Numerical Increase

Most churches saw losses in attendance and offerings in the past year. It was unavoidable.

But that was never the best measure of church health and strength, anyway.

Thriving churches learned to see health and growth by what the church (as in the people) did, not just how many people gathered.

Let’s not go back to obsessing about butts in the seats ever again.

Bad Habit 3: Thinking We Have a Clue About What’s Coming Next

Those “2020 Vision” sermons didn’t age well, did they?

I’m not against planning, organizing or casting a vision for the future. But this year we learned to hold loosely to our plans.

Churches with adaptability built into their strategy fared better than those with strict plans. This is a reality that will be even more true going forward.

Let’s keep praying, planning and strategizing. But adaptability needs to remain a high priority.

Bad Habit 4: Not Paying Attention to What’s Coming Next

This is the flip-side of the previous point. While we can’t predict what’s coming, we mustn’t make the mistake of throwing our hands in the air in hopelessness, either.

In 2020, we had to pay more attention than usual to the changes that are happening all around us. And so many churches did such a great job at adapting so quickly!

If the pandemic and lockdowns shook you and your congregation up, don’t be in a hurry to go back to being too comfortable with the way things are. We’ve learned to watch, listen, and adapt. Keep at it.

Bad Habit 5: Not Pacing Ourselves

Change happened so quickly at the start of the pandemic. From in-person services one week to online-only the next, then back inside, then outside, then…

In the first weeks and months, most of us jumped into sprint mode as we tried to keep up with all the changes. Then, as time went on and we realized this was no longer a matter of weeks, but months and probably years, we had to switch into a slower, steadier marathon mode of leadership and adaptability.

In the coming months there will be many temptations to jump back into sprint mode. Don’t do it!

Ministry is a marathon. Pace yourself for it.

(For more about moving into marathon mode check out my previous article, When A Sprint Becomes A Marathon: Pastoring In A Long-Term Pandemic.)

Bad Habit 6: Ignoring Our Health, Families and Souls

This is one of the main reasons to pace yourself in ministry. When we stay at a sprint pace it always costs us something. And those who pay the price are usually our health, our family, and/or our souls.

The pandemic shutdown forced many of us to spend more time with our families and ourselves. Sometimes with bad results. But if these changes have allowed you to pay more attention to the principles that keep you and your family healthy, build on that.

Bad Habit 7: Not Equipping the Church

Maybe the biggest mistake I’ve seen my fellow small-church pastors make in this season has been an extension of our biggest overall ministry mistake – not following the Pastoral Prime Mandate of “equipping God’s people for works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

During this challenging time, many of us have leaned on the help of our church members more than we’ve been used to. Keep fostering that spirit.

Don’t go back to doing all the ministry yourself. Build on the foundation of increased volunteerism by training, mentoring and equipping church members in continued ministry.

Bad Habit 8: Expecting Anything to be Business-as-Usual

This pandemic hasn’t brought change to the church. It’s just accelerated the pace of change and made it more obvious than ever before.

Don’t allow yourself to slip back into the mode of business-as-usual again. Change is relentless. Our ability to adapt to it is essential.

Bad Habit 9: Hanging on to Dead Programs

You know those church programs you used to do, but you had to stop because of the pandemic? Don’t be in a hurry to restart them.

  • First ask “is anyone really missing them?”
  • Then ask “would it be a real loss if we didn’t restart some of them?”

There will never be an easier time to simplify your church’s ministries than now. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by.

Bad Habit 10: A Longing for the Past

There’s no “back to normal” any more.

Even if the past you’re longing for is how things were just last year, you’re still looking in the wrong direction.

Resist the habit of looking in the rear-view mirror.

Bad Habit 11: An Obsession with Being Trendy

This is the flip side of habits 8 through 10.

While some churches have learned to make necessary changes, others learned that nothing will ever replace the essential need that people have to meet together, sing in worship, receive communion and other perennial aspects of being the body of Christ.

Chasing trends feels wasteful and nonsensical during a pandemic. It will be just as wasteful and nonsensical after it’s over.

Bad Habit 12: Taking Anything for Granted

I never thought we’d have to go for weeks without opening the church building for worship. Or go for weeks without being able to offer nursery care even after we opened the building up. Or not be able to gather family for the holidays even though they live in the same city.

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s not to take the most simple joys of life, family and faith for granted.

When life does settle down again, let’s never settle for that.

This article originally appeared here.

The Easiest Way to Create Little Pharisees

By
Mark Altrogge
-
communicating with the unchurched

The Easiest Way to Create Little Pharisees

A dad once told me, “I get angry with my kids so they know I’m serious. It’s good for them to be afraid of me, at least a little bit.”

So often we resort to anger as a way to get people to do what we want. Parents yell at their kids to try to get them to obey. Bosses intimidate employees to motivate them. Husbands speak harshly to their wives to try to change them.

We think that the best way to help people know we’re serious is to turn up the volume. To yell and scream or to give the cold shoulder. Or we think that the only way to get a person to truly change is by letting our anger out of the cage.

We think to ourselves, I can’t act like this doesn’t mean anything. They need to know just how serious and important this is. If I don’t get angry, this will just keep happening again and again. 

But God’s Word says:

Know this, my beloved brothers: Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20).

Catch that? Anger won’t produce righteousness—in our children or anyone else. You absolutely cannot make someone change by being angry at them. It simply doesn’t work.

Anger will often produce something else, though—the fear of man. Oh, our children may obey us out of fear. But our anger will produce little Pharisees, who obey on the outside but not from the heart. This is the exact opposite of what we want. We want children who obey from the heart, not from fear.

In fact, anger can actually produce obedience on the outside and a stone cold heart. It can harden people’s hearts toward us and God, driving them even further from what God desires for them.

God doesn’t use anger to produce his righteousness in us. His wrath doesn’t move those in hell to love him. God imputes to us Christ’s righteousness, then moves us to obey out of gratitude. We love because he first loved us, not because he first intimidated us.

Romans 2:3-5 reminds us that God’s kindness leads toward repentance.

The lie of anger is that it can lead to change. Rather, it is God’s grace that leads to change.

SCOTUS Delivers Another Church Win, This Time for California

By
Stephanie Martin
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communicating with the unchurched

Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling late Friday, California issued new guidelines for indoor church services, and many congregations immediately resumed in-person worship. The high court ruled 6-3 in favor of religious rights, granting the emergency request of two churches that have been fighting pandemic-related restrictions set by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SCOTUS didn’t overrule all of California’s limitations, however. Justices said the state still can cap attendance at 25% of a building’s capacity and ban singing and chanting to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place,” says the governor’s press secretary.

What SCOTUS Said

Friday’s ruling from the realigned Supreme Court follows recent favorable rulings for churches in New York and elsewhere. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted with the majority, wrote, “[California] has concluded…that singing indoors poses a heightened risk of transmitting COVID–19. I see no basis in this record for overriding that aspect of the state public health framework. At the same time, the State’s present determination—that the maximum number of adherents who can safely worship in the most cavernous cathedral is zero—appears to reflect not expertise or discretion, but instead insufficient appreciation or consideration of the interests at stake.”

In her first signed opinion since joining the court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote that churches must prove they deserve relief from the singing ban. It’s unclear, she added, whether California is enforcing that “across the board.” Churches argue that TV singing competitions are being filmed during the pandemic.

Churches Declare Victory

The two Southern California churches that sought relief celebrated Friday’s ruling as a victory for religious freedom. “You can go to your house of worship, as of now!” says Bishop Arthur Hodges, senior pastor of South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista. “We are thrilled and excited to go back to church, without legal threat of fines or arrest.” Though the attendance limit will require Hodges to add more services, the ruling “at least allows us some wiggle room to operate,” he says.

Ché Ahn, senior pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, has criticized California’s “draconian” worship restrictions and encouraged church members to sign a recall petition against Newsom. Ahn argues that California is giving “first-rate essential preferences to abortion clinics, marijuana dispensaries, and liquor stores.” Harvest’s 160 congregations won’t adhere to the singing ban, the pastor adds. “Fifty percent of worship is singing,” says Ahn. “We’re going to sing no matter what.”

Not all churches will reopen, however. Dean Malcolm Clemens Young of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral says SCOTUS was “not doing anyone a favor” by lifting the indoor-worship ban. “We’re trying to follow the science, and we’re trying to be patient,” he says. “Although I would love to see everyone in person, I cannot believe that offering a worship service for 500 people (that’s 25% of Grace Cathedral building capacity) makes any sense right now.”

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, America’s largest Catholic archdiocese, expressed gratitude for the ruling but urged caution, advising parishes that choose to reopen to follow the room-capacity and no-singing rules.

‘Love Is Patient, Kind’—Russell Wilson Wins Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year

By
Jessica Lea
-
communicating with the unchurched

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for 2020. In his acceptance speech for the award, Wilson repeated the phrase, “Love changes things,” and alluded to the famous New Testament chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13. 

“Love is patient, love is kind,“ Wilson said, directing those words to America and the world. “To the young boy or girl who has a dream, who wants to make a difference, remember this one thing: Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love changes things.”

The 2020 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award 

The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is given to a player notable for his charitable work and impact on his community. Every year, each of the 32 NFL teams nominates one of their players for the honor. The winner gets $250,000 to donate to the charity of his choice, and the other 31 nominees get $40,000 for their charities. Russell Wilson was nominated for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award once previously in 2014. He is the only other Seahawks player besides Steve Largent, who won in 1988, ever to receive the award. 

Wilson accepted the award Feb. 6, the night before the Super Bowl, and addressed a significant portion of his speech to his father. Wilson’s father, Harrison Wilson III, passed away in 2010 due to complications from diabetes. The NFL award’s namesake, Walter Payton, was one of his father’s “favorite athletes of all time,” said Wilson, not just because of Payton’s skill as a player but also because of his character as a man. “Dad, I wish you were here for this award, for this moment,” said Wilson. 

Russell Wilson’s charitable work has been extensive. The day he arrived in Seattle in 2012 after being drafted by the Seahawks, Wilson called Seattle Children’s Hospital and asked if he could come by once a week to visit patients there. Since that time, the quarterback has made a habit of visiting children at the hospital every Tuesday. In 2014, Wilson started the Why Not You Foundation, which is “a nonprofit dedicated to education, children’s health and fighting poverty, empowering today’s youth to lead with a why not you attitude.” Wilson’s award winnings will go to his foundation.

In 2020, Wilson took multiple steps to help people experiencing hunger and food insecurity. In addition to partnering with Wheels Up (an aviation company) to launch Meals Up, Wilson and his wife, singer Ciara, donated $1 million to Feeding America. The Why Not You Foundation also partnered with DoorDash, the Rockefeller Foundation, and United Way to deliver meals to people in need in 175 American communities. The Wilsons and the Why Not You Foundation have made significant financial contributions toward fighting cancer and generational poverty, and the foundation is also launching a tuition-free public charter school in Des Moines, Washington. 

Last year, the Wilsons encouraged people to vote and responded to the country’s racial unrest by putting up billboards throughout the U.S. that said, “Black Lives Matter. Love, Russell & Ciara.” Including the word, “love,” on the billboards was important, said Wilson, because “Love has to be at the core center of change.” Wilson’s father was the one who first told him, “Love changes things,” said the quarterback in his speech. “Dad, you were right. I wish you were here to tell the world that in the toughest of times.”

The centrality of love was the unmistakable theme of Wilson’s acceptance speech. The Why Not You Foundation will “continue to lead with love,” he said.

“It’s my responsibility as a quarterback to serve to help my teammates,” said Wilson, according to Seahawks reporter John Boyle, “but more importantly, it’s an opportunity and gift to be able to give back to others around the country, around the world, and I think that’s why God has me right where I am, and I’m grateful for it every day.”

You can watch Russell Wilson’s full speech here.

After 4 Years of Historic Lows, Faith-Based Refugee Resettlement Groups Start Rebuilding

By
Religion News Service
-
refugee resettlement groups
Daad Serweri. Courtesy photo

(RNS) — Daad Serweri had been waiting for five years to come to the United States as a refugee.

Having worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, he was eligible to come to the country on a Special Immigrant Visa. His work had made him a target for the Taliban, which now viewed him as “the eyes and ears of the troops,” he said.

But in January 2017, Donald Trump took office as president and signed an executive order temporarily suspending refugee admissions. In the years that followed, Trump continued to slash the number of refugees allowed into the country to historic lows.

And Serweri suddenly found himself in limbo.

He, his wife and their baby just had gotten their visa, he said, and “we worried (the order) might affect our visa, too, because you never knew at that time.

“It was completely in a kind of limbo type of situation for a lot of people like me and a lot of people that have been in worse situations,” he said.

Serweri and his family arrived in the U.S. in late February — finally exhaling as they made it through the airport, he said. He knows how lucky they were, how many refugees still were waiting in desperate situations.

Nearly four years later to the day, President Joe Biden has signaled an about-face in U.S. refugee policy.

On Thursday (Feb. 4), barely two weeks into his own presidency, Biden signed an executive order he said will “begin the hard work of restoring our refugee admissions program,” positioning his administration to raise the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. from 15,000 to 125,000 in its first full fiscal year. (By comparison, Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama set that number at 110,000 his last year in office.)

“It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that’s precisely what we’re going to do,” Biden said.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas looks on as President Joe Biden signs an executive order on immigration, in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The heads of various faith-based groups involved in refugee resettlement praised the text of the order, posted online Thursday evening.

Nobody Is Too Broken for the Grace of Jesus

By
Jarrid Wilson
-
communicating with the unchurched

I meet a lot of people who say they wouldn’t be caught dead inside of a church building, that their life is too messed up to be embraced by the arms of God, and that their previous failures are too monstrous to be forgiven by the grace of Jesus.

This false ideology that a human can be too broken for the all-consuming grace of our Lord and Savior is incorrect, and I pray that more churches will open up their doors to prove it so.

Nobody is too broken for the grace of Jesus.

We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of, said things that we wish we could take back, and been places we wouldn’t dare go visit again. And while many of us have found redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus, we must remember that there are millions of other people in this world who have yet to do the same.

The Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.”

The truth behind Paul’s words are revitalizing and scandalous—that even a man who once persecuted the church of Jesus Christ has now been redeemed and forgiven by His grace. This is revolutionary for all who hear it. The story of Paul is one we can all learn from. He is the pinnacle example of somebody who was far from God but found favor through the grace of Jesus. A second chance awaited him, and that second chance was discovered through seeking repentance, asking for forgiveness and allowing the spirit of Christ to transform him.

No matter what you’ve done in life, understand that the grace and love of Jesus is waiting for you with open arms. You don’t need to reach a certain level of “goodness” before you can pray, walk into a church or even read your bible. God will take you where you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. Remember, nobody is too broken for the grace of Jesus.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” —Titus 2:11

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