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Chinese Christians Receiving Bibles for the First Time Will Make You Treasure Your Bible Even More

By
Megan Briggs
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china
Source: YouTube screen grab via International Christian Concern

Did your parents ever tell you to “think of the starving children in Africa” when coercing you to eat your dinner? Well, God could say something similar when it comes to reading his word, as the video below points out.

The people in this video are not in Africa, but China, where the distribution of Bibles is highly restricted and, in many places, very dangerous. For Chinese Christians, simply to be in possession of a Bible incurs additional scrutiny and likely trouble. Sometimes rural villages will only have one Bible (or a part of one Bible) for all the believers in that region.

It’s hard for Westerners to know exactly the state of the church and what is going on in China. Between the government trying to save face to outsiders and its iron grip on the religious practices of its citizens, not much is leaked about the real state of Christianity in China. However, as the video below shares, believers are alive and well, despite the persecution, and longing for the word of God.

The following video was shot by a missionary who caught the joy of a group of Christians receiving Bibles for the first time. Despite it being a little blurry, you can clearly see men and women overcome by tears as they embrace the book they’ve waited so long to possess. One woman says, “It’s what we’ve needed most,” as she tries to hold back tears. Others are seen carefully but eagerly taking the shrink wrap off or kissing the book. The joy in the room is tangible.

It’s hard to watch their reactions and not feel convicted for apathy toward the word. Something we have access to every day (in countless formats) is such a precious commodity to our brothers and sisters in places like China.

Are You an Emotionally Healthy Leader? Take This Quiz and Find Out Now

By
Pete Scazzero
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communicating with the unchurched

Are you involved in an emotionally healthy church? Are you yourself emotionally healthy?

We should be able to see fruit in our emotional health if our discipleship efforts are working as they should. Pete Scazzero is the author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and The Emotionally Healthy Church. He, along with his organization, EHS (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality), have put together this assessment to help you evaluate your emotional health.

As their website explains, “this 20-30 minute tool was created to help individuals, teams or churches get a sense of whether their discipleship has touched the emotional components of their lives and, if so, how much. Each stage of emotional maturity is described fully at the end of the assessment.”

This assessment will help you, your staff and your church members determine where growth is happening and where improvement might be necessary.

This assessment originally appeared at emotionallyhealthy.org 

Two False Assumptions We Can’t Make!

By
Perry Noble
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communicating with the unchurched

#1 – That People Know They Can Come to Church

In my personal conversations with unchurched people, there are SO MANY of them who think they cannot come to church…they think their lives are so messed up that the church would reject them (and…some of them actually have stories of that happening.)

They don’t know!!!  We have GOT to stop assuming that unchurched people know about our church, and they will feel welcomed the minute they walk in…going to a church for the first time is HIGHLY uncomfortable…and so rather than work through that, many simply choose to not go.  It doesn’t mean they are bad people…it just means they just don’t think they can go to church.

So…we’ve GOT to embrace this and purposefully invite people…personally…eye to eye!!!

#2 – That People Know Jesus Died for Their Sins

So many people (even here in the South) have NEVER heard the Gospel!  We cannot assume that people know the message…even if they grew up in church.  We’ve GOT to be intentional about not making assumptions…Matthew 7:21-23 tells us about people who were “good people” but never embraced Christ!  (AND…before you get mad…those are the very words of Jesus!)

So NewSpring…it begins today (if it hasn’t begun already)…let’s do EVERYTHING we can to get people to church this weekend!

Organize Your Church on Purpose, Around Giftedness

By
Rick Warren
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communicating with the unchurched

Structure doesn’t cause growth; the structure of your church determines how fast you’ll grow and the size to which you’ll grow. There is no clear organizational structure in the New Testament, and I think God did that intentionally so the church can adapt to different stages, ages,= and cultures. God gives us broad principles and not narrow rules. There is no perfect structure.

As we study Scripture, we learn two general principles about organizing and structuring for growth. First, God wants us to organize around the purposes for which he created the church. And second, God wants us to organize around the gifts of our members. Purpose and giftedness determine how you should organize your church.

Here are some advantages to a simple, gift-based structure:

It focuses the church on ministry, not maintenance. When organization is overemphasized, a church can lose its focus on ministry. I heard about a grease factory that, as it became more and more successful, had to build more machinery to produce the grease. But, they also had to use more of the grease on the machinery they were adding. Pretty soon, they closed the marketing department because all the grease was being used on their own machinery.

If you streamline your structure, then you can maximize ministry and minimize maintenance. If you cut out about half of your meetings, your church would be more effective. I noticed the other day that my peach tree is covered in peaches; in fact, there might be 50 small peaches blooming on one branch. This week, I’m going to have to go out and remove about half of them. If you want big fruit, you have to get rid of about half of what you already have. That’s true in ministry, too: You have to focus if you want big results.

It makes better use of talent. I remember many years ago when we were looking for land for Saddleback Church, I asked people who had a background in real estate or development to show up at my office the next night. There were 14 guys who showed up, and I didn’t know half of them. They went around the room, introduced themselves, and said why they should be on the task force.

The first guy said, “My name’s Tom, and I buy all the sites for Kmart.” You’re in, Tom.

The next guy says, “Last year I did $91 million in land acquisition.” You’re in.

Next guy: “I’m vice president of First Interstate Bank.” You’re in.

Paul Tripp: How to Overcome Conflict in Relationships

By
Megan Briggs
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communicating with the unchurched

Paul Tripp has some very keen insight for those who struggle with conflict in relationships and forgiveness. You’ll want to listen to his wise words in the video below, but in case you can’t swing the six minutes to watch his video, here are the highlights:

Sin = Selfishness

[0:30] “If you understand what the Bible says about sin, you immediately understand why we have so much conflict.” In 2 Cor. 5:15, what Paul is saying is that the DNA of sin is selfishness. It makes us feel like my needs are sovereign, etc. Sin causes us to be anti-social.

[1:20] We were made to live upward (loving and relating to God) and outward (practicing self-sacrificing love toward neighbors) lives, but sin makes us self-focused. Sin allows little time to love another person.

[1:48] Sin will cause me to dehumanize the people in my life. They become vehicles or obstacles.

Why forgiveness is so hard

[3:35] “The reason we struggle with forgiveness is because God has built in our hearts a desire for justice.” This desire is supposed to drive us toward God, the ultimate and righteous judge.

[4:22] Here’s where we have to go: It’s wonderful if you will forgive me, it would be a blessing, etc. But I don’t need your forgiveness. I don’t need you to forgive me in order for me to love you. I get my power to love vertically, not horizontally. People who can’t move on after being denied forgiveness are living in spiritual paralysis.

The Gospel distilled

[5:25] Essentially, the Gospel says: “I got everything I need to live in an unforgiving world at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.”

[5:35] God has chosen to leave me in a world where unforgiveness lives as a part of his plan. Part of his plan is teaching me that it’s never safe to put my spiritual well-being in the hands of another person—it’s only ever safe to put it in his hands.

A Quiz on the Doctrine of Salvation

By
Tim Challies
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communicating with the unchurched

How familiar are you with the doctrine of salvation? At the heart of the Christian faith is this statement: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The Doctrine of Salvation

Christians are those who have been saved. But how well do you know what that means? This quiz is designed to help you find out.

How to Deal With Grief Using Two Helpful Guidelines

By
Alison Cook
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communicating with the unchurched

“I don’t want to be with you anymore,” he said over dinner. “I’ve met someone else.” My client, Tasha, was reeling from the news that her husband wanted a divorce. Over the next few months, her mind spun as she second-guessed every move she’d made in her short-lived marriage and wrestled with how to deal with grief.

Then, one afternoon, something inside Tasha shifted. She walked into my office, put her head into her hands and started sobbing. Exhausted from mental loops constantly replaying the tape of her marriage, her mind finally let go and the pain she was fighting off rushed to the surface. I sat next to her with all of my being, joining with Tasha in bearing witness to the pain that needed so desperately to be heard.

Like many people, Tasha initially tried to analyze her way out of grief. Analysis, burying yourself in work or tasks, and numbing are all common ways that parts of us step in to cope with grief. These activities are helpful to some degree, but at some point as we deal with grief, there is no way out but through the experience of the pain.

You need to gently allow the pain in so that it can be healed.

When your heart is broken—whether a relationship is crumbling, you’ve received a hope-dashing diagnosis, a loved one has passed away, or you’re aching on behalf of a child, friend, or a terrible injustice—you need more than just time. You need a safe place to shift out of left-brain analysis (What went wrong?!) and into right-brain emotion (This hurts!).

Both insight and emotion are important on the road to healing. But, many of us rush to analysis or insight and bypass the painful feelings. We fear that if we let ourselves “go there,” the pain might be too great. The problem is, that when we bypass the pain, it only grows bigger.

Instead, set up guardrails that help you deal with grief in healthy, intentional ways. Guardrails help you honor the pain of your experience, without becoming overwhelmed by it. They help you create space for the part of you that is hurting, while putting healthy activities and nourishing people around it.

Consider the Following 2 Guidelines as You Learn How to Deal with Grief:

1). Protect space for your grief.

When you are grieving, it is important to give yourself space to heal. In the initial stages, it’s not the season to take on avoidable stressors or a complicated relationship issues. Think of it this way: If you had an open wound on your arm or leg, you would wrap it carefully. You wouldn’t over-use the injured part of your body. You’d rest it and treat it with care for a set period of time.

Just as you would keep harmful elements from a wound on your physical body, you need to keep harmful elements from the wound on your heart. For example, here are some things you might want to keep out:

  • Unhelpful platitudes or pat answers that minimize your pain
  • Unwanted advice you don’t need
  • Intrusive questions you’re not ready to answer
  • Premature encouragement to get on with your life

If you have friends or family members that tread heavily on open wounds, it’s OK to keep your grieving heart protected. That doesn’t mean you have to remove yourself from every social interaction. But it does mean that you need to be very careful about who you choose to confide in. A polite, “Thanks for asking; I’m taking good care of myself” is all you need to say to ward off a potentially harmful interaction.

2). Schedule grief check-ins with God, yourself, and other people.

Remember, dealing with grief requires insight + emotion. It’s important to build structures that allow time for you to acknowledge your grief with God, others, and yourself. Here are some examples of how:

  • Schedule a weekly check-in with a counselor, mentor, or trusted friend. 

As you learn how to deal with grief, you will need a safe place to talk about and experience your pain in a contained, supported way. Don’t wait for someone to ask. Make a list of at least 2 or 3 people and ask them to set up a time to check in regularly.

  • Set aside regular time to invite God into your grief. 

It could be that you journal each morning. . . or once a week. Maybe you write down what you feel as a prayer, like the Psalmists. You could do it for 5 minutes, or for 30 minutes. It doesn’t matter how long, but it does matter that you keep the commitment you make to honor your grief with yourself and with God. Set a timer and pick a place that feels safe. For example, if you are concerned that journaling might open a flood gate, plan do it prior to an outing with a friend, a trusted group, or a meeting with a counselor.

  • Choose a nourishing activity that you will do regularly as a way to honor this season of grief.

Your body also carries grief and is an ally on your road to healing. Notice what your body and heart crave—it might be listening to certain music as you jog each morning, taking up cooking, or trying a creative project that is meaningful to you. It could be  as simple as committing to take a short walk each evening to watch the sun go down, or deciding to plant a garden. What is important is that you choose something that honors your grief and commit to that activity.

When you deal with grief, it is so important to create time and space to keep the harmful toxins out. But, don’t stop there. You also need to be intentional about bringing nourishing people and activities in.

As you honor your grief with your time and attention, it will start to soften. Grief may never go away, but it will become a beautiful aspect of who you are. Grief that has been acknowledged and tended becomes a wise teacher. For example:

  • Grief teaches you to care well for yourself. 

When your heart is breaking, you have no choice but to slow down a bit, go easy on yourself, and seek the comfort of caring friends. It helps you discern the good, loving, and healing people and activities in your life that you may not have noticed before.

  • Grief can draw you closer to God. 

When logic fails and nothing makes sense, we experience God in a new way. We fall into the arms of love, even when we don’t understand.

  • Grief gives birth to compassion. 

When you’ve tended to your own grief, you’re far more likely to be a channel of empathy and healing presence for others.

Learning how to deal with grief means that you don’t let it overwhelm you, but that you don’t shove it away. Instead, create a safe space where your pain can be heard, honored, and understood so that you can heal.

This article about how to deal with grief originally appeared here.

What Do You Do When a Church Member Walks Away From Faith?

By
David Sanford
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communicating with the unchurched

Have you ever winced upon learning that a long-time church member has left your church? Even harder, does that individual appear to doubt some or much of what he or she used to believe about God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Christian faith?

If so, how did you respond?

That’s a tough question to answer, isn’t it? Even for pastors. Especially for pastors.

Over the years, after making almost every mistake in the book, I’ve discovered and enjoyed using 10 counter-intuitive yet powerful steps…with amazing, God-blessed results. I pray that’s your experience, too.

First, love the former church member unconditionally.

Second, invite that individual to tell his or her story. When they do, just listen. Don’t ask questions. Don’t interrupt at all, except to quickly affirm that you’re actively listening.

Third, be unshockable. Truth be told, we’ve all broken the Ten Commandments, at least in our heart. Confession is good for the soul, so let the former member just talk. Don’t react to anything he or she says, no matter how ugly or angry. They’re not angry at you, even if it sounds that way.

Fourth, after he or she has finished talking, remain quiet. Keep listening. A man named Leonard poured out his heart to me. I didn’t say a word. I just kept listening intently. When he was done, I kept looking into Leonard’s angry, deeply hurt eyes and didn’t say anything. After a minute, with deepest sadness he said, “All I needed was hope and mercy.” What a profoundly haunting lament. Yet if I had started talking, I never would have heard what he needed.

Fifth, once the person tells you what he or she needs, still don’t say anything. After Leonard told me, “All I needed was hope and mercy,” I remained quiet for another minute. I let my eyes do all the talking. His eyes and facial expressions began to soften and change. Only God’s love can do that. Then Leonard told me, “And by listening to my story, you’ve given me both.”

Sixth, whatever you do, don’t promise to meet the person’s needs. Often they want to know the answer to their burning question, “Why?” You don’t know. Don’t even try to guess. Speculation will only ruin your credibility.

Seventh, if you and the former church member have a mutual friend who has a strong faith in Jesus Christ, explore the possibility of inviting that mutual friend to join you at some point in the future. If someone can share his or her story with a second person, it’s often helpful. That mutual friend may be a second pastor, a Christian counselor, or another respected leader. Or that mutual friend may be an “ordinary” but wise individual you both know you can trust.

Eighth, ask the person if you can pray for him or her. If they’re in agreement, pray right then. Then remind them from time to time that you’re still praying for them. Prayer invites Jesus back into the picture.

Ninth, at the right time invite the person to read the Bible with you. Read one of the four Gospels together. As you read, pray that they fall in love with Jesus again.

Finally, stay in touch with the former church member no matter what. Your friendship can’t be contingent on whether or not they come back. That’s up to God, not you. You may have to hang in there for months or years before he or she re-embraces faith. No problem.

Never give up on your friendship. True, some will walk away. But never let it be said that you walked away.

______

“What’s Your Story?”

By inviting a former church member to tell his or her story, we learn more than a set of facts. If we listen carefully, we end up learning how they think, feel, and relate to others.

Even more importantly, a bond is formed when we resist the temptation to talk and instead simply hear that person’s story, no matter how long it is. Yes, it may mean missing your next appointment.

Yet something very deep happens, between that person and me, once I’ve heard his or her story. I get glimpses of God’s fingerprints all over his or her story. It doesn’t always mean I’ll have the opportunity to introduce and eventually hook their interest in God’s stories. Then again, that’s often what happens.

The crazy thing? Nobody ever asks, “What’s your story?” So, many people are caught off guard, and may put up an initial defense. But if you keep smiling, allow for silence, and then ask again, many will begin.

So, never hesitate to ask the most beautiful of questions.

“What’s your story?”

When Is It Time for a Pastor to Leave a Church?

By
Thom Rainer
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communicating with the unchurched

I am reticent to write this article. I do not want to encourage pastors to leave churches too early. Frankly, many pastors have shared with me that, in the aftermath of their departures, they realized they had made a mistake. They left too soon.

Many times the departure takes place between years two and four of a pastor’s tenure. That is the typical period when the “honeymoon” is over and some level of conflict, even crises, has begun. Many pastors who made it to years five and beyond express thanksgiving that they did not depart in those more difficult early years.

I confess that I left a church too soon. My family’s income was below the poverty line, and I was too proud to express my financial needs to any trusted church leader. The church’s income had tripled in my three-year tenure, so I could have easily been paid more. And I have little doubt that some of the leaders in the church would have gladly helped. My stupid and sinful pride got in the way.

So I have asked over 30 pastors why they left their previous church. Obviously, my survey is both informal and small. Still, the responses were both fascinating and telling. Here are the top seven responses in order of frequency, and they are not always mutually exclusive.

  1. “I had a strong sense of call to another church.” This response was articulated in a number of different ways, but the essence was the same. Slightly over half of the respondents left because of the “pull” rather than the “push.”
  2. “I became weary and distracted with all the conflict and criticisms.” What leader has not been here? What pastor has not been here? It is often a death by a thousand cuts.
  3. “I no longer felt like I was a good match for the church.” One pastor shared candidly that he felt like the church outgrew him. He said he had the skill set to serve a church with an attendance of 150. But when it grew to 500 after eight years, he felt that his leadership skills were not adequate to take the church any further.
  4. “I left because of family needs.” One pastor moved closer to his aging parents who had no one to care for them. Another indicated his family was miserable in their former church location.
  5. “I was fired or forced out.” This story is far too common. Of course, some of the other factors in this list overlap with this one.
  6. “I was called to a different type of ministry.” Some left to take a position other than lead pastor in another church. Others went into parachurch or denominational ministry. I am among those who left the pastorate for denominational work.
  7. “I was not paid adequately.” I related my own story above. Let me be clear. The pastors with whom I spoke were not seeking extravagant pay, just adequate pay. And like me, most of them were uncomfortable broaching the issue with any leaders in the church.

What do you think of these seven factors? What would you add? What have been your experiences?  

Your Church Needs More Leaders: How to Actually Train Them

By
Philip Nation
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communicating with the unchurched

I believe in the old saying: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” If you don’t believe it, then I would invite you to intentionally lead poorly for a season and then report to the rest of us what happens.

Now, yes, for my theologically-minded friends, I know that everything really rises and falls on God’s providence, justice and grace. Yes, I will give you that. So, with that as the foundation, we can then move on to all understand the power of leadership. And, the necessity of it.

Without leadership, what will the church look like? Not the church.

Leadership is inherent to God’s intention for the church.

Leadership is included in the Romans 12 list of spiritual gifts. We are told in Ephesians 4:11 of five different roles of leaders within the church: apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher. In his letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul taught about the two positions of elder and deacon for the body of Christ; one as a servant leader and one as a lead servant. (I will write about that distinction later.)

From what I see currently, we need more leaders. Or, we need to better train the leaders we already have in our churches.

Have no doubt about it, there are leaders in your church. They do not have titles, but they lead. They may not be on the board or a committee, but they have influence. The only issue is whether or not we train them well.

Let me give you a few ideas about teaching leadership.

1. Put it in the priorities.

If you do not have new leaders stepping into responsibilities, it is likely because they do not know how. You teach your way out of every problem. The lack of leaders can be solved in two ways: prioritizing the need in verbal communication and through relational discipleship. So make it a part of who you are.

2. Fight consumerism.

The movement out of consumerism requires an application of the truth. We are to be leaders in the culture and not merely consumers within the religious establishment. Leadership begins as a new perspective before it is a new behavior. You must move people from consumption to production.

3. Actually teach.

Just as “living like Jesus” alone is not evangelism, “living for the kingdom” alone is not discipleship. You must put together a plan to communicate the principles and work of leadership. So read the entire Bible, buy good books, talk to veteran leaders and put together a plan to talk about it.

Some of the books I would suggest include:

  • Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders
  • The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk
  • Basic Christian Leadership by John Stott
  • The Disciple Making Pastor by Bill Hull
  • Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon
  • Pastoral Care by St. Gregory the Great
  • Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby

Start Strong: 5 Ways to Begin Your Sermon

By
Eric McKiddie
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So often, the hardest part of preaching is getting the darn thing started. You feel pressure to garner attention, to start with momentum, and to introduce your text. Sometimes, these compete with each other. If your text isn’t the most riveting passage of the Bible, how can you introduce it and demand attention?

Here are five things that I do with the first sentence of my sermon to get things off to a great start.

1. Introduce an illustration.

Nothing works better than a story, vivid illustration, or pithy quote to draw your people in. The trick is to choose an illustration that is relevant to your sermon.

2. Use the key word of your proposition (or main point or big idea or whatever you call it).

A good way to test whether your illustration is relevant to your sermon is to use your key word in the first sentence of it. If you can’t, then you need a new illustration. If you can, you have done 90% of the work needed to direct your congregation’s attention toward your sermon’s topic.

3. Expose – or at least lean toward exposing – your FCF.

“FCF” stands for Fallen Condition Focus and refers to the aspect of our sinfulness or fallenness that the passage addresses. If you can – in the very first sentence of your sermon – introduce an illustration, use your key word, and expose your FCF, you will complete a trifecta that firmly grips your congregation.

The most interesting movies introduce the main piece of the plot early in the movie, if not in the very first scene. Preachers need to do the same thing in sermons. (Did you notice that I did this with the first sentence of this post?)

4. Imply to the congregation “It’s go time.”

No jokes. No extended pre-sermon conversation. No warming up the crowd. Get right into it. This nonverbally tells your congregation that you have something to say, and it’s urgent. Over time, your people will start to tune in as you walk to the front because they know how much the first words out of your mouth matter to what you will be talking about.

5. Vary how you do this.

If you follow the same exact pattern every Sunday, you will eviscerate any sense of anticipation because your congregation will know what is coming. So alternate between serious stories and funny stories. Alternate between hitting the FCF in the first sentence and building up to it. Every once in a while, do a short warm up and say “Hi” to your congregation.

The rest of the sermon flows out of the first sentence, so don’t neglect it. Like the first notes of a song or the pilot to a TV series, people will decide from the very beginning whether they will tune in or tune out. It will take some time and thought, but you will reap dividends all the way to your conclusion.

‘Not on Our Watch’—Tim Tebow Calls for Christians to Take a Stand Against Human Trafficking

By
Bri Lamm
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communicating with the unchurched

Tim Tebow is known for a lot of things. Whether it’s his signature prayer stance from his QB days in the NFL, or his work with kids who have Down syndrome and other disabilities, this guy is always up to something good.

In an op-ed for Fox News on Friday, the former football star is shedding light on modern day slavery, and calling for Christians around the globe to join the fight against human trafficking.

“I’ll never forget the day my dad called me from overseas and told me he had just purchased four young girls,” the 33-year-old writes, admitting that in his mid-twenties, Tebow didn’t even know such a transaction could be made.

“People buy groceries. Shoes. Annual passes to Disney World. They don’t buy other people. But I had heard him correctly. My dad had opened up his wallet and bought as many girls as he could with the cash he had on hand.”

Tebow says his father had no choice. He made a split-second decision that radically changed the trajectory of those girls’ lives, and hundreds of others through the Tim Tebow Foundation.

“There’s a saying that, ‘evil triumphs when good men do nothing’,” Tebow writes. “My dad was not going to be the man who did nothing. Had he just stood there silently, who knows where these girls would have been taken and what would have been done to them.”

With no safe house to bring the girls to, the Tim Tebow Foundation took on the project of building one.

“Honestly, we weren’t prepared. We never saw that moment coming. But over the years, that single moment in time—a moment where one man took a stand for what was right—was the beginning of a ripple effect still in motion today.”

Tebow says that because his father had the courage to act quickly on behalf of those four girls that day, countless other human trafficking victims have been rescued in the years since—some even here in the United States. And meeting some of the survivors in person, Tebow says is not just a privilege, it’s “life-changing.”

Since 2013, the Tim Tebow Foundation has worked tirelessly to help rescue victims and put an end to human trafficking. For the safety of the victims and the rescue organizations, their efforts have been kept relatively private. But this year, that’s all changing.

“I can’t help but feel that we are at a point in history—a point just like the one my dad faced years ago—where we cannot stand silently and passively watch as evil rages on,” Tebow says.

Chinese Man Arrested for Evangelizing Shares Gospel with Police

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

A Chinese man was arrested on August 3 for conducting street evangelism and was consequently placed under administrative detention for 10 days. Remarkably, the man continued sharing the gospel by encouraging the officers who took him into custody to believe in Jesus.

“Brother Chen Wensheng received 10-day administrative detention sentence for sharing gospel of Christ on the street at his own hometown in Hunan province including to policemen,” tweeted Bob Fu. Fu is the founder and president of human rights organization ChinaAid, which reported the incident.

Man Perseveres in Street Evangelism 

The man arrested for “illegal evangelism,” Chen Wensheng, is part of the Xiaoqun Church in Hengyang, a city in Hunan province. According to ChinaAid, he was preaching the gospel in a city street while displaying a cross with the phrases “Glory to our Savior” and “Repent and be saved by faith alone.” When officials arrested Chen, they also confiscated his cross. In its report, ChinaAid shared two videos, one of Chen’s street evangelism booth and one of him sharing the gospel with Chinese officials after being released from a previous arrest.

According to International Christian Concern (ICC), conducting street evangelism and getting arrested for it has become a habit for Chen, so much so that the local authorities know him. Says ICC, “He has repeatedly urged the police officers to believe in Jesus.” In the video of Chen speaking to officials during a previous release, the officers ask if Chen makes money from telling people about Jesus. He replies that the point of believing in Jesus is not to get money, but to receive eternal life. ICC says that members of Chen’s church have visited him and provided for his needs during his most recent detainment.

There is no doubt that Chen Wensheng has shown tenacity and courage, particularly as religious persecution in China has been increasing. Among the many ways the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is oppressing Christians and other people of faith is by threatening to “re-educate” their children and by taking away children who have been adopted. In 2019, one Christian family that was part of Early Rain Covenant Church left China for Taiwan for fear that the CCP would take away their adopted child. 

Not even the state-approved Three-Self Church is protected from the government’s interference. There have been reports of authorities removing crosses and religious imagery from churches throughout the country, whether or not those churches are approved by the government. And it is not only churches that the CCP is targeting with this policy. Authorities are forcibly removing religious imagery from people’s homes and replacing it with images of Chairman Mao Zedong and President Xi Jinping, as part of the government’s efforts toward sinicization. Those who refuse face losing their welfare benefits. 

This is not to mention the government’s ongoing surveillance and unjust sentencing of Christians in China, in addition to other human rights abuses such as the CCP’s invasive use of technology and the atrocities the party is committing against the Uighur people. ICC has recently published a comprehensive report on religious persecution in China, which you can access here. 

What You Need to Know About the Abraham Accord

By
Stephanie Martin
-
Abraham Accord
Screengrabs @Wikimedia Commons

In what President Trump labels a “historic diplomatic breakthrough,” Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to “full normalization of relations,” and Israel says it will “suspend” plans to annex the West Bank. Trump announced the deal Thursday, calling it “a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East.” The agreement, known as the Abraham Accord, could signal similar pacts in the future.

“We are already discussing this with other nations,” Trump says, “so you will probably see others of these… now that the ice has been broken.” The UAE follows Egypt and Jordan in opening relations with Israel, though the UAE is the first to “normalize” relations.

Details of the Abraham Accord

According to a joint statement about the Abraham Accord, Israel and the UAE will exchange embassies and ambassadors, and they plan to “sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment…and other areas of mutual benefit.”

The statement continues: “Opening direct ties between two of the Middle East’s most dynamic societies and advanced economies will transform the region by spurring economic growth, enhancing technological innovation, and forging closer people-to-people relations.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, says his nation is “establishing full and official peace, full diplomatic agreement, with embassies, investments, commerce, tourism, direct flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai and Abu Dhabi.” Regarding annexation of the West Bank, Netanyahu says Israel “received a request to wait temporarily from President Trump” but adds, “It is a temporary postponement. It is not removed from the table.”

Jared Kushner, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, didn’t say how long that postponement might last. But he credits the president’s team for its “untraditional approach” to Middle East peace. “You can’t solve problems that have gone unsolved by doing it the same way that people before you have tried and failed,” says Kushner, who is Jewish.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s foreign affairs minister, says UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed showed “badly needed realism” in agreeing to this deal. “While the peace decision remains basically a Palestinian-Israeli one,” says Gargash, bin Zayed’s “bold initiative…has allowed, by banishing the specter of annexing Palestinian lands, more time for peace opportunities through the two-state solution.”

While announcing the accord, President Trump joked that it was easier to negotiate with Middle Eastern countries than with Democrats in Congress. He also joked, “I wanted it to be called the Donald J. Trump Accord, but I didn’t think the press would understand that.”

National security adviser Robert O’Brien calls Trump’s efforts in the Middle East “remarkable,” adding that the president “should be a front-runner for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Will Deal ‘pave the way for peace’?

Former Israeli politician Einat Wilf, a Zionist and atheist, tweets: “Israel has had peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan for decades, but both countries have been resolutely against normalisation. The breakthrough with the #UAE is that it openly speaks of normalisation: trade, tourism, scientific, and economic cooperation. That’s an Arab first.”

Beth Moore Encourages Those Fighting Racism in the Church to ‘Outlast’ Their Critics

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

Author Beth Moore is known for writing things on Twitter that stir up controversy in the evangelical church. Last week, Moore posted a thread of tweets that took aim at a skeleton in the evangelical church’s closet. Moore addressed the lingering issue of racism in the church and encouraged those leaders seeking to eradicate it not to be intimidated by nay-sayers.

“If you’re gonna let a little name-calling keep you from standing up for what you believe according to the Word of God is gospel truth, you ain’t ready,” Moore wrote. “White supremacy has held tight in much of the church for so long because the racists outlasted the anti racists. Outlast THEM,” she instructed.

Moore went on to say that when one speaks out about racism, they will be labeled a “Marxist” or “liberal” by critics. Critics will also “make fun of your ‘wokeness’ & they’re going to say you’ve departed all faithfulness to the Scriptures. If you teach or preach, they’ll say you are a false teacher/prophet,” Moore wrote.

Her advice for combatting this criticism is to remain a student of Scripture. “Stay in your Bibles. Read the OT prophets & watch for verses noting God’s displeasure over injustice. Note divine judgment. Start w/ Isaiah. Pore [sic] over the Gospels & watch what compelled & repelled Jesus. Read Acts thru Revelation. Read, read, READ.” 

Her full thread can be seen here:

Is Racism in the Church Still an Issue?

Surely we can all agree that white supremacy and racism has no place in the church, so why the controversy over Moore’s tweets? While the vast majority of the comments were supportive of what Moore was saying, some took issue with the fact that Moore seemed to be painting the church with a broad brush by saying “White supremacy has held tight in much of the church.” Although she did use the word “much” to qualify her statement, many took that phrase as a condemnation of the whole church. Many of the people who disagreed with Moore’s comments argue that racism in the church is a thing of the past and that it doesn’t help to dwell on it. 

Moore replied to one person who said she was saddened to see Moore speak so negatively of the church. Moore said, “I love the church so much. I am for the church. Served it since I was 12. Will serve til I die. Never been more devoted to Jesus, the gospel & the Scriptures.” She also mentioned she’s been studying the history of the church in America for the last three years and that these issues of injustice are “real.”

Others took issue with the fact that Moore didn’t name anyone or any certain situation specifically, thus keeping her comments general. Moore tends to abstain from naming names in her comments, especially ones that call out certain aspects of church culture she doesn’t agree with. 

Last year, Moore used her Twitter account to speak about white supremacy following the shooting in El Paso, Texas that targeted Hispanic Americans. Again without naming names, she called out leaders who refused to speak about the evils of white supremacy and nationalism. “Christian leaders, LEAD. Do not shrink back in cowardice. Be bold. Be clear. Do not assume people know where you stand. History will prove this to be a most critical hour and our silence to have been our shameful complicity.”

Moore has also used her platform to speak out against misogyny in the church and the ways she believes complementarianism has been misused and even abused in the church. 

Replying to Moore’s most recent thread, Christian rapper Lecrae expressed his appreciation for Moore’s stand:

8 Reasons I Stopped Stressing About Losing My Salvation

By
Eric Geiger
-
communicating with the unchurched

The question “Can I lose my salvation” is one of the biggest questions I wrestled with when I first became a Christian. I loved Jesus but still struggled with so many things and because I struggled with so many things, I wondered if my struggles would take me outside of God’s grace. I didn’t understand that I was sealed in Him for eternity.

I remember coming home from school my senior year in high school and no one in my family was there. I had heard a lot about Jesus returning and people who do not belong to Him being “left behind,” so immediately I was plagued with thoughts that Jesus returned and I was left because I lost my salvation at school that day. I know I did plenty of bad things that day and every day. I picked up the phone to call some of my parents’ friends, and got answering machines. I thought the only hope was to run to the woods, live off the land, and not accept the mark of the beast. Thankfully my parents came home and all was right with the world again. But that was no way to live, and not how the Lord desires us to live. Because of His grace, we can be certain we are His (1 John 5:13).

Here are 8 reasons our salvation is secure, and none of them are about us. They are all about Him because we are sealed in Him.

1. Jesus won’t lose His own. (John 10:27-29)

The question is not “Are we going to lose our salvation?” The question is “Will Jesus lose us?” And He will not. When we became a Christian, we did not earn our way to Him, but He reached down to pick us up and He rescued us in His grace. And He will not lose you.

2. God is faithful when we are not. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

We are not His because we are able to keep our promises to Him. We are His because He keeps His promise to us. He keeps us strong to the end. If we really have believed in Him, He keeps us believing to the end.

3. Our judgment day is in the past. (Hebrews 10:14)

I learned this statement from Scott Sauls and I love it. We will not stand before God in judgement for our foolishness and selfishness because Christ has already been judged for us. If we are in Christ, we are now perfect before Him—not because of our offering but because of His offering.

4. None are lost in the process of salvation. (Romans 8:30)

Theologians have called this the unbroken chain of salvation. Everyone who is justified, made right before God, will be glorified.

5. His people have been sealed by His Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

When the king would put the seal on an edict, the seal would signify the edict was irreversible because it came from the king, sealed with authority. We have been sealed with authority of King Jesus by the Spirit. The Spirit is a down payment guaranteeing our future redemption.

6. God keeps His people. (Jude 24-25)

We are not the ones responsible to keep ourselves from stumbling. He keeps us and protects us.

7. The Lord completes what He begins. (Philippians 1:6)

He is a finisher. He finishes what He starts and He started a good work in you. He is going to keep working on us until the day when you see Christ face to face.

8. His love for us is fixed. (Romans 8:38-39)

He has permanently set His love on His people, and nothing can separate us.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Coach Your Congregation to Be Worshipers

By
David Santistevan
-
worshipers
Adobestock #1104363363

Do you have a congregation of worshipers?

Worship Leader, there’s more to worship than songs, band dynamics and flow.

If we’re not careful, we can spend all of our time entertaining people on Sundays. Think about it. The music is excellent, moving, emotional. The worship leader is good looking, uber talented and runs a tight ship.

But slow down.

This is more important than you may realize.

We don’t want to foster an audience of spectators or a fan club of consumers. We don’t want to merely entertain people every weekend.

This isn’t the ministry God has called us to and it doesn’t do the gathering together of His bride justice.

The church needs to learn how to worship. New converts need to step into the discipline of praise and lifting up their voice, declaring the promises of God. Worship is warfare and our churches need training.

We all have a voice but many don’t know how to use it. That’s our role, isn’t it Worship Leaders? It’s our role to raise up worshipers—to create environments where our voice isn’t central, but the unified, raised voice of God’s people is. We want to lead in such a way that we’re not the focus.

The enemy isn’t afraid of a worship leader who draws attention to himself. But he’s shaking in fear when a leader gives voice to everyone in the room. There’s tremendous power in that. Nothing can stop a worshiping church. No trial, no hardship, no diagnosis, no pain. The sound of worship will rise throughout eternity.

Singing isn’t enough. A tight band isn’t enough. Having your moment of worship isn’t enough. Worship Leader, it’s time to think of yourself as a coach. Let’s draw some parallels.

The Worship Leader as a Coach of Worshipers

How is a coach’s performance judged? He’s not judged by the eloquence of his words. He’s not known for his morning routine. He’s not paid for how good of a football player he was.

Help! My Pastor Is a Narcissist

By
Scot McKnight
-
communicating with the unchurched

It is a sad irony that churches at times attract unempathetic, selfish narcissists as leaders. Whether narcissists simply find their way to the top (which must be somewhat true) or the top of the leadership tower attracts the narcissist (which also must be somewhat true), all we know is that too many churches have too many narcissists in leadership. And they are mostly male (so I won’t be as nuanced in alternating between he and she). If we are to have any hope of developing a goodness (tov) culture in our churches, a narcissistic pastor, unempathetic leader must be resisted. Laura Barringer and I discuss all this more in our soon-to-appear book, A Church called Tov, and our focus is on the seven characteristics of churches that form into tov (or goodness) cultures.

But let’s be careful about this term “narcissist”: not all leaders are narcissists and not even all strong leaders are narcissists. Some people fling “narcissist” at anyone they don’t like who is a leader “above” the person.

So let’s get an official description on the table and I will use the Mayo Clinic summary.

The Mayo Clinic

Narcissistic personality disorder [NPD] . . . is a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.[i]

We discus this more in the book but I summarize in points: a narcissist has…

  1. An inflated sense of importance
  2. A need for admiration
  3. Signs of troubled relationships
  4. Lack of empathy for others
  5. Vulnerable to the slightest criticism.

If you are reasonably confident your pastor has these marks, or at least some of them, you might have a narcissist for a pastor. Be very careful about using “narcissist” and don’t toss it around lightly.

This is for me perhaps the most damning label someone can foist upon a pastor because the One who gave himself for others, who denied himself to the point of the public display of a hideous cross, is then being followed by self-aggrandizing, pompous, self-centered leaders who surround themselves with sycophants who bow to every need and excuse every fault. A narcissistic pastor is a contradiction of the gospel itself. We have two chapters about churches and pastors and how each can form into cultures of goodness.

What to do if you think your pastor is a narcissist?

I’m tempted to say “Good luck!” and the end the post right here. I have it on good word that psychologists are not often ones jumping up and down about success in treating narcissists.

Notice that each of the elements of an NPD counters the gospel and fights the very character of Jesus himself. The narcissist is a juggernaut in a church and will inevitably work toward a culture that “sanctifies” himself (or herself) as the God-ordained leader and all opposition is opposition to Almighty God.

So again, what to do? I have these suggestions.

Before anything else, let’s talk prevention. Work toward a tov culture (goodness culture) that instinctively recognizes the corruption of narcissism on the stage and habitually resists all narcissism. I must say this: if your church has now called a narcissistic pastor, your church has the makings of a culture that supports such a personality and such a pastor. Perhaps you were naïve in calling the pastor but now that you’ve got him, you’ve got to deal with him.

Remember, the narcissistic pastor (an oxymoron!), like the rhinestone cowboy, wants to be in the limelight and wants constant praise. Bragging about the church is for that kind of pastor bragging about him (or her). The narcissist pastor loves to brag about his church because he’s getting the glory or basking in the glory. That’s the narcissist’s “jam.”

So what to do? The big idea that we develop with stories and biblical teachings is to form a tov culture that resists narcissistic leaders. How to do that?

First, pray. Read your Bible about Jesus’ way of the cross (Mark 10:35-45). Seek counsel with wise leaders who are marked by tov (goodness) and Spirit-led grace. Pray some more. Pray for a quiet revolution of tov that drowns the narcissism.

Second, resist making the pastor a hero, resist bragging about the pastor, resist those who brag about the pastor. When parishioners are all bragging about the pastor you most likely have a pastor who wants to be bragged about. (Not always.) The narcissistic pastor wants glory and makes glory a good thing and it has to be discerned for what it is and resisted.

Third, often times the bigger the church the bigger the ego it takes to “manage” and “control” and “lead” and “guide” the church. I use quotation marks here because the more egocentric the pastor the more likely the term is “control.” Not all megachurch pastors are narcissists, but narcissists are attracted to megachurches. In fact, narcissists are attracted to power. So, solo pastors with lots of power and authority and control, no matter the size of the church, are attractive to the narcissist.

Fourth, form groundswells of magnifying the work of others in order to form a culture that is other-oriented instead of pastor-oriented.

Fifth, emphasize those in need, their stories and how the church can serve them. Remember narcissists have no genuine empathy and what empathy they show is often done to magnify themselves (and their supposed empathy). Resist the pastor taking credit for other-oriented services done by church folks. Tell stories of others serving others. Help form cultures that are other-oriented.

Sixth, form pockets of culture that are committed to reconciled relationships. Narcissists have lots of broken relationships, so a tov culture must work on reconciled relationships as a new kind of culture.

Seventh, find “board” members (whatever it is called: elders, deacons, leadership council) who have the courage to work for a tov culture and who discern and resist pockets of narcissistic culture. Know that they will be brow beaten at times, humiliated, and publicly shamed but it’s your church, not his. I know elders who have talked with us about resisting narcissistic pastors and it’s a never-ending battle that the elders never seem to win. Keep resisting and working for tov in all directions. Do this with Christian grace. Don’t fight a narcissist with rage because the rage is his secret room.

Eighth, work for accountability at all levels. Narcissistic pastors, of churches large and small, seemingly gravitate toward nondenominational churches or nonaccountable church structures where they answer to no one. They prefer it that way.

A final word from Robert Enroth, an expert on dysfunctional churches and pastors:

It is my opinion, based on extensive research and informal observation, that authoritarian leaders are ecclesiastical loners. That is, they do not function well or willingly in the context of systematic checks and balances. They are fiercely independent and refuse to be part of a structure of accountability. To put it crudely, they operate a one-man (or one-woman) spiritual show. And God help the person who gets in the way or makes waves. Yes, sometimes they will point to a board of elders or its equivalent, but more likely than not, this turns out to be a faithful inner circle of clones that implicitly accepts all that the leader sets forth.

A really good new book, completely devoted to this singular topic, is by Chuck DeGroat, When Narcissism Comes to Church

[i] “Narcissistic personality disorder,” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662

This article originally appeared here.

5 Ways to Re-Engage People Who Have Not Returned to Church

By
Ken Braddy
-
communicating with the unchurched

Online worship and Zoom Bible study groups have been a lifesaver for churches during COVID-19. People have been able to worship together even though they were apart, and Bible study groups have continued to meet in a virtual environment. But it’s time to re-engage people who haven’t returned to church.

While the benefits of technology have been great, we have also discovered a downside. Individuals and families have grown accustomed to the convenience of online worship and Bible study. Churches that have reopened worship or groups are finding that between 30-40% of the people have returned for on-campus interactions (this will likely rise in time, especially when a vaccine is introduced). The highest attendance I’ve heard of so far is 50% of pre-COVID attendance levels. Online Bible study groups that started out in March with record highs are struggling to keep people engaged several months into our physical distancing. Church leaders are wondering just how many people (as a percent) will ultimately return. No one knows, and hindsight will be 20/20.

The current decline in attendance should not be a surprise to anyone. Thought leaders have been predicting this. George Barna’s group has chronicled the weekly attendance of people from different generations. There has been a noticeable decline of in-person weekly attendance. COVID-19 is simply accelerating the trend. But with everything in flux right now (some churches are reopening worship only, some are reopening both worship and groups, and others are not reopening groups at all) how will we re-engage people who have not returned? How will we re-engage a percentage of our church members who once attended with more regularity than they have over the past 5 months?

5 Ways to Re-Engage People Who Haven’t Returned

1. Re-engage people…online.

We all may have to face the fact that some of our people are not coming back to church – at least church on the church campus. But that doesn’t mean they are not connecting to our churches in some meaningful way. Their new preference may be to connect with us online. A way to reach people who have not returned is to provide quality online options for them – both worship and groups. Remember that nothing is going to scale like digital can. You will reach more people more quickly than your physical church plant ever could. Don’t fight it. Don’t reject it. Embrace the opportunities to advance the gospel through technology. Help your church members “unlearn” that church must take place on the campus. Or on Sunday. Or on Wednesday.

Carey Nieuwhoff has said, “Deciding that digital is your default doesn’t mean you’ll never gather in person. On the contrary, if you really embrace it, it will mean you gather more people in person because you’re reaching more people. If you don’t embrace digital as your new default, your church will probably continue to function like a mall in the age of Amazon. If you do embrace digital as your new default, making a bold announcement that you’re not meeting in person for the remainder of the year (like Andy Stanley recently did) doesn’t threaten the mission at all. In fact, it might advance it. Of all the strategies available to you as a church leader, digital has the greatest potential. Digital church scales in a way that physical church doesn’t and can’t.” This is going to require churches to invest in technology, training, and personnel who can lead the way in the church’s efforts to reach people online. It also means starting new virtual groups, and making it easy for guests to assimilate into existing groups that are already online each week.

2. Re-engage people the old-fashioned way.

If some of your people haven’t returned to the church, go analog. Pick up the phone and make a call. Write a handwritten note. Encourage a deacon or the person’s group leader to make a short porch visit. While you could send an email or a text, resist the quick and easy path. Reach out to the unengaged in a more personal way.

3. Re-engage people by starting new groups.

If people have been out of the habit of attending worship and their Bible study groups, one strategy for reengaging them is to start new groups. Absentees are often reticent to return because of embarrassment they feel from being gone for so long. If your church starts new groups, those unengaged families can easily slide back in without drawing a lot of attention to themselves. Every new group you start will reach 10 people on average.

4. Re-engage people by sending them study materials.

A friend of mine, Bruce Raley, is the executive pastor and education leader at a megachurch in the Nashville area. He recently mailed Personal Study Guides to group members that his church hadn’t seen on campus in a while. First Baptist Hendersonville was pleased when many absent group members returned to a Bible study group after receiving their new Bible study materials.

5. Re-engage people through Care Groups.

If your church’s Bible study groups are arranged into Care Groups, reaching the unengaged people in your church is going to be much easier! Care Groups are sub-groups of each Bible study group. Normally a Care Group has a leader and 3-4 couples or up to six or eight individuals. The Care Group Leader’s job is to shepherd this smaller “group within a group.” Ask your church’s Care Group leaders to begin an intentional campaign to contact every person for whom they are responsible. If your church doesn’t have a Care Group ministry, this is the perfect time to begin one so that you can re-engage every person on your church’s ministry list.

This article originally appeared here.

Thom Rainer: “A good leader is someone who is out in front of his people, but not too far…”

By
Esther Laurie
-

We were excited to have Thom Rainer on the ChurchLeaders Podcast this week.  Thom Rainer is president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, one of the largest Christian resource companies in the world. A respected pastor and researcher, he has written more than twenty books, including the #1 bestseller I Am a Church Member.

We’ve collected our favorite questions and answers to share with you, but the full interview is packed with practical wisdom on attendance trends, dangers in the church and effective evangelism.

What do you see as some of the main hindrances to church growth?

Rainer shared, “Churches by their very institutional nature become inwardly focused.”  It becomes about my needs and my wants, but the Great Commission goes against that and commands us to go beyond ourselves.  He stressed how we need God’s spirit to move people.

There is high attrition because the back door is wide open.  If the church has low expectations, people won’t stick, but if there are higher expectations (like offering membership classes), people will stick.

“An inept church member is an oxymoron.  It does not exist in scripture.” He says people need a clear understanding of what it means to be a member of a church – not an institutional member, but a member of Christ’s body.

What are the most effective ways evangelistic pastors and churches are doing that work?

There is an entropy in today’s church.   Rainer says, we must ask ourselves, “What are we doing to look beyond ourselves?”

His answer is to have a right theology of the lost-ness of humanity. “It’s hard to be passionate about Evangelism if you don’t believe people really need Christ as their Lord and Savior.”

We must care deeply about the lost, have both passion and compassion, and the power of prayer, then evangelism will feel more natural and not contrived.

What’s the most dangerous thing happening in the American Church today?

The church has a serious case of “Comfort-it is,” meaning they often resist change because they’re comfortable with how things are.  Rainer says, “When people resist growth, they resist the Great Commission.”

Church leaders must discern the “change receptivity” of their church.  Rainer says we must ask, “How much are my church members willing to change and at what pace?”

Then you must make the case of change.  People won’t change unless they know there’s an urgent reason to do so.  Then change should be incremental and not wholesale.

He reminds pastors not to move faster than the church, but to go at a pace where the church can accept change.  He says, “A good leader is someone who is out in front of his people, but not too far ahead that he’ll get shot in the back.”

For more from this conversation, listen to the whole episode below–and make sure and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes so you don’t miss a critical conversation in the future!

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