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It’s SO Tempting, but Don’t You Dare Shortcut Quality Exegesis in Your Preaching

By
Peter Mead
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communicating with the unchurched

The process of moving from passage to message involves distilling the passage text down to the passage idea. The goal is a single sentence summary of the passage—a more concentrated representation of the whole. I find the image of distilling the text helpful because it suggests that the details, the character, the tone and the balance of the passage should all influence the final statement of the passage idea.

But we humans love to short-cut.

When we short-cut this process, we can seriously mis-distill what is there, with the end result that the passage idea does not carry the true content, nor the character, of the passage we claim to be preaching.

Here are four ways to mis-distill in preaching prep:

1. Seek out the best verse. Occasionally a passage conveys its main idea in a single verse (and everything else in the passage is related to that verse). Typically this is not so. Don’t pick a punchy verse and primarily preach just that. Your goal is to summarize the whole text, so that the whole text is influencing the single sentence summary.

2. Seek out a meaty truth. Always a lively temptation, we must resist this. If your goal is to be a biblical preacher, then don’t abuse the Bible by using it to preach your weighty doctrines of choice. Preach the Bible text itself. The passage you are studying may beep on your theological radar and cause you to ponder its broader implications (hopefully challenging and changing your theology, rather than the influence going the other way). It takes prayerful care to make sure a minor point in a section does not take over because it happens to be a major theological issue for you.

3. Seek out imperatives. Speaking of your theology … if your theology says that people are essentially self-moved and need to be both informed and exhorted to action, then you will probably get over-excited when you spot imperatives of any sort. “Aha!  Action points! I sense a sermon!” Take a deep breath and look carefully. The process that takes you from passage to passage idea is one of distilling the weight of the whole into a single sentence. It is not an imperatival mood filter that strains out all content to leave a me-focused to-do list. What is the passage doing in its context? What is going on in the passage? What is the nature and function of the imperative details in the passage? Seek to preach the passage, not to be a purveyor of preachy points.

4. Seek out triggers for your pet points. This could be theological pet points or imperatival pet points. It could also be cross-referencing pet points (“Cool, I can preach Romans 3 under the guise of this passage too!”), or historical background pet points (“Great, this reference to the circumcision party will allow me to explain first-century Israeli politics, my favorite subject!”), or church/cultural commentary pet points (“Jesus tells him to go to the priest, which is good because I want to critique our contemporary church culture on slack church attendance!”). Find a better venue for sharing your pet points, but don’t sabotage any biblical preaching opportunity to do so.

When you are wrestling with a passage, be sure to distill the whole passage down into the passage idea. Any other approach and you won’t be preaching the whole passage.  

When A Worship Leader Has To Do Videography

By
Mike O’Brien
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communicating with the unchurched

Welcome to the new reality of the online church, online small group and Zoom videoconferences galore. Just because we are re-opening churches, these technologies are here to stay. I don’t know about you, but when I became a worship leader, I don’t remember also signing up to do videography!

These three items from Amazon will up your video game immediately. You might not care what you look like, but if what you are communicating is important, then you might as well make it (and you!) look as good as possible. That means videography. Put all three of these together and you can frame your face in a variety of ways. Things will look and sound better.

1. A nice HEAVY BOOM STAND to hold your phone: because a microphone stand is 100 times more adjustable and easy to use than a typical camera stand. I recommend the DR Pro Tripod Mic Stand with Telescoping Boom

2. A nice METAL ADAPTER thingy to affix the adapter. I know, “thingy” doesn’t sound very technical—but it works! I recommend the On Stage CM01 Video Camera/Digital Recorder Adapter

3. A nice PLASTIC ADAPTER to cradle your phone. That’s right, you really do need two adapters to safely mount your phone to a mic stand—but they’re cheap! I recommend the Ailun Tripod Phone Mount Holder.

All three of these fit together seamlessly. You can check out my two-minute YouTube to see how your life will be easier—and you can thank me later.

Here are two Bonus Tips, one for lighting, one for sound:

  • THIS SELFIE LIGHT from QIAYA really helps. It will up your lighting game and make you look like a Kardashian.
  • You can up your audio for FREE by talking louder, getting closer, and closing the door. But if you want to spend money, try this highly rated microphone for iPhonefrom Shure: the MV88. Shure even provides two free apps that allow you to customize the performance and set-up of the microphone for professional audio and video capture

(Alternate #2: If you prefer here is an option for Android. It’s from the folks at Rode.)

Churches May Be Closed in CA, But Not This Beach Revival

By
Megan Briggs
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communicating with the unchurched

A revival is taking place on a beach in southern California. A group has been congregating around lifeguard stand 20 on Huntington Beach for the past two weeks now. The revival comes at a curious time—some might say providential—as the gatherings started just as California Governor Gavin Newsom instructed churches not to sing or chant. Now that churches in Orange County, California have been ordered to stop meeting in person due to a rise in coronavirus cases, “Saturate OC” as the meetings are called, is one of the only groups still gathering in person in the area.

“The church has left the building,” Jessi Green said at last week’s meeting. “I know for some of us it took a global pandemic to get us out of the aisles and into the streets,” she continued as the crowd cheered. 

According to Fox News, around 1,000 people joined that meeting last week. The gatherings are being streamed via Facebook Live to Saturate OC’s page. The leaders of the revival, Parker and Jessi Green, also lead a church planting ministry called Salt Churches located in Huntington Beach. While Jessi Green appears to be the spokesperson for the revival, she emphasizes the gatherings were designed to be in partnership with other local churches and that she doesn’t want it to be focused on one person.

Bethel worship leader Sean Feucht joined the July 10th meeting to lead the group in song. Feucht indicated the government is trying to take away rights to worship and gather, but that “we can still be the church even if we’re not in our buildings.”

Jessi Green Had a Vision

The idea for the revival came to Jessi Green in 2016 while on vacation in California. She and Parker were living in New York at the time and were visiting Huntington Beach. On Saturate OC’s website, the Greens write, “as we prayed we saw a picture of thousands of people being baptized along Huntington Beach Pier; the harvest was so massive, people were quickly turning around to baptize the person behind them.”

This vision, along with what the couple believes was a word from God, convinced them to prepare for a revival meeting on Huntington Beach. The couple believes God told them: “There’s a 50,000 person Harvest in Huntington Beach during Summer 2020. Pray for workers.” So, they planned on holding meetings each Friday night in July 2020. They say they are “believing for 50+ ministry partners and 2,000 attendees prepared and expectant to lead 50,000 people to salvation July 3rd- July 24th!”

Speaking to the group on July 10th, Jessi Green reiterated her belief that the revival would not come about through the efforts of a “big preacher” but rather that it would be known as a “people movement.” Additionally, she became convinced it would be important to get the church out of their buildings and into the streets to evangelize. We can’t just ask people to come to church and expect them to find Jesus that way, she said, but “we have to do the things that we sing about.” 

So far, according to the group’s Facebook page, they have baptized many people and their numbers continue to grow. Among the churches and ministries that have partnered with Saturate OC are Greg Laurie’s Harvest Church and Rockharbor Church.

Where Are the Masks?

Jessi Green says the gatherings have encountered some pushback. She told the crowd that someone told her gathering people to worship outside is “inconsiderate” in light of the pandemic going on. Then she went on to compare wearing a mask with Moses covering his face with a veil after he had seen God. She made this comparison implicitly while reading from 2 Corinthians 3:12-17, placing a handkerchief over her mouth as she read the words “who would put a veil over his face”:  

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 

John Onwuchekwa: This Is Why We Are Leaving the SBC

By
Jessica Lea
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john onwuchekwa
Screengrab Facebook @John Onwuchekwa

In an article published last week, Pastor John Onwuchekwa of Cornerstone Church in Atlanta announced his church would be leaving the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Onwuchekwa, who is Nigerian-American, gave four reasons why Cornerstone made that decision, reasons that largely focus on the belief the SBC as an institution is incapable of fighting racial inequality.

“I’ve realized the futility of some of my efforts in the denomination,” said Onwuchekwa. “Not because the SBC isn’t a place full of good-hearted people—there are plenty. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Southern Baptist Convention is the wrong vehicle to address these issues our world is so desperately trying to resolve.”

John Onwuchekwa: The Silence Is Deafening

Pastor John Onwuchekwa compared the Southern Baptist Convention to a charter bus, saying, “In 2011, while pastoring in Atlanta, we got on the bus with much skepticism. Once we boarded the bus, we found out that there were a lot of dope people onboard who genuinely wanted to move this bus in a healthy direction.”

The purpose of his post, said Onwuchekwa, was not to try to persuade anyone to leave the SBC. “I want to make it clear that the SBC was good to me personally,” he said. “People were genuinely kind and respectful. Multiple people, on an individual and institutional level, offered their help.” One of several positive examples the pastor mentioned was that the North American Mission Board (NAMB) helped Cornerstone get a loan for their building and also gave them a $175,000 grant for renovations.

But despite the many kind people in the denomination, many of whom also want to fight racial injustice, over the past nine years Onwuchekwa has concluded that if the SBC is a bus, then racial equality is an island—and you cannot drive a bus to an island. The pastor felt his explanation of why he was leaving the SBC needed to be public due to the public nature of his role within the denomination.

Onwuchekwa’s first reason for leaving the SBC concerns how the denomination relates to its racist history. “The Southern Baptist convention was not merely a bystander of racism,” said the pastor. “Rather, this denomination was a leader in the persecution and humiliation of black people.” This history is something the SBC has indeed been reckoning with. In 2018, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) released a 72-page report detailing the denomination’s role in perpetuating slavery and racism. SBTS President Albert Mohler observed, “We have been guilty of a sinful absence of historical curiosity.”

Pastor Onwuchekwa says his point of contention is not over the SBC’s history as such, but over how the denomination currently addresses that history. He believes there is a “consistent pattern” of the SBC downplaying or ignoring its racial sins, and he listed several examples of this behavior. “Active harm requires active repair,” said the pastor.

Onwuchekwa expounded on this idea in his fourth reason for leaving, which is that the SBC’s efforts to promote racial healing are superficial. When the SBTS released the aforementioned report, SBC leaders did not offer any attempt at righting those wrongs. That, said Onwuchekwa, “feels eerily reminiscent of when the US Government gambled away half of black wealth from the Freedman’s bank on railroads and merely offered an apology to the effect of Sorry for YOUR LOSS, now let’s move on.”

Onwuchekwa believes that how the SBC talks about its past directly leads to its failure to address racism in the present, which is his second reason for leaving. “On the topic of racial oppression in America,” he wrote, “the SBC is not teaching its members to deal effectively with these issues. Its silence is deafening to those of us who feel the effects of this oppression every day. And those people are in my neighborhood. They are in my church. They are my brothers and sisters. They are me.”

The pastor’s experience has been that the SBC does not see “striving for racial equality” as essential. “At best,” he said, “it’s seen as a passion project that one has the option to participate in. At worst, it’s seen as a distraction from true gospel work.” This was another idea Onwuchekwa built on later in his fourth point that the SBC’s racial healing efforts fall short. It is common, he said, for him to hear people in the denomination interpret calls for racial equality as “critical race theory and cultural Marxism.” 

The SBC is taking steps toward racial reconciliation, such as with its UNDIVIDED curriculum. However, said Onwuchekwa, while that curriculum is a positive step, “Efforts like this focus on relational obstacles to unity instead of systemic injustice and inequality.” Unity for its own sake should not be the goal, but should instead be the pathway to racial equality. Said the pastor, “Where you have a diverse group of people sharing solidarity around a worthy concern, you’ll end up getting both unity and equality. Where you merely aim for being undivided, you’ll get neither.”

We Don’t Enjoy This Spiritual Discipline, But It Is the Most Important One

By
Terry Lewis
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communicating with the unchurched

Sure, prayer is powerful, but how can it be an especially powerful force in your church? Drawing from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians there are seven powerful directives including prayer. I submit for your consideration that we are a generation that enjoys church, but we do not enjoy praying. We enjoy preaching but we do not enjoy praying. We enjoy praise but we do not enjoy praying.

Yet, when an ineffective church engages in prayer for one another it eases the anger, hurt and despair and helps us better understand the actions of the people that we are praying for. You will not despise people you understand. You will not be hurt by people you understand. If you are unwilling to pray for someone in your church to be blessed, then you are the one with a bitter spirit. You cannot be full of bitterness toward a sister or brother and full of the Holy Spirit at the same time.

Prayer drives out compromise. Prayer drives out carnality. Prayer drives out confusion. Prayer drives out foolishness. Prayer puts you in line with God’s will. When Jesus knew it was time for Him to go to the cross, what did He do? He prayed.

Imagine the overwhelming pressure of this one evening. This is the night that Judas will betray Him. This is the night that most of the disciples will run. This is the night that He will be left alone. This is the night that He goes to Pilot’s hall. He knew and told His followers that He had come “to do the will of the Father” (John 5:30). It’s one thing to say it, now it is time to fulfill it.

This night of loneliness and pressure in a dark garden is not easy. It was a joy when He multiplied the loaves and the fishes, walked on water and turned water into wine, but now? Now, the strongest of the soldiers are ready to beat His precious body. He knew what He was supposed to do, but there is little desire to submit to it. What did Jesus do? He prayed. He placed this most dynamic moment in the backdrop of God’s will. “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).

After a quick and disappointing check on the disciples who accompanied Him, Jesus went back into the garden. To do what? Pray. And again, He prayed. Three specific times, under great duress, His response was to pray.

The foundation of spiritual progress and elevation is prayer. We love to praise God, but we cannot be so in love with the excitement of praise that we forget who we are praising. We have become world entertainers instead of world changers.

Did you ever wonder why out of all the things we do in church, our prayer time is one of the shortest parts of the service? We have a 45-minute music set, and then a 4.5 minute prayer time.

Why? People don’t do much praying.

#   # #

Adapted from Eyes Wide Open: The Power of Clear Spiritual Vision by Terry Lewis

The Best Advice for a Pastor’s Wife

By
Melissa Edgington
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communicating with the unchurched

A couple of weeks ago I started feeling a little bit discouraged. A combination of factors related to our church were piling on in an unusually burdensome way, and I just felt like there was a huge weight on my shoulders. My husband Chad is pastor, a calling in both of our lives that we are passionately committed to. We are sounding boards and burden-bearers for many in our community, and Chad says that he has learned to embrace the melancholy that sometimes comes with being a spiritual shepherd, a counselor and secret-keeper. At times it is a weary load that a pastor, and often a pastor’s wife, carries. It can be difficult to deal with people in all of their human glory, their faults and failures and their ever-pressing expectations.

A few days ago we drove out of town to attend a funeral, and afterward we stood and talked with the hospice chaplain. He, too, has pastored churches, and as we talked he turned to focus on me. He told me that during his years of shepherding a church someone offered his wife a wonderful piece of advice.

Now, I often read or hear advice for a pastor’s wife. Generally it is something with a bit of a worldly spin on it, something like, Tell that church that they hired your husband, not you or Your one job is to love your husband and take care of him–the church shouldn’t expect more from you than that. I braced myself for yet another mediocre idea of what a pastor’s wife is meant to be. But he surprised me.

He said, “Just love the people.”

Dear Pastor’s Wife … “Just love the people.”

At those words I felt the weight in my spirit shift. The burden didn’t disappear—the heaviness that comes with being intimately intertwined in the lives of others. The sense of melancholy that Chad talks about was still present. But in that moment I remembered that I am not a pack mule struggling to shoulder everyone’s problems. This calling is so much more than that. It’s an opportunity to love sacrificially (though imperfectly) and, even more amazingly, to receive sacrificial love in return from the (imperfect) people who make up our church family.  I was reminded that I am a follower of Christ first and a pastor’s wife second. Jesus told us all to love the Lord and love our neighbors, and I certainly shouldn’t expect to do anything less than that as I minister alongside my husband.

Sometimes loving others looks like absorbing wounds inflicted by the very people you are called to love. Sometimes it looks like mourning in unison. Sometimes it looks like laughing, eating good church food, watching our kids play together, marveling at the many ways God is working in the lives all around us.

I stood and nodded at the chaplain and wondered if my heaviness of heart feels extra burdensome because I have tried to complicate this calling with too much problem-solving, too much time spent trying to figure things out that have no real solutions. I think I forgot that loving people, although not always easy, is fairly simple.

This heavy load that Chad and I sometimes bear is not ours alone. Ultimately, it belongs to Christ, and He is more than strong enough to carry it. So when I feel myself starting to stoop under the weight of it all, I pray that I will remember the advice that gave me pause on an especially wearisome day, that I will lay these burdens at the foot of the cross and open my arms wide to those whom God has given us.

This article about advice for a pastor’s wife originally appeared here.

If You Want to Be a Servant-Leader…

By
James Faris
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communicating with the unchurched

As a pastor, I’m asked for counsel by young people contemplating their calling as they embark on education or as they enter the workforce. Inquiries also arise from people considering a career change. People long for meaningful, fulfilling work. Christians want to be servant-leaders, but they can feel frustrated in their quest to be a servant.

In the dialogue, I pull questions from my tool bag including “What do you like to do?”…“What are you good at?”…“What do other people tell you you’re good at?”…“Who are your key mentors?”…“How have you grown?”…“What has your family, church, educational, community, and professional background equipped you to do?”…“What natural connections to people, places, industries, and organizations has the Lord given you?” and “How do you believe the Lord is calling you to seek his kingdom in your work?”

Along with those, the question that seems most helpful is, “Who are you/will you be serving?” Connected to that question are the queries, “What motivates you to serve them?” and “How will you serve them?”

The people most satisfied in their calling are the people who take the greatest delight in satisfying the needs of the ones they serve. Individuals who search foremost to satisfy their own sense of fulfillment in work struggle most to find it. Conversely, those who forget about themselves and simply ask “How can I serve the people near me?” tend to find fulfillment. Not surprisingly, they are usually highly sought after, especially as their reputation grows.

It’s not only true in our work. It’s true in the church and our other communities. If you feel like you don’t have a place in your local congregation, ask how you can serve. You might just find that God fashioned your hands to hold a broom or mop handle more than you knew. Or you may find that there are older saints who simply need a listening ear. Or a nursery full of children to be tended.

Learning to serve can be painful and is always humbling. In my senior year of high school, I was  elected president of our presbytery youth leadership team. We planned youth events throughout the year. The Winter Conference between Christmas and New Year was the annual highlight. The conference, held at a small campground and conference center near Lafayette, Indiana, went exceedingly well. Gentle Reformation’s own Barry York, who was my pastor at the time, spoke powerfully from Isaiah 40 with “Knowing God” as his topic. Lives were changed; it was a wonderful time.

On the last day, everyone started to help clean up. But, some had to leave early because their ride was leaving. Then, another carload had to go due to certain commitments that day. Personal deadlines loomed for various of the adult chaperones. Family holiday gatherings beckoned still others.

Before I knew it, I was left all alone. They all left. Every. Last. Person. Parts of the kitchen still needed to be cleaned, the floor had to be mopped, borrowed equipment needed to be returned, and various and sundry other wrap up assignments remained. I knew we had to return the camp in better shape than we had found it.

I grew angry within. How and why could all of these friends have abandoned me to all that work? Why hadn’t God set them straight and kept them there? As I flung the mop-head back and forth across the kitchen floor, the Lord met me with his word by his Spirit and brought conviction of sin. The words of Mark 10:45 echoed through the halls of my angry heart: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Some time earlier, Barry had organized a service project for the youth in our local congregation one Saturday. He shared devotions on Mark 10:45 with the group. That day, I was assigned to work with Barry and one other student in a bathroom of a rather dilapidated house where we scraped decaying wallpaper. After that, a fresh coat of paint would make the place a little more pleasant for a needy neighbor. As we scraped, Barry questioned us further on the meaning of our verse. “To whom was the ransom paid?”…“How did Jesus serve?”… “What does that mean for us?” and so on. Many months later at the campground, the truth of Mark 10:45 hit home afresh as I swabbed the filth from the kitchen floor.

I had wanted my friends at the conference to know God in his majesty as Isaiah 40 details with such splendorous imagery…to know the God “who sits above the circle of earth…who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.” And they did. Yet, what I so obviously needed to learn is that the greatness of our God is most remarkably seen in the splendor of his service in Christ. By mopping, God was giving me the honor of serving my fellow students. In serving, I experienced fellowship with Jesus who became greater in my eyes that day. It’s not a lesson we learn once and then move on; it’s a lesson I keep having to learn every day.

About a decade later, I heard Ligon Duncan sum up the lesson well at a conference. He described how the Lord called his people to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:5-6 & 1 Peter 2:9). Our Lord identifies us that way because kings lead and priests serve, and he wants a nation of servant-leaders. Yes, it’s good to want to be a servant-leader. “But,” Duncan punctuated his oration, “if you want to be a servant-leader, then you’d better expect to be treated like a servant.”

There may be many components to finding your calling. But we’ll never find true satisfaction in it until we’re always serving and expecting to be treated like a servant.

This article originally appeared here.

Good Pastors Know When to Pick a Fight But Prefer to Avoid Them

By
Kevin DeYoung
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communicating with the unchurched

The pastor has the difficult task of being a non-argumentative person who knows how to make good arguments. He must be valiant-for-truth and a peacemaker, a man who contends for the truth without being contentious. Or as the Apostle Paul puts it to Timothy, “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim. 2:24–25a).

We must not misunderstand the injunction against being quarrelsome. Clearly, by both precept and example, Paul did not envision the ideal pastor as a nice, soft, somewhat passive, universally liked, vaguely spiritual chaplain. After all, in the very sentence in which he enjoins Timothy not to be quarrelsome, he also emphasizes that there is evil in the world and that the pastor must correct his opponents.

Not all controversy is bad. The pastoral epistles are full of warnings against false teachers (1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Tim. 2:17–18). At the heart of faithful shepherding is the ministry of exhortation and rebuke (Titus 1:9; 2:15). Doctrine is not the problem. Disagreement is not even the problem. There are hills to die on. There are fights to pick. Staying out of the fray is not always the better part of valor.

A TIME FOR PEACE

But often it is.

In Titus 3, Paul instructs pastors to avoid four kinds of fights: foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law (v. 9). We don’t know exactly what Paul had in mind with each of these categories, but we can piece together a general outline.

  • Foolish controversies involved irreverent silly myths (1 Tim. 4:7), wrangling about Jewish folklore (Titus 1:14), and contradictory accounts of so-called knowledge (1 Tim. 6:20).
  • The prohibition against genealogies doesn’t mean it’s wrong to trace your family tree, but it is wrong if you are doing so to prove a point of pride or to speculate about your past (1 Tim. 1:4–6).
  • Dissensions likely have to do with divisive persons who love questions more than answers (Titus 3:10–11).
  • Finally, the quarrels about the law that must be avoided are the kind that “are unprofitable and worthless” (v. 9).

It is hard to read the pastoral epistles without noting two major exhortations for Paul’s ministry apprentices: (1) the pastor must not be afraid of battles, and (2) he must not like them too much. Most ministers in the broadly Reformed tradition will believe strongly in guarding the good deposit of faith (2 Tim. 2:14). And rightly so. But too often we miss the equally important theme that the pastor who loves constant controversy is a pastor who is probably not loving his people well.

WHAT TO AVOID

The pastoral epistles constantly warn against an unhealthy hankering for quarrels (1 Tim. 1:4–6; 4:7; 6:4, 20; 2 Tim. 2:14, 16, 23; 4:4; Titus 1:14; 3:9–11). While we may not know precisely what the problems were at Ephesus and Crete, several key words and phrases give us a good idea of what to avoid. Foolish controversies involve “endless genealogies,” “speculation,” “babble,” “vain discussion,” debates that are “irreverent” and “silly,” “unprofitable” discussions, and “quarrels about words.” They are “worthless” at best, and at worst “lead people into more and more ungodliness.”

We could summarize by saying that the quarrels we should avoid have one or more of these characteristics:

1. There are no real answers. That is, the controversy is entirely speculative. There is no possible way an answer can be reached—or, it’s not even clear that those in the fight care to reach a conclusion.

2. There is no real point. Stupid quarrels produce more heat than light. They stir up envy, slander, and suspicion (1 Tim. 6:4). They are silly squabbles, wrangling about words when no important doctrinal issue is at stake (2 Tim. 2:14, 23).

3. There is no real rest. There are some pastors who only know how to function in wartime; they’ve never learned how to lead a people in peace. The pastor who enters every sermon, every elders meeting, and every internet kerfuffle with hand grenades strapped to his chest is a danger to himself and to others.

4. The real winner is the “truth” teller, not the truth. What all foolish controversies have in common is that the argument is less about truth and godliness and more about being hailed as a godly champion of truth. Before entering into polemics, we would do well to ask questions like:

  • “Is my main motivation to impress my friends or to make God’s Word look impressive?”
  • “Do I want to annoy or embarrass my enemies or persuade them?”
  • “If the truth wins out, do I care who gets the credit?”

When controversies puff up instead of build up, the Bible calls them “vain” or “irreverent.” Once the battle is over, no one is closer to God or godliness. The church is not holier and happier. In foolish controversies, the end result is that you feel better about yourself and (you hope) others feel better about you.

To be sure, this is not the point of every controversy. “Once more unto the breach” is a necessary rallying cry for the gospel minister. The office of pastor is not for shepherds who want to keep their uniform clean. But that doesn’t mean we should be the ones throwing the muck. Courage is required, quarrelsomeness is not.

This article originally appeared here.

Does Your Church Need Optimism or Hope?

By
Julian Freeman
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communicating with the unchurched

Optimism: ”A disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.”

Was the Apostle Paul an optimist? For a guy who taught a lot about the depravity of the human heart, Paul sure seemed to take a pretty rosey view of life sometimes, didn’t he?

A ‘Church-is-Half-Full’ Kind of View?

Here’s a case in point: The church in Corinth. They were divided and dividing still, they valued fancy speech over sound doctrine, they had cases of publicly known immorality that were not being addressed, they were suing each other, they were leaving betrothed women unprovided for, fighting over food sacrificed to idols, arguing over whose spiritual gifts made them the most spiritually mature, leading chaotic worship services, and considering denying the resurrection.

Seriously. And you thought your church was bad!

But think about how Paul addresses them:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift … . (1 Cor 1.4-6)

That sure sounds like a very optimistic, ‘glass-half-full’ kind of view of the church, doesn’t it? Is he just flattering them?

The furthest thing from being an optimist who chooses to ‘look on the more favorable side of events’ or a double-tongued flatterer who dabbles in deceit, Paul is speaking the truth boldly. He has something greater than optimism when it comes to the Corinthian church—as messed up as it is. Paul has hope. God-grounded, gospel-believing hope.

Look at how he continues to explain the reason for his hope:

… so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor 1.7-9)

Protestant Churches Targeted in Korean Gathering Ban

By
Stephanie Martin
-
communicating with the unchurched

In South Korea, where COVID-19 clusters keep emerging despite aggressive measures, Protestant churches say they’re being singled out with “repressive” governmental measures. Starting July 10, any type of small group gatherings held inside Protestant church buildings—except for Sunday worship services—are banned. If needed, officials say, the ban also will be extended to Catholic churches and Buddhist temples.

This week, the Rev. Kim Tae-young, president of the United Christian Churches of Korea (UCCK), spoke out against the restriction, saying he “felt angry and humiliated while watching the government’s announcement.” Officials proceeded “without even trying to reach out to churches for communication,” he says, adding that he has “struggled to figure out why they did that.”

New Cases Have Been Traced to Church Gatherings

South Korean health authorities say contact tracing has pinpointed recent coronavirus outbreaks to small gatherings at churches, many of which began to meet again on May 31. That day, Pentecost, was proclaimed as Korean Church Worship Restoration Day, with the UCCK stating that congregations’ prevention efforts “gave us faith that everyone can return to their everyday lives.”

Last week, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced that “all small church gatherings and catering, except for Sunday services, will be prohibited, and churches should run a mandatory entry log system.” Violations, he said, could result in fines for churches “as well as congregations.” Chung also urged all churches to “comply with key virus prevention guidelines in all events.” This includes not singing or praying loudly.

The “entry log system” is based on QR codes, which facilitates record keeping of all worship participants. The system also is being used in entertainment venues throughout the country because it makes contact tracing easier in case of outbreaks.

Along with other church leaders, the UCCK’s Rev. Kim recently met with the prime minister about the measures. Afterward, Kim cited progress and a promise of stronger communication by the government but said, “The dialogue…itself was not enough to make us feel better.”

The UCCK says “discriminative measures” against Protestants keep piling up. “Every Sunday, people get text messages urging them not to go to church,” it said in a statement. “This text is sent indiscriminately to everybody regardless of their religious affiliation. The government is interfering with Sunday worship, and this must be stopped.”

The group claims some local governments are offering monetary rewards to citizens who report safety violations by churches. Kim warns that the UCCK will “take the necessary legal measures” if officials continue to target Protestant churches.

Worshipers Remain Wary, Despite Safety Protocols

Most pastors in South Korea, where about 20 percent of the population is Christian, say they’ve taken steps to protect worshipers. Where in-person worship has resumed, attendance is limited, temperatures are taken, masks and disposable gloves are required, and additional services have been added. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s necessary,” one megachurch representative says about all the protocols. About two-thirds of his congregants are sticking with online services for now, he adds.

Another Seoul-area megachurch is temporarily keeping out visitors until the pandemic eases. When members preregister online, they receive computer bar codes that allow them access to the church building for Sunday worship. Many people seem “cautious still,” says an administrator.

South Korea’s national health organization recommended switching to online worship this spring, and many Protestant churches suspended or downsized summer events after outbreak clusters appeared.

N.T. Wright on the Christian Response When Bad Things Happen

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

In a recent interview, scholar and theologian N.T. Wright expounded on ideas from a TIME magazine article he wrote a few months ago that some people found controversial. While some have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic is a sign of God’s judgment, Wright believes Scripture shows that when bad things happen, we should lament, love our hurting neighbors, and not try to figure out why they are suffering. 

“If the church is looking over its shoulder to say, ‘We need to figure out why this happened,’ it may well be missing out the vocation of actually going to help right now,” said Wright. What’s more, “The danger with that is we almost want to play God.”

How Should Christian Respond When Bad Things Happen?

N.T. Wright wrote an article for TIME published on March 29 with the headline, “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To.” According to this post from Lanier Theological Library, a sub-editor with the magazine, not Wright, wrote the headline. In an interview with Greg Musselman of Canadian television show 100 Huntley Street, Wright said, “The next thing I knew there was a sort of backlash on social media.” The piece caused quite a stir, with people accusing Wright of denying God’s sovereignty and claiming the scholar believes Christianity has nothing to say about suffering. 

Wright said he observed some people pointing to Old Testament books such as Amos and Deuteronomy to support their belief that when disasters occur, they are the result of God punishing sin. That got him thinking “about the way in which the different strands of the Old Testament jangle against each other, and they’re only resolved when you get to Jesus himself. So then it becomes part of the larger theological project to say, if you want to talk about God and what God is doing, please don’t dream of doing that until you’ve looked very carefully at God incarnate.”

The gospels, said Wright, are more than “pretty little stories about Jesus” that conclude with the good news that he died for our sins. “This is about how God takes charge of the world, and it’s not the way people normally imagine.”

The Bible shows us that most of the time, when bad things happen, we do not and cannot know why. This is true even in the Old Testament, as we see in the case of Job, a righteous man who suffered greatly. But later in Scripture, people still tend to believe that when people experience hardship, it is because they or someone else did something wrong. In John 9, Jesus’ disciples point out a man born blind and ask Jesus whose sin was responsible for the man’s condition. Jesus tells them the man’s blindness had nothing to do with sin, but “happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” 

If we consider the experience of the early church, we can see how futile it is to try to understand the causes of our suffering. For example, in Acts 12 King Herod kills James, but then Peter is miraculously released from prison. Why did God set Peter free, while allowing James to die? We do not know. Wright argues that the most appropriate response to this confusing set of circumstances begins with not attempting to find the answer to that question. Musselman agreed, saying his work with the persecuted church confirms this conclusion. He has heard stories of miraculous rescue, as well as stories of people dying tragically, and has had to come to terms with the fact it does no good to try to figure out why miracles happen in some cases but not in others.

Instead of seeking an answer why, when bad things happen, Wright recommends laying our painful situations before God and lamenting before him. Lament, said Wright, “is not a stoic resignation. It’s a committal to the God who we know to be the God of love, but whose ways remain mysterious.” Wright recommends praying psalms of lament, such as Psalm 22, Psalm 42, and Psalm 88.

We can take heart from the fact that Jesus himself wrestled with the pain of what God had called him to and also that as we groan in this broken world, the Holy Spirit groans with us, as Paul tells us in Romans 8. “In other words,” said Wright, “there is a time when even God the Holy Spirit doesn’t have words to say what one might want to say out of the pain and horror and shame of the world.” Remembering this will keep us from responding in a way that is hasty or careless when bad things happen. Said Wright, “It stops us thinking that because we’re Christians, we must have the answer, and we’ve got to have it by this evening or we’re not doing our job.”

Wright pointed out that even though early church believers suffered quite a lot, they did not try to figure out the theological reasons for their pain. To do so, in fact, would have been more in line with a pagan mindset. “They knew that the world was dark and mysterious,” he said, “but they felt welling up within them the love of God and the life of the Spirit and the presence of Jesus.”

Musselman observed that the early Christians were constantly putting their lives on the line for their faith and for their neighbors, and Wright agreed that this attitude is one we should emulate. It is a much better posture to help an elderly neighbor in need than to come up with a theory as to why God allowed that person and many others to suffer. 

“If the gospel is to make any headway through this [pandemic],” said Wright, “that’s one of the ways it’ll be done, through people seeing the church being the church.”

Christian Comedian John Crist Posts on Instagram for First Time in Over Eight Months

By
Jesse T. Jackson
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John Crist instagram
Screengrab Instagram @johnbcrist

John Crist posted on Instagram Wednesday morning for the first time in over eight months since being accused of inappropriate sexual misconduct. Last November Charisma News released a story that gave testimonies from five young women with whom Crist had allegedly had manipulative sexual relationships. Crist was accused of using his platform and celebrity status to manipulate young women over the last seven years. After the allegations, he cancelled his tour, went quiet on social media, and Netflix pulled his special that was scheduled to be released Thanksgiving 2019.

In a newly uploaded video, Crist explains that he was in a treatment facility for four months with no phone. He went on to say that he made a lot of poor decisions in his personal life, and ‘owns it’. Crist said he was tempted in the beginning to “hop on the internet and justify, rationalize, minimize, explain, and defend” himself; however, after coming through the healing and recovery process “I can look at you eight months later and say that those choices were on me…I point the fingers at no one else but myself.”

Crist acknowledges that he “had a problem and I needed to get some help.” In the video he says he will continue to put a priority on his own mental health.

The comedian said that the most embarrassing part for him was that he makes a living pointing out hypocrisy in a lot things (for example ‘Every Parent at Disney‘, ‘Millennial Missionaries‘, ‘Church Hunters’, ‘Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft‘, ‘Consumer-Focused Churches‘, ‘Post-Sermon Press Conference‘) but that the biggest hypocrite was “Me”, “I was portraying a person on the internet that I was not behaving like privately.”

“If I am part of the problem, then I can also be part of the solution.” Crist explains he has been doing that in his personal life and wants to transition to do that now publicly. “If I didn’t take the time to fix the broken pieces of myself…I wasn’t going to be good for anybody.”

Crist has been incredibly humbled to receive the love and support from people that have been praying for him and rooting for him. He says he can’t wait for the future and will see everyone soon. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Chip Ingram: How to Stop Living Like a Spiritual Orphan

By
Jason Daye
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communicating with the unchurched

Chip Ingram has served as an author, teacher, and pastor for over 30 years. He is the founding and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge and reaches more than a million people every week. He’s written several books, including his latest, entitled Discover Your True Self: How to Silence the Lies of Your Past and Actually Experience Who God Says You Are. Chip and his wife, Theresa, have four children and 12 grandchildren.

Key Questions for Pastor Chip Ingram

-How is it that we live as “spiritual orphans” instead of as children of God?

-How does the Roman practice of adoption inform how we understand our adoption as God’s children?

-How can we avoid letting our past experiences haunt us and prevent us from experiencing God’s best?

-Do you think it’s harder for ministry leaders to identify the lies we live by than it is for other people?

Key Quotes from Pastor Chip Ingram

“I think an awful lot of Christians have somehow [believed] the Christian life is trying hard to be a little bit better person, trying to be nice, don’t do any of the big, big sins.”

“When you were adopted into a wealthy family, your world, even all of your past debts were eliminated. You got a new name and literally, the old person didn’t exist any more. Whatever crimes you committed, whatever debts you had, all of that was wiped away.”

“We don’t live for God’s love. We live out of God’s love.”

“If we could talk really honestly as fellow church leaders and pastors, there is so much of our DNA that is performance-oriented, and we’re living for God’s approval instead of living from God’s approval.”

“The average believer doesn’t have a clue of who they are in Christ.”

“If ‘trying hard’ made us more holy, then we probably all would be a lot more holy than we are.”

“You can’t give love if you don’t love yourself.”

“I was so people-pleasing, I literally got exhausted and went to the hospital.”

“That has been the goal, to help ordinary, regular people be able to look into the mirror of their souls and say, ‘Of course I struggle with rejection, but I’m deeply wanted because God chose me.’” 

Trauma-Healing Ministry Uses Storytelling to Share Hope With Refugees in Uganda

By
Grace Thornton
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communicating with the unchurched

The South Sudanese people who live in the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Uganda know Deborah* is an outsider. They can see it on her skin. It’s Liberian—lighter than theirs, a fact that wasn’t erased by the years she lived in South Sudan married to a South Sudanese man.

But the scars on her heart are the same as theirs—they can see that too.

“She really is like one of them,” said Rebecca Shapley, who along with her husband, Tyson, serves as an International Mission Board missionary near the camp.

Deborah fled there, same as the other refugees did. In the Rhino camp, more than 120,000 people live together with the scars they brought with them. The camp was opened in 1980 and expanded when the Second Sudanese Civil War started a few years later and raged on for more than two decades.

And as Tyson worked with ministry partners to provide housing and wells and meet other physical needs there, a singular need kept rising to the top again and again—trauma care.

The Shapleys—whose sending church is Harmony Baptist Church in Weatherford, Texas—have heard stories of mass casualties. Some of the refugees are from places where rebel groups came in and opened fire.

“We’ve also heard stories of specific people being targeted for their beliefs,” Tyson said. “Their houses are set on fire. Their things are set on fire. They’ll have siblings who are killed or kidnapped, women are raped, children are kidnapped to become child soldiers. If you can name it, it’s probably happened to this group of people.”

And everywhere the Shapleys went, they heard and saw the need for someone to come alongside the refugees and help them walk through it. So when the couple got hold of a resource called New Hope, they said they saw it as a game changer.

The New Hope model is a seven-week small group curriculum that teaches one story to the group each week in a way that it can be passed on orally. Each story addresses someone from the Bible who faced trauma and talks about how God interacted with them through that tragedy.

For example, the story set starts with Joseph, a man who had the favor of God and his father, but was then sold into slavery by his brothers, Rebecca said.

“Through each step in the life of Joseph you see hardship after hardship, but the Bible tells us how God had favor on Joseph and he was with him the whole time,” she said. “Just as with Joseph, we see how God is using their suffering for the salvation of many.”

She said it gives them hope to hear that the Bible talks a lot about suffering and that no one is immune to it. In the group, they memorize a key truth right away from the story of Joseph in Genesis 50: “What you meant for harm, God meant for good, not just for me but for the salvation of many.”

“New Hope slowly uses the seven stories to walk them through how God is good, how he is redemptive and how he allows things to happen, but in the end he gets the glory,” Rebecca said.

When a trauma-healing group first begins to meet, the people who come have a tough exterior, Rebecca said. They’ve learned that for day-to-day survival. But as they move through the Bible stories and the healing activities, the walls begin to come down and they share their stories and open up about their grief.

“They’re just such strong, stoic people,” she said. “But eventually Scripture softens your heart and the Holy Spirit speaks to you and allows you to tell your story, and that’s when the emotions come.”

Rebecca said her heart is for their national partners living out in the camps to be equipped so they can share the stories in their own language and culture in a way the Shapleys aren’t able.

That’s where Deborah comes in.

The 61-year-old widow is a “mighty woman of God,” and she feels like God has her in the camp for a reason, Rebecca said. Deborah is now taking the New Hope oral curriculum and reproducing it across the camp.

“She lives as a refugee out in the camps, and she is one of the most evangelistic people I have had the honor of being around,” Rebecca said. “They love her and respect her because of her age, so she is able to go and minister in a lot of ways with women.”

That matters especially right now while the Shapleys aren’t able to go into the camp. For the past couple of months, the use of public transportation and personal vehicles has been restricted because of COVID-19.

“We have used the time away from our friends and ministry partners to pray more specifically for their walks with the Lord, for their obedience to love and share the gospel with those around them, and for continued joy in the midst of suffering,” Rebecca said. “We are trusting that just as the Lord has spoken to our hearts during this time of uncertainty and isolation, that He is also speaking to the hearts of the refugees. We are excited for the day that we are allowed to fellowship once again with our friends and hear all that the Lord has been doing.”

They also have a new story set from New Hope specifically tailored to the uncertainty of the pandemic that they will be able to use once they’re allowed to travel again.

In the meantime, the Shapleys are trusting that the gospel is continuing to go out in the way they saw it going out before—with people walking hours through the camps sharing the Bible stories they’d heard, stories that had brought them healing and new hope through the gospel.

“It’s nothing we do; we’re not trained professional counselors,” Rebecca said. “It’s basically just a love for the Lord and a love for the lost. You take Scripture and serve as the voice for God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit does the rest.”

*Name changed for security

This article about the trauma-healing ministry originally appeared here.

8 Steps to Successfully Communicate Your Church’s Mask Policy

By
Brian Dodd
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communicating with the unchurched

Unity in the local church is under attack.  We are way past hymns vs. praise music. Pastors are currently dealing with issues like reopening vs. virtual and the timing of those decisions, racial items and the timing, content and intensity of those messages, safety vs. services, public protests but no public worship services, and if those were not enough, wearing masks vs. not wearing masks as you reopen. Pastors need help with their church’s mask policy.

This past Sunday I attended Fellowship Bible Church’s re-opening service in Roswell, GA.  It was an absolutely wonderful experience.  I previously wrote about Senior Pastor Crawford Lorrits’ amazing message in the post 39 Quotes On How You Become A More Forgiving And Charismatic Leader.  You should check it out.

In addition to Crawford’s message, one of the reasons it was such a great service was the spirit of those in attendance, particularly on the issue on wearing masks. EVERYONE wore masks but it was a non-issue.  This is because how it was handled in the weeks leading up to their reopening.  As always, you will prepare or repair as a leader.

If you are a pastor dealing with this issue, the following are principles I gleaned from last weekend.

8 Steps to Successfully Communicating Your Church’s Mask Policy About Wearing Masks in Church Services

1. The Pastor Must Be the Moral Authority and Visionary for Wearing Masks.

So goes the leader, so goes the people.  Starting several weeks prior to the reopening service, Crawford provided weekly videos discussing several things on his heart.  These ranged from standard church news to racial reconciliation items to the wearing of masks when they began meeting again.  I will discuss his content more below but Crawford clearly communicated he would be wearing a mask and why.  For unity within the church body, the pastor must lead in clearly communicating the church’s stance on this topic.  It cannot be delegated to another staff member or buried within a weekly email.  Leadership determines direction.  Organization determines potential.  People, with God’s help, determine success.  But I cannot stress this enough, it all starts with the senior pastor.

2. Wearing a Mask Is an Act of Love.

Crawford acknowledged there would be a variety of opinions by those in Fellowship on wearing masks.  However, to provide a safe and secure environment for ALL who wish to attend live services, everyone would be wearing masks, starting with him.  In short, Crawford said The Law of Love is demonstrated by putting aside your personal preferences and opinions for the sake of others.  Wearing a mask during the service would be a sign you loved your neighbors who were sitting near you.

3. Go With Rules Not Guidelines.

Language is a big deal.  Phrases like “we prefer” or “we are making masks available if you choose to wear one” or “we’re asking” or “the CDC is recommending” give people the openings to decline.  Guidelines are suggestions.  Rules provide clarity.  People need and appreciate clarity.  In this instance, if you did points 1 and 2 properly, clarity on this topic becomes a non-issue.

4. Value People Over Process.

Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.  If you love your people they will gladly follow the process.  The goal is not to get people into your building.  The goal is not to get people wearing a mask or social distancing.  The goal is to be a host.  When you host someone in your home, you want them to feel welcomed.  After all, you have not seen these people in months.  First, you should be genuinely excited to see them.  Then you can implement your processes.

5. Pastor Leads From Out Front.

Crawford was in the lobby, wearing a mask, and welcoming the people.  If the people see the pastor leading in an appropriate fashion, they will gladly follow suit.  Pastors cannot be in the green room as churches reopen.

6. Approach Is Everything.  Sing With a Mask.  Listen to Preaching Without a Mask.

For people struggling with wearing a mask, give them permission to take it off during the preaching.  This provides a welcome relief.  This approach demonstrates all opinions and viewpoints are appreciated.

7. Say “Thank You” Early and Often.

Kindness is such an attractive quality.  As the beginning of his message, Crawford graciously thanked everyone for social distancing and adhering to the church’s stance on wearing masks.  He was also genuinely so excited to see everyone.  He humorously said, “Don’t leave me!”  When leaders express appreciation, most people will follow them anywhere.

8. Exit By Rows Not Sections.

At the close of the service, the congregation was thanked again (remember, early and often) for loving their neighbors by wearing masks.  They were then instructed to exit the services by putting their masks back on and dismissing from the last row to the front. When you exit by sections, social distancing does not take place and the spirit of safety is removed.

How are you handling the wearing of a mask issue?

This article about your church’s mask policy originally appeared here.

How 7 Church Planters Found Their First 50 People

By
Phil Cooke
-
communicating with the unchurched

Over the years, I’ve had a number of church planters ask me about the launch. After all, it’s one thing to take over an existing church, but something altogether different to start from zero and build something new – especially in today’s culture. Most of these church planters are convinced that the right marketing plan or social media campaign is all it takes to do the job – but sometimes, old school techniques work the best. So I decided to ask a few friends who are pastors of amazing churches how they found their “first 50” people when they were church planters. Today, many of these churches have grown so much they have multiple campuses, but at some point, they started with nothing but their own family. How to you find that first 50? Here’s their advice:

Craig Groeschel – Senior Pastor, Life.Church in Oklahoma City:

Pastors might ask, “What’s the secret of getting the first fifty people to be a part of your core group for a church plant?” I’d suggest a slightly different question. Instead of just focusing on the first fifty, I’d also suggest gathering the right fifty people. Because there is such a thing as the wrong fifty. This isn’t to imply that some people are wrong in general. They just might not be the best to launch a healthy ministry. If a pastor gathers fifty hurting or angry people, these wounds or toxic emotions might create the wrong culture. When possible, the planting pastor will do well to find “early adopters” who come with a contributing and future-oriented mindset. The pastor can usually identify or attract those types of spiritual leaders with a strong, clear, and compelling vision for the type of church they want to create. Instead of just hoping to gather fifty people, think about gathering fifty people are who passionate about creating a life-giving church that impacts the community and beyond.

Sam Rodriguez – Senior Pastor, New Season Christian Center in Sacramento, California:

The first 50 begins with the first twelve. Yes, Jesus created this model but throughout the course of human history a number of studies have proven that if we are able to attract 12 diverse individuals each reflective of the overall communities we desire to reach, our short term and long term membership objectives will be met. Simply stated, begin with a group of people that reflect the community you desire to reach. Second, at the end of the day, it’s all about the message. Make certain your message speaks to the heart, the head and the hand of individuals, families and needs. In other words, convey a message that inspires, informs and imparts hope, faith, truth and love. A life-changing message with cutting edge marketing will lead to enthusiastic membership.

Bil Cornelius – Senior Pastor, Church Unlimited in Corpus Christi, Texas:

As far as the first 50, I went door to door and business to business to build relationships. My first person was our apartment realtor, then 2 couples from a sponsor church loaning me office space joined up. Then I began group meetings on Sundays and preached like there were 100 people while there were 6. I ended every meeting challenging everyone to bring someone as if there life depended on it, because mine did!!

Andre Butler – Senior Pastor, Faith Xperience Church in Detroit, Michigan:

One of the main secrets to getting the first 50 members of your church is also the secret to growing your church once it’s started: Win by being a friend. Establish authentic, life giving relationships with the people in your circle (esp. those who are far from God) and encourage them to be intentional about doing the same. Statistics say that around 80% of people who chose to follow Jesus are brought to him due to a relationship with a friend or family member. Leverage the relationships that you and those connected to you already have. After all, that’s one of the reasons God chose YOU to start the church and that he chose THOSE connected to you to help you do it. He was thinking about those closest to you that would need it. Once Jesus delivered the mad man of Gadara in Mark 5 he told him to go to his family and friends and tell them what he had done for them. Jesus set him free so he could also set his family and friends free. The same is true for us today.

Benny Perez – Senior Pastor, The ChurchLV in Las Vegas, Nevada:

The First Fifty is really all about relationship not marketing. In other words begin with meeting your neighbors, people at the gym and people at Starbucks. We just began to meet people and then organically they asked why we moved to Vegas and we told them how we knew we were here to start a church. It was a few people we got to know and then they knew people who were looking for a church. And remember to be a Church Planter not a Pirate!  Be intentional about meeting people and not picking people off from other churches. Never forget, the harvest is great!

Mike Kai – Senior Pastor, Inspire Church in Honolulu, Hawaii:

To get to the first 50, it’s like a startup. You have to have that “holy hustle” and be willing to get outside of your normal personality profile (whatever that may be) and be face-to-face engaging with everyone you meet. You need to go old-school and carry business cards, tip baristas, get into the marketplaces and common places where the people are. Social media marketing can help accentuate your efforts, but in my opinion, there’s no substitute for being visible and prayerful as you launch. To go even further on the question, you have to have a mentality like “I know I haven’t been voted as the Mayor of this town or city, but this city is my city and it’s going to be easier to get to Heaven in my city than it is in another place; because I’m here.” Additionally, you have to be willing to start with 50. Not everyone launches with 500 on their first month, most launch with less than 50. So that 50 will be your core for a few years. But at that point, you’ll take everyone the Holy Spirit leads to you. I used to joke years ago, that if a pregnant woman came to church, we’d count her as “three” people, in case she had twins!

Bishop Kenneth Ulmer – Senior Pastor, Faithful Central Church in Los Angeles:

I believe the “secret” is in the tension! Jesus says in John 12:32, “If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” I believe the secret – or certainly one of the secrets – is found in the tension between authenticity and attraction. Those planting this new church must affirm that the authenticity of the gospel is its Christo-centric dynamic – JESUS! The church planter must not back down, minimize or exclude the centrality of Christ. Or, as Andrae Crouch put it, “JESUS is the answer for the world today…” He STILL is the answer. He STILL is the way, the truth and the life. So on one hand, there is the issue of AUTHENTICITY. On the other hand is the issue of ATTRACTION, OR ATTRACTIVENESS. The word “DRAW” as Jesus uses means: to induce to come; to attract, and in the case of Jesus, not by force, but by inward power. But the key is DRAW UNTO HIM – JESUS. So the “secret” is to live in the tension of AUTHENTICITY and ATTRACTION. We do the lifting; He does the drawing. The challenge the church planter will face is the desire to step out of the tension, and lean more to one side or the other on the spiritual scale. If the planter leans too far on the authenticity side, he or she will have no relevance or attraction to the shifting changing culture. However, if the planter opts for emphasis on the attraction side, he or she will risk having people without power. The planter will “play to the crowd” in an effort to be attractive, but will dilute, minimize or even exclude the authentic center of the gospel, Jesus the Christ. May we live and move and have our being in the tension of not either/or, but both/and!

This article about church planters originally appeared here.

Why I Procrastinate on Writing Sermons (and How I’m Trying to Fix It)

By
Brian Jones
-
communicating with the unchurched

I procrastinate with writing sermons.

I plan lots of time at the beginning of my week to study and write my message but inevitably something arises leadership-wise that causes me to take the time I planned for sermon development and devote it to some other worthy cause.

Why do I keep doing that? Let me pull the lid off this thing and examine it.

The Cause of Procrastination With Writing Sermons

First, I think I do this because writing sermons is tough work.

It is grueling. Sermon crafting is like having a baby—some come out with one push, others come out breach. Having a baby 48 times a year is tough. Sermon writing is just tough work. To do it well you have to be disciplined and sit at that desk whether or not the inspiration comes.

Second, I think I postpone sermon writing because I like to gravitate to something that is more fun to me—leadership challenges.

Leadership challenges energize me. They are reflexive. Leadership comes naturally to me. I know I have the gift of teaching, but it ranks second in my gift mix. Having the gift of leadership and teaching is a wonderfully troublesome combination.

Third, I am plagued sometimes by the question, “What’s the use?”

I can’t remember how many times I’ve spent myself in the pursuit of a well-envisioned message only to have this pervasive feeling while writing it that “This doesn’t matter.” Afterward I never think that, only before. Why? Maybe Satan. Maybe it’s just a legitimate question. I know that sermonizing, as Eugene Peterson puts it, is a “Long Obedience in the Same Direction.” It’s the continual application of water on rock that wears it down. It is the continual drops in a cave that creates a beautiful stalagmite. It is the strokes of a master sculptor that eventually reveals the hidden potential in a rock. However, it’s the fatigue experienced in the arm between each blow that tempts me to stop short before God is done working in the life of my congregation (and myself).

Fourth, I am moved by sudden flashes of inspiration.

This is a good thing. I can write some of my best sermons in four hours. I can write some of my worst sermons in 25 hours. I am a communicator that is moved by inspiration. If it doesn’t move me I don’t want to share it. That’s good and bad. Good because I don’t want to go public with something that isn’t authentic; bad because I have to preach every Sunday.

The Solution to Procrastinating Writing Sermons

There’s the oft-told story of the writer talking to another writer who says, “I only write when I’m inspired.” To which the other writer replies, “Me too. I can only write when I’m inspired. Fortunately inspiration strikes every morning at 8 a.m. when I force myself to sit down to write.”

There’s not a senior pastor out there who doesn’t grasp the simplicity, but seemingly out-of-reach possibility, of making that (a consistent, inviolable sermon writing routine) a reality. I know, I’m one of them. That’s especially true for my friends who are in smaller churches and they’re it.

But I’m trying, hard, to make sermon writing the first and most important thing I get done every week.

Yet I believe and I tell senior pastors that I coach that the most important reason why we procrastinate in sermon writing is we don’t have margin in our schedules, and because we’re good at preaching, we’ll do it at the last minute.

And that, my friends, is the core issue for my struggles, and quite possibly yours.

Let me share something I did recently that really helped me.

25 Ways to Know Your Kidmin Is a Success

By
David Jennings
-
communicating with the unchurched

What you do matters! At times it may seem like an uphill battle. But don’t be disheartened. You’re making an eternal difference in the lives of kids. Next time you’re feeling a little down, take a moment to count your blessings and thank God for the small successes in the kidmin life.

Here are 25 signs you’re succeeding at kidmin:

1. Your kids welcome newcomers.

2. High fives are given every Sunday.

3. A child shares a struggle with you.

4. You’re not afraid to make a change.

5. A child doesn’t want to leave.

6. You see growth.

7. The youth ministry sees growth.

8. Your volunteers hang out with each other after church.

9. Kids pray.

10. You have a vision and a mission statement.

11. You have that “all on the same page” mentality.

12. A child tells his or her parents about a discovery at church.

13 Kids not only know Bible verses, but how to apply them in different situations.

14. You can take a vacation week and everything stays under control.

15. You see kids sharing.

16. You talk with parents.

17. A child you thought wasn’t paying attention at all demonstrates understanding.

18. You ask children to give a craft they made to someone special, and they give it to you.

19. Your volunteers pray for each other.

20. Your office is filled with sticky notes of plans, ideas, and meetings.

21. Your senior pastor sits down for snack time with the kids.

22. Take-homes get taken home.

23. Children are greeted warmly by their teachers.

24. You aren’t afraid of kids asking questions.

25. You connect with other children’s ministers.

***

So there’s a short list of ways you can tell you’re succeeding in kidmin. What would you add to this list? Let us know using the comment section below!

Tech Can Teach Us To Disagree and Get Along

By
Jonathan Smith
-
communicating with the unchurched

It seems as though we’ve always got something to disagree about, after all the Internet has made us all experts on everything. It stands to reason as we have more and more access to data, we will inevitably find more and more things on which to disagree. There is nothing inherently wrong with disagreeing, after all, God made us each unique, but we can disagree and get along. We can’t elevate every disagreement to the level of heresy.

Technology folks have been arguing about some things since the beginning of technology. Mac or Windows? iPhone or Android?

Most of these debates can never be settled and we should stop trying. Instead of trying to convince folks that our view is right and getting emotionally involved in opinions that don’t matter we should be using that energy to find opportunities to serve those around us. Yamaha or Allen & Heath? Shure or Audio-Technica?

My favorite color is blue, and not just any blue but the blue the sky is at 8000 feet on a crisp day up the side of a mountain. While a specific opinion on my favorite color that does not and should not mean that I can’t respect someone who likes the blue color the sky is at 7000 feet on a crisp day up the side of a mountain. Or even, perish the thought, someone who prefers a drastically different color, like orange. McDonald’s or Burger King? Chick Fil-A or Kentucky Fried Chicken?

Religion and politics have always been volatile discussion topics but not every disagreement rises to the level of religion and politics. Vote your conscience but love those with whom you disagree. Our nation was founded on those who disagreed and yet were able to compromise on some extremely divisive issues. Democrat or Republican? Those who wear masks or those who don’t wear masks?

The Bible is clear that we are to hate sin but love the sinner. Unfortunately, today it seems we hate both. The Bible says in Matthew 7:1 that we are not to assume motive or intent, and yet we do it all the time with those who disagree with us. After all, if they disagree then everything else they do and think must be wrong. One assumption leads to another and before you know it you are back to not only hating sin but also hating sinners, even when no sin is involved, like one’s favorite color. My favorite sports team or your favorite sports team.

Purdue University or Indiana University (Ahem . . . One of these schools put the first and last footprints on the moon and was attended by me. #BoilerUp)

(Or you can insert your own college rivalry here.)

Without civility and respect for others when disagreeing, we won’t be able to accomplish the church’s mission. Social media is full of folks arguing, spreading arguments, and sharing misinformation to promote their viewpoints on issues that just don’t matter. Perhaps we should all be more like the Bereans in Acts 17 and spend more time studying and examining before arguing and sharing. Disagree and get along. Disagree with love and look at others with whom you disagree as individuals to be loved not as disagreements to be battled.

We can disagree and get along, and still keep the main thing the main thing, but remember: not everything is the main thing.

 

Jonathan Smith is an author, conference speaker, and the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, IN. You can reach Jonathan at jsmith@faithlafayette.org and follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.

4 Ways Churches Can Close the Back Door

By
Thom Rainer
-

More than 200 church leaders sat in the room, each preparing a list of their church’s greatest needs. I gave them the assignment hoping to discover some commonalities we could address together. My expectations were quickly surpassed.

In one way or another, nearly 90% of the church leaders indicated that their churches had a problem with “closing the back door,” that is, they were losing members or attendees even while new people were coming to their churches.

“If half the people who came to our church over the past five years still attended, we would be double our size,” one pastor lamented. “We seem to get them into the church,” another church leader confessed, “but we just can’t keep them.”

For years, the primary focus in many churches has been on the “front door”—people coming into the church, and while such an emphasis remains the Great Commission priority, our research shows that churches and their leaders must not neglect the issue of the back door, commonly called assimilation.

 

The Big 4

Through our research, we discovered that four major factors were at work when churches closed the back door effectively. If all four were in play, the back door closed tight. But any one of these factors still contributes to more effective assimilation.

 

High expectations. The first “big four” issue is high expectations. Our research indicates that the American Church went through a period of more than 10 years when churches significantly lowered their expectations of members and attendees. The result was an exodus of people from the church.

“Why would I want to be a part of something that expects nothing of me?” a former active church member told our research team. Many churches are now attempting to remedy this problem with entry point or new member classes, where expectations of service, stewardship, and attendance are clearly established.

Small groups. Second, churches that close the back door seek to get as many of their members as possible into small groups. In some churches, these groups meet in homes. In other churches, the small group is a Sunday school class that meets at the church. The key issue, according to our research, is that the small group is an open group, meaning it has no predetermined termination date, and anyone can enter the group at any point.

 

Ministry involvement. The third key component is ministry involvement. The earlier a new member or attendee can get involved in a church’s ministries, the higher the likelihood of effective assimilation. Churches that close the back door have a clear plan to get people involved and doing ministry as quickly as possible.

 

Relationship connections. Finally, the more new members connect with longer-term members, the greater the opportunity for assimilation. In an interesting twist in our research, we found that most of these relationships developed before the new member ever came to the church. In other words, members were intentionally developing relationships with people outside the walls of the church. They invited them to church after the relationship had been established.

If your church has a big “back door” problem, we suggest that you tackle these issues one at a time. Don’t try to implement all four simultaneously; each one takes work and time. Though improving any one of these factors can significantly enhance assimilation, the most effective starting point typically is dynamic, open small groups, whether they’re home groups or the more traditional on-campus Sunday school classes.

You’ll then be that much closer to watching the back door close tight.

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