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10 Really Big Questions About Future Church Attendance (and 10 Hunches)

By
Carey Nieuwhof
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communicating with the unchurched

Talk to any church leader, and they’ll tell you it feels more challenging than ever to get people to come to church on a Sunday.

Even in growing churches (like ours), the competition for peoples’ time, attention and devotion seems to get more intense every year.

You’ve felt it too.

So what’s up? And where is future church attendance heading?

I’m a firm believer in the future of the church and the gathered church. It’s here to stay not because we always get it right, but because the church is Jesus’ idea, not ours.

Still, with everything in the culture changing, how do you navigate toward a better future?

One step is to start asking solid questions.

Why? Because usually the future isn’t pioneered by the clarity of the answers nearly as much as it by the quality of the questions.

Ask the right questions, and you’ll eventually get the right answers. Fail to ask the questions, and you’re sunk.

Here are 10 questions I’m asking right now and I’ve seen other leaders ask. I think they can help frame your discussion and move you toward better answers and a strategy to match.

I’ve also included my hunch when it comes to an answer to the questions, not because I’m certain it’s right, but because answering the question moves you toward a more strategic and proactive future.

So, with that in mind, here are 10 really big questions about future church attendance.

1. WILL INFREQUENT CHURCH ATTENDANCE BECOME THE UNIVERSAL DEFAULT?

If you grew up in church, you were likely raised never to miss a Sunday. Well, those days are pretty much gone. I outline 10 reasons for that in this post.

Frequent church attendance (say two to three weeks a month) seems to be most prevalent among

  • Volunteers
  • Long time (and older) church attendees
  • Families with very young children
  • Some new attendees and new Christians (at least for a season)
  • Quite honestly, lower-income families for whom travel is not an option

For everyone else, regular church attendance is giving way to non-engagement or online attendance.

As infrequent in-person attendance becomes more normative, it raises a series of other questions.

Hunch

Infrequent church attendance is usually a sign that people don’t see value in what you’re doing. And that’s a problem.

When parents who never ever miss their kids’ soccer practice regularly miss church, it’s a sign that they’re more engaged in soccer than they are in church. In other words, they just don’t see the value in attendance.

Want to drive engagement? Here are some ideas.

2. DOES INFREQUENT ATTENDANCE LEAD TO LOWER DEVOTION AMONG CHRISTIANS?

Some might argue frequent church attendance is not an indicator of devotion to Christ. But the bigger question is Is infrequent church attendance a sign of lower devotion to Christ?

Obviously, there is nothing that inherently says that’s the case, but generally speaking, people are less committed to things they attend less often.

Naturally, the goal of faith is to get people to commit to Jesus, not to a local church, but still, as I outline here, Christ and his church are intricately connected.

But consider this: Showing up at the gym once a month rather than three times a week usually communicates something. Skipping a weekly date with someone you’re supposed to be in love with is usually a sign of something deeper.

People usually commit to things they’re devoted to. Until they’re no longer devoted to them.

Hunch

Infrequent attendance is almost always a sign of lower devotion. We participate in the things we value most.

What Does It Mean to Be a Prophetic Church?

By
Glenn Packiam
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communicating with the unchurched

What does it mean to be prophetic? The word is thrown around a lot, but depending on which circles you run in, it means something quite different. If you’re in the charismatic crowd, being prophetic means speaking the ‘now’ word of God—bringing ‘fresh revelation,’ and possibly even doing it in a way that is spontaneous and disruptive to the plan or the schedule. But if you run with justice-oriented Christ-followers, being prophetic is being bold, confrontational and possibly disruptive not to a plan but to an order, a societal framework. How could the same word have such different connotations? What can we recover from the biblical roots of the prophetic role?

In the Old Testament, two words are used to describe the prophet. The earlier of the two is the word ro’eh, which roughly means ‘the one who sees.’ Later, the more common word used for a prophet is nabi, which can be loosely translated as ‘the one who speaks,’ particularly on behalf of another.

A prophet is one who sees a different world, and says a different word.

Specifically, a prophet is able to speak a revealing word because he sees something others don’t, something hidden to others. This is why the woman at the well in John 4 called Jesus a prophet—he revealed the truth about the number of men who had married and abandoned her. And this is why Paul is a prophet—because the mystery of the Gospel has been revealed to him. If we bring all this together, we can outline a sketch of what it means to be a prophetic church.

A Prophetic Church…

1. Sees Jesus as King and His Kingdom arriving here and now.

One of the major themes in the Old Testament is that the Creator-God is the King of His Creation (many of the Psalms praise God in this way). When we read the first few chapters of the Bible through that lens, we begin to understand that human beings were created to reflect the wise and loving rule of God the Creator-King into His creation. This is what having ‘dominion’ means. Yet, the fall was a rebellion that forfeited that privilege.

Until…the True Adam came as the world’s True King. When Jesus announced His Kingdom mission in Luke 4, He quoted Isaiah 61, where the anointing of the Spirit is the empowerment to bring good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoner, and more. In Luke’s ‘Volume 2’—the Book of Acts—the Spirit is poured out on the church so that this Kingdom mission can continue.

Paul argues through his letters in different ways that the church participates in the Kingdom by confessing Jesus as ‘Lord’—the true sovereign of the world—and by living under His reign by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The church is at its prophetic best when it lives in a way the would make no sense unless Jesus is King, and His Kingdom really were arriving here and now. That is why a prophetic church does not divide up evangelism and miracles and justice. We see them as a threefold cord. A prophetic church announces the forgiveness of sins, healing for the sick and justice for the oppressed in Jesus’ name.

2. Speaks the truth to power.

Our image of the prophet has to be shaped by the Old Testament’s regard for Moses as the greatest prophet in Israel. We don’t usually think of Moses as a prophet, but when we do, we understand that part of the prophetic call is speaking truth to power. In that light, Nathan’s rebuke of David and Elijah’s confrontation with Ahab and Jezebel all begin to make sense. Sometimes the prophet does the truth-telling through the voice of lament, as Jeremiah did.

Thus Jesus is prophetic not only because of His revealing the marriage history of the woman at the well, but also because of His confrontations with power. When Jesus overturned the tables of money-changers in the Temple, and when He defied Pilate—by reshaping his questions, refuting his claims to power, and even by refusing to answer—He was living out the prophetic vocation by speaking the truth to both religious and political powers. (Paul echoes these behaviors in his conversations with various religious and political rulers in the latter half of the Book of Acts.)

The early Christians were not killed because Christianity was a religion Rome did not like. Rome welcomed any and all religions, but they were particularly threatened by Christianity. Why? Because Christianity made a radical, new and exclusive claim: Jesus alone is the Lord of all, worthy of worship; all other gods must be renounced as false. Rome viewed this as a dangerous belief. And every time the church gathered to worship, they were speaking the truth to power by confessing Jesus as the True Lord—using terms Caesar had applied to himself as political propaganda—and thus declaring the gods of Empire as false.

Every time we show the gods of our age to be false, and expose their claims as a lie, we are speaking the truth to power. We denounce the lie that economic prosperity is the source of joy, that sexual pleasure is the highest end of every relationship, that violence is the path to peace, that a people-group or nation matters more than another. Sometimes our voice is the voice of proclamation and confession; others it is the voice of lament. Both are forms of prophetic truth-telling.

3. Signposts toward the future.

Activism has many appealing qualities. It is better than doing nothing; it unites and mobilizes people toward a common cause. It can raise awareness and even adjust a widely-held cultural paradigm.

John Piper: Santa Doesn’t Hold a Candle to Jesus

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

Have you ever wondered if you should encourage your kids to believe in Santa Claus? Should you tell them he doesn’t exist, even though many of their friends think he does? Is it worth telling your kids he’s real in the interest of preserving the magic of the season, even though you’ll eventually have to tell them it was all a lie?

In an interview with Desiring God, John Piper states, “If Christ cannot compete with Santa in the hearts of our kids, we don’t know the real Christ or there is no real Christ.”

A Mom’s Dilemma

Piper made this statement in response to a listener who was wondering what she and her husband should tell their kids about Santa. While her husband wants to let their kids believe in him, the mom feels torn between wanting to keep Christmas “mythical and special” and also not wanting to disobey the Bible’s commands not to lie. She also doesn’t want to focus on Santa Claus so much that they end up overshadowing Jesus.

Piper sees several layers to the mom’s question. On the surface, she simply wants to know if people can preserve the myth of Santa and not lie to their kids. To that he says, “No you can’t. That is, you can’t teach your children that Santa Claus is real if your intention is to teach them the truth.”

Deeper Issue

However, Piper believes there is an issue deeper than whether or not parents can ethically encourage their kids to believe in the story of Santa Claus. The real issue is that if Jesus is the greatest treasure in the world, why do we feel like we need Santa’s help to make Christmas a magical, awe-inspiring experience? Piper questions how a Christian who truly understands who Christ is could “ever dream of replacing or obscuring or supplementing this coming true of every story worth telling.”

Piper believes that if parents grasp the beauty of the Christian story, they ought to be able to tell it in a way that is compelling enough to be magical for their kids. The bottom line, he says, is that the truth of Christmas is far more thrilling and wonderful than any fiction ever could be.

First Christian Airline Expected to Launch This Year

By
Jessica Lea
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mission field
Screengrab Facebook @Judah 1

Christians leaving for the mission field will no longer have to worry about baggage fees or about airlines losing their luggage. An aviation ministry called Judah 1 is seeking to eliminate these problems and will soon become the first Christian airline.

“This means Judah 1 (upon receiving its DOT and 121 Certification) will have the freedom to transport as many different churches and mission organizations as we can,” said the ministry’s founder and CEO, Everett Aaron, in a post announcing the news. “This is a huge honor and privilege and we give God all the glory!”

Meeting Missionaries’ Needs

While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given its approval for Judah 1 to transition from being a private operator to an airline, Judah 1 is still currently a non-profit ministry. Aaron says he anticipates being fully certified by the summer of 2019. The airline will be based out of the North Texas Regional Airport.  

Once that happens, customers will pay ticket prices that are competitive with those of other airlines. However, even though Judah 1 will have the status of an airline, the ministry will not take just anyone, but will focus on serving Christians going to the mission field. One advantage for missionaries flying with Judah 1 is not having to go through the same security checks they would experience at a normal airport. And again, patrons will not have to worry about losing luggage or paying baggage fees.    

Aaron says there is research showing that about half of missionaries lose their luggage or other goods while they are traveling: “I know some of the trips we have been on ourselves with other missionary groups traveling, they ship their stuff via container and medical supplies and stuff either get tied up in customs, food spoils, some things [sic] it just gets lost.” It’s even common for people to steal Bibles and sell them on the black market.

In a video explaining the ministry, Aaron says something else that distinguishes Judah 1 is the fact it is the only organization that offers missionaries transportation via a large, commercial aircraft. There are a couple other aviation ministries in existence, but they only provide small aircraft.

Born From a Vision

Judah 1 was born out of a vision God gave Aaron in 1994, showing him this specific need that missionaries have: “Judah 1 really came about from the Lord showing me the need for mission aviation, and as we researched and did our due diligence, we found out that there was a great need for large commercial aircraft to transport missionary teams into the mission field.”

With their current MD 80 aircraft, Judah 1 can transport 2,000 pounds. Once the ministry achieves its airline status, it will add several other aircraft, enabling the company to carry 30,000 tons. They hope to have 20 aircraft within the next five years.

“It’s not just about the preaching of the gospel,” says Aaron. “We want to see the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit in action.”

Building Praying Leaders

By
David Butts
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communicating with the unchurched

“Not long ago, I was in a church that clearly ‘gets it’ where prayer is concerned. Mountain View Community Church in Fresno, CA, hosted our ‘Can Prayer Save America?’ event this past February. From the time the conference opened, it was evident that prayer is simply a part of this church’s DNA.

“When we lead such a conference, we ask that the host church provide worship. We did not coach the worship team at Mountain View to lead in a certain way, yet the worship experience was loaded with prayer. Multiple times the worship leader prayed in between songs. His song selections were clearly related to the theme—crying out for God to send revival and spiritual awakening.

“Several times during a worship song, Mountain View people approached a microphone and prayed, reflecting the song’s content. At one point during a particular song, the main prayer leader asked people from the audience to pray bold, transforming truths related to revival and awakening. It was a powerful moment.

“But this church wasn’t just putting prayer front and center because it was a prayer conference. Prayer permeates its ministry each Sunday and throughout the week. Pastor Fred Leonard models prayer and disciples his staff to engage in prayer. They all keep prayer/spiritual growth journals—and for accountability, they must regularly share from their journals during staff meetings. Their weekly two- to three-hour staff meetings are characterized by an hour to even half of their meeting time, given to praying together.

“In Sunday school and small groups church leaders provide regular training regarding prayer. Every year they schedule at least two prayer initiatives—from a week to 40 days—during which the entire congregation is praying on the same theme. Mountain View wants every congregant to be discipled in prayer so that he or she knows how to pray with confidence. The leadership does not leave it to chance!

“The most intriguing thing that sets them apart from every other church I know: Anyone who steps into leadership (such as elders, small group leaders and those in teaching roles) must take a 12-week “prayer usher” class before they are qualified—and then they must receive ongoing prayer training.

“A prayer usher (a term coined by Dr. Terry Teykl) is trained in taking individuals and their issues before God’s throne of grace. They usher people—through praying for and with them—into God’s presence. These trained ushers are the ones who pray with people at the altar, visit the sick or encourage those in need of ministry support. The church also trains prayer ushers who are not directly involved in other leadership.

“Finally, Mountain View demonstrates a regional prayer influence by encouraging Fresno churches to pray together. Now a significant number of churches participate in a yearly prayer calendar that includes ten joint prayer events. Pastors pray together, within geographic clusters, weekly or monthly around the city.”

(“As Natural as Breathing,” by Jonathan Graf, Prayer Connect, Issue 4)

Building Praying Leaders

If you’ve served any length of time in any Christian congregation, you know what it is to deal with complaining saints. It’s one of the sad realities of church life. Lest we think its a modern phenomenon, just look at Acts 6:1—“the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.” Complaining Christians have a long lineage!

It’s fascinating to see how the leaders of the church in Jerusalem dealt with the situation that created complaining. It certainly would have been easy for them to step up and handle the unequal distribution of food to widows themselves. But they didn’t. They asked the church to choose other qualified leaders to handle this situation. Why didn’t they do it themselves? Because they had a prior commitment. “We will…give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

One of the key marks of spiritual leadership is knowing your calling and priorities. The apostles had those marks. They knew that heaven’s calling to them was for prayer and the ministry of the Word. It wasn’t that other things were not important or necessary. It’s just that they needed to make sure that prayer and the ministry of the Word was given the priority.

My friend Daniel Henderson often says that when he graduated from seminary, he came out with his sword sharpened on one side. We often train our leaders in the ministry of the Word, but neglect the ministry of prayer. A sword sharpened on just one side is not as sharp or effective as one sharpened on both sides. I believe that is a good description of much of leadership ministry today.

Kidmin, Families and Christmas

By
Jenny Funderburke Smith
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communicating with the unchurched

Are you tired yet? Christmastime turns into a whirlwind of parties, activities, last-minute purchases for school, concerts, performances, buying the other last-minute things you forgot, travel…and the list goes on. All of the families in our church are facing a similar whirlwind. At the same time, this is Jesus’ birthday we are celebrating! We should be the ones making a big deal out of the season. How do you decide what your ministry to families looks like during this time of year?

When planning how to best minister to families during this season, here are four key questions to ask:

  •  Are we adding value or adding more things to do?  Sometimes in kidmin I feel that we feel the pressure to have an event because having an event is what you are supposed to do. Events are usually good times, but it is important to evaluate if it is the very best use of our time and energy. More importantly, we should evaluate the true purpose behind our children’s ministry event. Is our event helping families add legitimate value to their Christmas experience or is really just another thing on the calendar? Are we offering something that is missing within our community or are we the 15th church on the block offering something similar?
  • Are we celebrating Christmas in a way that is unique from the world and points toward Christ? Our families have plenty of opportunities to do Christmas-y things. Let’s make sure that the things we invest time, energy and resources into are different from what they experience everywhere else. What an opportunity we have to shine brightly the true story of Christmas. Let’s take full advantage of that opportunity by loudly proclaiming Jesus and by giving our families opportunities to intentionally focus on Christ.
  • Are we allowing families time to be together? The rest of the world is not going to slow down. Sometimes it is our responsibility as churches who are “for families” to resist the temptation to over-schedule families and give them the opportunity to actually spend time together.
  • Are we giving families opportunities to serve others? Christmas is a time when children become very focused on themselves. We feed this quite a bit as they are constantly asked during December what gifts they want and if they are being “good.” Your children’s ministry can add great value to families by equipping them to serve other people. These opportunities could include random acts of kindness, serving senior adults, Christmas caroling, delivering treats to fire stations, and so many other options.

What would you add to this? What are some ways your church has made Christmas awesome for families? 

This article originally appeared here.

Raising Up Student Worship Leaders

By
Pach-Yam Alcantara
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communicating with the unchurched

Raising Up Student Worship Leaders

I come from a community where student leadership in youth ministry is encouraged and expected. This naturally causes students to lead, play and help plan worship experiences every week. I want to set out and start a dialogue to better serve our churches youth ministries by having student leaders. This means asking and answering some questions like:

“Why is it important to involve students in leading worship for their ministry?”

“How can students become a worship team? How can they be encouraged and retained as leaders?”

“What is the best way to audition new musicians?”

and

“How can you encourage students to connect with the church as a larger community?”

There’s a lot of questions to tackle so my observations will be brief.

Why involve?

Students in a youth ministry, specifically high school, need to feel connected to the community they’re a part of by serving. They can connect in other ways like attending services, events or outreaches, but when a student serves they take ownership in their community. They become the face of their church. Students are the center of youth ministry so why not have them in the center?

How can students become a team and stay connected as leaders?

Getting a team of students is simple. Announce you’re forming a band, hold auditions, group students together and start planning. If you only have a few students to choose from, focus on their strengths. Have the strongest drummer or singer with the guitar player who is new to playing with others. The most challenging thing is having musicians who don’t play well with others, so get them together and play with them to encourage listening and attentiveness toward others. After all, they are becoming a team and it’s important to be the catalyst for their interconnectedness.

Keeping students interested starts with getting to know them. They have their favorite bands, songs, styles, but these things don’t always fit into worship so be creative. Take suggestions from each student when you’re planning experiences for months down the road. The more time you have to work on it the more creative you can be with each song. We regularly mash up popular songs with old worship standards like “How Great Is Our God” to give ourselves a challenge. It keeps the students interested, and if they suggested the song/mashup they’ll love playing it. Make it fun for them and for you as the worship leader. It’s about connecting with God so inspire, “make space,” invite, whatever kind of language you want to put on it, just do worship with students and they’ll love it.

Auditions?

It’s up to you and your personality/musical experience to conduct helpful and measurable auditions. I ask students to prepare something that shows me their strengths.

They come in play/sing. I take notes.

They get nervous as I keep writing…

I ask them to sing/play something new that I’m showing them.

This helps me see how fast they can pick something up, where their strengths are and their areas for improvement.

Then we work on playing together. Harmonize, play with them, whatever it takes to get them to listen, and to work together as a band. From here I pair them with other musicians who they always play with to grow together with.

The End.

CONNECTING STUDENTS TO THE LARGER CHURCH

Everything about youth ministry is connecting. Connecting students to each other, to the church, to God and to opportunities to serve. If your community is anything like mine students have no shortage of events to attend. These places are great for you, the Youth/Student Worship Leader, to connect with them, but the students who do sound, play in the band and help plan worship experiences can be encouraged a lot more.

Musicians need teachers so we have workshops for our student musicians to connect with other musicians who are more experienced. They talk gear, technique and what it means to be a part of a worship team.

Many churches do Team Nights now and these look like any number of things: having a night of worship, doing a stage re-design, a creative speaker, prayer nights, going to a concert, jam sessions or just hanging out. Scheduling a Team Night once a month or every quarter is a vital way to give students more ownership in their youth group.

As students develop these commitments and enjoy serving in their youth ministry, the transition to serving in the larger church becomes easier. Work with your Worship Pastors and build bridges for your students so they can continue serving and growing in Christ.

How to Be an Engaging Worship Leader

By
David Santistevan
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communicating with the unchurched

Engagement. It’s a word we use a lot when it comes to worship, don’t we?

Because it’s important. Corporate worship isn’t about finding our own voice as worship leaders. It’s about helping the church find theirs. Worship leadership is mostly about getting out of our own way.

As I’ve traveled the country this last year, there are many lessons I’ve learned about worship. What I’ve noticed about great worship teams and worship leaders is their effectiveness depends on their ability to help people feel a part of the experience. I’ve been in churches where the music is incredible but everyone is watching. And I’ve also been in situations where the music is horrendous and people are watching. It goes both ways.

The best teams? It’s not always because of standout talent. Sure, a one-of-a-kind voice can light up a room, but that’s not what we’re after in worship. We don’t want our churches to depend on a talent or ride the emotional high of songs. We want to lead them to spirit and truth, simple, pure, Christ-exalting worship that prepares them to worship in the real world.

8 Habits of Engaging Worship Leaders

Here’s what I’ve noticed about the best teams and the best worship leaders:

1. They Ignore the Fear – Standing in front of a room is never easy. It brings a certain degree of anxiety, no matter who you are. But great leaders understand that their leadership isn’t about them. It’s about people connecting with Jesus. Therefore, they learn to ignore the fear and bring the boldness that the moment needs.

2. They Actually Worship – The best worship leaders don’t just worship because it’s their job. As cliche as it sounds, it has become a way of life. Expressive worship on stage isn’t a show. They cultivate a consistency of actually desiring the presence of God and looking forward to the corporate display of His greatness. The quality of their private worship outweighs the display of public worship.

3. They Have a Real Relationship With God – Great leaders are moved by the Gospel. And it shows. Great leaders have a history in God and daily walk with Jesus that goes beyond ministry and performance. They read their Bible. They cultivate a life of prayer. Spiritual disciplines are important to them.

4. They Pay Attention to Their Stage Presence – This may irritate you, but the best leaders are aware of how they appear. I’m not speaking from a fashion sense, though that is a common joke among worship leaders. Stage presence is important because we are leading people. And great leaders work on it. A great stage presence is expressing what the song says. If it’s a celebratory anthem of praise, there is movement, excitement and energy. If it’s a slow, intimate song of encounter, there is a different type of movement, energy and desperation. Many leaders look bored, distant and checked out. Others appear to be over-performing at a talent show. The best leaders are aware of their tendencies and work to become better.

5. They Are Open to Criticism & Feedback – This may be one of the most important. Effective leaders never settle or arrive. There’s always something to improve. This teachability creates a light personality that is easy to be around. The opposite is also true. If you know everything, you stop developing, decrease your effectiveness and cut yourself off from people. Be open to your team’s input, your pastor’s input and your spouse’s feedback. Don’t just be open to it, seek it out.

6. They Are Constantly Improving Their Craft – I’ve noticed how great leaders are always innovating. They don’t settle or get set in their ways. I’ve noticed this about my pastor. While he knows who he is and what he’s called to do, he’s always surrounded himself with younger leaders to help him stay current. The method changes but the message does not. Worship leaders, always be learning new instruments, studying new approaches, writing new songs, utilizing new technology. It will keep you fresh.

7. They Use Vocal Cues – The best worship leaders don’t just sing worship songs well. They lead. Sounds like common sense, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised at how many don’t do this. One of the most practical ways to do this is to use vocal cues in your leading. You are more of a coach than you are a performer. A performer is concerned with their own activity on stage—nailing the part. A coach is concerned with the performance of the whole team. Start seeing your congregation as the choir you are conducting, the team you are leading. This will change the way you lead worship.

8. They Build a Team – You know what’s probably most interesting about the best leaders? They aren’t the most talented in the room. They’ve developed an emotional maturity and Kingdom mindset that enables them to release others into their calling. They aren’t performers, clawing at keeping their position. They make discipling, leading others who are better than them and guarding a healthy team culture. What’s even more special is how these developing leaders look a lot like the main worship pastor. It’s because there’s a culture of development and they are passing down what they know.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. What would you add to this list of an engaging worship leader? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

This article originally appeared here.

God Is Just Judge and Merciful Justifier

By
John MacArthur
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communicating with the unchurched

Imagine you’re a judge. Your job is to uphold and execute the law. It’s the only standard you must adhere to, and you must do it unflinchingly. One day a man stands before you—a vile, wicked murderer. The evidence against him is ironclad. There’s no doubt about his guilt—he openly admits it. He confesses what he did and says he’s very sorry. Then he asks you to forgive him. And in spite of what the law says, in spite of your responsibility to dispatch justice, you grant him complete forgiveness and let him walk free. We’d certainly be horrified if human judges operated that way.

But that’s exactly what our Judge has done. In spite of the clear standard of His law, and in spite of the overwhelming evidence of our sin and corruption, He sweeps aside our crimes, washes away our guilt, and sets us free from the due penalty of our sin. How can He do that and uphold His own holy law?

Paul gives us the glorious answer in 2 Corinthians 5:21— just fifteen Greek words that sum up the entire gospel and encapsulate God’s ministry of reconciliation. Paul writes, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That is the doctrine of substitution, and that’s how God can be both our just Judge and merciful justifier.

God “made Him who knew no sin”—which can only be a reference to Jesus Christ—“to be sin on our behalf.” As we’ve already seen, Scripture testifies over and over to Christ’s sinless perfection. The writer of Hebrews calls Him “holy, innocent, undefiled” (Heb. 7:26). Pontius Pilate—who had every incentive to find some flaw in the character and reputation of Jesus—said, “I find no guilt in Him” (John 19:6). The Father even spoke of the Son’s implicit sinlessness, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17). That same perfect, spotless, undefiled Son was “made… to be sin on our behalf ” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Don’t make the mistake, as some do, when it comes to understanding how God made Christ to “be sin.” Many preachers in the Word of Faith movement, for example, teach that Paul is telling us that Jesus actually became a sinner on the cross. They say His sin forced Him to go to hell for three days, and that after He had suffered sufficiently, He was released through the resurrection. That is a blasphemous, ludicrous heresy. Ephesians 5 tells us Christ surrendered Himself without spot or blemish (vv. 25–27). On the cross He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). If He was a sinner, He would not have had to ask why He was punished.

So what is Paul saying when he tells us that God made Christ “to be sin on our behalf”? It means God treated Him as if He were a sinner. More than that, actually—God poured out on Him the full fury of His wrath against all the sins of all the people who would ever believe, as if Christ had committed them Himself. As a righteous Judge, He had no other choice. The just God of the universe had to punish sin justly—He had to pour out the full penalty on His Son to grant forgiveness to His elect people. And His justice demands that every sin that has ever been committed, by every person who has ever lived, will be punished—either in the eternal torment of hell or on Christ at the cross.

It’s a humbling and profound thought that God treated Jesus on the cross as if He had lived my life and punished Him for every sin I have ever committed or ever will commit, to the full satisfaction of His justice. And for all who were included in the atonement—provided by the sacrifice of the Son by the glorious grace and mercy of God—the same is true.

All the judgment, all the torment, all the excruciating punishment was poured out on Christ as He died in our place. That’s a breathtaking reality, especially when you consider that Jesus was only on the cross for about three hours. In that brief window of time, Christ paid for all the sins of all those whom God would one day reconcile to Himself. In the span of a scant few hours, He was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28). “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). First Peter 2:24 sums it up simply but powerfully: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Through His suffering, Christ purchased our forgiveness. Through His sacrifice, He cleared the way for our reconciliation to God. He is our Redeemer King, our Lord and Lamb.

Amazingly, some people don’t seem to think Christ’s sacrifice was enough. They attempt to extend the atonement Christ purchased on the cross to the whole of humanity, as if He died for the whole human race. In so doing, they make His atoning sacrifice merely potentially effective. It must be actualized by the believing sinner. According to that notion, the price has already been paid for all humans—it’s simply up to the sinner to cash it in. But a just God can’t punish sin twice. He wouldn’t lay the penalty for the sins of everyone on His Son only to later mete out that same punishment on those who didn’t believe. A righteous Judge doesn’t deliver double punishment. God did not punish His Son for our sins and then punish the unbelieving sinner for the same sins.

Grace (and the Abuse of Grace) for Narcissists and Abusers

By
Chuck DeGroat
-
communicating with the unchurched

I live daily with a paradox. On the one hand, grace is audacious, extravagant, immediate and all-embracing. On the other, grace is painful, reconstructive, surgical and slow. Grace is the deliverance from Egypt and grace is the long, grueling journey through a blistering wilderness.

I live with this paradox because of the work I do. With my multiple hats—professor, pastor, therapist, spiritual director—I become a conduit of God’s lavish grace, a steward of it, a surgeon of the soul in need of it. And because grace refuses simplification, refuses to be reduced to a get-out-of-jail-free card, we must hold the paradox when we work with particularly complex people.

I’m thinking right now of pastors I’ve worked with over the years whose narcissism was so entrenched in their psyche that lavish grace needed to work itself out over years and years. Some time ago I worked with a pastor whose masks of charm, personal fitness and a keen intellect propelled him into success, but who was utterly disconnected from his true self. Revelations of abuse and sexual infidelity came as a shock to his adoring flock, many who were quick to say, “Who of us is without sin? Let us forgive as he taught us to forgive.” This pastor’s narcissism, now armed with a new mask of repentance, quickly turned the narrative from his sin to his redemption story, one his flock was happy to embrace.

I recall sitting with his wife weeks after as she struggled.

“I feel like God calls me to forgive him, but I can’t help but feel like he gets off the hook and I’m left beaten and bruised. I’ve even had people tell me that I was to blame for his infidelity. Was I?” Mired in guilt and shame, she felt like she’d be failing him and failing the church if she didn’t quickly forgive.

As I sat with the pastor, he had many reasons for his actions—many years without a sabbatical, burnout, lack of emotional support from his wife, a ‘weak’ elder board. He was quick to say, “I failed.” But he never got specific. In one session, I asked him for permission to say something hard to him. He agreed. I offered this to him: “What would it be like to say this to your wife: For years, I emotionally abused you by mocking your effort, your appearance, your faithfulness. I played the part of obedient pastor, but in secret I abused and tormented you. When pornography was not enough to anesthetize away my shame, I intentionally and meticulously groomed women who adored me for back-rubs, blowjobs and sex in my office, on the floor right next to my desk and our family picture.”

He sat silently, head down, as if it was the first time he’d considered something other than a narrative that would preserve his shiny veneer. I suspect he was weighing his options, as he always did, so very fearful of an ultimate confrontation with himself. He looked up at me, steel-eyed: “Chuck, can I say something to you? What would it look like for you to take the Gospel seriously, to help me gain my esteem back and to help my wife forgive me?”

I’ve had some version of this same story play out about a dozen times with pastors and/or ministry leaders of some kind.

This man needed the grace of wilderness. He wanted deliverance from Egypt and a quick flight over the wilderness to the promised land. He ultimately chose the latter. And he used his story as a real, live grace story.

When we treat grace like a band-aid rather than the major surgery it often demands, we trivialize it. Real transformation is a slow-cook process, especially for narcissists and abusers so hidden from their true selves and so prone to re-configure the masks for the sake of a new narrative and to avoid the pain of self-confrontation. The wilderness of grace is the place where the narcissist’s false self is dismantled, but it’s also the place where the systems and structures that buttressed and supported it are confronted and dismantled.

I sometimes wish I knew more about St. Paul’s three years in the wilderness. Once a murderous moralist, he was confronted by the living Christ on Damascus Road. Something new was born in him that day, but we know that he did not immediately take to the streets to evangelize. Some like to imagine these three years as an intense Bible-study training program. I like to think of them as a time of deconstruction—of old narratives, of the masks that served him in his old life, of an ideology of tribalism and abuse. I imagine that leaving his old life behind cost him dearly—relationships, reputation, income, so much more. When he did return, we know that he still had an edge, that he could be oppositional, that his words of reconciliation didn’t always match his relational style, that he wrestled with his inner contradictions. But he was an honest man—honest about his story, the toxicity of his old life, and his need for grace.

Grace is not about saving face. Grace often plunges us into the depths of despair.

It requires the loss of everything that buttressed the old self. As much as we’re culturally conditioned to good, old American quick redemption stories, we’ve got to reclaim a biblical imagination for the wilderness of grace. I’m suspicious of those who are quick to return to ministry, quick to write their redemption story, quick to embrace the adoration of their devoted followers. Those who I’ve seen do the real, hard wilderness work of transformation go away for years, and have no expectations for what will happen. All is given to the surgical work of grace under the care of experienced practitioners.

I reconnected with someone like this not long ago. I hadn’t seen him in years. His ministry fell apart when he cultivated a relationship with an old girlfriend on Facebook, and began secretly meeting with her. He resisted the wilderness of grace, at first. He scrambled to save his marriage and ministry. But he had a wise community. They held him firmly, in painful love, and showed him a desert path.

Hear What It Sounds Like to Sing in a Church With Perfect Acoustics

By
Megan Briggs
-
Malinda Kathleen Reese
Screengrab YouTube @Stories of Amazing Grace and Wikimedia Commons @Iglesia de la Encarnación, en Montefrío

Malinda Kathleen Reese is a talented singer who grew to YouTube fame after a quirky idea to sing the lyrics produced after putting popular songs through Google Translate. While originally known for her “Translator Fails” profile, the singer recently took a trip to Spain, where she found herself in an 18th-century church. She soon discovered that the acoustics inside the church were nothing short of magical, and she took the opportunity to sing part of a beloved Christmas song those of us in the Christian tradition hold dear.

https://www.facebook.com/malindakathleenreese/videos/2197123046986541

The church Reese is singing in in the video is located in Montefrio, Spain. Iglesia de la Encarnacion is a Catholic church that was built between 1786 and 1802 and was modeled after the Pantheon of Agrippa in Rome, hence its circular shape.

The singer uploaded the video of herself singing a few bars from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to her Facebook page on December 10, 2018. Commenting on the brilliant acoustics of the church, she captions the video, “When you get a Pantheon style church with the 6 second reverb all to yourself…”

So far Reese’s video has been shared over 200,000 times and viewed 11 million times. This kind of attention is not foreign to Reese, whose Translator Fails YouTube videos have received as many as 10 million views.

The singer frequently vlogs on her personal YouTube channel. She talks about the unique space she occupies as a “YouTuber” in some of her video diaries. In one video, titled “I don’t want to be extraordinary,” Reese says she is aware that “Internet culture in particular rewards sensationalism” and that she constantly has to examine where the desire to “be in front of big crowds and play music and…be labeled as a YouTube sensation” comes from.

As far as the video of Reese singing in the Spanish church, I think it’s safe to say we are all glad she shared that one with the world. Perhaps people who are unfamiliar with “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” will be inclined to find out what the song means. And that can only be a good thing.

Bishop Makes Laywoman Official Head of Catholic Parish

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

A Catholic bishop has appointed a laywoman as parish life coordinator over St. Anthony of Padua parish in Fairfield, Connecticut. Dr. Eleanor Sauers, who teaches religious studies at Fairfield University, has been overseeing the parish since March following the death of Rev. John Baran. According to the Associated Press, she will take official responsibility over the parish this January.

Sauers’ appointment is “a significant step in the growing role of women leaders,” the Rev. James Martin said.

In a letter to the St. Anthony of Padua parishioners, Bishop Frank Caggiano said,

Her responsibilities, as it is with any priest or deacon appointed as Administrator, is to work with the parish community to develop and foster its pastoral vision and mission. She will continue to be present to the parish in times of celebration and sadness. Her education, formation and experience makes her professionally, academically and spiritually ready for this role.

What Is Unusual About This?

Bishop Caggiano has taken a somewhat unusual step in the level of authority he has given Sauers. According to the National Catholic Register, the Code of Canon Law provides several options for what to do in the absence of a parish priest. One is to put the parish under the care of a team of priests, with one of them leading. Another is to appoint a layperson as parish life coordinator. Churches are to use this option only in “exceptional circumstances” and not “for its own sake.” That is, appointing a layperson ought to be a last resort when a priest is unavailable.

Sauers will have authority over a team of priests, who will help her by carrying out sacramental ministries in the parish. In his letter, Bishop Caggiano explained that when making the decision to appoint Sauers, he considered the parish community, the work she had already done in the parish, and the precedent already set by other dioceses.

Sauers is the not the first woman to serve as a parish life coordinator, but she is the first in her diocese and among few women throughout the country. According to the AP, parish life coordinators are typically deacons (that is, men) or even nuns, but they are rarely lay people.

Something else that makes Sauers unique is she reports directly to the bishop. Usually the parish life coordinator would report to a priest with authority over the parish. This is not the first time a woman has had authority over a parish, but it is unique for the church to officially recognize such responsibility in this way.

Sauers has said she “cannot speak to the issue of women in the priesthood,” but that she hopes women will be more open to the Catholic Church because of her appointment.

The Church’s Historical Stance

The Catholic church has historically prohibited women from being ordained because of various passages in the New Testament. In an ecclesiastical letter in 1994, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the church’s historical position when he said, “I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

It will be interesting to see if putting women in higher positions of church leadership will be a growing trend in the church in the coming years. The church’s traditional stance is one that Pope Francis has so far been unwilling to reverse.

Their Son Died by Suicide…The Funeral Was NOT the Place to Call Suicide a Sin

By
Stephanie Martin
-
communicating with the unchurched

After giving a funeral homily that one Catholic leader calls “a pastoral disaster,” a Michigan priest has been pulled from preaching at funerals while he gets “assistance.”

Following the December 4 suicide of their 18-year-old son, Maison, Jeff and Linda Hullibarger met with the Rev. Don LaCuesta at their lifelong parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Temperance. They didn’t tell the priest how Maison died but requested that the funeral homily emphasize themes of family, love and kindness.

A Funeral Homily That Caused Deep Hurt

Instead, the parents and other mourners were shocked a few days later as LaCuesta repeatedly mentioned suicide and condemned the act. “There is hope in eternity even for those who take their own lives,” LaCuesta preached. “Having said that, I think that we must not call what is bad good, what is wrong right. Because we are Christians, we must say what we know is the truth—that taking your own life is against God who made us and against everyone who loves us. Our lives are not our own. They are not ours to do with as we please. God gave us life, and we are to be good stewards of that gift for as long as God permits.”

The priest continued: “The finality of suicide makes this all the worse. You cannot make things right again. … Things are left unresolved. … Now you will have to work through this pain by yourselves, or with those close to you now who will need to lean on you even as you lean on them.”

LaCuesta’s homily did include themes of hope, mercy and forgiveness. He said, “Because of his mercy, God can forgive suicide and heal what has been broken,” and, “No deed is too evil to be beyond the forgiveness of Christ.” But Maison’s parents say being blindsided by condemnation made the worst day of their lives even worse. “He basically called our son a sinner in front of everyone,” says Linda Hullibarger.

The Parents Tried to Intervene

After LaCuesta started mentioning suicide, Jeff Hullibarger approached the priest and quietly asked him to stop, but that didn’t work. Then the priest ignored the parents’ wishes to make statements. The Hullibargers had to stop the recessional music to celebrate Maison’s life. They told LaCuesta he wasn’t welcome at the burial, where they gave their own blessing.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Detroit apologizes that “the family was not served as they should have been served.” It says LaCuesta won’t be preaching at funerals “for the foreseeable future” and a mentor will review his other homilies. Plus, he’ll receive “assistance…to become a more effective minister in these difficult situations.”

That isn’t enough, say the Hullibargers, who want LaCuesta dismissed from the priesthood. Empathy and discretion can’t be taught in a classroom, they say, and no other families should experience their pain. “We’re afraid…they’ll send him off and he’ll do it to somebody else,” says Jeff Hullibarger.

What the Catholic Church Says About Suicide

The Catholic Church has eased its position on suicide, once considered a mortal sin. Now the church says suicide can be forgiven when caused by “grave psychological disturbances,” among other factors. The church notes we shouldn’t “despair of the eternal salvation” of people who kill themselves.

But a divide still exists within the Catholic Church, with traditionalists maintaining a hard line on the issue. “There’s all these kinds of clashes…in Catholicism now because it’s so ideologically divided,” says professor Mathew Schmalz.

I Know God Loves Me, But Does He Like Me?

By
Mark Altrogge
-
communicating with the unchurched

When I once wrote that God doesn’t love us because we are lovable, a couple readers responded that they know God loves them, but aren’t sure he likes them. I can relate. I used to feel that God more or less put up with me because he had obligated himself by saving me.

Here’s part of how one reader, Billie, replied:

If you [have children], do you delight in your children? Do you love their little quirks and personality traits? I am, and I do. I know God is a much better parent that I can ever dream to be…would he delight in us (his adopted children) any less than we delight in our own? Or would he simply tolerate us for Christ’s sake? Zephaniah 3:17 says:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Does that sound like it gives him pleasure to have you as one of His children? I think it does. =)

Excellent Billie! God loves all people – He so loved the world he sent his one and only Son – but he has a special love for his blood-bought children. He rejoices over us with gladness. He exults over us with loud singing. Nowhere does it say he rejoices or exults over the wicked with singing even though he loves them.

God rejoices over me with gladness – wow, that’s hard to fathom. God exults over me with loud singing – what does that sound like?

I can see smiling angels turning their heads saying there he goes again with the singing!

In Philippians 1:8 Paul says, “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Jesus had given Paul HIS affection for the saints. Affection for someone means you like them, take pleasure in them. You don’t simply tolerate them in an alright-I-love-you-because-I-have-to way.

Here’s another passage that shows how God feels about his people:

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God…you shall be called My Delight Is in Her…for the LORD delights in you…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:3-5

God delights in his redeemed people as a glittering crown, a royal diadem. He rejoices over us as a bridegroom over his bride. Hardly sounds like he’s just putting up with us. God’s people are his “treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6), “the apple of his eye” (Deuteronomy 32:10).

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” This is not mere head knowledge but a deep experience of Christ’s love.

If you’re a believer, Jesus loves you, has affection for you, delights in you, rejoices over you, and exults over you with loud singing. Yes, he likes you! Meditate on these things and ask him to make them real to you.

10 Really Big Questions About the Future of Church Attendance (and 10 Hunches)

By
Carey Nieuwhof
-
communicating with the unchurched

Talk to any church leader, and they’ll tell you it feels more challenging than ever to get people to come to church on a Sunday.

Even in growing churches (like ours), the competition for peoples’ time, attention and devotion seems to get more intense every year.

You’ve felt it too.

So what’s up? And where is future church attendance heading?

I’m a firm believer in the future of the church and the gathered church. It’s here to stay not because we always get it right, but because the church is Jesus’ idea, not ours.

Still, with everything in the culture changing, how do you navigate toward a better future?

One step is to start asking solid questions.

Why? Because usually the future isn’t pioneered by the clarity of the answers nearly as much as it by the quality of the questions.

Ask the right questions, and you’ll eventually get the right answers. Fail to ask the questions, and you’re sunk.

Here are 10 questions I’m asking right now and I’ve seen other leaders ask. I think they can help frame your discussion and move you toward better answers and a strategy to match.

I’ve also included my hunch when it comes to an answer to the questions, not because I’m certain it’s right, but because answering the question moves you toward a more strategic and proactive future.So, with that in mind, here are

10 really big questions about future church attendance.

1. WILL INFREQUENT CHURCH ATTENDANCE BECOME THE UNIVERSAL DEFAULT?

If you grew up in church, you were likely raised never to miss a Sunday. Well, those days are pretty much gone. I outline 10 reasons for that in this post.

Frequent church attendance (say two to three weeks a month) seems to be most prevalent among

  • Volunteers
  • Long time (and older) church attendees
  • Families with very young children
  • Some new attendees and new Christians (at least for a season)
  • Quite honestly, lower-income families for whom travel is not an option

For everyone else, regular church attendance is giving way to non-engagement or online attendance.

As infrequent in-person attendance becomes more normative, it raises a series of other questions.

Hunch

Infrequent church attendance is usually a sign that people don’t see value in what you’re doing. And that’s a problem.

When parents who never ever miss their kids’ soccer practice regularly miss church, it’s a sign that they’re more engaged in soccer than they are in church. In other words, they just don’t see the value in attendance.

Want to drive engagement? Here are some ideas.

2. DOES INFREQUENT ATTENDANCE LEAD TO LOWER DEVOTION AMONG CHRISTIANS?

Some might argue frequent church attendance is not an indicator of devotion to Christ. But the bigger question is Is infrequent church attendance a sign of lower devotion to Christ?

Obviously, there is nothing that inherently says that’s the case, but generally speaking, people are less committed to things they attend less often.

Naturally, the goal of faith is to get people to commit to Jesus, not to a local church, but still, as I outline here, Christ and his church are intricately connected.

But consider this: showing up at the gym once a month rather than three times a week usually communicates something. Skipping a weekly date with someone you’re supposed to be in love with is usually a sign of something deeper.

People usually commit to things they’re devoted to. Until they’re no longer devoted to them.

Hunch

Infrequent attendance is almost always a sign of lower devotion. We participate in the things we value most.

Infrequent attendance is almost always a sign of lower devotion. We participate in the things we value most. CLICK TO TWEET

3. WILL ONLINE CHURCH REPLACE IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE FOR MANY?

So if people aren’t attending church as regularly anymore, then what’s the new normal?

In addition to simply staying away, many are substituting online options for in-person attendance. The launch of Churchome’s Global App is one more step in that direction.

The last decade has seen an explosion of online options for Christians, most of which are free: from social media to podcasts and to services streamed both live and on demand.

The opportunities are endless and will only grow from here.

Even if your church doesn’t have any online presence, don’t worry—thousands of other ministries do. There’s no way to shield your congregation from a changing world.

And actually, come to think of it, there shouldn’t be. The church has always adapted to a changing world because Jesus loves the world.

Hunch

While I think that (at least at this point) increased in-person engagement almost always leads to higher devotion, for some people online will be their only form of church. I don’t love this, for reasons stated elsewhere in this post, but if you ignore your online strategy, you lose the chance to reach new people, even if it means some of your less-devoted people step back.

4. DOES ONLINE PARTICIPATION FEED CONSUMPTION OR DRIVE ENGAGEMENT?

One of the key goals for Christians is to engage the mission in front of us: to share the love and salvation of Christ with the world.

But does online participation drive Christians into deeper engagement with that mission or does it drive us deeper into consumerism?

The challenge with technology, of course, is that we are both its parent and its child. We shaped it, but we’re unclear on how it’s shaping us.

So, given the rise of digital options, are Christians increasingly seeing their faith as something to be consumed?

The Gospel by nature demands sacrifice, engagement and risk.

Christianity at its best has never been about consuming much and contributing little. We shouldn’t start now.

In many respects, online consumption builds the kingdom of me. We’re called to build the Kingdom of God.

Hunch

When you design your online strategy, you can shape it to fuel consumption or to fuel engagement. While many churches will shape it to fuel consumption, the more effective churches will shape it to fuel engagement.

5. WHAT HAPPENS TO EVANGELISM IN A LOW ATTENDANCE WORLD?

Of all the things that concern me most about lower attendance patterns, this one is the highest on my list.

If you’re consuming your faith online and only attending sporadically, how do you invite your friends into that? That’s right, you don’t.

Sharing a pin on Instagram is not the same as personally sharing your life with a friend.

Sure, theoretically, you can share your faith around a kitchen table. But let’s be honest, not many people actually do that. And something tells me that most people who attend infrequently rarely share their faith.

Christians should live like the good news is good, not just for them, but for everyone.

Hunch

Many Christians will continue to see their faith as something to be enjoyed, not shared. But they won’t be the future church.

The future church will be followers of Jesus who unite around a mission to change the world through the love and hope of Christ.

6. WHAT HAPPENS TO DISCIPLESHIP IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT?

Christian maturity is not marked by how much you know, it’s marked by how much you love.

And love has an outward thrust.

Sure, to grow as a disciple you need to consume. So listen to messages and podcasts, take online seminary classes…do what you need to do.

But consumption has never been the goal of true discipleship. Jesus never asked you to be a disciple; he called you to make disciples.

If your mantra in avoiding other Christians on Sunday and consuming what you feel like on Monday is to build yourself up, you’ve lost the mission.

Hunch

The future church will be filled with Christians who realize they’re called to make disciples, not just be disciples.

7. HOW MUCH OF A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE ACTUALLY TRANSLATES?

With more and more congregations streaming their services, it raises the question of what happens on the other end?

First, I suspect the attention span of viewers and listeners is fractured and intermittent. Watching while running on the treadmill is not the same experience as being in the room live when something is taking place. Listening while cooking dinner and while the kids are running up and down the hall is not the same as being seated and attentive for a sermon. Sure, people have been distracted in church for centuries, but it’s a different kind of distraction.

Second, even if you sit in rapt attention to what’s being streamed on your device, is it the same as being in the room? If you only watched online for a year or attended for a year, would your faith be different?

Hunch

Because so much online content consumption is often done while people multi-task, it will lead to a distracted discipleship if that’s the only form of church people experience.

8. IS A DIGITAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRISTIANITY ENOUGH?

As physical attendance continues to decline and digital engagement increases, will it be possible to have 100 percent or near 100 percent digital relationship with Christianity, much the way you have a completely virtual relationship with gaming, movies or Hollywood?

I really think something gets lost by a mainly digital experience.

A high percentage of couples today meet online. But no couple who meets online wants to stay online: The goal is to meet in person and (maybe) start a life together. Should Christians be different?

If the goal is to do life together, to engage in a mission together, to quite literally change the world together, well…that involves actual human relationships.

But in a world where more and more are choosing virtual connection over real, we’ll have to see what that produces.

9. WHAT HAPPENS TO KIDS WHOSE PARENTS ONLY ATTEND ONLINE?

This one bothers me more than most. Parents will often skip out on attending church because they’re busy or want a day off.

And parents can easily catch up on a message and maybe even still get to a small group.

But what about kids?

We’ve built a relational ministry at our church for all ages based on the Orange strategy and curriculum because, well, I think the Gospel is inherently relational.

You can’t download a relationship or a friendship.

When parents skip church, kids lose far more than the parents.

What happens to a generation of kids who grow up relationally disconnected? Actually, I think we’re seeing the results of that already. Just read the news.

10. WILL FRAGMENTED INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS CARRY THE MISSION FORWARD?

Whether the future trends are toward more online engagement or just more sporadic attendance with no online supplementation, the question is whether fragmented individual believers will carry the mission forward?

The church has always been strongest when it’s been a movement of people gathered around a common set of mission, vision, values and strategy.

The hyper-individualism of our current culture (I’ll do what I want when I want to) runs at crossed-purposes to the Gospel and the mission of the church.

I realize many Christians argue they’re done with church (I wrote about that here…the comments will curl your hair), but that still doesn’t change my view that the only one who believes Christians are better off alone is the enemy.

This article originally appeared here.

5 Ways Ministry Leaders Can Enjoy the Christmas Season

By
Greg Baird
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communicating with the unchurched

There are very few “down” times for children’s ministry leaders. Christmas certainly is not one of them for most of us! Besides the Christmas kids program, we usually are doing something special on the weekend before Christmas, managing a sparse volunteer team (usually with many fill-ins), and getting lots of “extras” prepped for our programs (can you say crafts, Christmas projects, special snacks, volunteer gifts…).

Oftentimes this leaves us tired, cranky and unable to truly enjoy the Christmas season ourselves. We can’t let that happen!

But how do we avoid that? Here are five things I’ve learned to practice in order to personally enjoy the season:

Get things done.

There is a lot to get done at the Christmas season. During this period, especially, it’s important to make sure you stay organized, on task and get things done as early as possible. Delegate appropriately, get your follow-up systems in place and make sure to avoid as many “last minute” tasks as possible.

Take mental breaks.

Between home and church, the Christmas season can be nonstop. Find ways to take mental breaks—whatever works for you. Stop at Starbucks and sit down to enjoy your coffee on the way to work. Take a short walk around your church facilities to get out of the office. Play a game with your staff for no particular reason. Whatever works for you—10 or 15 minutes can make a big difference in your day!

Remind yourself of “the reason for the season.”

That can be such a trite little saying, can’t it? But the message behind it is important! You are not doing what you do to bolster the numbers, or put on an impressive program, or wow anyone with your facility decorations, or…or…or…  You are doing what you do because of the very meaning behind this season. What reminds you of that? It could be as simple as using a coffee mug with that message on it. Read a portion of the Christmas story every day. Post a sign on your office door. Wear one of those pins with that saying on it (OK, that might be extreme for some of us, but you get the idea!).

Attend a worship service—strictly as an attendee!

Don’t even get me started on why attending church service needs to be a priority for Children’s & Family Ministry leaders! Whether you do regularly or not, make it a priority at Christmas. I get it—it’s hard sometimes and you are required to oversee program, etc. Find a way—even if that means attending another church’s service! Share this with your family as a parent and spouse—NOT as a children’s pastor.

Don’t sacrifice your family.

Taking #4 to the next level…don’t sacrifice your family—during the Christmas season or any other time. God did not call you to lead your children’s ministry at the expense of your family. It is so easy, especially during a season such as this, to allow our ministry to overtake our family. We all have to adjust to make sure this doesn’t happen, just find the ways that work for you.

How do you ensure you enjoy the Christmas season?

This article originally appeared here.

What Worship Leaders ACTUALLY Do

By
David Santistevan
-
communicating with the unchurched

What Worship Leaders ACTUALLY Do

Let’s be real. You’re not the best worship leader there is. Neither am I.

There will always be a better musician, a better singer, a more charismatic personality, a more organized leader. You’re not the best.

But isn’t it good to know that leading our churches isn’t about being the best? World class worship leading is about being hidden more than being noticed.

It’s important to distinguish what we actually do and facilitate as worship leaders:

  • Worship leaders don’t draw attention to themselves. They direct eyes and hearts to Jesus.
  • Worship leaders don’t sing for people. They sing with people.
  • Worship leaders don’t entertain a crowd. They engage a room.
  • Worship leaders don’t usher the church into an encounter. They spotlight the One who does.

Our praise doesn’t make God more glorious. He is completely glorious in and of Himself.

Our passion and desire don’t force the Spirit to move. We simply awaken to His ever present nearness.

I love how John Piper says it in his book Reading the Bible Supernaturally:

We do not magnify Him the way a microscope magnifies. We magnify him the way a telescope magnifies. A microscope makes tiny things look bigger than they are. Telescopes make huge things, which already look tiny, appear more like what they really are.”

What’s sad is that many of us worship leaders are putting ourselves under a microscope for the Bride of Christ to behold rather than helping the congregation see Jesus through a telescope. I know I’ve been there.

But strong, humble leaders help people look through the telescope—to help them see what they haven’t seen before. We don’t change anything about what we see—we simply make it clearer and draw more attention to its fascinating detail.

Our object of attention? The glory of God. More specifically, the glory of God shining most brightly in the person of Jesus Christ.

In every service, there are people who’ve never seen. This Sunday might be the day their eyes are opened. There are others who have grown cold to what they’ve seen. This weekend might be when the fire is sparked again.

Songs are our telescope. We sing in order to see clearer. The clearer we see, the more our hearts are moved and the deeper we worship.

Scripture is our telescope. The more we see in God’s Word, the more we can respond in Spirit & Truth.

Every tool we use as worship leaders is a telescope to help us see Jesus clearer. If it’s not helping us see Him, it’s not helping us.

Help people see. Respond. See more. Respond again. That’s what a worship leader does. Don’t use the stage to magnify your talent. Spend your life spotlighting the eternal facets of God’s glory.

There’s endless beauty to behold.

This article originally appeared here.

Rediscovering the Lost Art of Lament

By
Stephen Um
-
communicating with the unchurched

How does God want us to deal with the great difficulties of life?

Does he want us to ignore them, to get over them, to power through them, or to be crushed by them?

No.

He wants us to lament over them. That is the great lesson of a little-read passage in the Old Testament prophet Micah. Following Micah, we will see that God actually invites his people to lament over them. He wants us to honestly assess what we’re seeing, and also to pour out our great sorrow to him at what we see.

The Reality of Lament

What is lament? Lament is a passionate expression of grief and sorrow—to mourn, to grieve, to beat one’s breast in anguish. A lament is not whining, complaining, griping or grumbling. It is to say, “Woe is me!” (Micah 7:1): What misery is mine. It sums up the feeling of a grieving mother who has lost a child, or of a widow or widower facing their spouse’s funeral, or of a conquered nation. “Woe is me!” is only used in the most dire, grim, ruinous circumstances.

The Bible is not ashamed of lament. In the Psalms, 60 of the 150 are categorized as lament psalms—40 percent. There is one book in the Bible that is devoted to laments, and it is aptly named Lamentations. Why does the Bible embrace a lament? Because it is honest about human experience. It doesn’t settle for some superficially shallow way of describing what’s going on, as if to pretend that suffering is not serious or that it is just an illusion. We, too, must learn to meaningfully and honestly express the anguish of our hearts, if we are to avoid superficiality or pretense.

Lamenting and Hoping

Micah found many reasons to lament as he looked at Jerusalem in his day. First, godliness had disappeared because godly people seemed to have vanished: “The godly has perished from the earth” (v 2). Second, leaders were corrupt: “The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul” (v 3). Third, society itself seemed to have gone rotten and trust was always misplaced: “Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend…a man’s enemies are the men of his own house” (v 5-6).

Perhaps some or all of those are not so far from our experience of life today!

So how are we supposed to respond? What does Micah do? He laments: “Woe is me!” (v 1). And then he hopes as he laments:

“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (v 7).

This is how God’s people respond to the great difficulties of life. We lament, and we hope in our lament.

Melted by His Lament

Of course, Micah was not the last prophet to look at Jerusalem and lament—in Luke 19:41-42 Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and for the same reasons as Micah. And on the cross, we see Jesus’ greatest lament: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1). He did not cry out for a physical remedy, but for the nearness of God. He cried out for his presence.

But where was God? Where was God’s fatherly care? Could he not have rescued his Son, or have come close to him? Yes, of course he could—but Father and Son both knew what needed to be done. Jesus had to go through this guilt-bearing process for people who could not save themselves. For this, the Father and Jesus experienced the reality of the separation that we face eternally. For this, Jesus cried out the most heartrending lament in all of history.

What causes pain over a separation? It is the depth of the relationship that you are being distanced from, and the length of time that you have been together with the other person. The greater the depth of the bond and the longer the time you have spent together, the worse the parting is. Scripture tells us that God the Father and God the Son were together in perfect unity, enjoying each other’s company and love, for eternity. Imagine the pain that comes in severing a bond like this!

This place where Jesus experienced forsakenness—this place of ultimate lament—is where we need to come when we are lamenting. When we cry out to God for his help, we can look to the cross and know that God will not turn his back on us. God’s rejection is what Jesus has already experienced, in our place. Jesus’ prayer for his Father’s nearness was rejected so that we can know that our prayers seeking nearness to him will never be rejected.

We need to let this truth of what Jesus has done for us melt our hearts and cause us to wait, to look, to slow down, to process and to lament ourselves. We lament in a confident sadness, knowing that our prayers will be heard because Jesus’ prayer of, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was not heard. Through the cross, we are invited to run to our Father to let out our cries of lament. Because of Jesus, we can know that our lament is heard. We can cry our laments in hope, knowing that we cry to a Father who will never turn his face away. And so, whatever the cause of our lament—and there will be many, and they will cut deep—we always can say to ourselves, to others and to God:

“As for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.” (Micah 7 v 7; emphasis mine)

For more on Micah, take a look at the newest addition to the God’s Word For You Family, Micah For You by Stephen Um. Available now.

This article originally appeared here.

The (Hidden) Theology and History of O Come, O Come Emmanuel

By
Daniel Im
-
communicating with the unchurched

If anyone had a side hustle or a gig, it was the Anglican priest and hymn writer John Mason Neale.

Neale (1818-1866) not only founded a nursing order of Anglican nuns, helped social welfare organizations care for orphans and young women, and was a warden of Sackville college, but he translated early and medieval Greek and Latin hymns in his spare time—focusing on the ancient ones that were written around “the feasts and the fasts of the Christian year.”[1]

HE IS MOST NOTABLY KNOWN FOR BRINGING US THAT BELOVED CAROL “O COME O COME EMMANUEL.”

While the hymn as we find it today was first published in the mid 19th century, its origins are actually found in a Benedictine Gregorian chant from the late eighth and ninth century. History tells us that beginning the week before Christmas, the monks would sing a verse a day to prepare their hearts and minds for Christmas.

What’s fascinating about the original seven verses is that each began with a Messianic title from the Scriptures that prophesied and foreshadowed Jesus’ coming:

  • O Sapentia (Wisdom)
  • O Adonai (God)
  • O Radix Jesse (Stem or root of Jesse)
  • O Clavis David (Key of David)
  • O Oriens (Dayspring)
  • O Rex genitium (King of the Gentiles)
  • O Emmanuel (God with us)

If you’re interested in how each verse points to Jesus, you can watch the sermon that I preached on this hymn at the bottom of this article.

I did want to highlight the last verse, which is actually the first verse of the version that we sing today:

O come, O come, Emmanuel 
And ransom captive Israel 
That mourns in lonely exile here 
Until the Son of God appear

EMMANUEL—GOD WITH US.

We see this prophecy about Jesus the Messiah in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.”

Jesus, the son of God, was going to leave it all, leave the right hand of God, to come and be with us, so that we can experience all that is talked about in the seven verses of this hymn…

What’s amazing about this verse in particular, and also the other ones, is that they have a double purpose.

In these seven verses, we realize that through Jesus’ first coming—his birth—he was going to be the ransom paid to set Israel and the nations free. So when we sing these verses, and many of our other beloved Christmas carols, what happens is that we are often seeing the world through the lens of those living in the first century.

You know…little baby Jesus who was born in a manger, on a silent night, with angels singing, and the wise men bearing gifts.

However, if you take a look at each of these seven verses again—with an eye toward Jesus’ return—you’ll discover that they all have a hidden meaning, or a double purpose.

Jesus is coming back.

When we sing the lyrics of this song, we’re not only celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus, but we’re also preparing our hearts and growing in excitement for Jesus’ return, which we may actually witness during our lifetime.

So in a sense, each verse is helping us place our eyes on Jesus’ return by remembering his first coming and then anticipating, yearning, hoping, and aching for his second coming.

I love this quote by John Piper,

The Christian life oscillates between these two poles: the overflowing joy of the “already” redeemed (Ephesians 1:7) and the tearful yearning of the “not-yet” redeemed (Ephesians 4:30). Not that we ever leave the one or the other in this life. We are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).[2]

I will be present tomorrow.

Now here’s the kicker. Take a look at the first letter of each verse in Latin (after O). As an acronym, it spells, SARCORE.

If read backward, the letters form a two-word acrostic, “Ero cras,” which means “I will be present tomorrow,” or I shall be with you tomorrow.[3]

Friends, Jesus is God with us. He has not only come in history, but he is coming again…

What a reason to rejoice!

End Notes:

[1] https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/ magazine/article/ o-come-o-come-emmanuel

[2] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles /o-come-o-come-emmanuel

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/ resources/history-of-hymns- o-come-o-come-emmanuel

This article originally appeared here.

Pastoral Covetousness

By
Darryl Dash
-
communicating with the unchurched

There’s something in us that discounts our current circumstances: our lives, our location, our role, our life. We look at others and want more. It’s sin, of course, a direct violation of the tenth word:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:17)

I’m always struck by how comprehensive this command is. It goes into detail, because our hearts covet in detail. I’m also struck by how often we break this command without even noticing—even, maybe especially, pastors.

They Look So Good

Studies suggest that spending goes up with social media consumption. We see how others live, and we expect that we should be able to keep up.

I’m guessing that the same applies to pastoring. Every week I see images of full churches and read about how God is moving in churches across the world. I see pictures of baptisms and crowds.

I also hear the podcasts. I can’t possibly keep up with the best of the preaching out there.

It’s good when I can rejoice in how God is using others. It’s dangerous if I begin to envy the ministries of others.

The social media images and podcasts don’t give the full picture. Even if they do, they don’t mean that I deserve the same. Our churches aren’t always ready for social media, and that’s not a bad thing. This side of glory, churches are made to be messy.

Fighting Covetousness

We can fight pastoral covetousness in two ways.

Positively: cultivate contentment. Find satisfaction in your work and your place. Pray for joy. Base your identity not on how well your ministry is going, but who you are in Jesus.

After all, one day you’ll long for what you have now. Besides, I hear those who have larger ministries who long for a church like yours. Don’t miss the blessings that are yours that would be absent if your ministry was larger.

Second: love fellow pastors and churches. Pick one you’re tempted to envy, and pray for them. Ask God to give you joy when other ministries succeed. Ask God to free you from coveting their success. See their success as kingdom success, and remind yourself that we all work for the same master.

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot” (Ecclesiastes 5:18). What God has given is enough. We can enjoy it and praise God for what he’s given others.

Nothing will rob a pastor of joy as much as covetousness. Nothing will remove our focus from the good gifts that God has given us. Nothing will rob us of the partnership we’re meant to enjoy with our fellow laborers. Let’s recognize pastoral covetousness, and let’s commit to fight it for the sake of our souls and the health of our ministries.

This article originally appeared here.

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