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5 Ways Your Church Can Use Text Messaging to Reach More People

By
Brandon Cox
-
communicating with the unchurched

Fifty-nine percent of millennials who grew up in church have dropped out.

Why? That’s a huge can of worms. There are plenty of theories—some based on data and others based on mere opinion.

I believe at least one reason why we’ve failed to reach this younger generation of people has to do with the way we communicate about who we are and what we believe.

We generally tend to promote the church either through mass-marketing methods, like direct mail or print advertising, or we don’t promote the church at all and just assume people should know we exist and feel some moral obligation to find us on the weekend.

In the last decade, our culture has experienced a massive shift, thanks in part to technological advances. It’s not all bad. In fact, if we understand it, it’s actually quite good.

When the Internet first went online, businesses and news organizations—and eventually a lot of churches—adopted it as a mass communication tool. But things changed with the creation of various social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media forced businesses and news organizations to focus more on personalization.

The church is starting to catch on and adopt social media platforms as a means of connecting with people and spreading a message of hope. We’re a bit behind, of course, but we’re starting to catch up.

As the church begins to utilize social technologies, the youngest generation may already be moving on from social networks to much more personal means of communicating, especially texting.

Text-messaging, as an outreach and communication tool, is HUGE!

I believe rather strongly that we should stop asking people to turn their cell phones OFF during worship services, and instead, ask them to turn them ON and use them…

  • For accessing Bible apps
  • To interact with the service
  • To snap and share photos and videos
  • To check-in and share about their church

According to Text In Church,

  • 23 billion texts are sent each day
  • 90 percent of texts are read within three minutes
  • 45 percent of texts receive a reply

The question is, how can the church tap into text messaging as a means of reaching more people and making more disciples?

While we’re still learning in this arena, here are some thoughts and practices that may be worth implementing and experimenting with. Some of these, my church is already doing, and some of them, we’re just talking about.

1. Helping people plan their first visit.

Our church website utilizes a service from Church Hero called Plan Your Visit.

Plan Your Visit App

It allows people, from any page of our website, to click a button and let us know they’re coming. We then, in turn, send them a text with information about the service time they chose, and then we send them a reminder text.

Our First Impressions Director prepares one of our first-time guest gift bags especially for them with their name on it.

2. Allowing people to text-to-give.

We manage all of our online giving with Planning Center Online. There are tons of competitors on the market and each has their advantages, but Planning Center’s Online Giving app integrates seamlessly with our people tracking, volunteer scheduling, kids’ check-in apps, etc.

One of the features we use is the text-to-give feature. Donors can send a dollar amount to a five-digit phone number via text and they’ll be guided through the process of making sure it gets to us. Once they’ve given by text once, it’s set up forever and is simple and easy to do.

This is especially helpful for one-time short campaigns and special causes. If we’re supporting a local nonprofit one weekend, we can ask people to designate $5 or $10 or more for that particular ministry by simply sending a text.

3. Being interactive during the message.

Our church doesn’t have a physical office. Therefore we don’t need a landline phone system. We just use a free Google Voice number instead. During the service, we can ask people to take an immediate action by sending us a text message via our Google number.

During a message, this might include texting us with follow-up questions. When making announcements, it might mean that people can register for an event or sign up to volunteer via text message.

4. Communicating with subgroups and ministry teams.

We use Facebook groups excessively within our church. Every volunteer team and almost every small group has a Facebook group. The problem is, not everyone is on Facebook and not everyone who is on Facebook pays attention to it. This is especially true of a bunch of men in our church.

So we use group texts to communicate about special Bible studies, volunteer opportunities and events as well as weather cancellations and other important notices.

For this purpose, we use Text In Church, created by my friend, Tyler Smith.

Text In Church lets us create groups and use keywords to manage those groups. People can opt in, and opt out, and manage their messages.

5. Creating text message sequences (automatically-sending messages).

When someone uses our Plan Your Visit button, we can add their number into Text In Church and send them a series of text messages designed to introduce them to our church. The same is true when someone visits for the first time—they can send a text to a number with a keyword and we can follow up automatically.

We can also create discipleship-oriented message sequences. If we do a 40-day spiritual growth campaign or a six-week message series on a particular topic and want to include daily reminders to pray or daily devotional messages, we can create all of that within Text In Church.

Obviously, we need to respect the privacy of everyone and avoid spamming people with unwanted or uninvited messages. But when we have permission, text messaging can become one of the most personal and individual ways to follow up with people and reach more of our community.

This article originally appeared here.

7 Encouragements for Leaders Who Worry

By
Ron Edmondson
-
communicating with the unchurched

7 encouragements for leaders who worry: The title is confusing, isn’t it? It seems to assume some leaders worry and some don’t. The truth is, however, most leaders will have occasions of worry. Worry is an emotion—and, often far more powerful than principles of leadership are the emotions of leadership.

I’ve talked to some who say at least one day a week they are consumed with anxiety and fear. It’s the kind of frustration that, left unchecked, makes them almost want to quit. I talked to a pastor recently who is struggling with stomach problems (I won’t get more graphic than that), because of the worry he is dealing with as a leader.

The fact you worry shows you are normal, human and conscientious as a leader. You want to be successful and the natural reaction is to worry when you feel you may not be.

But, emotions play tricks on us. They’re fickle. They’re unreliable. Our desire to do well causes our emotions to produce worry. And, constant worry can destroy a good leader, because it will control how the leader responds to others.

Obviously, Jesus said, “Do not worry!” We know this truth. We believe it. We want to live it. So, what’s the practical side of Jesus’ command in leadership and how do we actually live out the command?

And, here’s something you need to know—or may need reminding. Having a strong faith is no guarantee your emotions—worry—won’t play tricks on you at times.

All of us worry, but how you respond when your worry seems to control you as a leader?

Here are seven words of encouragement for leaders who worry:

For leaders who worry, tip #1: Pray and study.

You knew I’d say this, didn’t you? Worry is, by definition, a misplaced trust. Ultimately your answer is in God’s ability and His control, not your own. If worry is consistently plaguing your leadership, improving your relationship with Christ through Bible study and prayer is step one.

For leaders who worry, tip #2: Remember your purpose.

You have to remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing. When worry hits you, you need grounding to something more permanent than your worries. You have a purpose. You believe in a vision. You have goals. You need to remember what fuels your fire and why you are willing to take the risk of leadership. If worry has gotten to the place where you’re not sure of your purpose anymore, stop everything and find it again. You can’t afford not to.

For leaders who worry, tip #3: Contact an encouraging friend.

I always find other leaders can speak truth into my life just when I need it most. God uses relationships to strengthen us and make us better. I have to be bold enough to text a friend and say, “I could use some encouragement,” but I’ve never been disappointed when I’ve been that bold. If you don’t have someone like this in your life, that’s your assignment. The goal is to find the person and build the relationship before you need them.

For leaders who worry, tip #4: Review your track record.

Most likely you’ve had success, which led to the position you have now. You can do it again. One reason I keep an encouragement file is so I can read through the positive things I’ve done on days when nothing seems positive.

For leaders who worry, tip #5: Count your blessings.

And, name them one by one. There are always others who would love to have what you have. Someone is always worse off than you are. Most likely, even outside the position you have as a leader, God has blessed your life. Spend some time remembering the good God has allowed you to experience. The list is probably longer than you think and will help you avoid worry as you recall what God has already given you.

 

For leaders who worry, tip #6: Get some rest—and hydrate.

Worry is more present when you are tired. And, I’ve learned we are often dehydrated and it makes an impact on us physically and emotionally. You may have to quit for the day so you can prepare for better days. The depth of the worry should determine the length of the period of rest. I’ve also learned part of being fully “rested” also includes making sure you are as healthy as you can be by eating the right foods and exercising, especially during the busiest seasons of life.

For leaders who worry, tip #7: Rationalize.

People who most need to rationalize hate this one, but most of the things we worry about never come true. Is your worry based on reality or based on your emotional assumptions? Dismiss the things you can’t control, aren’t certain will go wrong, or the unknown. The more you limit irrational thoughts, the less for which you’ll have to worry.

Let me also say that if you are suffering from serious anxiety—to the point of being depressed, that’s not what I’m addressing in this post. Don’t ever be afraid to get professional help.

How do you battle the moments of worry as a leader?

This article about leaders who worry originally appeared here.

“Three Strikes and You’re Out” Doesn’t Work With the Child of Divorce

By
Linda Jacobs
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communicating with the unchurched

One popular discipline policy churches use is what is called the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” policy. In theory it sounds reasonable but for many hurting children it is not reasonable or even fair.

It goes something like this; the child doesn’t obey the rules, is unruly or is disrespectful in some manner and the countdown starts.

Strike 1: The first time you disobey your name goes on the board.

Strike 2: The second time your parents are called.

Strike 3: The third time you are asked to leave the class. (Some churches stipulate the child can’t return to class for two weeks.)

Here is why this type of discipline isn’t going to work for the hurting child of divorce:

Strike 1

  • Some of these kids are so desperate for attention they will act out just for the attention it brings to them. Having their name up on the board gives them even more attention. Some will even smile when their name goes up on the board. To them it’s like having their name in “lights.”
  • For other children of divorce who are intimidated and not feeling safe, to have their name go up on the board will send them to the lower level of their brain—the fight, flight or flee part of the brain where they can’t think through the process.

Strike 2

  • If the child has just switched from time with one parent to the other right before class, he or she may be upset. They may need to see the parent they’ve been away from, tell their parent something—or just simply connect with their parent. Having you call the parent to come to class is what they might need for their emotionally well-being. Hence, they might act out so you will call their parent.
  • Other children will be excited at the prospect of you calling their parents because if you call their parents (plural) to them it means both parents have to come together and talk. In their minds they are using this as a bargaining chip to get their parents back together.
  • Other children know their single parent is distraught and overwhelmed. They know their parent is incapable of doing anything about their behavior.

Strike 3 and you’re out!

  • Many kids want to go home. They don’t feel like they fit in a church class so they act out so you will send them home.
  • Children who visit their other parent on the weekend are aware they will only have to miss one week so it’s really no big deal to them.

The Kids and Divorce blog has many articles on discipline policies if you need tips on disciplining hurting children.

This article originally appeared here.

We Are on the Same Team

By
Tim Spivey
-
communicating with the unchurched

We’re on the same team, and I’m glad. So, let’s not compare ourselves to one another or compete with one another.

It’s a real discipline to learn how to be around other churches constantly without beginning to compare. Many pastors are preoccupied privately with what others are doing—whether it’s someone or some church they look up to, or a fellow church in their community. Some view those churches as competitors—though they would rarely admit so.

At some point, most church leaders will have at least a moment when they get tired of hearing about the throngs baptized at the church down the street—or the brilliant idea someone else had that garnered the community’s attention. We’ll get tired of it because it usually happens when things are flat-lined for us.

Please hear me:

Comparing yourself to others is a zero sum endeavor.

Even if in your comparison you come out “on top,” you’ll rarely feel good about your ministry, your staff team, your ideas or your vision. Why? Because you’ll either become prideful then discover a church in which the grass seems greener. Comparing your church to another isn’t fair to you, them or the Kingdom. It’s a great way to ensure God’s blessing is removed from your ministry.

Do not compare. And, whatever you do:

DO.
NOT.
COMPETE.
WITH.
OTHER.
CHURCHES.

They aren’t our competition. They are on our team and we are, together, competing against the Destroyer. It’s so easy to get our minds around this rationally. Yet, I know it can be hard to embrace emotionally at times.

Orienting your church around others is poor leadership that leads to inferior results. I read a terrific article about how Apple’s obsession with Google is beginning to hurt its products in substantial ways. Click here to read it yourself. Apple will do just fine, I’m sure. But, the lessons to be learned are important for churches. The second we begin to compete with one another, we lose. The second we begin to compete together with one another, Jesus wins.

Be the best you you can be. If God has brought your church into existence and there is still a lampstand there, be faithful with little and God will likely entrust you with more. However, the more you either look down on those “under” you or grab at the heel of those above you, the less God will bless your ministry.

By the way, what’s true for churches is also true for their leaders. Don’t compare yourself to other pastors. It’ll bleed the joy right out of your ministry.

Here are some things you can do to avoid the trap of comparing/competing with other churches.

  • Confess the sin of envy and comparison before the Lord. Repent and accept His grace. Ask for His help to combat what’s going on inside you.

Churches Catch on Fire—and Not in a Good Way

By
Jessica Lea
-
communicating with the unchurched

Multiple fires have destroyed or severely damaged several church buildings throughout the country this week. While these incidents have been understandably distressing to church members, they’ve also been opportunities for people in the respective communities to support each other.

“So many people really from across the nation have really been praying for us,” said Brad Jurkovic, pastor of First Baptist Church of Bossier City in Louisiana. “People from all across the community have been offering to help. So that’s been very encouraging. I’m very, very thankful for that.”

A “Challenging” Day

The fire apparently started early this past Monday morning on what Jurkovich described as a “challenging” day for the church.

Thankfully, no lives were lost and no one was injured. While the church lost several of its older buildings, it retains its main worship center. WAFB Channel 9 News posted this picture of a cross that survived the damage. The cause of the fire is currently unknown and is under investigation.

First United Methodist of Bossier City has offered the use of its facilities to the members of First Baptist. First United will also donate all of its Christmas Eve offerings to First Baptist in order to help the church recuperate from its losses.

Another fire occurred that same evening in the neighboring state of Texas. There, firefighters struggled to put out flames consuming Iglesia Bautista El Mesias Baptist Church in Dallas.

Again, no one reported any injuries, and the cause of the fire remains unknown.

More Fires in Minnesota and South Carolina

The Monday night fires were merely two out of several that occurred within a day or so of each other across the country. The night before, in Norwood Young America, Minnesota, a fire devastated Maples United Methodist Church hours after the members had decorated it for Christmas.

“It’s shocking. It’s very shocking to see,” Pastor Eli Somers told KSTP news.

The church was over 100 years old and had no fire alarms or sprinkler system.

No one knows how the fire started, and no one was injured or killed.

The members are not yet sure what they are going to do with the remains of the building.

“It’s the only church I’ve ever known in my life, some 60 years,” said Bill Grundahl.

A Lutheran Church in town held a prayer service for the members of Maples United Methodist.

Behind on Your Church’s Budget: 7 Steps to Get Back on Track

By
Church Fuel
-
communicating with the unchurched

Your church budget can be a tremendous source of stress.

Some churches will meet and exceed their budgets this year. But there are far more churches (maybe yours?) who will “just get by” or who won’t reach their church budget this year.

If your church is behind budget, don’t lose hope.

There are many practical things you can do to get your church’s budget back on track.

Behind on Your Church’s Budget: 7 Steps to Get Back on Track

Below, I’m going to walk you through seven steps:

  1. Take a deep breath
  2. Get grounded
  3. Identify your problem
  4. Get your budget in alignment
  5. Cast a vision
  6. Get outside help
  7. Keep ministry alive

These tips will not resolve your church’s financial situation overnight. But they will help you to move in the right direction.

So let’s get started!

#1 – Take a deep breath

Here’s the first step you need to take:

Don’t panic!

When your church is behind on budget, it can cause a strong response of fear, anxiety and stress, which is natural to expect. But before you make any quick decisions, sit down, relax and take a deep breath. The best thing you can do at first is to get control of yourself.

Let’s be honest:

Getting control in a state of fear isn’t easy.

You see the numbers.

You know your church’s bills don’t go away.

And you notice there is a lack of donations to cover your expenses.

All of this is a recipe for a stressful situation.

But here’s what you need to know:

Making big financial decisions while carrying significant stress can lead to bad decisions.

According to research on decision making, when you’re under stress, your ability to make clear and informed decisions is strained. In stressful situations, it’s natural to focus on yourself and your problems, which only makes things worse.

When you’re behind in your budget, there’s a good chance you’ll have to cut expenses, rearrange budget items, and, depending on the severity of your church’s finances, you may have to cut some of your staff.

These types of decisions are difficult to make, and they’re even more challenging when you try to make them alone or by your “gut instinct.”

Instead of reacting, it’s best to respond to your church’s financial situation.

Pause for a moment, and read that last sentence again.

It’s the foundation for the rest of what follows.

Ready to respond to your situation and fix your church’s budget?

Then you’re ready to take the next step.

#2 – Get grounded

Stress can lead you to obsess over your church’s finances.

Like the images of a movie with a lousy ending replaying in your head, stress can cause you to replay the worst-case scenarios over and over again.

Unfortunately, when this happens, you’re only reinforcing your negative emotions, which only intensifies how they feel. In other words, you’re making your stress worse. It’s like pouring gasoline on an out of control fire.

Here’s the deal:

You need to get grounded.

You need to confront the stress you’re feeling head on—instead of hiding from it. If you avoid dealing with your anxiety, then you won’t be in an ideal spot to lead your church well.

I’m not saying you have to be completely free from fear, anxiety and stress. But I am encouraging you to walk in the light (1 John 1:5-7) by being transparent with your church’s leadership, your family and friends.

To help you along the way, here are some ways you can battle stress in your life:

Confession

The first step to solving any problem is to acknowledge there’s a problem.

If you’ve succumbed to stress in your life, don’t feel alone or ashamed.

Based on a poll by Gallup, eight in 10 Americans feel stress sometimes or frequently throughout the day. In your church and community, there’s a large percentage of people who are battling stress to some degree.

Remember, in Christ, you are the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).

In him, you are forgiven by faith—not based on how well you handled your church’s finances. But based upon what Jesus has done for you.

Identify your problem.

Share what you’re feeling.

And receive God’s grace to empower you to move on.

Seek Jesus

Any stressful situation is a reminder of how much we need to trust in Jesus.

As a church leader, you cannot fulfill your calling without Jesus’ help. When you’re feeling stress over your church’s finances, his call to trust in him becomes louder and more prevalent (John 14:1).

He is your rock.

He is your source of strength.

And he is your deliverer.

Regardless of your church’s finances, trust in Jesus.

Meditate on God’s promises

Are you having a hard time trusting Jesus?

Not sure if the Lord will help you?

To combat unbelief, you have to fight for belief.

To do this, you have to read the Bible.

I’m not saying you must spend hours on end reading the Bible every day. But I am saying it’s a good idea to meditate on God’s promises daily.

In short, reading the Bible leads to believing the Bible.

Here are some verses I’ve meditated on during stressful seasons:

Isaiah 41:10:

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Philippians 4:6-7:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Matthew 6:34:

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Ask for help

Your church’s finances are also your church’s problem.

You don’t have to handle them alone.

If you feel overwhelmed, you’re probably trying to carry this burden by yourself—not with the help of your church.

As a pastor, the “buck” does stop with you. But having responsibility for something doesn’t mean you’re the only one who has to handle the problem or the only source of a solution.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Share what’s going on with your church’s leadership.

Let your church know about the situation.

Not sure what to share with your church’s leadership or family?

Take the time to work through the next step to clarify your problem.

#3 – Identify the problem

One essential rule for firearm safety is to identify your target.

Before firing your weapon, you need to know exactly what you’re shooting. The same holds true for tackling your church’s financial situation. You need to clarify the problem you have to solve.

When you fall behind on your church’s budget, you need to know what’s causing the problem.

Here are some questions you can ask:

  • Are you experiencing a decrease in giving?
  • Have you recently lost church members?
  • Have you encountered unexpected expenses?
  • Are you overspending in certain areas of your budget?
  • Did you underestimate expenses? Did you overestimate giving?

These questions will help you to start thinking through your church’s financial situation.

During this process, prioritize three to five problems to solve. There’s a chance you’ll uncover more problems. Instead of tackling everything at once, just address a few things at first.

Now that you have a better idea about your situation, you’re ready to start solving problems.

#4 – Get your budget in alignment

Alright, so your church’s budget is behind, and you’ve identified some problems.

But how can you confirm these are real problems?

The best way to know if your church’s finances are out of alignment is to compare them to a church’s budget that’s in alignment. Let me explain.

When creating a budget for your church, you don’t have to create it from scratch.

There have been millions of church budgets created throughout history, and there is a ton of helpful advice you can glean from what others have done. By observing how churches have managed their money, you can compare your numbers to healthy benchmarks—the best practices for managing your money.

In putting together these numbers, AG Financial Solutions identified three crucial elements of your church’s budget:

  1. Personnel costs: 33-45 percent
  2. Facility costs: 25-30 percent
  3. Office expenses: <10 percent

As you review your church’s budget, compare your expenses to these benchmarks to see how well they align with these standards.

In your budget, do your expenses for personnel, facilities and office costs fall within these ranges? Or do your costs exceed these benchmarks?

If your expenses exceed these benchmarks, then your church’s finances are slowly bleeding out, which will lead your church to experience financial difficulties. If your church’s budget falls within these parameters, then you’re doing a good job managing your church’s money.

As you address your short-term problems, also keep an eye on your church’s budget to see whether or not you need to make adjustments to get back into alignment.

Now that you have an idea of what’s going on, and how you can resolve your problem, it’s time to get your church behind you.

#5 – Cast a vision

There’s one thing people don’t donate money toward:

Your budget.

Before you talk about the church’s financial situation with your congregation, be prepared to talk about more than just your budget.

A small percentage of people in your church will empathize with the problem and will give toward offsetting the costs. But not everyone in your church will be motivated to pay for office expenses or just meeting your church’s budget.

Here’s what you need to know:

People give toward your mission—not your budget.

Let me explain…

As you talk about your church’s finances, frame what you say around the mission of your church. Help people to see the kingdom work their financial contributions support.

Sure, you need help to pay the bills or fill gaps in your budget. But your church—and people in general—will not get excited about contributing to your electric bill, office supplies or a hole in your roof.

Think about it this way:

The money in your budget for personnel, facilities and office expenses is for supporting the mission of the church. This is why casting a vision is so powerful in helping your church connect the dots between their donations and your church’s mission.

To connect your vision to the minds and hearts of your church, here are five practical tips you can use:

  1. Make it specific
  2. Tell stories
  3. Paint pictures
  4. Be consistent
  5. Be everywhere

Leveraging these tips will help you to share a compelling vision with your congregation.

#6 – Get outside help

Are you and your church leadership at your wits’ end?

Not sure what to do next or how to align your church’s budget?

If this is you, you’re not alone.

Here’s the funny thing about problems:

Often, you need the help from someone on the outside—someone who can assess your situation and help you to chart a new course moving forward.

In the words of Albert Einstein:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Here’s how an outside eye can help with “different” kind of thinking.

New perspective

If your church has fallen behind in its budget, then it didn’t happen overnight.

To get to where you’re at today, there are a series of issues that could have happened, such as:

  • Lack of budgeting
  • Poor financial planning
  • How to buy stocks correctly and incorrectly
  • Decline in attendance
  • Decrease in giving
  • Several financial setbacks

When you’re in the middle of a situation that has been a gradual decline, it’s difficult to see the problem for yourself. You’re simply too close to the case to objectively see what’s going on—and that’s OK. It’s a part of life.

When you invite someone from the outside to help, you are giving them an opportunity to lift the hood to your car, examine your situation and provide a new perspective—one that’s not tainted by any biases.

Expert opinion

There will be times when you exhaust all of your ideas.

Don’t lose hope in these moments.

Remember, you’re not alone.

You can get a different insight into your situation by seeking the counsel of multiple advisors.

But don’t take my word for it.

Here are several passages from the Bible confirming the importance of counsel:

Proverbs 1:5:

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.”

Proverbs 15:22:

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Proverbs 18:1-2,24:

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion… A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Invest in your future

Getting outside help sounds nice and all, but you’re probably thinking:

Doesn’t it cost money to hire a consultant?

I thought we should save money and cut expenses, right?

You might have a friend who’s an expert in church finances and is willing to help you get things back on track. But if that’s not your situation, then, yes, plan on forking over some dough for help.

I know this sounds counterintuitive.

But hear me out.

Getting help from an expert should be treated as an investment in your church.

Finding the right support can provide you with a ton of benefits, including:

  • Expedited solutions
  • Reduced headaches
  • Financial savings

Think about the last point for a moment.

What if paying an expert saved you months of struggling to get your church’s finances in order?

By paying someone to help you resolve your situation, you’re actually saving your church a ton of money by getting things in order sooner—not later.

Convinced you need outside support, but don’t have the cash to pay an expert?

If you’re having a difficult time coming up with the funds, here are four ideas to consider:

  1. Transfer money from a different budget category
  2. Ask a church member for a short-term loan or gift
  3. Raise a special offering
  4. Brainstorm creative solutions with your church’s leadership

If the first three option aren’t viable, I bet your church can identify a tangible solution by praying together and thinking through your situation.

#7 – Keep ministry alive

In the life of your church, you’ll start and stop new ministries.

This is just life.

What works well today in making disciples, leading people to Christ, or serving your community will not always be as effective.

During a financial downturn, it’s tempting to start pumping the brakes on everything or slaying sacred cows. But now’s not the time to let everything fizzle out.

There are three options you need to consider:

  1. Adapt a ministry
  2. Stop a ministry
  3. Start a new ministry

Before you pull a church ministry off of life-support, see if you can adapt the ministry. In other words, can you adapt the ministry’s budget, reallocate funds or cut back on some activity—not all—to keep the ministry alive?

If you’ve assessed the ministry and decided there’s no way to maintain it—even at reduced capacity—then it might be time to stop the ministry.

You may have a good financial reason to stop a ministry in your church, but you still need to move forward with care. Most people don’t like change, and many people may be fond of the ministry you’re about to stop.

If you decide to stop a ministry, here’s a three-step process you can use to handle the situation with care: How to Stop Doing a Ministry.

This might sound crazy, but a financial downturn may be an ideal time to start a new ministry.

You see, when your church is strapped for cash, you’ll be forced to think of creative ways to meet the needs of people, reach out to your community and make disciples. In the business world, this is what’s called guerrilla marketing—promotion with little to no money.

To help you start a new ministry from scratch, here’s a step-by-step plan you can follow to building a new ministry.

Getting your church’s budget in order

So there you have it.

The seven steps to getting your church’s budget back on track when you’re behind:

  1. Take a deep breath
  2. Get grounded
  3. Identify your problem
  4. Get your budget in alignment
  5. Cast a vision
  6. Get outside help
  7. Keep ministry alive

Remember, to get your church’s budget in order, first start with yourself. I know this might sound trite and what you don’t want to hear, but treat this situation as an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus and further the mission of your church.

The original article appeared here.

Free Minibook Printable: Happy Birthday Jesus

By
Daniel So
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communicating with the unchurched

Free Happy Birthday Jesus Minibook Printable

Help your kids learn the story of Christmas with this downloadable Happy Birthday Jesus minibook in PDF format.

From Christian Preschool Printables, “Children follow along to learn all about the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of our Lord Jesus.”

You can download a color version, or a black and white one for your kids to color in themselves.

Get Download Now

Resource provided by Christian Preschool Printables 

Download Instructions: To download this resource, right-click on the appropriate link (e.g., “COLOR” or “B&W”) and choose “Save As.”

Small Group Resolutions for the New Year

By
Mark Howell
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communicating with the unchurched

You may not need to get in shape or pay down your credit cards, but you probably ought to be making some small group ministry resolutions for 2014. Do you have yours figured out?

Because you’re part of the tribe here, you know you’ll have to do something different if you want to end up in a different place. And you know that your current ministry design determines your results. See also, The Perils of the Well-Worn Path and Different, Not Better, Will Connect the Widening 60%.

Here are my small group ministry resolutions for 2014:

  • Recognize that if we want to connect people no one else is connecting we’ll need to do things no one else is doing. Some things are just self-evident. Isn’t this one of them? Isn’t it obvious that if what you’re already doing is sufficient…it would have already connected everybody? See also, How to Connect People No One Else Is Connecting.
  • Create even easier first steps out of the auditorium that lead to toe-in-the-water opportunities for community. We saw the wisdom of this idea in 2013. For people who freely admit that it took them a long time to finally come to our church, we must anticipate that it will be very difficult for them to ever try out a small group that meets in a stranger’s living room. See also, Design Your Connection Strategy With Unconnected People in Mind.
  • Increase our commitment to make it easy to take first steps into hosting a small group and nearly automatic to take the steps that lead to becoming an authentic shepherd. We must be committed to both parts of the equation. Easy to begin. Nearly automatic to develop as a shepherd leader. See also, Teacher, Leader, Shepherd, Host: What’s in a Name?
  • Increase our commitment to identifying, recruiting and developing high capacity leaders of leaders. We know that whatever we want to happen in the lives of group members must happen first in the lives of group leaders. How will that happen if we aren’t investing in leaders of leaders? Whether we call them coaches, mentors or community leaders…this is an essential ingredient to true small group ministry success. See also, 5 Assumptions that Set Small Group Coaching Up to #Fail.
  • Invest ourselves in the mission of making disciples who make disciples. It’s about curriculum. It’s about the group environment itself. And it’s about doing the right things to and for our small group leaders (and coaches). It is not about hoping it happens or wishful thinking. It’s about a path, not an intent. See also, Four Leading Indicators of Small Group Ministries That Make Disciples.
  • Make a habit of asking, “How might we…?” We must learn to ask great questions as we’re doing what we’re doing. Clearly, the best way to do almost everything we want to do…hasn’t been discovered! See also, Supercharge Your Ministry With These 5 Questions.

What will your small group ministry resolutions be? You can click here to jump into the conversation.  

How to Write a Sermon (Based on 38 Years of Preaching and 2,000+ Sermons)

By
Mark Altrogge
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communicating with the unchurched

I know that most of you aren’t pastors and don’t preach sermons on Sunday mornings.

However, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself needing to write a sermon at some point in your life. You may get opportunities to speak in other settings, like in a chapel service in a Christian school, or a Christian group at your local college.

I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on preaching, but I have written quite a few sermons over the years (probably somewhere around 2,000). Here are a few things I have learned in the past 38 years of preaching and writing sermons in our church and other settings.

Step #1: Wrestle With the Passage

When preaching on a passage of Scripture, read through it and write down any thoughts that strike you BEFORE going to commentaries or trying to make an outline.

As you begin to write your sermon, ask yourself, “What is the primary point of this passage?” The answer to that question will shape the rest of the sermon.

Then read the passage and think about these questions:

  • What is the primary reason God included this passage in the Bible?
  • What does God want people to know about himself through these verses?
  • How does the passage point to Jesus?
  • How do these verses fit into the bigger picture of the Bible?
  • How is God speaking to you as you read these verses?

As you study, consider the context of the Scripture passage and the author’s intent. Why did Paul or John or Isaiah write this? Who was he addressing? Why did he write this?

What was the church in Galatia going through? What was Timothy facing when Paul wrote him? You may or may not include this but it’s good to consider the context of the passage.

Step #2: Engage With Commentaries

At some point in your preparation, I would look at a few commentaries. One reason is to make sure you’re on track with how you are interpreting the passage. Some teachers say not to look at commentaries, but I have found they can be very helpful, and occasionally provide a great quote.

Don’t go overboard on explaining the nitty gritty details behind every Greek or Hebrew word. It can be helpful at times to explain the specific meaning of a Greek word, but the reality is that most people don’t care what the actual word is.

On occasion, I’ll say something like “the Greek word means ‘to change your mind’” but I don’t mention the word.

Step #3: Make an Outline

Before you fully write out all the details of your sermon, consider making a simple outline.

Remember KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid!

You’re not addressing nuclear scientists here. What are a few main points that support the main point of the passage? Each of these main points should be drawn from the text itself and should connect to the primary meaning of the passage.

I would rarely include more than four because people won’t remember them. Heck, I would be doing well if I remembered even two by the following Tuesday.

Step #4: Consider Your Audience

Along these lines, as you write a sermon, think of your audience. In our, church we have a whole range of people from blue-collar workers to university professors. We have teens and young Christians and believers who have followed the Lord for 50 years.

We have lots of people who have suffered in many ways. We have college students, families, single parents. Almost every week there are new people there from all kinds of backgrounds, including among unbelievers who don’t know much or anything about God.

I want to be able to speak to all of them. I want everyone to be able to understand God’s word, and I keep all this in mind as I choose my wording and presentation.

Step #5: Craft Your Introduction

When you write a sermon, you need to think about your introduction. An introduction is a way to set the stage for your message. To create interest. To get people’s attention.

Sometimes a good way to start a message is by asking a question. Like, “Have you ever wondered, is God really in control of all things?” or, “Have you ever just felt like giving up on life?” or “Have you ever wondered why God lets us go through the things we go through?”

Sometimes a humorous story makes for a good Intro. Think of your intro as a way to get people’s attention and interest before you read the Bible passage.

Step #5: Include Illustrations

I always try to include a few illustrations. Illustrations can really make a point come alive and be remembered as well. Many people have told me over the years they remember certain illustrations I used. Illustrations are also great because they give people’s minds a “rest” from the “teaching” parts of the message, but they themselves teach.

Step #6: Search for a quote or two

As I prepare, I will do a search for quotations about a topic, but I would not use more than one or two brief quotes in a message. Quotations can really make a point come alive, just as an illustration can, but too many can make a message boring or feel like some kind of college presentation.

Step #7: Apply the passage

As you develop each main point, think of how your audience might apply it. How might this apply to situations at work or with a roommate or with their children? How might it apply to those who are discouraged or suffering? Application is really important. Why are you teaching this? What do you want them to do? How can we put this into practice? How have you tried to apply this to your life?

Do the Gospels Contradict Themselves? Is the Bible Reliable?

By
Peter J Williams
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communicating with the unchurched

Deliberate Formal Contradictions

A consequence of having four records of the same life is that there are many overlapping sections among accounts and many opportunities for narratives to differ from each other. It is actually common in normal life that multiple reports of the same events will be, or will at least seem to be, in conflict with each other. Over the years, many contradictions have been alleged between the Gospels—this at least suggests a degree of independence within each account.

However, my brief journey into this subject will focus on how the Gospel of John contains many deliberate formal contradictions within itself and with other literature (such as the First Letter of John, which shows the same authorial style). Here are some examples.

1. God loves the world versus do not love the world.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

2. People believed when they saw Jesus’ signs versus they did not believe.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. (John 2:23)

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. (John 12:37)

3. They know Jesus and where he comes from versus they do not.

So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from.” (John 7:28)

Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” (John 8:14)

They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:19)

4. If Jesus bears witness of himself, his testimony is not true, versus the opposite.

If I bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. (John 5:31, my trans.)

So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” (John 8:13–14)

5. Jesus judges no one versus he has much to judge.

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. (John 8:15)

Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. (John 8:16)

I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. (John 8:26)

6. Jesus did not come into the world to judge it versus he came to judge.

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. (John 12:47)

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

Thinking Deeply on Meaning

I hope that after reading the list above and studying the subtle way the Gospel of John is written, you will agree that these formal contradictions are deliberate. They are part of the author’s way of making us reflect more deeply on the multiple meanings of the words involved.1 This sample prepares us to consider a quotation by skeptic Bart Ehrman from a book in which he explains what he thinks are the clearest contradictions within the Gospels:

One of my favorite apparent discrepancies—I read John for years without realizing how strange this one is—comes in Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” the last address that Jesus delivers to his disciples, at his last meal with them, which takes up all of chapters 13 to 17 in the Gospel according to John. In John 13:36, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” A few verses later Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going” (John 14:5). And then, a few minutes later, at the same meal, Jesus upbraids his disciples, saying, “Now I am going to the one who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” (John 16:5). Either Jesus had a very short attention span or there is something strange going on with the sources for these chapters, creating an odd kind of disconnect.2

100 Christians Arrested in Overnight Raid in China

By
Stephanie Martin
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house church
Screengrab Fackbook @Pray for Early Rain Covenant Church

In a continuing crackdown on Christianity, Chinese officials on Sunday detained the pastor and about 100 members of Early Rain Covenant Church, a prominent Protestant house church in Chengdu, Sichuan. By Monday afternoon, some members had been released but were placed under house arrest. Several elders reportedly remain in hiding. Ironically, Monday is international Human Rights Day.

Before the raid, church members’ social media accounts and online discussions were blocked, the church’s phone line was cut, and leaders’ homes were ransacked. According to reports, police confronted members overnight, trying to force them to sign a pledge to stop meeting.

Early Rain has more than 500 members, with weekly gatherings in a dozen areas that attract hundreds more worshipers. In addition, the church has 100 seminary students and 40 grade-school students. Its founder, Pastor Wang Yi, had been a prominent lawyer and intellectual who converted to Christianity in 2005. He’s been an outspoken critic of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Although most of China’s Protestant house churches remain underground, Early Rain operates and evangelizes openly, even posting sermons online. In September, authorities warned the church it was violating policy by remaining unregistered.

China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but churches must be registered and submit to government control. In February, local officials received more power to act against “unauthorized religious gatherings.” 

Crackdown on House Church Leaders and Members Intensifies

China Aid founder Bob Fu says religious persecution continues to increase. Last year, 3,000 Christians were detained in China, and this year the number has topped 10,000.

Fu, a friend of Pastor Wang, says Xi’s regime is “deliberately making itself the enemy of universal values, such as religious freedom for all.” Fu urges the international community to “condemn these arbitrary arrests of innocent religious believers” and to call for the Christians’ “immediate release.”

In August, police closed the 1,500-member Zion Church in Beijing. The previous month, a church that was registered with the government was demolished by police in 15 minutes.

This year, the Chinese government also banned online Bible sales, confiscated Chinese Bibles, and removed steeples and crosses from churches. Muslims face persecution too, with hundreds of thousands being sent to internment camps.

Despite Pressure, Christianity Is Spreading in China

Even with persecution on the rise, Christianity is considered the country’s fastest-growing religious group. Of China’s estimated 60 million Protestants, more than half worship at unregistered churches. In September, 344 Chinese pastors signed a faith statement, proclaiming, “For the sake of the Gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses—even the loss of our freedom and our lives.”

Shortly before the raid on Early Rain, the church said in a statement: “Lord, help us to have the Christian’s conscience and courage to resist this ‘Orwellian nonsense’ with more positive Gospel action and higher praise.”

After calling Sunday’s raid “unprecedented,” Early Rain elder Li Yingqiang said, “Even if we are down to our last five [members], worship and gatherings will still go on because our faith is real.” He adds, “Persecution is a price worth paying for the Lord. We would rather live through it than to hide our faith, and we hope more Chinese churches will speak up and stand with us.”

Stop Comparing Your Marriage to Past Relationships

By
Dave Willis
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communicating with the unchurched

We all come into marriage with a past. Our upbringing. Our past experiences. Our previous decisions. And, our past romantic relationships or even previous marriages. These people and experiences have shaped who we are, but we must understand that we cannot continue fostering a relationship with our former flames. When we marry, we promise our spouse to “forsake all others” and to “leave and cleave,” and trying to remain “friends” with or being mentally and emotionally attached to past romantic partners goes directly against this promise. I know this can be especially tricky when a previous marriage with children are involved because ex-spouses must choose to correspond in a cordial and healthy way for the sake of the children. However, there is one important truth that we must always remember when it comes to any and all of our past romantic relationships: We cannot compare our spouse to any of our previous partners or compare our marriage to any of our past romantic relationships.

Stop Comparing Your Marriage to Past Relationships

Here are three important reasons why:

1. It belittles your spouse.

Whether you state it verbally or simply think about it from time to time, comparing your spouse to a previous flame affects how you perceive and treat them. And, it breaks their heart. This comparison makes your spouse feel like they can’t do anything right because you compare everything they do to this other person that you once cared for. Even if you make favorable comments to your spouse like, “You are such a better cook than Cindy ever was,” or, “You treat me so much better than Mike ever did,” these kinds of comments are still comparative and therefore, out of bounds. They make your spouse feel awkward and hurt because they realize that you are still thinking about that previous partner/relationship. It’s understandable that we might have a thought about an old flame from time to time, but we must consciously take those thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) and ask God to help us to keep our mind focused on Him and the spouse and family that He has so graciously given us.

2. It degrades the sanctity of your marriage bed.

This is a big one. You absolutely MUST resist the urge to compare your sex life with your spouse to your past sexual experiences, and for goodness sake, DO NOT compare your spouse’s body to your ex’s body. Verbalizing these comparative thoughts will break your spouse’s heart and most definitely kill the mood, but simply thinking these thoughts will affect your level of intimacy with your spouse. More so, we shouldn’t bring any people (in person, thought or even virtually) into our marriage bed because God created sex specifically for one husband and one wife who have promised to “forsake all others.” So, again, we must take these comparative thoughts captive and be intentional about focusing on God and our marriage.

3. It stunts the growth of your relationship with your spouse.

A strong, healthy marriage takes work—intentionality, kindness, forgiveness, encouragement, trust, consistent and conscientious communication, and significant time and attention. So, when you are preoccupied with comparing your marriage to your previous relationships, you keep yourself from fully embracing and appreciating your spouse and marriage. Over time, you can become disillusioned and dissatisfied with the life you have. This isn’t what God wants for us! He wants our marriage bond to grow stronger every day, and we simply cannot do this when we are focused on how our spouse and marriage are better or worse than previous flames and relationships.

Don’t pick fights or give ultimatums. Just love them. Pray for them. Serve them. Be the best husband or wife you can be to them for as long as you remain their spouse. Try to diffuse the tension with love. Even if they’re being hateful toward you, love them in return. God loves us even when we’re acting “unlovable,” and we must do the same for each other.

So, what if you have developed a habit of comparing your spouse and marriage to your previous experiences?

You can consciously make a different choice today. Let today be the day that you end this cycle of comparison. First, say a prayer and seek God’s forgiveness and ask Him to help you to keep your mind and heart focused on Him, your spouse, your family and His will for your lives. He will forgive you, and He will give you the presence of mind, the right words and the power to end your comparison habit and bring healing to your marriage. Then, go to your spouse and apologize for the comparative comments you have made in the past, and tell your spouse how much you love them and value your marriage. Finally, keep praying and seeking God as your source of strength and right thinking. If comparative thoughts enter your mind, take them captive and replace them with thoughts of gratitude to God for your spouse and marriage. And, go to your spouse, verbally tell them how thankful you are! Your intentional and consistent gratitude will refocus your mind and reignite your heart for God and the beautiful, incomparable marriage and family that he has given you.

This article originally appeared here.

Tim Keller Is Troubled by Growing Nationalism

By
Jessica Lea
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communicating with the unchurched

Pastor and author Tim Keller recently published a book called The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy. In an interview with The Gospel Coalition, Keller explained what he believes Jonah can teach Christians about race, nationalism and grace.

“I’m a Christian first, and I’m an American second,” says Keller. “I’m a Christian first, and I’m white second. If that’s not true [of you], then you need to read the Book of Jonah.”

Keller believes this perspective is one that all followers of Christ should have. Yet nationalism seems to be rising, not only in the United States but also throughout the world.

Keller has preached through the Book of Jonah several times during his decades-long ministry. The book, he says, is rich and covers a variety of topics. These include obedience, repentance, God’s wrath and, of course, the importance of dealing with people who are racially and religiously different from us.

Tim Keller Is Troubled by Growing Christian Nationalism

One of the main points of Jonah is that God cares about all races and all people, no matter who they are. Because this quality is one that should characterize Christians, Keller is troubled by the growing nationalism he observes in some Christians. He sees this trend as dangerous and is afraid of Christians becoming more radicalized on either side of the political aisle.

Still, he does not believe that resisting nationalism means being unwise or apolitical. Keller even believes that some nations are better than others. “Of course that’s true,” he says. “No doubt about it.” And he notes that, when it comes to immigration, it’s true that we shouldn’t accept absolutely anyone who wants to come into our country.

But Keller also points out that the Bible emphasizes the importance of being kind to foreigners. We need, he says, an approach that balances these concerns, always keeping at the forefront of our minds our own need for God’s mercy. Keller believes the main lesson of the Book of Jonah is that Jonah didn’t understand God’s grace and that all of God’s people need to understand this grace as well. Because Jonah didn’t see how much he himself needed God’s mercy, he was confused about why God wanted to show mercy toward the Ninevites. He put his own nationalist interests over God’s interest in the spiritual good of the pagan people.

Learning the Lessons That Jonah Didn’t

“Our God is a missionary God,” says Keller. “Because [Jonah] didn’t grasp the gospel of grace in his own life, he was a terrible missionary.” It’s interesting to note that while God gave messages for pagan nations to other Old Testament prophets, Jonah was the first He sent outside of Israel. Keller sees this as precursor to the church bringing the gospel to the nations.

There are two important lessons Tim Keller believes Christians need to learn from Jonah. The first is that we’re sinners who need God’s mercy. It takes a long time for us to start comprehending the depth of this grace, but as that truth sinks in, we become more open to everyone else in the world.

The second is that, unless we grasp the grace of God, we’re going to be terrible missionaries, just like Jonah was. It doesn’t matter how different other people are from us. God is calling believers to bring the good news to all people of every tribe, tongue and nation.

christian nationalism

No, Jesus Is Not “re-sacrificed” at the Catholic Mass

By
Kenny Burchard
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communicating with the unchurched

Have you ever heard someone say that “Catholics believe they are re-sacrificing Jesus” in the Catholic Mass? I have. And guess what; that’s not the teaching of the Catholic Church regardless of what you might have heard! What follows is what is really happening in the simplest terms I can communicate.

Terminology is the key in Catholic mass

Part of the problem with understanding Catholic teaching is really just a terminology problem. For Catholics, the word “sacrifice” is a more robust word for what many Protestants mean when they use the word “offering.”

Tell a Protestant you made a sacrifice at church, and they might imagine you mean you took out a knife and plunged it into an animal at an altar, or worse (as some people mistakenly believe Catholics teach)—you re-nailed Jesus to the cross again (and again and again).

Tell a Protestant you gave (or received) an offering, and they’ll typically imagine putting money into a plate or bag as it is passed around.

Catholic teaching is not that a priest is “crucifying Jesus” again, or that Jesus is dying again for our sins in the “sacrifice of the Mass.” Then what exactly is Catholic teaching on the Sacrifice of the Mass?

Two Sacrifices…

In Catholic teaching, there are actually two sacrifices (offerings) that are coming together so that the one becomes truly present in the other, and indeed, as the other, and can be appropriated into the very being of everyone who receives it.

First: The Sacrifice of the People – During a Catholic Mass, members of the parish will make their way to the back of the church to pick up trays of bread and bottles of water and wine. They will then walk up the middle of the aisle and “offer” these things to the priest, on behalf of all the people present, as their “sacrifice” (again, think “offering” if it helps you). These plain elements—water, bread and wine—are both God’s creation (He made everything in them), and the work of the people (“work of the people” is a composite of two Greeks words: leitourgía (people-work) translated “Liturgy”). It is people who brought these things to the Lord. Someone had to bake the bread and make the wine out of God’s grain and grapes, right? In a sense, the first sacrifice is an offering of God’s creation (through the ordinary elements that stand for our whole lives) back to the creator. These ordinary things are brought to the meal table (“the altar” to use the language of worship) and offered to God in a specific way. In fact, the priest asks the people to pray together as one voice for him as he sets them on the table on their behalf by saying:

“Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”

To which the people respond with one voice in prayer, with the words…

“May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.”

What’s all this? This is simply people asking one of their own (the priest who presides) to bring their ordinary things to the dinner table. These ordinary things re-present (I hyphenated it on purpose so you’d say “REE” instead of “REH”) their labor, their work, their time, their blood, sweat, tears, energy and talents. These realities are all bound up in the sacrifice (offering, gifts, etc.) of these ordinary elements. It’s kind of like saying, “God, by giving you these ordinary elements, we are all here together saying that we give you our entire lives. We surrender all!” This first sacrifice is communicated on behalf of all the people by one person who has been designated to stand in for all of them with bread, wine and water.

Second: The Sacrifice of Jesus – During the liturgy, the priest will then ask Jesus (who died for our sins, once and once only, 2,000 years ago, and who rose from the grave, and who ascended to God’s right hand, ever-alive and ever making intercession for us, cf. Heb. 7:25) to come and make what He has done on the cross a present reality, and to join who He really is (the crucified and risen Lord of Lords), to those ordinary elements. Jesus, who, as it says in the book of Revelation, is “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne” (Rev. 5:6) graciously answers the prayer of His people, and comes to be fully present in the midst of His people in the consecrated bread and wine. He is not “re-sacrificed,” but rather, his once-for-all sacrifice is “re-presented” (there’s the hyphenation again), and becomes a truly-present (i.e., “real presence”) reality available to His people.

Dealing With Christmas Stress: How to Avoid a “Bah, Humbug!” Christmas

By
Andy Blanks
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communicating with the unchurched

Guest Post Richard Parker

Christmas is a happy and joyful time. Even so, many people, including (and maybe especially) youth workers, find themselves dealing with a host of negative emotions this time of year. (A fact that only leads to MORE negative emotions!) Why? After all, it’s Christmas, right?

For many, it’s a simple formula: The higher the level of stress = the higher the chance of a bout with depression.

The increased stress of the season can be a major trigger for feelings of depression and anxiety. Over the years, I have noticed there are three major areas of stress for youth workers during the Christmas season. I call these “The Three Overs.” An awareness of these will not only help you to enjoy this wonderful season, but hopefully avoid increased feelings of depression and/or anxiety.

OVER #1: Over-Booking

Plan the Christmas party, oversee the ministry project, get the youth ready for the Christmas program, send off paper work for the winter retreat, attend the staff party… Does this sound like your to do list at Christmas?

There are so many things happening around a church at Christmas that the pace can almost be overwhelming. The constant activity can keep us revved up for a while, but once the pace slows the body may react with feelings of restlessness. And maybe even feelings of depression. So what can you do to ease the hectic feeling of an overloaded schedule?

  • Do what you MUST do and PASS on the rest. It’s great to attend a class party or show up for a school Christmas event, but not at the expense of your mental health. The youth worker’s schedule at Christmas is CRAZY, try hard not to make it unnecessarily so.
  • Pace yourself when it comes to your planning. Spread major youth events and activities out over the month as much as possible.
  • Say no to some things. If you let them, people will fill up all of your time, especially at Christmas. There is nothing wrong with politely saying no.
  • Create some you time. This may sound selfish, but giving yourself some down time to be alone and enjoy the season on your terms is a great way to ease the stress of a killer schedule.

OVER #2: Over-Spending

The youth minister is usually the low man on the totem pole when it comes to staff salaries. A lower income makes things tough year-round, but especially so at Christmas. This extra financial crunch can be incredibly stressful at the “giving time of year,” and can lead to increased feelings of worry and anxiety.

  • Don’t mess around with Credit Cards. Those December charges will have to be paid after the first of the year. This reality will cause a great deal of stress! Save yourself the trouble.
  • Stay within your budget. Give gifts according to your income, and don’t give the quality or the quantity of your gifts a second thought! My uncle told me that years ago, when he was a young preacher, the only thing he and my aunt could give for Christmas gifts were figurines they carved out of soap. Imagine the love and care that went into each one of these humble gifts! Christmas is about giving love, not giving stuff. Accept this and save yourself the stress and anxiety of stretching the budget to buy “nicer” things.

OVER #3: Over-Expecting

Christmas is a time for family. But let’s just be brutally honest: Family can be a source of stress and frustration on a good day! Often, the strain of the holidays can magnify even the most minor family dysfunction into a full-blown event! There’s something about Christmas that knits families together. But, even as this is true, we sometimes tend to over-expect what these times together might actually be like. When we’re let down, it can lead to a ton of negative emotions.

What can we do to have realistic family expectations at Christmas?

  • Forget the perfect family stereotype. We are bombarded at Christmas with images of the perfect family. Anything short of that image makes us think, “Why can’t my family be like everyone else’s family?” If your family isn’t perfect, then your family is normal.
  • Embrace your unique family dynamics. Christmas may not be the best time to try to “fix” what ails your family. Embrace the quirks. Love your family for who they are. Go into the holidays expecting to take the good, and let the bad fall away.


Depression and anxiety are two very real emotional problems that exist outside the Christmas rush. But the stress of the season can often lead these issues to cloud what could and should be a peaceful, joyous time. Keep yourself emotionally healthy by avoiding the “Three Overs.”

Merry Christmas!

(NOTE: This article is more about preventing depression than treating it. If you’re suffering from some of the symptoms of depression I mentioned in my earlier blog post “Stress, Depression and Anxiety in the Life of the Youth Minister,” please consider seeking help from a clinically trained professional.)

Richard Parker has been a student minister for the past 33 years, serving at First Baptist Church in Russellville, Ala., for the past 23 years. He’s written a three volume set of Character Education curriculum for schools, has written Character, a year long devotional book for students, and writes Youth Worker BOOST, a weekly devotion for youthministry360.com. Richard speaks in schools as well as at various church and civic conferences.

Web Cam Spying – Yuck!

By
Steven Sundermeier
-
communicating with the unchurched

Quick! Name your favorite animal. (I seem to favor the crocodile.) How about your least favorite animal? For my oldest son, the answer is dogs. My neighbor is petrified of spiders. My daughter dislikes stinkbugs. However, no one in the family has a more distinct dislike for a species than my wife’s hatred for rodents, specifically mice. Maybe it’s their appearance: furry, fast(!) critters with two identifiable incisors; perhaps it is their elastic ability to fit through tiny spaces, or maybe it is just that they’re everywhere (they inhabit every continent except Antarctica). Whatever it is, rodents be warned! We make every effort in preventing your presence in our house and you are not welcome here!

Whether it’s an animal, a movie, or a _________ (fill in your pet-peeve), we all have certain hot-button things in life that bother us. This is also true for me when it comes system/device features, and the one that is my least favorite is the web camera. I fully understand that for many the webcam is an essential feature that provides additional opportunities including the ability to face-time with friends and loved ones. Webcams make corporate remote video conferencing possible, and from an entertainment perspective have allowed the capturing and publishing of amusing home videos. However, as a security professional, I also understand the grave dangers webcams pose.

According to our most recently released Thirtyseven4 statistics, on average, our Thirtyseven4 solutions detected over 180 million pieces of malware over the last three months: that’s over 2 million detections daily! Of those millions of malware detections, nearly 40 percent fell under the malware classification Trojan. A Trojan is a form of malware that hides its true intent from the unexpecting victim. For example, an unknowing user may receive an email that was spoofed to appear as if it was sent from a Google employee, but that contains a Trojan file attached that masquerades itself as a Google Chrome Update to an unsuspecting user. While Trojans are developed and released to perform many malicious tasks: one common type of Trojan is a Remote Access Trojan (or RAT —  are you correlating how the dislike for rodents runs in the family?). Once installed, a RAT allows an attacker complete control of the system it is installed on, and just one of the many compromising functions that can be performed would be webcam spying. And like its mammal counterpart, a RAT can stealthily hide for weeks, months or even years unnoticed until eventually the damage has been done.

While webcam spying software can be purposely installed on a system (think a parent or ex-boyfriend/girlfriend), most of the time they get installed mistakenly by users tricked into clicking a link or opening an attachment within an email. They can also be bundled together with other freeware or by visiting a compromised website. Regardless of how the spying software gets installed the damage can be irreversible. It would also be important to make note that this isn’t just an issue on Microsoft Windows systems but also problematic on Mac OSX systems and an exponentially growing problem on mobile devices.

With the inherent risks that webcams pose, it would be wise to educate ourselves on how to prevent a RAT compromise from occurring. I have included some tips and recommendations to help with webcam safety.

  1. Use common sense (and dignity!) when within the scope of your webcam. Seems easy enough but it may be the hardest tip of them all for some users. For example, if you are acting or behaving in such a way in front of the webcam where you wouldn’t be comfortable with your parents or children or the whole world seeing: I urge you (in your own best interest!) to consider your actions and/or words.
  2. Think about the location of your webcam. If you must use a web camera, it probably would not be prudent to have it placed in your bedroom or pointing towards a bathroom. Also, be careful that the background area isn’t exposing your location to potential online stalkers.
  3. Don’t open attachments from unknown sources or click on links embedded in emails or on social media sites. I mentioned this point a lot but there is good reason. Despite many of the criminal advancements’ attackers use to proliferate malware, the use of spam email is still the #1 source for malware infections including spying software. (People keep clicking on them to open them!)
  4. Install strong anti-virus and security software and keep it up-to-date. Most antivirus/antimalware scanners are developed to actively detect and proactively prevent RATs and other forms of malware from penetrating a system.
  5. Keep your OS and other 3rd party software applications up-to-date.
  6. Download apps only from trusted sites (i.e. Google Play, Apple Store). However, even when downloading from these locations be sure to read through the reviews and verify the publisher of the app. Did you know? There is a growing trend of fake or malicious apps made available for download through Google Play.
  7. If you are using an external web camera, unplug it when it is not in use. Simply disabling is not enough, especially if someone has gained remote access to your system.
  8. Disable your built-in webcam when not in use/Cover It! As a reminder, if your system is compromised, your webcam can be re-enabled remotely. See all the points above. Best practice would be to place a piece of electrical tape (or something similar) over the camera.

Cameras seem to be the new focal point and hacker-playground for cybercriminals. You may not want to know this, but webcam security on PCs and phones is only the tip of the security-iceberg with cameras. Stay tuned in coming months when we will delve into the risks associated with the use of cameras on home security systems and GoPro cameras.

Poor Bible Interpretation Lets Us “Believe” the Bible While Denying What It Actually Says

By
Randy Alcorn
-
communicating with the unchurched

I’ve been spending some time in Psalm 1 recently and have been reminded just how important delighting and meditating on God’s Word is. Here’s how the CSB renders it (note the use of “happy” in verse one for the Hebrew asher, often translated “blessed”):

1 How happy is the one who does not 
walk in the advice of the wicked 
or stand in the pathway with sinners 
or sit in the company of mockers!
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, 
and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

In order to delight and meditate on the law of the Lord, we must understand correctly what Scripture actually says. As people respond to my books, ask questions and state opinions through emails and social media, I’m struck with how many say they believe the Bible, but their interpretations are so out of line with credible biblical meanings that their profession of confidence in Scripture becomes meaningless, and even dangerous. Not only is this happening more frequently today, it’s also being accepted as normal.

Historically, theological liberals denied Scripture, and everyone knew where they stood. But today many so-called evangelicals affirm their belief in Scripture, while attributing meanings to biblical texts that in fact deny what Scripture really says. Hence they “believe every word of the Bible” while actually embracing (and teaching) beliefs that utterly contradict it.

I’m not talking about mere differences within the sphere of orthodoxy, such as the debates between Calvinists and Arminians, or various interpretations for some of the most difficult problem passages or intramural squabbles about spiritual gifts or ordinances or church polity. I’m talking about people believing and confidently affirming that Scripture says what no one in the history of the church ever believed it says—or some people did say it but were easily recognized as heretics. (Universalism is just one example among many, though an important one.)

We rightly call upon people to read their Bibles, but it seems many spend much more time reading INTO the Bible than reading OUT of it. So nearly everything they read becomes merely an echo of what they already think or what most people around them are already saying. God gave us His Word to teach, rebuke, correct and train our thinking (2 Timothy 3:16), not so we could interpret it away into something that’s just a mirror image of our preferred beliefs.

You can believe in the inspiration and even inerrancy of God’s Word, but because your subjective interpretation doesn’t center on the author’s (and Author’s) intention, but on what seems right to you and the secular or church culture, the Bible isn’t really your authority. You don’t let it correct your thinking but walk away with an interpretation which conveniently supports your comfortable beliefs.

If you’ve not yet watched John Piper’s most recent Look at the Book series, Finding Meaning in the Bible, I highly encourage you to do so. In one of the early sessions, he talks about The Golden Rule of Bible Reading. Just as we would like people to understand what we actually mean by our words, so we need to find the intended meaning of the biblical authors, not superimpose on Scripture our own preferred meanings.

This reminds me of the challenge small group Bible studies face where the main question can easily become “What does this passage mean to you?” instead of “What did it mean to the author and original readers?” Only when we ask that second question can we then figure out how to properly apply God’s Word to our own lives. (Of course there are numbers of passages where we can’t be 100 percent certain of the meaning. But overall, there is much clarity of meaning in Scripture. Otherwise, reading the Bible would be meaningless because the Holy Spirit could never change or transform us through words we can’t know the meaning of, or to which we can feel free to ascribe any meaning we wish.)

So we need to teach people not just to read the Bible but also how to interpret it, so they don’t end up being Bible-believing heretics or Jesus-followers who follow a Jesus different than the real Jesus of the Bible and history.

I find myself wishing people would know they are denying Scripture, and not feel free to use Scripture to deny Scripture. If you’re aware that you disbelieve and reject the Bible, there is hope because you can come under conviction to submit to God by denying your preferences and accepting what Scripture actually says. But if you imagine you believe the Bible all along, when in fact your interpretations contradict it, pride can blind you from knowing the truth and therefore the truth cannot set you free.

For more on this subject, see Randy’s devotional Truth: A Bigger View of God’s Word.

This post originally appeared here.

Bad Religion—How 3 American Heresies Impact Missions at Home and Abroad

By
Caleb Cohen
-
communicating with the unchurched

“America’s problem isn’t too much religion, or too little of it. It’s bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of a variety of destructive pseudo-Christianities in its place.”

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat prologued his book Bad Religion around this jolting statement in 2013, but his prophetic voice speaks volumes today, reaching beyond America’s thickening borders. Bad Religion laid out three categories of heresies that Douthat saw developing in the allegedly Christian West.

Douthat focused his book on the rise of three heresies—the prosperity gospel, Christian nationalism and God-within theology. He also suggested how the American church can get back to professing the true message of the gospel lest it lose the message altogether. I agree with him on how seriously American Christians need to take this task, but I don’t think Christendom in the West is the only thing at stake. I believe these three schools of thought have a tremendous bearing on how we understand and go about missions in the majority world. Here is how the three heresies Douthat calls out impact our practice of missions if we don’t stand guard against them.

Heresy One: The Prosperity Gospel

It is news to no one that for decades prosperity preaching has had superficial success in our Western consumer culture. We’ve seen what this false gospel can do in our land of plenty, but when it infiltrates spaces of poverty and desperation, its message is more tempting than Jesus’ caution against material gain and reliable comfort.

Consequently, the health-and-wealth message enjoys prominence across much of Africa and Southern Asia. I live in South Asia with countless local Christian leaders among whom Benny Hinn has never been a joke. Their unspoken belief is that if the gospel means new jobs and quick healings, then who cares about what Jesus taught or why he died. Jesus remains a solution for temporal discomforts, not eternal damnation.

This message makes for some terminally anemic churches in the majority world. When I spend time with them, I notice a focus on the here and now, not on the eternity of lost peoples. Their prayers are reduced to petitions for good exam scores and success at work. They exhibit no concern to know the mind of God, and certainly no desire for the nations to know him. If we condemn prosperity thinking in American Christianity, then we must also condemn it in cross-cultural missions.

Heresy Two: Christian Nationalism

It does not take an unpatriotic American to recognize that our society has long nursed a heresy of American exceptionalism, equating our national values and interests with those of Christianity itself. Patriotism is often valued over what the Bible and our churches teach. Here, we do and believe whatever we want, as if our identity in Christ matters less than what it says on our passports.

And if our national identity cries “America first!” over and above whatever our identity in Christ might have us say, then it is not hard to predict which causes—which missions—will take priority. When we believe our country is exceptional, we’re less likely to venture to others for the sake of the gospel. Feelings of superiority plague us as we live among cultures with different ways of doing things. Even if we do make it to other shores, we risk trying to conform people into our image—Christians from America—rather than pointing them wholly to Christ.

The reality is that our identity as Americans, according to much of the world, is bound up in our Christian faith. Shortly after the tumultuous 2016 political season came to a close, countless friends and strangers—ambitious Muslims and Hindus who simply want a Western education to bring home to their family—asked in confused bewilderment, “Why don’t you want us? Did we do something wrong? I thought America was a Christian nation.” They feel the consequences of American exceptionalism when they see Christians putting themselves above others out of fear and privilege. This impression has killed more than enough gospel conversations before they even got started.

Heresy Three: The God-Within Theology

Douthat says that these first two examples of bad religion are made possible by the fact that the majority of Western spirituality today is totally DIY to begin with—do and believe whatever you like. This emerging God-within theology, though, is the epitome of this way of thinking. After all, what could be better serving of DIY religion than a god who is the devotee? God-within theology, in a nutshell, insists that all the world’s religions are partly right and that God is in everything, including you.

Among the three heresies, this one is the most overtly damaging to evangelical missions in the world today. Why should Jesus’ disciples bring a particular message to the uttermost parts of the world if those living there are best left to see the general “godness” already surrounding them? Why should the faithful gather into healthy church communities if all the truth that each of them needs lies in their sufficient being?

Make no mistake—many people listen to Oprah, whom Douthat names as the greatest popularizer of this theology. If we tell ourselves that God-within theology will not soon be a formidable force in world missions, then we are eerily missing the indications that it already is.

Ross Douthat explains that a robust orthodox Christianity may have hope of displacing the West’s heresy-ridden climate of bad religion. For our part as churches and missionaries, as we seek to be used in the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom both at home and abroad, let us remember that our first allegiance is to our King—not to ourselves, nor to our nation, and certainly not to the pursuit of pleasures. May our kingdom priority ward off these three heresies from infecting our missiology and our mission fields forever.

This post originally appeared here.

5 Thought Patterns That Hurt Your Leadership

By
Dan Reiland
-
communicating with the unchurched

The primary responsibility of a leader is to think.

A leader’s thoughts must be bathed in prayer, sifted through wise counsel, and compared to experience. Your leadership never rises above your thought patterns.

I can remember as a young leader, and a few times as a not-so-young leader, someone saying to me: “What were you thinking?!” And the honest answer was, “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

We understand that with a child, maybe even a teenager, but adult leaders have a responsibility to process thoughts. Thinking is the process by which we solve problems, improve and make progress. The scary thing is that it’s relatively easy to lead without sufficient thinking in the short term. But that never works over the long haul.

One of my favorite questions to ask leaders is “When do you think?” The most common quick answer is “All the time.” And that’s just not true.

We do so much of what we do based on experience, emotion and what others think. All three of these can be helpful, but not always. For example, you may have an unfortunate experience that causes you to hold back or possibly repeat it because that’s all you know. Emotion may cause you to overreact and make a poor decision. Leading based on what others think might be taking the easy route.

A leader must have intentional set-aside times to think about and process what they currently face and what lies ahead.

One church leader was telling me that his first-time guest follow-up process wasn’t working. I asked how long he’d been doing it that way, and he replied “years.” He’s a smart guy, but he was definitely not thinking.

Sharp leaders do not continue to do something that doesn’t work for an extended period of time. Notice I said “for an extended period of time.” We all understand that leaders can’t get to everything immediately. And you don’t always know about the problem right away. But when you do, get it on the list, and don’t let it sit there long.

You probably have a good idea of the kinds of thought patterns that are helpful. But we can all easily slip into hurtful thought patterns if we’re not attentive, and especially under pressure.

So, it’s smart to be on the lookout. If you’re aware of what they are, you’re much less likely to fall into one of these traps of hurtful and unproductive thought patterns.

 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:2

Watch Natalie Grant’s Powerful Testimony to Senate Committee

By
Stephanie Martin
-
communicating with the unchurched

In recent testimony before the U.S. Senate, multi-platinum Christian singer Natalie Grant urged lawmakers to continue the fight against human trafficking. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, invited Grant to share how she became involved with the anti-slavery movement.

Grant’s November 28 testimony, which she shared via social media, describes how learning of the issue “forever wrecked” her life. Back in 2004, the singer first heard about the problem while watching Law & Order. Hearing that the TV episode was ripped from the headlines, Grant began searching the Internet.

“That was the first time I realized that slavery still exists in this country,” she said. “As a member of a faith-based music community, I was deeply troubled that I had never heard of this issue before. I was deeply troubled that people in the church were not talking about ‘the least of these,’ which…were being ravaged in this way.”

Natalie Grant Is Committed to Ending the Problem

Grant traveled to India to see how human trafficking was impacting children. “I have never been able to speak about this issue in 14 years without weeping,” she told the committee in emotional testimony. She described seeing “children for sale on the street,” young girls who needed reconstructive surgery, a girl in a cage who seemed “resigned to the fact that this was her reality,” and a rope used to restrain a toddler while her teenage mother was sexually violated.

“I knew that in that moment this issue demanded my attention and my commitment,” Grant told the committee. She decided to use her musical platform to spread word about the horrors of modern-day slavery. “If I didn’t know anything about it, chances are most other people didn’t know about it either,” she figured.

To raise funds for an after-care facility in India, Grant launched Abolition International in 2006. Eight years later, that group merged with U.K.-based Transitions Global to form Hope for Justice. The Nashville-based organization has 22 offices in eight countries across four continents. Hope for Justice rescued 37,000 children from human trafficking last year alone, Grant told the committee.

Human trafficking became even more important to the singer after she became the mother of three daughters. It breaks her heart, Grant says, that her girls live in a world “where slavery still exists, where someone’s daughters, someone’s sisters, someone’s niece, someone’s granddaughter is being ravaged day in and day out.”

We All “can do something to make a difference” 

Although Grant works on a large scale to address the problem, she emphasized that we all have a voice. “Every single one of us can do something to make a difference,” she said. “I commit my life to Proverbs 31:8, which says, ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. Ensure justice for those being crushed.’ I have seen those who are crushed, and I say that together we must do whatever it takes to give them justice.”

Grant told the committee that slavery “demands your attention and commitment.” Senator Corker initiated a 2016 law that now operates as the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. In 2017, the U.S. contributed $25 million to the fund, which aims to make slavery economically unprofitable.

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