The Next Christians: How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith by Gabe Lyons
Unless you’ve had your head in the sand for the last few years, you know all about the numerical decline in the Christian Church. My denomination has studied it just about every which way possible. We flail here and there trying to find the “answer” to reverse our downward trend. It has left denominational leaders, pastors and church members in a constant state of angst.
As a second career pastor who recently hit the big 4-0, some days I have to wonder if this is what I want to give the rest of my life to. But then I venture out into the world as the hands and feet of Christ and those institutional challenges seem to fade into the background. I see several church members serving “the least of these” and making a real difference and I almost forget the many that will never do anything more than show up a few Sundays a month. I see the transformation of a faithful few. I start to see the Kingdom slowly coming about on earth as it is in heaven and my angst over the survival of the institution no longer dominates my every thought.
Gabe Lyons new book, The Next Christians: How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith, gives voice to what many of us in the trenches of the modern church are discovering as the Spirit moves in new ways. We don’t have to fret because “Christian America” has died. Was it ever that great anyway? Is it possible that a refocused Church changes the world? Lyons gives a hopeful report from the frontlines.
Lyons is one of many modern authors to remind the Church of the comprehensive Gospel (creation, fall, redemption, restoration), a Gospel that doesn’t leave out the beginning or the end. The Gospel begins with humanity made in the image of God and finishes with humanity working towards restoration of that image. The Good News is more than just individual salvation from sin. We aren’t just saved from something, we are saved to something. Redemption is the beginning of our participation in God’s work of restoration in our lives and in the world.
One of the most valuable parts of the book is chapter three where Lyons groups modern Christians’ interaction with culture into three broad categories: Separatist, Cultural and Restorers. I think the groupings help Christians to look inward and see how we live out our faith in the world. Lyons says the Next Christians are Restorers. They envision the world as it was meant to be and they partner with God to work towards that vision. Restorers combine the best of both Separatists and Cultural Christians and add the new dynamic of restoration.
Most of the book covers the six characteristics that set apart the next Christians:
Provoked, not offended
Creators, not critics
Called, not employed
Grounded, not distracted
In community, not alone
Countercultural, not “relevant”
I highly recommend this book. It gave language to so much of what I am experiencing in my ministry as I try to answer God’s call to be about the work of the Kingdom in my community. I plan to use it with the leaders in my mainline, traditional church.
(I received this book free to review from WaterBrook Multnomah)
The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons (Chapter 1)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Outward/Externally-focused, Missional, Kingdom-focused, Church Movement
For the last five years, I have been a student of and a participant in the outward/externally-focused, missional, Kingdom-focused, church movement. Yes, a movement by many names.
As I see it, there are several activities happening as churches turn this direction. Here are the four main ones I see. Am I missing any?
1. Missional Communities
Exploding in several flavors and directions, most happening away from the traditional church. Tend to be small, home-based or restaurant-based groups. Tend to be different from traditional small groups by having service components or being evangelistically-focused to bring in new people and may contain worship elements.
Key Players:
Neil Cole is the lead speaker for “organic church.”
My preference is Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, authors of “Tangible Kingdom.” “TK Primer” offers help for existing churches to begin communities.
Alan Hirsch seems to be the theologian-in-residence for this movement.
2. Acts of Kindness / Servant Evangelism
Offers simple entry for existing churches turning outward or new churches starting up to become noticed in town. So simple that many long-time church members won’t see the value in it. Make sure the theology is well taught in advance. For hundreds of ideas, go here: http://www.servantevangelism.com/matrix/matrix.htm
Key Resources:
“Conspiracy of Kindness” by Steve Sjogren
“Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution through Serving” by Dino Rizzo
3. Community Service / Engagement
Working in the community food pantry/clothes closet, serving in schools…you get the idea. Unfortunately, this tends to be the stopping point for many churches.
Key Resources:
“Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church” by Reggie McNeal
“The Externally Focused Church” by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
4. Community Transformation
Really changing things in your town, bringing about the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Usually requires the entire Body of Christ working together which means collaboration amongst churches.
Key Resources:
“A New Kind of Big: How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities” by Chip Sweney
“To Transform a City” by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams
As I see it, there are several activities happening as churches turn this direction. Here are the four main ones I see. Am I missing any?
1. Missional Communities
Exploding in several flavors and directions, most happening away from the traditional church. Tend to be small, home-based or restaurant-based groups. Tend to be different from traditional small groups by having service components or being evangelistically-focused to bring in new people and may contain worship elements.
Key Players:
Neil Cole is the lead speaker for “organic church.”
My preference is Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, authors of “Tangible Kingdom.” “TK Primer” offers help for existing churches to begin communities.
Alan Hirsch seems to be the theologian-in-residence for this movement.
2. Acts of Kindness / Servant Evangelism
Offers simple entry for existing churches turning outward or new churches starting up to become noticed in town. So simple that many long-time church members won’t see the value in it. Make sure the theology is well taught in advance. For hundreds of ideas, go here: http://www.servantevangelism.com/matrix/matrix.htm
Key Resources:
“Conspiracy of Kindness” by Steve Sjogren
“Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution through Serving” by Dino Rizzo
3. Community Service / Engagement
Working in the community food pantry/clothes closet, serving in schools…you get the idea. Unfortunately, this tends to be the stopping point for many churches.
Key Resources:
“Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church” by Reggie McNeal
“The Externally Focused Church” by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
4. Community Transformation
Really changing things in your town, bringing about the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Usually requires the entire Body of Christ working together which means collaboration amongst churches.
Key Resources:
“A New Kind of Big: How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities” by Chip Sweney
“To Transform a City” by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams
Monday, January 10, 2011
Top Books I Read in 2010
The Hole in Our Gospel
By Richard Stearns
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community
by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church
By Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
By David Platt
A Mile In My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion
by Trevor Hudson
Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
A New Kind of Big: How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities
by Chip Sweney
Change the World: Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus
by Michael Slaughter
Transformation: Discipleship that Turns Lives, Churches, and the World Upside Down
by Bob Roberts Jr.
By Richard Stearns
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community
by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church
By Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
By David Platt
A Mile In My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion
by Trevor Hudson
Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
A New Kind of Big: How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities
by Chip Sweney
Change the World: Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus
by Michael Slaughter
Transformation: Discipleship that Turns Lives, Churches, and the World Upside Down
by Bob Roberts Jr.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Book notes: To Transform a City
To Transform a City
by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams
Reggie McNeal foreword
The missional church sees itself as the people of God (a who) already deployed across all the domains of culture. These life-place assignments have been made by a God who desires to plant the Incarnational presence of his Son everywhere.
Release the people of God (a who) to impact the world.
There is no reference in the NT to church as smaller than a city.
The scorecard can no longer be about how well our individuals congregations are doing. The condition of our communities is the scorecard on how well the church is doing at being the people of God.
Book
Called together a group of Christian leaders to fast every Thursday, then meet at his house at 7pm for a couple of hours of prayer followed by dinner at Denny’s.
Magic Bus tour of human service agencies in the city
We can partner with any organization that is morally positive and spiritually neutral.
Invited city leaders to lunch
Tell us what you do
Tell us your vision for a healthy city
Tell us 3 impossible things you need to accomplish that no person can do for them (we will pray for these)
p. 19 “Kingdom Assignment”
1. preach on parable of talents, handed out $100 to 110 people, asked them to multiply and give money to something God cares about.
2. preach on loving possessions. Challenged people to sell a treasure between Sept and Thanksgiving and bring proceeds to church for distribution
3. give 90 minutes over the next ninety days to serve the least of these (community service fair)
4. no church on a Sunday, instead serve. Celebration service in high school they worked in.
Personal letters of appreciation to teachers and staff
Way easier to catch a wave than make a wave. Catch wave of God’s movement and action.
God intends every one of his children to be living on mission, partnering with him in his redemptive mission in the world.
What if… the church showed the world an alternative story of a truly transformed life, infused with kingdom values lived out through missional actions?
Christian leaders, unable to motivate their church members to follow God’s precepts, still vocally demand that secular society live by them. How can we expect (or in some cases demand) others to adopt the values and ethics of Christians when we as Christ followers so easily flout them?
Ben Ecklu, Campus Crusade West Africa says, “If Christians are sixty to seventy percent of the population of Ghana, then we must own sixty to seventy percent of our country’s problems. If just the Christians did things differently…the city would change drastically.”
We can serve the city, love the city, and bless the city- but only God has the power to transform the city.
The critical mass to transform a community begins with just one person who is yielded to the Spirit of God.
Transformation comes through proclamation and demonstration of the gospel, both a verbal message and a lifestyle of love and compassion, good news and good deeds.
A minister of God’s grace to the community.
If we want to be Jesus’ followers then it may be a good first step to meditate and reflect on the passage that captured his heart- Isaiah 61.
We don’t serve to convert, but we serve because we are converted.
The most fertile ground for evangelistic conversations is a servant-rich environment.
Ron Sider- “Our social concern dare not be a gimmick designed to bribe people to become Christians. Social action has its own independent validity. We do it because the Creator wants everyone to enjoy the good creation. At the same time, when our genuine compassion also has an evangelistic dimension, we rejoice. Again and again, that is exactly what happens when we truly care for the needy and stand with the oppressed who seek justice.”
Leadership teams play a catalytic role instead of sponsoring and owning ministries. A catalytic leadership role in the community.
Churches- what can we accomplish together that we could not do alone?
We must never lose sight of the fact that we are kingdom workers, not just community volunteers.
Amazing story (p.66-68) of El Salvador becoming significantly more Christian, but the nation becoming worse off. “We settled for conversion rather than transformation.”
Jim Herrington – “The hope of the world is the church, not necessarily the local congregation.”
by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams
Reggie McNeal foreword
The missional church sees itself as the people of God (a who) already deployed across all the domains of culture. These life-place assignments have been made by a God who desires to plant the Incarnational presence of his Son everywhere.
Release the people of God (a who) to impact the world.
There is no reference in the NT to church as smaller than a city.
The scorecard can no longer be about how well our individuals congregations are doing. The condition of our communities is the scorecard on how well the church is doing at being the people of God.
Book
Called together a group of Christian leaders to fast every Thursday, then meet at his house at 7pm for a couple of hours of prayer followed by dinner at Denny’s.
Magic Bus tour of human service agencies in the city
We can partner with any organization that is morally positive and spiritually neutral.
Invited city leaders to lunch
Tell us what you do
Tell us your vision for a healthy city
Tell us 3 impossible things you need to accomplish that no person can do for them (we will pray for these)
p. 19 “Kingdom Assignment”
1. preach on parable of talents, handed out $100 to 110 people, asked them to multiply and give money to something God cares about.
2. preach on loving possessions. Challenged people to sell a treasure between Sept and Thanksgiving and bring proceeds to church for distribution
3. give 90 minutes over the next ninety days to serve the least of these (community service fair)
4. no church on a Sunday, instead serve. Celebration service in high school they worked in.
Personal letters of appreciation to teachers and staff
Way easier to catch a wave than make a wave. Catch wave of God’s movement and action.
God intends every one of his children to be living on mission, partnering with him in his redemptive mission in the world.
What if… the church showed the world an alternative story of a truly transformed life, infused with kingdom values lived out through missional actions?
Christian leaders, unable to motivate their church members to follow God’s precepts, still vocally demand that secular society live by them. How can we expect (or in some cases demand) others to adopt the values and ethics of Christians when we as Christ followers so easily flout them?
Ben Ecklu, Campus Crusade West Africa says, “If Christians are sixty to seventy percent of the population of Ghana, then we must own sixty to seventy percent of our country’s problems. If just the Christians did things differently…the city would change drastically.”
We can serve the city, love the city, and bless the city- but only God has the power to transform the city.
The critical mass to transform a community begins with just one person who is yielded to the Spirit of God.
Transformation comes through proclamation and demonstration of the gospel, both a verbal message and a lifestyle of love and compassion, good news and good deeds.
A minister of God’s grace to the community.
If we want to be Jesus’ followers then it may be a good first step to meditate and reflect on the passage that captured his heart- Isaiah 61.
We don’t serve to convert, but we serve because we are converted.
The most fertile ground for evangelistic conversations is a servant-rich environment.
Ron Sider- “Our social concern dare not be a gimmick designed to bribe people to become Christians. Social action has its own independent validity. We do it because the Creator wants everyone to enjoy the good creation. At the same time, when our genuine compassion also has an evangelistic dimension, we rejoice. Again and again, that is exactly what happens when we truly care for the needy and stand with the oppressed who seek justice.”
Leadership teams play a catalytic role instead of sponsoring and owning ministries. A catalytic leadership role in the community.
Churches- what can we accomplish together that we could not do alone?
We must never lose sight of the fact that we are kingdom workers, not just community volunteers.
Amazing story (p.66-68) of El Salvador becoming significantly more Christian, but the nation becoming worse off. “We settled for conversion rather than transformation.”
Jim Herrington – “The hope of the world is the church, not necessarily the local congregation.”
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Book review: A New Kind of Big
A New Kind of Big: How Churches of Any Size Can Partner to Transform Communities by Chip Sweney (Baker Books, 2011)
In my final year of seminary (Fall 2005), I wrote a paper on collaboration amongst churches and particularly why so little actually happened. In my research, people told me I needed to talk to a man that was making it happen in Atlanta, Chip Sweney of Unite! Since writing that paper, I’ve had the opportunity to become a part of Unite! and it has changed my ministry and my church forever.
A New Kind of Big tells the story of how churches, large and small, have come together to achieve what they can’t on their own- community transformation. The book is an easy, quick read with real-world examples and stories. Whether a pastor or lay leader in a small or large church, this book will lead you forward in the Kingdom task that our Lord has given us.
Sweney contends that the local church has responsibility for the welfare of its community and leads churches step-by-step through the process of becoming a catalyst for community transformation. Sweney paints the vision for churches coming together as the Body to accomplish a task too large for any one church- taking a city from floundering to flourishing.
I gained four key revelations or reminders reading the book:
1. The emphasis on partnerships. So often a church wants to start and run a ministry by itself. Sweney advocates for the power of working alongside the experts already in the trenches, organizations that know the needs more intimately and have already strategized effective ways to help. It’s important to point out that churches shouldn’t just dump money and ask for an update every so often. Instead, churches should find a lay champion and engage its people in the ministry.
2. Real ministry is done through relationships: relationships with those in our community, relationships with other churches’ leaders, relationships with partners, relationships with the people we serve.
3. The Kingdom call to become an externally-focused church of influence in our city.
4. The concept of “Channels of Cultural Influence” (Chapter 10) – These eight channels- education, health care, business, art and entertainment, media, nonprofits, government, and law/justice- are the playing field for our Kingdom work. By leveraging the members of our churches who are already living and working in these channels, we can increasingly reflect the characteristics of the kingdom of God throughout society and that is when true community transformation takes off.
In my final year of seminary (Fall 2005), I wrote a paper on collaboration amongst churches and particularly why so little actually happened. In my research, people told me I needed to talk to a man that was making it happen in Atlanta, Chip Sweney of Unite! Since writing that paper, I’ve had the opportunity to become a part of Unite! and it has changed my ministry and my church forever.
A New Kind of Big tells the story of how churches, large and small, have come together to achieve what they can’t on their own- community transformation. The book is an easy, quick read with real-world examples and stories. Whether a pastor or lay leader in a small or large church, this book will lead you forward in the Kingdom task that our Lord has given us.
Sweney contends that the local church has responsibility for the welfare of its community and leads churches step-by-step through the process of becoming a catalyst for community transformation. Sweney paints the vision for churches coming together as the Body to accomplish a task too large for any one church- taking a city from floundering to flourishing.
I gained four key revelations or reminders reading the book:
1. The emphasis on partnerships. So often a church wants to start and run a ministry by itself. Sweney advocates for the power of working alongside the experts already in the trenches, organizations that know the needs more intimately and have already strategized effective ways to help. It’s important to point out that churches shouldn’t just dump money and ask for an update every so often. Instead, churches should find a lay champion and engage its people in the ministry.
2. Real ministry is done through relationships: relationships with those in our community, relationships with other churches’ leaders, relationships with partners, relationships with the people we serve.
3. The Kingdom call to become an externally-focused church of influence in our city.
4. The concept of “Channels of Cultural Influence” (Chapter 10) – These eight channels- education, health care, business, art and entertainment, media, nonprofits, government, and law/justice- are the playing field for our Kingdom work. By leveraging the members of our churches who are already living and working in these channels, we can increasingly reflect the characteristics of the kingdom of God throughout society and that is when true community transformation takes off.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
BLESS core values
At Austell First UMC, this is the grounding for who we are as a church, our vision for making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world:
Blessing our community is more than just loving our community. Through our actions, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we express God’s grace, the love of Christ.
Blessing involves God. Many citizens love and serve their community. Christians are the only ones that can bless their community.
BLESS core values
• God goes before us (prevenient grace)
• Generously BLESS others
• Servant hood (Jesus washing disciples feet)
Go to be a servant, not serve (we don’t take an agenda with us)
“When we serve others, we look strangely like God.” (Pastor Erwin McManus)
• Deliver radical love that amazes the world it touches (Randy Pope, Perimeter Church, Georgia)
• We want people to wonder why we are doing this.
Are church members living in such a way that they demonstrate something people far from God cannot live without? (Bill Easum) We want people to ask, “How can I get some of that. How can I be like that? How can I serve/love/bless like that?
• Being an asset to our community (they would be worse off without us)
□ Can you imagine the community being genuinely thankful for your church?
□ Can you imagine city leaders valuing your church’s friendship and participation in the community- even asking for it?
□ Can you imagine a large number of your church members actively engaged in, and passionate about,
community service, using their gifts and abilities in ways and at levels, they never thought possible?
□ Can you imagine the spiritual harvest that would naturally follow if all this were true?
(Pastor Robert Lewis, Fellowship Bible Church, Little Rock AR)
• A catalyst for community transformation (can’t do it all, but we can get it started)
• Bring healing to a hurting world
• Impact our city with the love of Christ
• Taking light into darkness
• The Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) - the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in the world
• Reach the world for Christ by serving one person at a time
• Sharing God’s love in practical ways
• No strings attached. Blessing folks even if they will never set foot in our church.
• Blessings are gifts; they can’t be earned. Thus, we BLESS even those we may think don’t deserve it. Unreasonable grace.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing. You can give them back what they gave you. Or you can give them back what God gave you. (Steven Furtick)
• Move people one step closer to Christ. (SCALE)
• Leave the results to God. Trust God to take our efforts and do great work through them.
• God gets the credit
Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
• BLESS is not what we do. It is who we are. Blessing is a lifestyle for Christians.
Blessing our community is more than just loving our community. Through our actions, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we express God’s grace, the love of Christ.
Blessing involves God. Many citizens love and serve their community. Christians are the only ones that can bless their community.
BLESS core values
• God goes before us (prevenient grace)
• Generously BLESS others
• Servant hood (Jesus washing disciples feet)
Go to be a servant, not serve (we don’t take an agenda with us)
“When we serve others, we look strangely like God.” (Pastor Erwin McManus)
• Deliver radical love that amazes the world it touches (Randy Pope, Perimeter Church, Georgia)
• We want people to wonder why we are doing this.
Are church members living in such a way that they demonstrate something people far from God cannot live without? (Bill Easum) We want people to ask, “How can I get some of that. How can I be like that? How can I serve/love/bless like that?
• Being an asset to our community (they would be worse off without us)
□ Can you imagine the community being genuinely thankful for your church?
□ Can you imagine city leaders valuing your church’s friendship and participation in the community- even asking for it?
□ Can you imagine a large number of your church members actively engaged in, and passionate about,
community service, using their gifts and abilities in ways and at levels, they never thought possible?
□ Can you imagine the spiritual harvest that would naturally follow if all this were true?
(Pastor Robert Lewis, Fellowship Bible Church, Little Rock AR)
• A catalyst for community transformation (can’t do it all, but we can get it started)
• Bring healing to a hurting world
• Impact our city with the love of Christ
• Taking light into darkness
• The Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) - the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in the world
• Reach the world for Christ by serving one person at a time
• Sharing God’s love in practical ways
• No strings attached. Blessing folks even if they will never set foot in our church.
• Blessings are gifts; they can’t be earned. Thus, we BLESS even those we may think don’t deserve it. Unreasonable grace.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing. You can give them back what they gave you. Or you can give them back what God gave you. (Steven Furtick)
• Move people one step closer to Christ. (SCALE)
• Leave the results to God. Trust God to take our efforts and do great work through them.
• God gets the credit
Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
• BLESS is not what we do. It is who we are. Blessing is a lifestyle for Christians.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Book Notes: Waking to God’s Dream
Waking to God’s Dream: Spiritual Leadership and Church Renewal (1999) by Dick Wills (now a UMC Bishop)
It is not what you are now that is important, but what God wants you to be and what you can be with faith.
A vision without a task is just a dream. A task without a vision is pure drudgery. When you combine a vision and a task it can become the hope of the world.
A vision is seeing not what is now, but what can be and will be in the future.
God put eyes in the front so that when we look backward, we get a stiff neck.
God selects one person to announce the vision on behalf of all the other people. God plants the vision secretly in the hearts of people. They cannot see the vision until the person God has chosen reveals it. Once the vision is announced, it must be confirmed by the people for whom the vision is given. God plants the vision secretly in the hearts of God’s people, even though they might not be aware of it. However, when it is announced, it wins acceptance from those committed to God because God has made it their vision, secretly, sometime before.
God is always ready to give a new vision when the old vision comes to maturity. Otherwise, the vision simply dies and perishes. Mainline denominations are declining because leaders have not been willing to listen to the God who is seeking to reproduce the vision for a new day.
I wanted to be a part of what God was blessing!
John Wesley was asked what could reasonably be expected of a Methodist preacher: “To reform the Nation and the Church and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.”
We had substituted meetings for ministry.
My weariness came from having left behind a daily walk with God, substituting in its place taking control and wanting to be successful in the eyes of others.
Went to South Africa- I began to wonder how these people, living under such difficult and violent conditions could have such joy?
Joy comes from walking with God and is not dependent on external circumstances.
An openness to begin the journey of choosing to be part of what God wanted to bless rather than my trying to get God to bless what I was doing.
So I began to pray each day for God to help me and my church be part of what God wanted to bless.
God blesses obedience. I understand obedience as choosing to seek and discern the will of God as a follower of Jesus. Obedience is to choose daily to give my life to God.
Belonging to my church for many people was like belonging to a club rather than to the church of Jesus Christ. Seldom did I sense people yearning for the things of God. Being a member of the church was simply synonymous with being a good citizen, a good American. What I would call “cultural Christians.” Christianity was to be learned, not experienced. Cultural Christians subscribe to a kind of hen house logic: “If you sit in a hen house, it will make you a chicken.” If you attend worship, you will be a Christian. Having a personal experience with Jesus Christ was replaced with simply attending worship.
I began to see my preaching as an invitation to become a follower of Jesus. I started preaching as though I were speaking to a group of people who knew nothing about Christianity. I was calling our people to make a choice to be fully devoted followers of Jesus and to claim the new life that I knew God wanted for each of them.
Jesus set out to change the world by choosing a small group of people to disciple.
Not my ideas, but a willingness to be part of what God is blessing.
In order to know if this vision was really a word from God or just a clever attempt by my imagination to speak on God’s behalf, I became convinced that I had to share the vision with the congregation for a year. 3-week sermon series to outline vision, then preached on it monthly. At first people were indifferent to this new vision. As the year moved along, I heard from laity in stronger and stronger ways that confirmed this new vision.
Lifted the vision repeatedly as pastor, asked each area to justify what it was doing by the vision.
As I read the NT, I could find only one place where the voting majority ruled (Acts 27). I believe the church was never meant to be a democracy. We in the church are to function under a theocracy. The only thing that matters is the will of God. We quit voting. We decided that if an activity focuses on our vision statement and is supported by Scripture, then those proposing the new ministry could begin.
In meetings, Wills asked committee to pray silently on an issue for ten minutes. What is God’s will in this issue? After ten minutes, he asked if anyone had a word from God that would be a negative, a concern, or a “not now” that the group should hear.
The greater the relationship, the fewer the rules.
Raise up and consecrate lay pastors to care for and lead the ministries of the church.
Administrative groups need to be seen as ministry and not business. Lay Pastors are the spiritual leaders for their action group in the church.
Lay Pastors are not chosen by the church or by the pastor of the church, but they are called by God.
The first requirement is that each Lay Pastor must commit to a daily time of prayer and Scripture reading.
Lay Pastors are the basic caregivers of the congregation.
As pastor, I submit myself to the authority of the Lay Pastor when I am on their turf (ministry area, small group).
Chad Walsh: “I suspect that Satan has called off his attempt to convert people to agnosticism. After all, if a man travels far enough away from Christianity, he is liable to see it in perspective and decide it is true. It is much safer from Satan’s point of view, to vaccinate a man with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease.”
People choose to be comfortable over choosing to be faithful.
Daily walk with God.
Individual change precedes organizational change.
Focus on leadership, not management.
Strive first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)
For spiritual leaders, the cross is not something laid upon us by God. It is something we must pick up. As a spiritual leader, as soon as we decide to fulfill the specific purpose God has for us, we pick up our cross. It is not necessary that we should know what God’s purpose is. It is necessary only that we decide to fulfill it. To pick up my cross, I must learn to lay down my right to myself. Gradually, it dawns upon a spiritual leader that good work does not produce fruit. Dying to self and doing God’s will produces fruit.
God unfolds revelation moment by moment.
It is not what you are now that is important, but what God wants you to be and what you can be with faith.
A vision without a task is just a dream. A task without a vision is pure drudgery. When you combine a vision and a task it can become the hope of the world.
A vision is seeing not what is now, but what can be and will be in the future.
God put eyes in the front so that when we look backward, we get a stiff neck.
God selects one person to announce the vision on behalf of all the other people. God plants the vision secretly in the hearts of people. They cannot see the vision until the person God has chosen reveals it. Once the vision is announced, it must be confirmed by the people for whom the vision is given. God plants the vision secretly in the hearts of God’s people, even though they might not be aware of it. However, when it is announced, it wins acceptance from those committed to God because God has made it their vision, secretly, sometime before.
God is always ready to give a new vision when the old vision comes to maturity. Otherwise, the vision simply dies and perishes. Mainline denominations are declining because leaders have not been willing to listen to the God who is seeking to reproduce the vision for a new day.
I wanted to be a part of what God was blessing!
John Wesley was asked what could reasonably be expected of a Methodist preacher: “To reform the Nation and the Church and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.”
We had substituted meetings for ministry.
My weariness came from having left behind a daily walk with God, substituting in its place taking control and wanting to be successful in the eyes of others.
Went to South Africa- I began to wonder how these people, living under such difficult and violent conditions could have such joy?
Joy comes from walking with God and is not dependent on external circumstances.
An openness to begin the journey of choosing to be part of what God wanted to bless rather than my trying to get God to bless what I was doing.
So I began to pray each day for God to help me and my church be part of what God wanted to bless.
God blesses obedience. I understand obedience as choosing to seek and discern the will of God as a follower of Jesus. Obedience is to choose daily to give my life to God.
Belonging to my church for many people was like belonging to a club rather than to the church of Jesus Christ. Seldom did I sense people yearning for the things of God. Being a member of the church was simply synonymous with being a good citizen, a good American. What I would call “cultural Christians.” Christianity was to be learned, not experienced. Cultural Christians subscribe to a kind of hen house logic: “If you sit in a hen house, it will make you a chicken.” If you attend worship, you will be a Christian. Having a personal experience with Jesus Christ was replaced with simply attending worship.
I began to see my preaching as an invitation to become a follower of Jesus. I started preaching as though I were speaking to a group of people who knew nothing about Christianity. I was calling our people to make a choice to be fully devoted followers of Jesus and to claim the new life that I knew God wanted for each of them.
Jesus set out to change the world by choosing a small group of people to disciple.
Not my ideas, but a willingness to be part of what God is blessing.
In order to know if this vision was really a word from God or just a clever attempt by my imagination to speak on God’s behalf, I became convinced that I had to share the vision with the congregation for a year. 3-week sermon series to outline vision, then preached on it monthly. At first people were indifferent to this new vision. As the year moved along, I heard from laity in stronger and stronger ways that confirmed this new vision.
Lifted the vision repeatedly as pastor, asked each area to justify what it was doing by the vision.
As I read the NT, I could find only one place where the voting majority ruled (Acts 27). I believe the church was never meant to be a democracy. We in the church are to function under a theocracy. The only thing that matters is the will of God. We quit voting. We decided that if an activity focuses on our vision statement and is supported by Scripture, then those proposing the new ministry could begin.
In meetings, Wills asked committee to pray silently on an issue for ten minutes. What is God’s will in this issue? After ten minutes, he asked if anyone had a word from God that would be a negative, a concern, or a “not now” that the group should hear.
The greater the relationship, the fewer the rules.
Raise up and consecrate lay pastors to care for and lead the ministries of the church.
Administrative groups need to be seen as ministry and not business. Lay Pastors are the spiritual leaders for their action group in the church.
Lay Pastors are not chosen by the church or by the pastor of the church, but they are called by God.
The first requirement is that each Lay Pastor must commit to a daily time of prayer and Scripture reading.
Lay Pastors are the basic caregivers of the congregation.
As pastor, I submit myself to the authority of the Lay Pastor when I am on their turf (ministry area, small group).
Chad Walsh: “I suspect that Satan has called off his attempt to convert people to agnosticism. After all, if a man travels far enough away from Christianity, he is liable to see it in perspective and decide it is true. It is much safer from Satan’s point of view, to vaccinate a man with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease.”
People choose to be comfortable over choosing to be faithful.
Daily walk with God.
Individual change precedes organizational change.
Focus on leadership, not management.
Strive first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)
For spiritual leaders, the cross is not something laid upon us by God. It is something we must pick up. As a spiritual leader, as soon as we decide to fulfill the specific purpose God has for us, we pick up our cross. It is not necessary that we should know what God’s purpose is. It is necessary only that we decide to fulfill it. To pick up my cross, I must learn to lay down my right to myself. Gradually, it dawns upon a spiritual leader that good work does not produce fruit. Dying to self and doing God’s will produces fruit.
God unfolds revelation moment by moment.
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