Tag: Focus

Impact of the Church

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Years ago I read a book that changed my life and ministry, The Church Unleashed: Getting God’s People Out Where the Needs Are, by Frank Tillapaugh (1982). It was primarily writing about how our people need to be focused on those outside of the walls of our facilities. When all the church knows is the status quo, what he writes about is a real paradigm shift.

Recently I was reminded of these ten paradigm shifts by Os Hillman of Marketplace Leaders. Here is a summary of chapter 12 of his Faith at Work:

A paradigm is a model consisting of shared assumptions regarding what works or what is true. A paradigm shift is that “aha!” moment when one sees things in such a new light that you can never go back to the old ways again. A new paradigm is the new wineskin that will be needed to hold the new assumptions about what is true. To maximize our impact on our communities, we need changes in at least ten of our paradigms of how we currently view church.

1. From building walls to building bridges. “You are the salt of the earth, You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). We must see ourselves in relation to our communities, not just who we are inside the church. We are to infiltrate rather than isolate.

2. From measuring attendance to measuring impact. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast… mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33). People are not impressed with our size or programs or how committed we are to the truth and how we fight for it. They want to see followers of Jesus living out what they say they believe. How can Jesus live in our communities, impacting the lives of others and drawing lost people to himself? Ministry must be holistic, reaching the person, not just their souls. (Galatians 2:10, Romans 1:15-17, Acts 10:36-38)

3. From encouraging the saints to attend the service to equipping the saints for works of service. “It is (God) who gave some to be… pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service.” (Ephesians 4:11-12). Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City writes that the process of mobilizing members into ministers “starts by articulating clearly and regularly a theology of “every-member ministry.” Rick Warren emphasizes the same thing in his purpose driven model. People must find needs and meet them with the goal of the expanding the kingdom of God.

4. From “serve us” to service; from inward to outward focus. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give” (Mark 10:45). Erwin McManus of Mosaic Church in East Los Angeles says that the single biggest factor in his church retaining people is not personal follow-up or joining a small group, it is being involved from the very beginning in service to others in the community. When members have told him that they want the church to meet their needs, his reply is: “You are the church and together we are called to meet the needs of the world.”

5. From duplication of human services and ministries to partnering with existing services and ministries. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). The Bible is filled with examples of how God used secular people in partnership with His people to fulfill His purposes. Think of Joseph and Pharoah, Nehemiah and Artaxerxes, and Esther and King Ahasuerus.

Instead of each congregation having its own food pantry, why not partner with the local community food bank? When needy people request food, congregations could refer these folks to their “partner ministry.” We form partnerships not around theology but around our common concern and love for the city.

6. From fellowship to functional unity. There is a strong case to suggest that there is really only one Church in a city or community (made up of all believers) that meets in many congregations around the city. In Philippians 2:2 Paul implored, “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

Only unity of purpose around the vision of a transformed community is strong enough to unite pastors and churches of different denominations. Uniting the Church around a common goal is preferable to trying to unite the church around a cooperative project. Community transformation begins at the intersection of the needs and dream of a community, the calling and capacities of the Church (and the community) and the mandates and desires of God for a community.

7. From condemning the city to blessing the city and praying for it. Jeremiah 29 begins by saying: “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem… to those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” What follows are instructions on how to live as aliens in a foreign land. He says: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).

For too long we as the Church have positioned ourselves as adversaries to our communities. The monolithic Church has stood from afar and lobbed in messages of condemnation toward the city and those who are trying to serve it. Maybe it’s time we begin blessing the city by blessing those who have given themselves to the city!

8. From being a minister in a congregation to being a minister in a parish. “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it” (Luke 19:41). A congregation is made up of people who attend a local church from a community. The minister typically feels that this congregation is his flock whom he must baptize, marry and bury. They consume his time and energy. Being in a parish is different.

A parish differs from a congregation in that it is a geographical scope of concern and responsibility. A congregation is a subset of a parish. Being in a parish gives one the God-given right to minister to anyone in the community, whether they are part of one’s congregation or not. Urban theologian, Ray Bakke, illuminated this point by writing that every minister has two functions: 1) to be pastor to the members and, 2) chaplain to the community.

9. From anecdote and speculation to valid information. Two pieces of information changed the course of Nehemiah’s life that resulted in the transformation of a community. In Nehemiah 1, he learned that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were broken down and her people were in distress. These two pieces of information were catalytic to his prayers and plans to restore a broken wall and a broken people. His burden to transform the city came from accurate information.

We, too, need correct information about the real needs of our community as well as the resources we have to meet these needs. Do we know the demographic information of our community? Do we know the number of churches? Do we know the spiritual history of our community? We also need to identify the spiritual assets of our community – the number of faith communities and believers. Together, these two research pieces give us a picture of our “mission field” and our “mission force.” Armed with accurate information, we can determine best how to go forward.

10. From teacher to learner. “Everyone should be quick to learn, slow to speak” (James 1:19). It is interesting to note that for the historic African-American churches, the concept of holistic ministry is not a new one. They have never suffered from trying to split effective evangelism from social justice or meeting the needs of those around them. It’s how they’ve always done church.

The effective churches see the community as one that is full of assets more than full of problems. Where do we go from here? From Isaiah 65:17-25, Ray Bakke outlined seven characteristics of a healthy community from the heart of God:

  1. Public celebration and happiness (Isaiah 65:18-19);
  2. Public health for children and the aged (Isaiah 65:20);
  3. Housing for all (Isaiah 65:21);
  4. Food for all (Isaiah 65:22);
  5. Meaningful work (Isaiah 65:22-23);
  6. Family support systems (Isaiah 65:23);
  7. Absence of violence (Isaiah 65:25)

This list outlines our potential marching orders. The Spirit of God is at work. There is a good chance that the next great movement of God will involve putting the Church back into community where it can be the leaven, salt, and light God designed it to be. Will we join God in this transforming work? For the sake of the gospel, the Church, and our communities, in faith – let’s move forward!

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God-centered vs. Self-centered

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The essence of sin is the shift from a God-centeredness to a self-centeredness. To know God’s will, we must turn away from self-centeredness. Look at it this way:

To be self-centered: life is focused on self, we are proud of self and your own accomplishments, we have confidence is in self, a dependence on self and our own abilities, seeking acceptance from the world and its ways, selfish and ordinary living.

To be God-centered: we have confidence in God, dependence on God and on his abilities and provision, life is focused on God and his activities, we have humility before God, denying self, seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and seeking God’s perspective in all circumstances, holy and godly living.

In the Bible we don’t see God asking people to dream up what they want to do for God. The pattern is to submit, wait, watch and then join him.

Our goals for experiencing God, basically to know and do the will of God…

  1. I must deny myself and return to a God-centered life.
  2. I must reorient my life to God.
  3. I must focus my life on God’s purposes and not my own plans.
  4. I must seek to see from God’s perspective rather than from my own distorted human perspective.
  5. I must wait until God shows me what he is about to do through me.
  6. I must watch to see what God is doing around me and join him.

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Barriers to Small Group Growth

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I always am on the lookout for teaching points regarding small groups, and here is solid wisdom from Rick Warren:

Did you know that you get a new skeleton every seven years? Your bone marrow is constantly creating new bone, and you’re sloughing off old cells so that your skeleton can grow with your body. For our church to keep growing, our structure also has to change constantly.

The only purpose of restructuring is to prepare a church for growth and to break through barriers. About 95 percent of all the churches in the world stop growing before they get to 300 people because they are structured to be at a size less than 300. It’s not the problem of the pastor or the people; it’s a problem of the structure.

We often ask the wrong question. The wrong question is, “What will help my church grow?” The right question is, “What is keeping my church from growing?” Growth is natural. All living things naturally grow. I don’t have to command my kids to grow; they just do it, if they’re healthy. If our church is healthy, then it is going to automatically grow.

A church becomes healthy by removing the barriers and balancing the purposes. There are 10 common barriers that keep our church from growing. The first six are:

Members won’t bring their friends to church: You can’t grow a church without guests. One of the reasons Christians won’t bring their friends to church is that they’re embarrassed or they think, “This is a church that meets my needs, but it’s not geared for my friend, an unbeliever, to understand it.” You have to create a service that is understandable but not watered-down.

People fear that growth will ruin the fellowship: Many churches say they are a loving church, but what they mean is that they are good at loving each other and not unbelievers. When members love their fellowship so much that they don’t want anyone new, then they’re not going to bring friends. The average member of a church knows 67 people, whether you have 67 people at your church or 6,000. If you only want to have a church of people you know, you’re only going to have about 67 people. The antidote to this barrier is affinity groups. The church must grow larger and smaller at the same time — larger through worship (weekend services) and smaller through fellowship (small groups).

Churches are driven by tradition rather than the purposes of God: Tradition is a good thing — as long as it works. Never confuse the message with the methods. The message must never change, but the methods have to change. If you don’t change methods from generation to generation, you are being unfaithful.

One of the most expensive and difficult things to do is keep a corpse from stinking. If there are programs in our church that died a long time ago; we need to give them a decent burial. Periodically, we should go through everything we’re doing and ask, “Should I reaffirm it, refine it, or do I need to replace it?” The hardest thing to give up is what worked before, but sometimes you have to stop it before it starts declining.

Churches are trying to appeal to everybody: Our church cannot be all things to all people. The moment we choose a style of music, we are going to turn someone off. We need to know whom our church can best reach in your community. Define that group of people, and then go after them.

Churches are program-oriented rather than process-oriented: A lot of churches think the goal is to keep the saints busy, and people are just worn out. Programs and events should not drive the church; they should fulfill the purposes. Where do we want to take our people in the next 10 years? Where do we want them to be different? Set a goal by determining your role — what God has called you to do. Once you know that, then you decide what programs best accomplish that goal.

Churches focus on meetings rather than ministry: When the number one qualifier in our church is attendance, then we are facing this barrier. It’s not all about the weekend; the weekend is simply the funnel by which you start the discipleship process. If Christianity is a life and not a religion, then it should focus on where we live our lives — at home, work, etc., and not at church. When we focus on meetings, we’re building a group of spectators. We don’t need more meetings; we need to meet more needs. You do that by turning every member into a minister.

[ Here is a full PDF handout with all 10 barriers with application ]

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How to Handle Frustration

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Here are five simple steps for dealing with frustrations in your life. (Rick Warren)

1. Ask yourself, “Did I cause it?” The Bible says, “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7). Many things in life frustrate us because we brought them on ourselves, so we don’t have anybody else to blame. It’s frustrating to run out of gas on a trip, but if you didn’t stop to get gas before you left, or decided to push your luck, who’s to blame?

2. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from it?” Use the irritation as an opportunity to grow in character and become more like Christ. How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life? He often places you in the opposite situation. If God wants to teach you love, He will put you around unlovely people. If God wants to teach you peace, He will put you in a situation of total chaos so you can have inner peace. If God want to teach you patience, He will put more frustration in your path to test your patience.

3. Thank God in the situation. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks.” You don’t have to be thankful for a bad situation, but you can be thankful in a bad situation. That frustration, that irritation, that inconvenience, that interruption, may be a blessing or an opportunity in disguise.

4. Turn the frustration into a funny, humorous event. The Bible says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). A sense of humor is God’s antidote for anger and frustration.

5. Ask God to fill you with His love. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Love is not easily angered.” Love is self-giving, not self-serving. We get irritated because we think everyone and everything has to revolve around us. Love concentrates on the other person.

Jesus faced constant frustrations in his life, but he always made time for people. We get so preoccupied with our own things; we forget that people are the priority in life.

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)

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