I didn't write this, Kelly did. But I wish I had.
"The Church has traded its birthright as the hope of the world for a steaming bowl of legislation and patriotism. We have sold our mission of good news for the poor, freedom for the prisoners, and sight for the blind to the world of policy and pundits. We gave up believing in the transformational power of the gospel and transferred our hope to enforcing spirituality through the Supreme Court."
She goes on...
"...why (do) Christians give more money, passion and energy to electing Obama or McCain than they do to loving God and their neighbor. According to Jesus, that's something He cares about a whole lot more."
Wow. Something to think about on Tuesday.
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evangelism. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
What is your church's 'Market Statement?'
In the business world, companies are adamant about shaping their 'market statement.' In other words, what does the company stand for, how are they perceived in the market. In the church world, though, we ignore that. We sometimes think it's our mission statement, which is too broad (and often too harmless) to really say who we are. This weekend, I attended a church whose mission statment was "Love God, Love Others." Great mission, but tells nothing about who they are or who they are trying to reach.
A great market statement should tell the following:
- What is our church's laser focus (evangelism, discipleship, mission work)
- Who is our target audience ('People' is not good enough, nor is 'lost people.' specifics are important here- families in their 20's and 30's with young kids, for example)
- What do we do well
- What do we not do well
Most churches, like most businesses, tend to try to do too much. This often works in the short term, because trying to be all things to all people allows you to attract people. But, in the long term, this incomplete structure will collapse on itself. As author Jim Collins says, most organizations are more likely to gorge themselves to death than starve themselves to death. There is no lack of opportunity. But people can quickly see when something (a company or a church) is not what it's advertised to be.
It's better that the leadership understand who they are up front, rather than fooling themselves and trying to pick up the pieces later. Having a market statement helps them focus on only what they can do well. This doesn't mean we leave lost people lost, it means we try to reach the ones we're good at reaching.
A great market statement should tell the following:
- What is our church's laser focus (evangelism, discipleship, mission work)
- Who is our target audience ('People' is not good enough, nor is 'lost people.' specifics are important here- families in their 20's and 30's with young kids, for example)
- What do we do well
- What do we not do well
Most churches, like most businesses, tend to try to do too much. This often works in the short term, because trying to be all things to all people allows you to attract people. But, in the long term, this incomplete structure will collapse on itself. As author Jim Collins says, most organizations are more likely to gorge themselves to death than starve themselves to death. There is no lack of opportunity. But people can quickly see when something (a company or a church) is not what it's advertised to be.
It's better that the leadership understand who they are up front, rather than fooling themselves and trying to pick up the pieces later. Having a market statement helps them focus on only what they can do well. This doesn't mean we leave lost people lost, it means we try to reach the ones we're good at reaching.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
God's plan to save the world
In the recent days and weeks, if you watch the news, it can be easy to get caught up in the Chicken Little stories. Serious-looking news people tell us how tight the presidential race is and how important it is to get the "right" person in power. At the same time, disheveled financial types yell at us that the economic sky is falling and the world is coming to an end. And in the midst of all this, a rumor is swirling that Brad and Angelina have broken up. It's almost enough to make you wonder if God's still on His throne.
But the truth is written in scripture that God has a plan to save the world. We know that Jesus "...did not come to judge the world, but to save it." (John 12:47) But, Jesus is gone, at least physically, so how does that work now? In the midst of all the trouble and turmoil, what is God's plan to save the world?
It's written here:
God's Message,
the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth's people,
makes them alive with his own life:
"I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons. - Isaiah 42:5-7 (The Message)
Right there. Did you see it? God is talking about bringing people into light, opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners. And how? Through his secret plan. Read it again:
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light...
See that? God's plan to save the world? It's YOU. You have been called to bind His people to Him. You have been called to start bringing people into the light, release people from the prisons. You are called to spread the message. How, you wonder, can you save the world? You can't- but God can, and will, through you. Through telling your friends, through giving your time and money, and through serving in His kingdom, you (and I) can work to bring heaven to earth. Giving a little of ourselves will help bring up there to down here.
But the truth is written in scripture that God has a plan to save the world. We know that Jesus "...did not come to judge the world, but to save it." (John 12:47) But, Jesus is gone, at least physically, so how does that work now? In the midst of all the trouble and turmoil, what is God's plan to save the world?
It's written here:
God's Message,
the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth's people,
makes them alive with his own life:
"I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons. - Isaiah 42:5-7 (The Message)
Right there. Did you see it? God is talking about bringing people into light, opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners. And how? Through his secret plan. Read it again:
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light...
See that? God's plan to save the world? It's YOU. You have been called to bind His people to Him. You have been called to start bringing people into the light, release people from the prisons. You are called to spread the message. How, you wonder, can you save the world? You can't- but God can, and will, through you. Through telling your friends, through giving your time and money, and through serving in His kingdom, you (and I) can work to bring heaven to earth. Giving a little of ourselves will help bring up there to down here.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
More on the evangelical church
I received a comment from friend on my post entitled "What Kind of Church do you Want?". My friend was lamenting the statistics Pastor Stevens was so pumped up about, and was concerned that (1) I endorsed this line of thinking, and (2) That the church assembly would even be thought of as an evangelical tool. The comment was well thought-out and scriptural, and here is an excerpt:
In this issue, starting in Ephesians 4:
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
You see the job of the pastor/elder and teacher is train the saints for the work of the ministry. What is the work of the ministry if it is not evangelism and discipleship? The believers are to be soul winners not the pastors. If the pastor of an assembly is focused on evangelism, he has missed the point....
What the modern church (mainline, evangelical you name it) has done is create a body of consumers of spirituality rather than members of the body of Christ. Do you know that Barna has done research and found that 9 out of 10 professing evangelicals have NEVER shared their faith? If that is our primary mission what is wrong here?
By the way, my friend also has a great blog that you should check out. I responded to him via e-mail, but I wanted to post it here, too.
First of all, thanks so much for reading and contributing. I'd love for my blog to be the kind of place people can go and have this dialogue.
Second, I want to make it clear that I didn't agree with Stevens on my blog (or disagree), but I linked his post because I thought it was an interesting take on what could be some disturbing statistics. If I were to do the survey, I would want to see some further statistics... for instance, is there a correlation between how long someone has attended Granger and what they believe? In other words, by attending the church, are people being edified? If 10 year people have the same beliefs as one-year people, then I think the church is failing to make disciples and "teach them to obey my commands."
However, I don't totally agree with your point that the church shouldn't be about evangelism. If we look at the church in Acts chapter 2, we see people being intrigued and attracted by what goes on in the church assembly. On the day of Pentacost, when the Holy Spirit invaded the church, people (non-believers) came running from everywhere to see what was going on. What did Peter do? He didn't say, "Go away if you don't believe what we do." He didn't start speaking to believers. Instead, he immediately used what was going on at that moment (the "culture" if you will) to preach to non-believers. (Acts 2:14-41). This is the first picture we have of a church assembly after Christ's ascendancy, and it's the disciples use it to evangelize.
I also think that there are two reasons few believers share their faith. (1) If you grew up in the church I grew up in, you wouldn't want anyone to know. I think there are a lot of churches like that. (2) People aren't taught how to share their faith. And, how better to learn how than by a church that believes in sharing its faith?
That being said, I do think you can make a mistake and make the church assembly ALL about evangelism and not about making disciples. That's the balance we try to strike at Genesis. It's why we try to emphasize small groups for people who want to dig deeper (Yes, I know there are issues with the small group model, too, but it's close to the Acts 2 model of the church where people met in homes, broke bread together and worshipped). It's also why we tend to constantly rotate from series about horizontal relationships (man to man) and vertical relationship (man to God). We also try to mix series that are evangelical in nature with those that are edifying in nature. I know with Paul at the helm, we will do an even better job of this.
Finally, you should know that I don't think I have the right answer. This is a line of thinking that continues to evolve the more I pray about it and study scripture. I rest in the fact that I have the few important things figured out, and the rest we'll find out in heaven.
What do you think? Join the discussion by posting a comment...
In this issue, starting in Ephesians 4:
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
You see the job of the pastor/elder and teacher is train the saints for the work of the ministry. What is the work of the ministry if it is not evangelism and discipleship? The believers are to be soul winners not the pastors. If the pastor of an assembly is focused on evangelism, he has missed the point....
What the modern church (mainline, evangelical you name it) has done is create a body of consumers of spirituality rather than members of the body of Christ. Do you know that Barna has done research and found that 9 out of 10 professing evangelicals have NEVER shared their faith? If that is our primary mission what is wrong here?
By the way, my friend also has a great blog that you should check out. I responded to him via e-mail, but I wanted to post it here, too.
First of all, thanks so much for reading and contributing. I'd love for my blog to be the kind of place people can go and have this dialogue.
Second, I want to make it clear that I didn't agree with Stevens on my blog (or disagree), but I linked his post because I thought it was an interesting take on what could be some disturbing statistics. If I were to do the survey, I would want to see some further statistics... for instance, is there a correlation between how long someone has attended Granger and what they believe? In other words, by attending the church, are people being edified? If 10 year people have the same beliefs as one-year people, then I think the church is failing to make disciples and "teach them to obey my commands."
However, I don't totally agree with your point that the church shouldn't be about evangelism. If we look at the church in Acts chapter 2, we see people being intrigued and attracted by what goes on in the church assembly. On the day of Pentacost, when the Holy Spirit invaded the church, people (non-believers) came running from everywhere to see what was going on. What did Peter do? He didn't say, "Go away if you don't believe what we do." He didn't start speaking to believers. Instead, he immediately used what was going on at that moment (the "culture" if you will) to preach to non-believers. (Acts 2:14-41). This is the first picture we have of a church assembly after Christ's ascendancy, and it's the disciples use it to evangelize.
I also think that there are two reasons few believers share their faith. (1) If you grew up in the church I grew up in, you wouldn't want anyone to know. I think there are a lot of churches like that. (2) People aren't taught how to share their faith. And, how better to learn how than by a church that believes in sharing its faith?
That being said, I do think you can make a mistake and make the church assembly ALL about evangelism and not about making disciples. That's the balance we try to strike at Genesis. It's why we try to emphasize small groups for people who want to dig deeper (Yes, I know there are issues with the small group model, too, but it's close to the Acts 2 model of the church where people met in homes, broke bread together and worshipped). It's also why we tend to constantly rotate from series about horizontal relationships (man to man) and vertical relationship (man to God). We also try to mix series that are evangelical in nature with those that are edifying in nature. I know with Paul at the helm, we will do an even better job of this.
Finally, you should know that I don't think I have the right answer. This is a line of thinking that continues to evolve the more I pray about it and study scripture. I rest in the fact that I have the few important things figured out, and the rest we'll find out in heaven.
What do you think? Join the discussion by posting a comment...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
God of rules
"So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don't we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?"- Acts 15:10-11 (the Message)
Why do most churches fail to reach new believers? I think Peter captured the essence of that question in these 3 sentences.
Many of us who came to Christ came when we knew we still had some work to do. We understood we weren't perfect, but someone, somewhere told us about this free gift of grace from God through His son. So, we took it. Then we start going to church and building our faith. Then, we learn that there are certain things we need to do if we go to church- rules that we need to follow, ways that we need to act, times when we need to sit and stand, ways that we need to pray and other things that God cares little about but that mean a whole lot to some people.
In Acts, we get the pleasure of seeing poor Peter (the Feste of the Gospels) finally get it. In the past, he's shown moments of brilliance and moments of Lloyd Christmas.
But with this paragraph, at least in my mind, he is completely redemed. In one swift and smooth oration, Peter illuminates all that is wrong with the church. Our rules.
See, God is not a God of rules. He put rules in place only after he recognized that we could not live in His perfect world without screwing it up. But, His rules are there not to be tyrannical or dictatorial, but because He is crazy about us and knows the best way for us to live. He knows that if we live His way, our lives will be a blessing, and if we don't, then, not so much.
But when we (as church people) impose rules on people that have little or no relation to God's desire for His people, it turns people off and repels them from Christ instead of attracting them to Him.
Don't get me wrong here, I don't think the Church is beyond repair. But, we need to focus on introducing people to Christ, making disciples out of them (from the Greek word "maqhteu/w" meaning "to learn"). Then, God's holy spirit will infiltrate them from the inside out, and change their lives. This kind of change is deeper and longer lasting than anything we can do anyway. Why don't we just let it happen that way, then? I can think of two reasons I want to tell people how to live:
- Similarity- I like to be around people who think how I think, believe what I believe, and act like I act.
- Pride- If I get them to stop doing something, I can take credit for it, rather than giving the glory to God, where it belongs.
So, I'm on the lookout now. No new rules. I mean it. Seriously.
Why do most churches fail to reach new believers? I think Peter captured the essence of that question in these 3 sentences.
Many of us who came to Christ came when we knew we still had some work to do. We understood we weren't perfect, but someone, somewhere told us about this free gift of grace from God through His son. So, we took it. Then we start going to church and building our faith. Then, we learn that there are certain things we need to do if we go to church- rules that we need to follow, ways that we need to act, times when we need to sit and stand, ways that we need to pray and other things that God cares little about but that mean a whole lot to some people.
In Acts, we get the pleasure of seeing poor Peter (the Feste of the Gospels) finally get it. In the past, he's shown moments of brilliance and moments of Lloyd Christmas.
But with this paragraph, at least in my mind, he is completely redemed. In one swift and smooth oration, Peter illuminates all that is wrong with the church. Our rules.
See, God is not a God of rules. He put rules in place only after he recognized that we could not live in His perfect world without screwing it up. But, His rules are there not to be tyrannical or dictatorial, but because He is crazy about us and knows the best way for us to live. He knows that if we live His way, our lives will be a blessing, and if we don't, then, not so much.
But when we (as church people) impose rules on people that have little or no relation to God's desire for His people, it turns people off and repels them from Christ instead of attracting them to Him.
Don't get me wrong here, I don't think the Church is beyond repair. But, we need to focus on introducing people to Christ, making disciples out of them (from the Greek word "maqhteu/w" meaning "to learn"). Then, God's holy spirit will infiltrate them from the inside out, and change their lives. This kind of change is deeper and longer lasting than anything we can do anyway. Why don't we just let it happen that way, then? I can think of two reasons I want to tell people how to live:
- Similarity- I like to be around people who think how I think, believe what I believe, and act like I act.
- Pride- If I get them to stop doing something, I can take credit for it, rather than giving the glory to God, where it belongs.
So, I'm on the lookout now. No new rules. I mean it. Seriously.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Finding good in all the bad
Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.
But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”
Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.” (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.) So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.- Joshua 2:1-7
This story talks about two Isrealites going into enemy territory - spies - who are still able to find someone with an interest in helping their cause. In fact, she tells the two men that she supports their cause and wants them to save her family in return for her not telling on them.
It's amazing to me how we can find hope, help, and encouragement even in the darkest places. I remember once being in Taiwan and surrounded by Buddhists and other non-believers. In the midst of all of this, as we're talking about spirituality and some other things, one of the women came up to me after dinner and said, "I just want you to know that I'm a Christian. My husband doesn't know God, but I do. I just wanted to tell you." That conversation changed my whole journey. Even though I was in the country for business, I was feeling the darkness of not knowing people who believed like I did. In her, I felt like I'd found a helper or encourager - someone to talk to while I spent 10 days in a foreign land. We only talked a couple of times, always at dinner and surrounded by others, but we had an unspoken agreement to encourage each other during my trip.
I still have friends in Taiwan. They are still not Christians, at least as far as I know. But I know now that wherever I go, I will find someone willing to help me with my mission - a brother or sister in Christ. It encourages me, at least, to ask.
Maybe you've been afraid to talk to your friends about Christ because of what they might think of you. You might be surprised to know that there's probably your own Rahab in the group.
But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”
Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.” (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.) So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.- Joshua 2:1-7
This story talks about two Isrealites going into enemy territory - spies - who are still able to find someone with an interest in helping their cause. In fact, she tells the two men that she supports their cause and wants them to save her family in return for her not telling on them.
It's amazing to me how we can find hope, help, and encouragement even in the darkest places. I remember once being in Taiwan and surrounded by Buddhists and other non-believers. In the midst of all of this, as we're talking about spirituality and some other things, one of the women came up to me after dinner and said, "I just want you to know that I'm a Christian. My husband doesn't know God, but I do. I just wanted to tell you." That conversation changed my whole journey. Even though I was in the country for business, I was feeling the darkness of not knowing people who believed like I did. In her, I felt like I'd found a helper or encourager - someone to talk to while I spent 10 days in a foreign land. We only talked a couple of times, always at dinner and surrounded by others, but we had an unspoken agreement to encourage each other during my trip.
I still have friends in Taiwan. They are still not Christians, at least as far as I know. But I know now that wherever I go, I will find someone willing to help me with my mission - a brother or sister in Christ. It encourages me, at least, to ask.
Maybe you've been afraid to talk to your friends about Christ because of what they might think of you. You might be surprised to know that there's probably your own Rahab in the group.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
