4 Gravitational Pulls All Churches Experience

I took these notes from Andy Stanley at the Newspring Leadership Conference in September. 

Text: Acts 15:1-21

One of his comments about the Scripture was that a controversy arose about the need for surgery to be saved. 

He also said that every church has a “they.”

1) Churches always gravitate toward insiders and away from outsiders.  Jesus liked people who were nothing like Him.  The people liked Jesus who were nothing like Him.  Resist this pull in the way you preach, build, and etc.  We must keep our churches externally focused. Red flag prayer requests. Sin, sorrow, and death are what makes our message more important!  Lost people are what matters!

My take: Prayer requests must be centered on people finding Christ.

2) Churches gravitate toward law instead of grace.  People think categorically instead of relational.  Love must always overcome rules.  Acceptance paves the way to influence.  Use grace to sort things out.  We will have to accept people who sin; not the sin.  Homosexuality, abortion, fornication. 

My take: Those who live this way must not be influenced away from the church. The Holy Spirit can still work with them and that is His job. 

3) Churches gravitate toward complexity instead of simplicity.  Clarity.  Partner don’t pioneer; fund and volunteer for other organizations that are already doing it.  Don’t lose your uniqueness in your community.

My take: We are all unique and have a purpose in God’s plan.  Sometimes we need to simply cut the fluff away and focus on the one thing we do.  Discipleship should be a clear process too. 

4) Churches gravitate toward preserving and not advancing.  The Jews were trying to preserve the Law of Moses.  The same Law that God gave him.  Do not move into a protection mode instead of moving into the community.  We cannot protect assets before fulfilling the mission.  Think like a church plant. How did we think when we did not have money? 

My take: Protect mode really brings everything to a stop.  The assets that we protect are Gods; we must watch burying our one talent.  

4 Commitments

1-Be more concerned about who we are reaching instead of who we are keeping.

2-Let’s error on the side of grace.

3-Remain focused on our unique calling.

4-Remain open-handed.  We started with nothing we may end with nothing; and that is okay.   

This is great advice.  I think this advice is great for a small church pastor.  There is a lot to chew on and ponder on here.  Everything in these notes I took are applicable even my small church situation.  I recently shared this with my board.  My goal was to help us focus on what is important.

I want a mad church

An amazing thought I have been wrestling with lately is “Should the Church get mad?”  What I mean is should the church develop an anger that will motivate her to spread the Word?  Someone might think, “Isn’t that what the Church already does?” Yes, and no. 

The Word of God is being preached in many churches.  Sometimes though, the Word comes with a slant toward a particular view, or goal.  Periodically, I will use the topical method of preaching, which tends to naturally have a view point with it.  More often, I use an expository method.  In my opinion, this gives me, and others, a better opportunity to allow God to speak. 

The problem is that generally only believers are going to church, which is good, but they are not bringing anyone from outside the church with them.  As a result, the preached Word is staying within the Church.

Back to where I really want to go with this.  Somehow, the Church has allowed herself to appear, or become, unlike Jesus Christ.  When I thought of church as an unconverted person, the first thought that came to my mind was I don’t belong.  I felt that attenders looked at me and my family with disdain.  This is another story.  I did not see Jesus in the midst of  that attitude.  Sinners were attracted to Jesus because He is lovingly attracted to them. 

As a believer, I now see churches struggle with each other over 10% of the “desirable” type of people who we think are worthy to come to church.  You know, those people we think would make good members and contributors.  Amazingly, the others are left out.  I venture to say that they do not even come up on the radar screen as those who need to be targeted. Well, maybe in shop talk once in a while.

As a believer, when I think of church my first thought is flip flops, gotees, coffee, and a lot of theory.  The battle the Church has been fighting in America is not against the kingdom of darkness, it is against itself.  Freedom used to mean freedom from self desire to sin against God.  Now freedom is about worship style.  The bottom-line is that one group of believers wants to bind another.  Freedom?  This is the ever present struggle within the Church to please Jesus the right way.  Or please selves?  Sigh.  Does this stuff make you feel as tired as I do?

The whole time, the above struggle is taking place, the Church is not moved with the real love of Jesus Christ to mobilize in an effort to save her community’s children from sin.  Jesus did not spend time struggling over generational warfare with His disciples.  He spent His time talking about love for God and others.  He said that if we did this, people (sinners) would know that we are His. 

So when is the Church going to get mad over the fact that we have been wasting our time on too many philosphies that cause us to struggle against each other and be mad that Satan is destroying people with sin?  If we get mad about that I believe that we will really focus our attention on setting the captives free

This madness must be rooted in love for others.  Madness can, and will, motivate us to do what Christ called us to.  This madness will create an overwhelming desire to be Jesus and deliver the good news that people can have a better life through Jesus Christ.  What is more, salvation can be gained through Christ.  The Church has to become mad for those who are lost again.  We cannot settle for being mad at each other.  We are called to be mad for those who are perishing. 

I want a mad church.  I want a Mad Church.  I want Christians who will stand up and say that they have had enough of Satan snatching our community’s children and adults and leading them to hell!  I am tired of Christian groups Church bashing.  I am tired of Christians competing with each other.  I am tired of the freedom march that seeks to deliver churches from a particular style of worhsip.  I long for the freedom march that sets people in bondage to sin free.  It sets them free from eternal damnation!

You should want a mad church too.

Responsibilities a small church pastor

I thought I would share some of the “hidden” things that a pastor does since he is only seen by most on Sundays. I’m sure that we have all heard the jokes that pastors work 2 hours a week.   I have been senior pastor for almost 3 years now and I have noticed that a lot of times this job is not taken seriously by many.   I was also a youth pastor for 7 years before and that type of job definitely does not get a lot of respect.  As I type this, I think back to those times when, as a laymen, I thought those who were in ministry were simply taking it easy.  I thought this especially when I was working in the summer 7 days a week 12 hours a day.  So, here are some of the responsibilities that I have as senior pastor which should give a glimpse into what most of this job entails. 

• Preach once or twice a week at church. 
• Visit the sick and home-bound people of our church.
• Counsel with different people as a community service and to those in our church.
• Conduct funerals and minister to their families.
• Lead couples in pre-marital counseling.
• Perform weddings.
• Seek out prospects.  In other words, invite others to receive Christ as their Savior and to attend our church. 
• Meet with local board and staff.
• Administrate various issues that pertain to church; organizational issues, clerical, labor, and etc.   
• Seek out new ways to build relationships in our community. 
• Pray for our community and church (people). 
• Keep office hours. 
• Remain available at all times of the day.
• Take part in many different types of meetings, some are short and some are all day. 
• Be ready for anything that comes up. 
• Must find time to dream and cast vision to get to the next level. 
• Must also find time to take part in community needs.   

So what?  None of those responsibilities are too strenuous.  Consider this, when the minister preaches many people might think that he is simply speaking off of the top of his head.  Likely, many pastors do sound this way and maybe me included.  Yet, the amount of preparation time is never known by many who hear the message.  Most messages can take 8-10 hours to get ready.  I may be either short or too long with 8-10 hours according to other pastors.  But this is what it takes me to get that sermon in my head for the following Sunday.  Now, the trick is not to always repeat yourself in your sermons which is very easy to do.  You have to repeat doctrine though, for example, Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.  Although, you have to find different ways to present that truth.  This means that after 3 years of preaching 2-3 times a week, like I did when I first started as senior pastor, that I feel like I have nothing new to say to the same congregation.  And I am a story teller, so if I have writer’s block, this means that I am drained.  Oh, but this is when the work starts.  To be creative, relevant, and engaging, and some may say I’m not even close, I have to read, read, read, and read.  Big deal, right?  It is because I am an ENFP personality type (which means that I become scattered, have trouble focusing, and am easily distracted . . . Hey! Look there goes a bird!), also a Sanguine (which means that I am a talker looking for fun).  As a result, I have to beat myself into submission to read and do what I needs to be done.  I have to read to stay fresh, find good ideas, new illustrations.  A lot of times there might be a key sentence that inspires me about something else.  Further, I am a slow reader and have to beat my mind into submission weekly.  

As a small church pastor, I easily commit much time to visiting with the sick, homebound, and especially those who are prospects.  I actually enjoy this most times because I love impromptu conversations that usually take place during these meetings.  Likely, large church pastors, I do not mean large by Wesleyan standards but larger, do not spend much time in this area because they have grown in ways that demands that their time is put into other areas of ministry.  On the other hand, large churches may hire staff to do this, almost certainly rely upon small groups to fulfill this type of ministry.  Yet, the goal for a small church pastor is to maintain good caring relationships with church people while seeking to develop new relationships with other people so that you can earn the right to share Jesus Christ with them.  Plus, for those who are between churches, you have to cast vision while carrying on a relationship with them.  Relationships in a small church are crucial to keeping people and finding lost people.  Building relationships goes beyond a regular 40-45 hour work week.  

As a small church pastor most of the ministerial work tends to come home with me.  This can be an issue when you are tyring to be a husband and father.  This is where seminars come in with the goal to convince you to put down your work and spend time with your family.

Imagine maintaining all of these responsibilities while you try to keep an eye on church finances.  Most in the United States are shook up about their personal finances.  Here’s where you can add a lot more stress on.  Taking care of God’s house is not something that should be taken lightly.  And by the way, teachers (that’s me) are going to give an account to God about how we managed His resources.  A little frightening isn’t it?

 Hopefully, you can see that a lot of hours can get wrapped up into ministry for the small church pastor.  As I pointed out earlier, if you are in a sourmood, you do not have the luxury of showing up to work and being grouchy to everyone either.  You have to smile and suck it up.  Yes, pastors can be in bad moods too.  Well, at least this pastor can.  I never said that I was normal. : )  This means that as a small church pastor, I have to be ready at all times to give a comforting word to people who need to hear it.  If you receive encouragement and comfort regularly, don’t blow this off as that is no big deal, many people do not have anyone rooting for them.  Therefore, it is very important that we are able to do this. 

I may post more about this later.  At least this is a snapshot into what a small church pastor does.

Struggles that small Wesleyan Churches face in SC

I am living dangerously now.  Yep, you saw the title and know that this is going to be a debatable opinion.  Remember, it is my opinion.  I am not a researcher and I am not a big name.  So read it and know that these are my thoughts.

First, let me acknowledge that we serve a powerful God who can accomplish anything through those whom He desires.  If He is able to work through our small Wesleyan church too. 

Here are some possible problems.

• South Carolina is Baptist and Presbyterian country.  Yes, it is true!  We serve the same God, Jesus Christ.  Can we say it?  There is church competition.  What I mean is that there are other churches who are financially well off that can offer many different ministries to their attendees.  Child care is huge.  Professional musicians.  Great speakers.  Many different specialized ministries.  Unlike our earlier Wesleyans, when these churches build a church, they mean it!  Their facilities are beautiful and useful.  They can accomadate large amounts of people and hold community services.  In other words, they can be of a huge service to the community.  Yes, that is important. 
• There are only 48-50 Wesleyan churches in the entire state.  The good news is that we are working to fix this by planting churches.  Our brothers and sisters in other denominations have understood this for a long time.  They have been able to acheive a partnership with each other that is really awesome and this is how they take care of each other.  This is what we must do too.  Some Wesleyan churches are doing this already.  Yet again, we are small in number and time is what we will also have to work with. 
• We have had bad press in the past.  Some have called us a cult.  Pleeeezze.  People are shocked when we talk about Sanctification and when we acknowledge that we do not believe that once you are saved that you cannot lose your salvation.  Sorry.  Free will overrides that.  Now, listen.  Okay, the last is a non-issue.  Really it is.  Holiness is, and it is in the other denominations too. 
• It seems that some of our churches have hidden themselves away from the communities.  We did not want to be around sin.  Big mistake!  As a result, a lot of people that I talk to have not heard of Wesleyans and do not know where our churches are.  This is tough on advertisement. 
• Most of our facilities are outdated.  This leaves most pastors and laymen to choose between being missional or contemporary.  I would like to be both. 
• A lot of our churches are missing several generations.  This makes it tough to build strong children’s and youth ministries.  When this happens finances tend to go toward building needs and upkeep. 
• I think all churches are facing this next problem.  Because we live in the Bible belt it is a tougher assignment to get people to attend church and serve.  Consider, it is more of a social statement to attend church than to come out of a passion for Christ.  God and Sundays are those things that many take part in only on Sundays and then leave what was heard at church.   People have gotten used to the idea that God has chosen them and gives them finances which confirms that He has chosen them.  People get used to this.  Then there  really isn’t a need for God because we have the resources to take care of whatever problems might arise.  This leads to entitlement.  Yet, those who don’t have anything, anyone, or realize that God cares will come to Jesus.  But, they never hear because we are always entertaining ourselves. 
• The really most frustrating problem that we struggle with is that we cannot hire full-time youth pastors to minister to children and teens.  This is really hard to stomach because here is our future.  Man!  We can have all of the best intentions in the world.  We can dream.  We can talk.  But, nothing is going to happen until we have faith in God and sacrifice.  To get to the next step on the ladder we have to believe in God and give to God.  It has to be a united effort. 
• Southern Wesleyan helps us by being here.  This school helps us to get our name out there and put everyone at ease that we are not a cult. 

Listen, Baptists, Wesleyans, and etc.  We are all in this together.  To my fellow Wesleyans.  We have got to be more involved in our communities.  We especially have to be stepping out into the waters that only God can get us through.  We cannot please Him until we allow God to lead us into waters that we cannot navigate which will cause us to turn to Him by faith.  We must begin giving our resources to the next generations because they do not know Christ yet.  He is pursuing them in a big way.  If we do not join Him in His pursuit, then some might say that we are committing spiritual abortion.

Missional Small Church

How does a small church become missional?  This is a question many small church pastors might ask.  This is also a question that many witnesses for Christ might ask also.  While at New Life Wesleyan Church, we were missional in the late 90′s, and they still are.  This is where we focused on a ministry called the ROCK, Reclaiming Our Community’s Kids.  Our goal was to be Jesus, otherwise known as be Incarnational, to children. 

What each church should know is that each church is different.  We are different because God sets every mission up.  In other words, he creates the opportunities while preparing the church that already exists and while sending new lay people in to take part in the mission.  God goes before because He prepares the way, and God’s people must respond to His lead.  Duh!  We have heard that before.  Yet, what does it look like when God is leading you to a specific mission?

God uses frustration over injustices.  He breaks hearts.  Here is what frustrated our church and broke our hearts which brought us to action and this is what our mission looked like. 

Our community’s kids were not recieving proper love from the adults in their lives.  These kids were struggling with school, social skills, and having adequate clothing and a home.  Our kids did not have any adult in their life to create the sense of being valued.  They were not being heard.  Some were staying in multiple houses and where they stayed depended on where the party was the night before.  Some kids’ parents were working multiple jobs which meant they were too worn out to do things with them, or even cook supper at night.  In other words, our kids were too worried about what they needed to live in this life to learn another Vacation Bible School story about Jesus in the next. 

Notice that I said, “Our kids.”  You have to look at God’s children that way.  You have to own or take responsibility for the mission.  Plus, our goal was to let them know that Jesus wants to be part of their lives in this life.  Lordship now is what they needed too, on top of the sinner’s prayer to escape hell when they die.  Jesus wants to  be known now as the God who is with us. 

To other churches, mission may start to take root from frustration that some in the church might feel about any type of injustice that they see in the community.  This becomes the seed of something great.  Think about it.  If Christ’s people are frustrated about any type of injustice, then there is a huge chance that the Spirit of God is spurring that frustration so that we will get burdened enough to move. 

Next, someone needs to talk about a practical Jesus way of dealing with the injustice.  Practical means finding a way to be the hands and feet of Christ while sharing the Gospel.  One without the other won’t do.  They must be happen jointly.  This ministry must not be one that is duplicated from what someone else is doing.  A better way to say that is the ministry or mission should not be developed because someone else, who seems successful from doing that type of ministry, is doing it.  It is a ministry that should meet two requirements.  One is that the ministry fits the community, or situation, like a glove.  Two is that the ministry will have to be accomplished by faith.  This is important for God to demonstrate His awesome power to individuals.  Why?  He wants to show those who are lost that Jesus Christ is the answer.  But . . . He also wants to demonstrate His power to the individuals in the church too!  This is faith education 101. 

You will know that you are on the right track when the needs to run this ministry are being met continuously, by those outside of the church, those who did not know that there was a need, and from people inside the church who are willing to do without luxuries, like never before, and give their money or time.   This is when you are able to see God working.  This is when the church is supposed to join Him.  Joining God in His work is the only way to success.  God is missional and this is why His Church is led to be missional. 

Finally, for small churches, the mission might consume the entire focus of the church.  It may be all that the church will do.  Being missional is not necessarily a way to achieve growth.  Instead, it is how we introduce others to Christ.  When we expect to grow numerically from this mission or ministry, this is when we begin to get discouraged.  Pastors and lay people listen to me, “It is not about receiving, it is about sacrificing.”  Being missional will have a heavy work load for pastors and the men and women who attend church with a light pay off.  In other words, the pay off may be something different than what one might expect.  There will be a huge pay off in Heaven because people will receive Christ as their Savior, but it may not have anything to do with building a mega-church here on earth.

Why I want to grow a bigger church

Last week I took a small part in the funeral of dear lady who went to be with Jesus.  She attended several churches during her life and Smith Chapel was one of them.  One the churches that she attended was a rather large church, the kind a small church pastor might want to become a janitor at or at least covet, this church seated may be a thousand people!  It was truly a beautiful church.  The choir loft seated around 90 or so.  In other words, you could put my congregation in the loft twice. It was well lit and the carpet was clean looking. 

My people from Smith Chapel came in and, if you know me you know that I tend to tell the same joke over and over to people as they come in, I kept telling them to keep the pastor busy while steal his one of his cameras or bongos.  Finally, someone came in and looked at the sanctuary and said to me, “Here you go Pastor, a big church just like you always want.”  After a couple of years of preaching about being missional and reaching people for Jesus Christ I was stunned that this is what someone thought was the reason I talk about growing.  So here are a few reasons why I want our church to grow:

• Growing numerically will help us to grow spiritually. 
• Numerical growth takes us out of our comfort zones and causes us to rely upon our faith in God.
• Numerical growth grants the opportunity to welcome those who other churches may not want into our fellowship. 
• Numerical growth creates more opportunities to bless others.
• Numerical growth brings others into the mission of the church to become servants of Jesus Christ.
• Numerical growth, yes I will say it, brings more resources like finances into the church so that the church broaden her mission to the community and the world.
• Numerical growth, while not the only way to measure success, is one way for the church to see fruit from her labor. 
• Numerical growth creates the opportunity for the church to continue multiplying herself by planting another church. 
• A larger church facility also allows for church growth.  Now I know that there are going to be some purests out there that will say that I am focusing on the thing.  May be so.  But we cannot deny that in this day of plenty, many people choose the more up to date churches that are new looking.  When I first moved to SC, we found two grocery stores in Clemson, Winn Dixie and Bi-Lo.  They sold the same things and had the same sales.  Yet, the Bi-Lo, which is newer, had the people all the time.  While the now out of business Winn Dixie store, which was older and dated looking did not have many shopping there. 
• The better facility is not a hinderance to the gospel.  The hinderance happens when we are only motivated to build a new church so that we can have a cornerstone on the front of the building and a pat on the back from others.
• Church growth is the result of being missional.  It is not the objective.  It just happens when a Body of Christ desires to reach out to the lost world with more than mere words.     

I want to grow a bigger church only if it is the result of faith and obedience to Christ’s mission as the Body of Christ.  I just wanted to clarify to everyone and myself why I want to grow.  It is good to check my motives and that is what I have had to do.  So I am grateful for straight talk from people in my church sometimes because I do not want to be a pastor who is career minded only.  I want to simply here, “Well done; good and faithful servant.”

Devaluing the Church; especially at the local level

I have been reading The Church Jesus Builds while in the dentist office waiting room today.  I focused on the chapter titled, Tensions That Strengthen The Church.  Wayne Schmidt, Lead Pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Grand Rapids, wrote this chapter and dealt with some issues that I have been working through on my own.  I won’t take the time to address all of these but I will focus on a few questions that he asked.

After some church leaders heard Bono say, at Schmidt’s church, that he “previously loved Christ, but couldn’t stand the Church or Christians,” they “snickered.”  This bothered Schmidt, as does me, and he asks, “Is it a sign that even leaders of the Church have surrendered to the cultural conclusions that the Church is at best a dysfunctional family, hopelessly idiosyncratic and beyond redemption?” (166). 

Here are some concerns that I have had, in light of this question, for quite a while now:

• Is it really funny that Christians ”snicker” at the Church and other Christians because the they have come into agreement with the world that the Church is out of touch, a sham, and/or has failed in her mission to be a Godly community in the middle of a Fallen world?  Some Christians would go so far as to say that it is impossible to live by commands to love Him and others until Christ returns.  If that is true, then how do explain Bethlehem in the book of Ruth? 
• Do the more successful pastors, in the churches that everyone considers it a privilege to go to, take advantage of the Church and those who attend when they fall?  In other words, are we bloggers and ministers, taking advantage of the opportunity to finger point so that we can say, or imply, that we are not like that? 
• Have we, as church leaders, “surrendered” to the cultures label of the Church, that she is irrelevant in the 21st Century?  In other words, government, human goodwill, and famous people can fix this world that can be so cruel?  After all,  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  I guess my question is do we, the Church, even think that it is foolish for the Church to be the Salt and Light of the world? 
• Has the Church made friends with the idea that we are individuals first by looking out for our own interests instead of looking out for others?  As church leaders, are we guilty of hoarding God’s money as individuals, and a local Body, by turning our churches into a savings and loan branch?  The elephant in the room is that we say this is an “emergency fund.”  Isn’t God our emergency fund? 
• I am all on board with church planting.  It is God’s mission in this world.  Yet, are most established churches really beyond redemption?  Can God not turn these organisms around?  He can.  So the question in the end that must be wrestled with is, when do the mega-churches, and/or church plants decide to encourage our creative and gifted people to be a part of the redemption process, instead of jumping ship to take part in the good times somewhere else?  I know that some are called by God to do this, however, I believe that many of the average attendees that leave are not. 

If you attend a church, or a leader, what are you going to do?  Can you still find love for the Bride of Christ in your heart?  Can you trust that God will redeem a troubled community of believers?

Here is an action question that Schmidt asks, “”Do you agree that our culture today, both inside and outside the Church, tends to devalue the Church as a “dysfunctional family, hopelessly idiosyncratic and beyond redemption”?  List several specific ways we can be honest with ourselves about the Church’s shortcomings, yet affirm its biblical position within God’s redemptive plan” (175).  I would add that you might list specific ways in your own church. 

Hope to hear from a few of you.

Last Week’s News

• Launched first night of Faithweaver kid’s ministry.  It went very well.  I was able to connect with some families.  All churches need to know that kids and teen ministry are important.  I don’t understand how we, Christians, become so churchy that we lose sight of the fact that most kids and teens are important to their parents.  This means that we have the opportunity to connect with families through those avenues.  Besides, I like kids and teens. 
• Gas was high enough that I chose not to mow the church and the parsonage yards.  I know.  Pitiful ain’t it.  How’s this for irony?  Some churches are setting attendance records.  While we struggle to mow our property.  The good news is that we are going get past this in future.   When we do, everyone will know that the Lord has done great things among His people.   
• Our local church leaders, and I, looked at our local church history together and saw that we need to adjust our emphasis to reach out to our community and world.  This was a great starting point. 
• Someone, besides me, showed some of our board people that until we have do something with our sanctuary, we will not be able to get more than 48 people on a consistent basis to our Sunday morning services. 
• I ran two laps around the Liberty High School track.  Whew!  How did this being out of shape happen?
• I preached a sermon at Pelzer Wesleyan Church Sunday.  They have a good pastoral couple!  They also have a great bunch of people! This means that because they serve a great God, they are primed to do great things for His Kingdom!  This church gave out the New Testament on audio CD!  Everyone listen, we must be busying ourselves with seeding God’s fields with His Word.  It is the only hope for our community and world.  I was blessed this Sunday preaching in a different environment for a change.  I love preaching at our church, but a change up once in while is good. 
• Pastor Jon preached a great sermon at our church while I was gone.  People, you should know that Pastor Jon is a gift from God to our church.  It is not surprising that he preached a good sermon because he has gifts and abilities that only God can give.  Plus, he obviously is not in ministry for the money, because we (our church) are not financially in a place where we can support him full-time.  If you attend Smith Chapel, then you should be praying that God will create this possibility at some point.   
• Last week I realized that not only do we need to make our communities children a priority, and hire Pastor Jon full-time, but we also need to admit that we need to do something with our sanctuary at some point.  Simply put, we need room!  If you are not familiar with our church, it is not that we are experiencing a large church growth.  Instead, we are plateaued at a particular number right now; and have been for a while.  We need to expect that more people want to come to our church, but they do not have a place to sit, or park.  How are we going to fix these problems?  I don’t know.  But God knows, and He will do it. 

Questions all churches must answer

Perry Noble gives great insight into questions each church must wrestle with; check it out. 

I usually don’t link to what Perry writes since he is popular enough that he is getting plenty of blog traffic.  However, this is a good article.  My church and others need to read through this article and reason through it in our minds and with others. 

All Christian churches, who follow Jesus Christ, are called to preach the biblical Jesus.  This is not just my job as the pastor.  God expects every member to take part in preaching Jesus to everybody around us. 

A friend of mine told me that a member at his church said that there should be a program to increase the attendance at their church.  We agreed that lifting Jesus Christ up is the program that will accomplish the attendance problem. 

I think the reason it is so difficult for churches to grow is because the Bible makes it so simple.  We are salt of the earth, we are in the royal priesthood, and we are to lift Jesus up and He will draw all men (people) to Himself.  These are the answers.   

I guess we (church) all need to hire a church consultant to tell us this.   Instead, those who get frustrated with the church are generally not following the advice of lifting Jesus up as individuals who are part of a local Body of Christ.  Here is a list of my favorite reasons why people get discouraged that I have come across after 11 years of ministry in Indiana and in South Carolina:

1. The music is out dated
2. There is nothing for the teens
3. There is nothing for the kids
4. There is nothing for young people (18-45)
5. The building is out dated
6. We don’t like the pews
7. We don’t like the stage
8. I don’t feel the Spirit
9. I don’t get anything out the messages
10. I don’t feel welcomed

Here are some answers, in order, to those remarks:

1. Actually, there are many young people who expect traditional music.  Besides, our hearts should simply be prepared to worship the Lord.
2. Is God calling you to service for teens?  May be that is why it is important to you.
3. Is God calling you to service for kids?   Ditto.
4. Are you wanting to serve, or be served?
5. God will give us what we need as we grow.  The buildings that He is concerned about are humans.
6. How did the Apostles build a church with people who sat on the ground, or stood for a couple of hours?  The blessed people sat on rocks I guess.
7. So the stage is going to keep you from coming? 
8. Are you focused upon yourself instead of Jesus Christ?
9. Are the messages not affirming your desire to be your own king?
10. Are you trying to blend in. 

These are the questions that churches are spending too much time answering.  We need to answer the questions that Perry asked.  Don’t you agree?

Serving Christ and the small church

What a good morning service!  For those of you who attend bigger churches do not think anything but praise the Lord for the total (56) because that is up 16 from last Sunday.  Frankly, God has been sending us a lot of visitors, but are “regulars” have been gone a lot.  Our Sunday morning attendance should have been  around 60 this summer.  Instead, it has been around 40; and we were blessed to get that!  I have been holding back on my blog about this issue, but I may address this later in another article. 

Here are some half-empty, half-full facts at our church right now:

• We have 25 parking spaces in our parking lot.  We had 21 vehicles for Sunday school; this is trouble for the AM service. 
• We have an overflow parking lot; but it is not obvious or courteous for our visitors.  Plus, our older people cannot walk from there every Sunday. 
• Some say our sanctuary can seat 90 comfortably (????), but 50 looks very full. 

There are some big faith steps on the horizon for our small church.  First, we have to believe that there is a need.  Second, we have to be willing to let God guide the boat.  Finally, we have to plan to move forward.

A while back I mentioned that someone came to our church with a burden for our church.  Everyone listen.  Here are three ways that show how you serve the church without having to “in charge” of a ministry:  Invite, Invite, and Invite.  This person has almost packed 2 pews out since she has arrived! 

Now, if you are a “regular” who attends our church and you are reading this do not get offended.  Instead, consider what I am about to say.  Have you got a burden for the church?  In other words, do you want to see Smith Chapel as your church where you serve Christ from?  Next, do you believe in your fellow congregants and pastor?  Yeah, it’s true, if you don’t, you won’t invite.  Further, are you thankful for the facilities that God has blessed us with?  If it isn’t like the big guys, don’t you think that God can use it anyway?  Finally, how many people have you encouraged to come to Smith Chapel the last few months?  If you are not excited to come, then nobody will come with you. 

The person that I am writing about has been inviting and it is paying off for our church.  This is serving Christ and His church at its basic level.  This is how you take part in building a church.  It is that easy, get your easy button from Staples and press it, it really is that easy. 

Remember, Mark Driscoll made a great point once.  ”There is enough power in the Gospel alone to build a church from nothing at all.”  May not be exact, but you get the picture. 

I thank God for our new fellow worker.