Author: firstdelray

–Michael Frost

     Frost argues that many churches today have become so preoccupied with self – the preservation of old programs, maintenance of old leadership models and a “good-enough” attitude toward its facilities – that they no longer are a major force in the community for God.  Such churches spend more energy on resentful sadness about what was, and now is not, than on confidently listening for God to lead them into a robust future.

     Amazingly, I am hearing something different from many members of this church. I hear that you understand people today expect quality and our church must meet that expectation in all that we do, that the needs of people have changed so our approach to ministry must change, and that God will never be honored with a “good-enough” attitude.  These comments and many more have been on the lips of church members in the short time I have been with you. These comments are not typical for a church as old as First Presbyterian. 

     As I complete my first six months as your pastor, I am continually surprised and delighted by the number of persons who have been seized with a forward view for our shared ministry.  You are not a people who desire to rest upon past success.  God has much more to accomplish – until every nation has acknowledged Jesus as Lord – and you seem energized by how God will make you a part of that future.  For that I am deeply grateful.

Joy,

Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine

      These words are from an old seminary textbook I had during my seminary days more than twenty-five years ago.  Yet, they still speak with freshness to the church today.

     The author was my professor of Reformed Theology.  He continued to challenge his students to look for the activity of the Holy Spirit in the church.  He also challenged his students to look for obstacles that good church people continually put in place to prevent a fresh work of the Spirit.  Idolatry, Guthrie taught, was evident in Christian churches as well as in secular culture.  Idolatry was simply placing our hope and security in something that is familiar and fixed; something other than the God of the Bible who is always mixing things up.

     We don’t like change very much.  This is especially true in the church.  Guthrie observed that when the world changes rapidly around us, we seek refuge and protection from the unfamiliar in the church.  Problem is, says Guthrie, if you don’t like change, you won’t much like God either.  God is always mixing things up.  Pay close enough attention to the Bible and you will hear again and again, “I am accomplishing a new thing!”

     Your church leaders, the Elders, are continually called to prayer and discernment of what God is up to in our church.  The natural result is a visioning and planning process that most certainly results in changes in how we do ministry over time.  If we didn’t intentionally plan for change, we should not be surprised if we continue to get more of the same; same level of church membership, same level of worship attendance, same level of financial support for God’s mission in the world.

     I believe that it was Jim Collins who mentioned that the reason a major railroad company experienced rapid decline in profits at one point was that it never realized what business it was in.  The company thought it was in the railroad business when, in fact, it was in the transportation business.  As the transportation business demanded new models, the railroad stubbornly stuck to running a railroad business and almost bankrupt.  The church must remember what business it is in, lest it also bankrupts.  We are in the business of making disciples for Jesus Christ and the way we once did that may no longer be effective.    

Joy,

 John Edmund Kaiser

     Kaiser continues in his book, Winning On Purpose, that the reason – the primary reason – that many churches are in trouble today is that they have forgotten the object of the game. The object of the game is to make disciples. When that object, or purpose, is forgotten, church members become lost in much activity, much of it good activity. But it is not the object of the game. Jesus states that the object of the game is to make disciples.

     Another way of looking at it, asserts Kaiser, is that the object is all about the inflow of people beginning their relationship with Christ. That is measured by the number of professions of faith that results in baptism or persons making a reaffirmation of faith, meaning that they are starting again. Transfer of Church letter as a means of receiving new members isn’t bad. They represent more disciples to advance the mission of the local church. It’s just that transfers can’t legitimately be counted as additional disciples for the kingdom. They have simply transferred from there to here.

     So what happens in many churches? Kaiser says that when the primary object is forgotten, the focus turns to any number of things, such as pastoral care, Christian education, fellowship activities and keeping the people happy. None of these activities are bad in themselves. Trouble is, says Kaiser, these activities are not really making disciples but merely servicing disciples in a way that makes them comfortable. And the supreme danger sign for the church is when the leaders no longer count how many new people came to the Lord in a given year but how much care was given, lessons taught and fellowship activities offered.

     A new scorecard is required! If First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach is committed to God’s supreme purpose – making disciples of Jesus Christ – then greater attention must be given to the practice of ministry. Pastoral care, teaching and preaching are still important. So are opportunities for simply gathering together to enjoy each other like our recent Dancing with the Stars. Yet, none of these accomplish making new disciples for Jesus. The challenge before your elected leaders is praying deeply and thinking broadly about what must be done to become a disciple-making church. Your prayers for our leaders are coveted and appreciated.

Joy,

David H. C. Read

     Though I have considerable admiration for David H. C. Read, I would have reversed his comment above. I believe what is more poignant is: “Whenever church members begin to look only to the past, their church has become static.” The Bible celebrates a mobile God who continually calls His people to be on the move. An eye cast backward instead of forward is the clearest signal that vitality for imaginative ministry has waned and nostalgia has overtaken a church.

     What does it mean to look forward? Simply, a church that looks forward understands that the church doesn’t exist for the members. The church exists for advancing God’s mission. Make no mistake. The Bible is clear that as the church advances God’s agenda each member has the responsibility to demonstrate genuine concern and care for one another. Yet, there is a huge difference between an organization that simply exist to care for one another and the church that cares for one another while it pursues God’s mission.

     Many years ago I heard a pastor ask his congregation this question, “Why is the windshield of a car larger than the rear-view mirror?” The answer is that what is ahead of us is far more important than what is behind us. It has been said that the devil resist anything new in the church because he may lose ground to Jesus. The most used and worn tool of Satan is placing seven words into the hearts and minds of church members, “We never did it that way before.” The implication, of course, “…and we shouldn’t do it now.”  But if that verdict wins, the result would be a static church whose members only look to the past.

Joy,

Patrick Keifert

Hugh Halter

Bob Verhelle, Elder, Lenape Valley Presbyterian Church, New Britain, PA

     Listen carefully and you will hear many church members express sadness that the church seems to be losing ground in North America, particularly with college and post-college age young adults. Membership is down, worship attendance is down and overall interest in church is down, with some exceptions of course. What is unfortunate, writes Hugh Halter and other cultural observers, is that many of the churches that are the exception are the exception precisely because they appeal to the “consumer denominator” of the culture. That is, they offer what the consumer wants, excellent worship, excellent need-meeting programs and excellent facilities.

     Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with excellence. Every church should strive for excellence in ministry. Excellence is not the problem. Often the trouble for many churches which are large and apparently strong is that their ministry is only about the delivery of religious services in a consumer marketplace: making sure every need is met with excellence. Little attention is given to the question, “Are we building disciples whose concern is less with meeting personal needs and more concerned about advancing God’s kingdom?” Here is the test: How many times have you heard from someone that the reason they left a particular church is because “my needs” were not being met or “I” wasn’t being fed? Whoever told them that the church was “about them?”

     Reggie McNeal, a leading thinker and writer about missional church and missional-driven ministry, writes that we have it all wrong when we say the church has a mission. That suggests that we are in charge, which again makes it about “us.” No, writes McNeal, the church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has the church. What is important is not “us” but “God” and “God’s mission” in the world. And the church’s primary purpose is not to meet our needs but to be an instrument in the hands of God for advancing “God’s mission.”

     George Barna, another observer of cultural trends that influence the church, recently had his organization ask several thousand young adults why they weren’t interested in the Christian faith any longer. Their response was surprising. “You got it wrong. We are very interested in Jesus. It’s the church we have lost faith in because the church looks no different from the culture…the church seems to be about giving people what they want. We are tired of it being about ‘us’. We want to be about something bigger than us. When the church gives us that opportunity, we will return.”

Joy,

Earl Creps – speaking of the inner change of persons who begin to live missionally.

     Here is one way of understanding what it means to be a MissionalChurch: a community of persons eagerly living for the Kingdom of God to come.

     Reggie McNeal, one of my teachers at Fuller Theological Seminary, made an interesting observation during my time in his class. He said that most church people are usually reluctant for the Kingdom of God to come. The unchurched persons living in our communities anticipate God’s Kingdom with great urgency. But those in the church are generally reluctant because church membership has become club membership. Familiar customs, traditions and relationships have been developed and club members don’t want to risk losing all of that with God coming along and doing something new.

     Club membership thinking is rarely recognized as such by those in the church, continues McNeal. Church members love God. They want to be about something that blesses others. Yet, in often subtle ways, they fall in love with the familiar and comfortable. Certain ways of doing things become the dominant culture of a local church. New people are invited to join, of course.  But they are invited only as long as they don’t move the furniture around and change cherished customs. No longer are church members willing to give-up their life, figuratively speaking, for the great commission of making new believers. They would rather settle for protecting the way things have always been done.

     I believe the primary reason for club membership thinking among church members is fear. Change in the world is growing exponentially – at a rather dizzying rate – and it always feels that we are about to lose our footing. If we can maintain familiar customs and language at church our lives are steadied. The winds of change may beat around us but at least in our church we can find a hiding place; a place where our spirits may rest. Trouble is – that is idolatry. If we seek rest in anyone or anything other than Jesus, we have misplaced our source of hope for the future.

     So what are we to do? According to the scriptures, we are to confess our idolatry and again place our hope in Jesus alone. And we are to pray. Pray that in following Jesus we may discover that our fears are absorbed in the cross and we become bold once again to look, listen and take notice of the new thing that God is doing all around us. Someone once said that prayer is “fast forwarding” the future – asking that God’s Kingdom will come, whatever it may mean for us personally. So the question becomes, do you have the courage to ask for the Kingdom to come?

Joy,

George Barna

D’Antonio

It seems to me that most of us want to contribute to building a cathedral. Trouble is we become so preoccupied with the process of building that cathedral that we forget why we even showed-up for work. Though it is true that the small things matter they can distract us from what its all about – building a cathedral. Of course, the cathedral I speak of is figurative for most of us. Our cathedral may be a meaningful relationship with another, a successful career, a comfortable retirement or purposeful involvement with a charitable and life-changing organization.

           

As disciples of Jesus Christ (or as “members of the church” some would say) we have each pledged ourselves to building the grandest of cathedrals, The Church of Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about buildings but about people – building people in relationship to the person of Jesus. Young congregations do this well, making new followers and multiplying disciples for Jesus Christ. And as a result, lives are transformed (Hear a mission statement in that somewhere?). Young congregations know that together they are building a cathedral. Unfortunately, as many congregations mature (grow older) they become bricklayers. More time is spent writing “Responsive Readings” for worship than making disciples and placing constraints upon people who want to do ministry. Example: Telling someone that before they do something great for Jesus in the church they must first have committee approval and then Session approval. And friends, do I need to tell you that both bricklayers and cathedral builders become tired? Yet, of the two, cathedral builders rarely notice.

If we are going to be effective for Jesus Christ many reading this will need to change their focus and the way they speak around the church. Bricklayers argue about such things as “the worship service is too long” or, “someone is sitting in my place.” Cathedral builders care more about whether lives are being changed.

DallasWillard

I have met very few “bad” people in my ministry though defining “bad” with any precision is a slippery slope. Most people I know, and have known, are basically good and decent people. They have been people who belong to churches and people who don’t. Membership in a church is a weak benchmark for identifying the character of people. That conviction has continued to be strengthened by people I meet who demonstrate considerable generosity, both financially and with volunteer time to nonprofits, and have a grace about them that simply blesses all who know them – yet they personally appear to have no interest in the church.

Many of those good and decent people have also shared with me that they intend much more with their lives, greater generosity, greater demonstration of love for others and greater movement toward some identified set of aspirations, core values or moral standard. They want to be so much more than they are now. The difficulty is that identifying a pathway “from here to there” isn’t done. What they “intend” for their life is rarely realized by the lack of a purposeful approach.

For Christians, the primary “intention” for life is to grow in the character of Christ. This isn’t one choice among several. Christlikeness is the intention, it is what “Christian” literally means: to become a little Christ. Naturally, this intention will rarely be realized without a purposeful approach. What is unfortunate is that for some who take a purposeful approach to growing in the character of Christ, they take the wrong road. That road may be marked by profession of perfectly correct beliefs, more study of the Bible or greater participation in the activities of the church. These are certainly good activities but each are insufficient for realizing our intention to be Christlike.

Dallas Willard, perhaps the most influential thinker in spiritual formation today, argues that there are two primary objectives for realizing authentic character development in the likeness of Christ: falling dearly in love with our Heavenly Father, constantly delighting in Him and realizing that there is no condition to His love for us and disrupting habitual patterns of thought, feeling and action that diminish Christ in us. The first is developed through the regular reading of scripture, not for more information but to experience the presence of God and regular worship, private and corporate. The latter is accomplished by developing intentional practices that, over time< become formative of our nature such as the practice of solitude and prayer, expressing gratitude regularly and financial generosity. The life that is pattern by these two objectives will find its way into the embrace of Christ.

Joy

 Ben Witherington III

I received a discouraging email this week from a friend in Pennsylvania. The email spoke of another friend who has decided to drop out of his weekly Bible Study. The reason was that he simply could not “feel” God. This man was weary of chasing a relationship with a God that seemed absent in his own life. What surprises me about this particular individual is the regular, disciplined approach he took to reading the Bible. His love for the Bible and hours given to its study each week would make most church folk blush. My surprise, therefore, is that given all the time he has spent reading the Bible he must have discovered that it is replete with characters who have felt the absence of God. Chief among them is Jesus, “My God, My God, why have You left Me?” (Matthew 27:46 Common English Bible)

Where did my friend ever get the notion that relationships must be built upon “feelings?” Not from me. I have been married too long, I know better. Certainly, I love my wife. And for most of the twenty-five years of our marriage I have “felt” that love for her. That is to say, of course, that there have been moments where I have felt other things than love. To be fair, there have been more than a few moments when my wife has felt much about me other than love. What has kept us from walking away from each other in those moments is a commitment to the relationship. “Feelings” is simply too fragile of a foundation to build something as important as a marriage. The same is true for a relationship with God.

Ben Witherington III makes another observation I believe is useful to the conversation, love in the Bible is an action word. “It is your ethic, what you do and how you act toward God, others, and self. It is not really meant as a feeling. Doing loving deeds is what the Great Commandment is about. I am rather certain that the greatest loving deed of all time, Jesus’ dying on the cross for all of us, was not accompanied by warm fuzzy feelings. On the contrary, the story in the Garden of Gethsemane suggests that Jesus faced that prospect with icy dread. (Ben Witherington III, A Shared Christian Life, p. ix.)

What I know for certain is that God hasn’t given up on my friend. I have been praying for him since receiving the disappointing email. But my prayer has been less out of worry for him and more from a position of confidence in God. In the Garden of Eden story Adam and Eve hid from God out of shame. Yet, God pursued them. And God pursues us. We all experience those moments when we lose our grasp of God. What we must never forget is that particularly in those moments, when we lose our grasp of God, God does not lose His grasp of us.

Joy,