Category: Religious

Alan J. Roxburgh

     Increasingly I hear members ask, “Where are our children?” “Where are our grandchildren?” Naturally, the question is asked about senior highs and older children. A lot of them are not in church. They were in Sunday school growing up. They participated in Vacation Bible School most years. Yet, it must not have been enough because today they’re not interested. What went wrong?

    

     These questions are being asked throughout North American churches of many denominations. Such questions are a central concern for a new movement that is growing with considerable force throughout the larger church – The Missional Church Movement.

      

     One answer that is emerging from this movement is that, for most families involved in church, church is either a place to be busy doing “church stuff” or a place where we, and our needs, are taken care of. The conclusion of our nearly grown and grown children is that their lives are busy enough without the church adding to their complicated lives. As for us, their needs are a concern, they can be meet in other ways – unfortunately sometimes in ways that are not always healthy. The one thing that would keep our children connected to the church, and with considerable vitality, is a compelling sense that they are a part of the Christian story.

      

     What gets in the way of this happening is complex – there are many obstacles, many layered upon one another. The largest among them is little evidence that parents are truly discipled – living lives that are ordered around the teachings of Jesus. More of the family financial resources are spent on comforts than used to advance the ministry of the church. Prayers are not a regular part of family life and little care is given to how we speak of others or behave toward them. Simply, our children don’t see transformed lives in their parents.

      

     Another obstacle is parents who see the church primarily for meeting personal needs. Rather than seeing a passion to reach people who don’t know Christ, our children see parents demanding more for themselves from the church. This reinforces in our children the message from the unchristian culture which is “it is about me!”

     

     Throughout this year, I will share reflections here in this blog and in our church’s newsmagazine what it means to be a missional church – a church that cares more about being a force for Christ in the community than “taking care of our own.” This doesn’t mean that the needs of the members are not important, only that they are placed in a larger context of lives continually be transformed to be like Christ and moving each member out to be witnesses for Jesus in the world.

Joy,

Nelson Searcy

     Nelson Searcy states that organizations of any kind, churches included, tend to become inwardly focused if no one has committed to keeping them outwardly focused. For churches in particular, an inward turning is natural and inevitable as a church’s self-interest work themselves to the forefront. Churches become busy taking care of the staff, ministering to those in the congregation with various needs, meeting the budget, preparing for the weekend and on and on with the consequence that they forget all about “the salvation of John and Joan in the coffee shop down the street.”

    

     The only hope for the world, writes Bill Hybels, is the local church and the only hope for the local church, states Searcy, is for the pastor to take on their proper leadership role and keep the church focused on reaching others for Jesus. The Bible is very clear: the primary purpose of the faith community, the church, is to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

      

     Though careful studies now indicate that only about 5% – 10% of church members in any local church have the spiritual gift of evangelism (presenting Jesus to an unbeliever in such a manner that their hearts are open to receiving Jesus as personal savior) all church members have some responsibility for evangelism. Remember, the Bible makes it clear that evangelism that results in disciples for Jesus is the single primary work of the church. Therefore, no one is excused from participating.

     

     So what are the other 90% – 95% who don’t have the spiritual gift of evangelism to do? As your pastor, I believe there are three things anyone of us can do that will impact our church’s efforts in evangelism. First, look for natural opportunities to talk about your faith with others. Use this template if it will help: My life before becoming a Christian, How I became a Christian and My life after becoming a Christian.

    

     Second, invite people to church with you. Research now shows that somewhere between 80% and 87% of new believers in Jesus Christ came to faith simply because someone they knew invited them to church. In fact, two people who joined our church this past Sunday specifically told me that they came at the invitation of another member.

       

    

     Third, pray for specific people, by name, who you believe does not either believe in Jesus or have a church home. Ask God to work in their heart and through your relationship with them to create a longing for Jesus Christ and desire to learn more of Him through your church.

      

     I agree with Nelson Searcy, my primary work as your pastor is to keep the evangelistic and discipleship ministry of the church red-hot. Only then will First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach be found faithful to the command of Christ to make disciples of all nations.

Joy,

Advertisement by BNY MELLON: Wealth Management in 

The New Yorker magazine, March 18^th, 2013 issue.

“Nor is it enough to do the work of ministry if what you do is headed in the wrong direction.” 

IVP Praxis Publishing – excerpt from statement of purpose.

     In my early twenties my parents gave me the perfect birthday gift at the time, a state-of-the-art Panasonic Record Player. It was a slim, compact marvel packed with all the latest technology available. My favorite feature was the “electronic eye” that would scan the record, identify the position of each music selection, and then permit the programming of the selections to be played in any order. The feature also permitted the elimination of any selection that I didn’t like!  

     Today, records are difficult to find. The gift is obsolete technology.

     Similarly today, my son has seen the continued technological improvement of his favorite pastime, Nintendo. His first system was many years ago and provided one-dimensional graphics.  Then the N-64 System with three-dimensional graphics and a ton of new features became available. Today, I have simply given up on the name of the new systems he enjoys. I thought Nintendo had reached its apex. I should have known better than to underestimate a profit-driven, ever market-expanding corporation. Now my son wants the latest in video game technology. He can hardly bring himself to play the relic of former days that sits in his bedroom. Nor is there a market for him to sell his old equipment. No one wants it.

     State-of-the-art of yesterday is not state-of-the-art today. The same is true for ministry. What worked yesterday rarely works with the same results today. As popular author and Presbyterian Church leader, Ben Johnson, observes, “No longer can the church bury its head in the sand, pretending that the ‘old ways’ can reach a contemporary generation that does not understand the language of faith.”

     In his brilliant and absorbing book, New Day, New Church, Johnson examines the issues facing today’s church, proposes a new model for a New Day, and offers practical, how-to suggestions and patterns for a church in transition.

     My vision is that we will increasingly grow dissatisfied with yesterday’s technology and build together a new way of being the church for a New Day. The motivation for this is clear: to effectively reach hurting people and connect them with Christ. Old ways of being the church are failing to do this effectively.

     The question before us then is: Will we resist change because we are more committed to tradition and familiarity or are we committed to do what it takes to introduce increasingly more people to Christ? I hope we make the right answer.

Joy,

DallasWillard

     During my doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary one of my instructors asked each student to give answer to this question: “What is the greatest obstacle to your church reaching a higher level of effectiveness?” Two students answered before it would be my turn.

     The first student, a senior pastor of a 1,200-member congregation in Toronto, Canada, responded, “The desire for the familiar and convenient beats out the desire for greater effectiveness in ministry. If it involves experimenting with something that might work better, the response is almost always resistance.”

     The second student answered, “A prevailing culture within my church that is defined more by the attitude, ‘It’s about me!’ rather than ‘It’s about God!’ Membership seems to be more about taking care of ‘my needs’ than a concern for the mission of reaching our community for Christ.”

     Then it was my turn. I wished that I had had more time to reflect before having to respond so quickly. The answer that pressed against my heart was, “The lack of a clear understanding of how to move from the shadow waters of faith to the deeper waters of discipleship.” Now, nearly five years later, it is clear to me that more time would not have changed my answer.

     One of the other pastors quickly turned to me, following my answer, and suggested, “Don’t you mean that the problem is the lack of discipline among your members?”

     I answered that such an assessment would be unfair. People must first understand a pathway for growing in their faith. Simply, people need to be shown “how.” It was then that I determined what I would do for my final doctoral project. After a year of reading, thinking, praying and conversations with many pastors of what they found working in their congregations, I developed one pathway for Christian formation: Practices, Solitude, Community and Sharing. This approach is detailed each month in the church’s news magazine, The Spire and fully developed in my book, Faith Journey. I imagine now that it is a question of discipline, isn’t it?

Joy,

John P. Kotter

     A Princeton student once asked his professor, Albert Einstein, “Why are you giving us the identical test as last year’s?” The brilliant scientist answered, “Because this year, the answers are different.” Einstein’s lesson to his student is well taken. In our ever-changing world, what worked last year doesn’t necessarily work this year.

     Our ultimate goal as a church is to help persons become deeply committed Christians and participate in God’s ongoing work in the world. Yet, last year’s approach to realizing that goal may no longer be effective. Looking for new answers to effectively reach our goal is the heart of church leadership.

     Last week in this blog, I argued for the difference between “method” and “core value.” The two are often confused in many organizations, particularly in the church. The unfortunate result is emotional attachment to “method” rather than advancing a “core value” with energy, intelligence, imagination and love. If something in that last sentence sounds vaguely familiar then you have been paying attention in worship. It is one of the constitutional questions that will be asked this Sunday of your newly elected leaders.

     We worship a God who is constantly on the move. Through the lips of the prophet Isaiah God declares, “Look! I’m doing a new thing! (Isaiah 4319)” Throughout scripture, we see a God of tremendous urgency in advancing God’s purposes. Methods change but the mission doesn’t.

     Occasionally your leaders will try something new to advance God’s purposes in this place. It may be a change in the Bible translation used in our shared worship or in how we do the work of evangelism. And inevitably someone will say, “We have never done it that way.” If you will become quiet and listen carefully you may hear God’s response, “Precisely!”

Joy,

Jim Collins

     Jim Collins states that enduring organizations have two dominant characteristics that are complementary opposites.  The first is a strong conviction about core ideals that never change; these are purpose and values.  The second is a clear understanding that everything else must change in order to preserve the core.  Collins says it takes clarity and discipline to understand which things in the organization belong to which category.

     People who populate our churches often demonstrate little clarity about the difference.

Take Sunday school as an example.  Few know that the origin of Sunday school dates back to 1780.  Four purposes or needs were identified in the community and Sunday school was an experiment as a means of addressing those needs.  As the idea of Sunday school spread and the culture changed, the four original needs became reduced to only two: building relationships and nurturing discipleship.  These two remain as the core purposes of Sunday school.

     If Jim Collins would to look at our example, he would say that the core that should never change would be building relationships and nurturing discipleship.  He would then identify the noncore, or method for accomplishing the core objectives, is the traditional Sunday school hour on Sunday morning.

     Simply, what the church is about is the core, or the essentials, and not about the method.  Building relationships and nurturing discipleship is at the core of our mission.  The method, the traditional Sunday school hour, is not.  The question before the church is, “Are you emotionally attached to the method or the core?”

     Jim Collins is correct, of course.  Sometimes emotional attachments get in the way of intelligently discerning the difference between what must never change and what can change, the difference between the core and the noncore.

     Make no mistake. The Sunday school example should not be heard that I am against Sunday school.  Nor is it my intention to eliminate Sunday school from our ministry.  I use this as an example of the difference between what is “method” (Sunday school hour) and “core” (building relationships and building disciples).  When we realize that it is the “core” that is important and not the “method”, then we can explore additional methods for advancing the “core.”

     I have invited a few of our leaders to share with me in a period of discernment.  From the outside, their work together may be called long-range planning.  Though this is what they will do, their real work will be to clarify the difference between what is at the core of our mission and what is merely method.  As our world changes; so do methods.  Rotary style phones were only a method, the idea of easy communication is a core.  Rotary phones have been replaced; the core value of easy communication has not.  I wonder where the rotary phones are in our shared approach to ministry.  And once identified, are we prepared to get over our emotional attachments to them for a more effective approach?

Joy,

Eddie Gibbs

     Alan Hirsch, one of the brightest thinkers today on building authentic Christian churches, argues that many churches today use a seeker approach to evangelism and entertainment to attract people to Christ.  The devastating result is that ministry becomes another cultural form of consumerism that successfully attracts crowds but fails to transform lives.  Rather, the crowds continue to play the soundtrack of the culture – “give me more and more and if the quality isn’t up to my expectations I will shop somewhere else.”  The fact that such an approach to ministry builds more religious consumers shouldn’t surprise us.

     Hirsch suggest that authentic faith communities must demand that members become “self-feeders” who take responsibility for developing significant personal relationships with other Christians and develop practices that counteract culture and changes us into the image of Christ.  This, of course, runs counter to a consumer mentality that is heard by some: “This or that church simply wasn’t feeding me.”  As parents we expect our children – at some point – to begin feeding themselves.  Why should church leaders expect less from persons committed to following Christ?  To advance an argument that one church or another “isn’t feeding me” is simply an indicator of personal laziness.

     The Apostle Paul speaks of the Christian journey as a race that must be run well.  Training, argues Paul, will be required just as athletes train for competition.  Of course, this means more personal effort than popping in a video about Jesus and grabbing a bowl of popcorn.  Locating ourselves in small group for accountability, intentional engagement with the scriptures, scheduled and purposeful quiet time with God and developing conversational skills to share our relationship with Jesus with others will be required.  I do not promise that any of this is easy.  But didn’t your parents teach you that anything great in life is rarely obtained easily?

     Consumerism is the dominant worldview of North America.  As such, it is competing with the kingdom of God for the hearts and imaginations of God’s people.  Heaven watches to see the choices we make regarding our desire to grow into the character of Christ.

Joy,

Joan Chittister

     Bill Hybels has introduced in one of his books the idea of Holy Discontent.  The question Hybels raises is, “What is your Holy Discontent?  What is that one thing that you can’t stand anymore and desperately want to do something about?”  Usually, a Holy Discontent is something so great that it cannot be accomplished by one’s own strength.  It will require prayer and reliance upon the Holy Spirit.  But if pursued vigorously, mixed with a healthy dose of prayer and trust in God, one’s Holy Discontent can result in activity that significantly advances God’s Kingdom.

 

     It should be no secret that my Holy Discontent is people who have said they will follow Jesus but show little personal discipline in growing into the character of Jesus.  As Joan Chittister says, the spiritual life is not something that is gotten for the wishing.  It takes discipline. As your pastor it is my desire, my Holy Discontent, to see every member of this congregation become a vibrant, growing follower of Jesus.  That will not happen just because it is something I want for this church.  It will happen, person by person, as each member recognizes personally and deeply what God has done for them in Jesus Christ.  That ability to see what great love God has lavished on us results in the natural response to know God more, to love Jesus more profoundly.  That is what “Spiritual Formation” is all about.  And spiritual formation requires discipline.

 

     Part of my vision for this congregation is to assist people in their Christian journey with a Center for Life-Long Learning.  The idea is to provide, throughout the year, opportunities to learn from seasoned Christians how to go deeper and further in our shared walk with Jesus.  The first opportunity will be this November, when we welcome to our church Dr. Greg Ogden, author of numerous books including Discipleship Essentials.  During Dr. Ogden’s weekend with us, he will provide two classes, one for our elected spiritual leaders, the Elders and Deacons and another class for the membership of the church.  In both opportunities, Dr. Ogden will address the great need in our churches today for greater depth in faith development and provide a pathway forward.  I hope you will be intentional in blocking-out Saturday, November 9^th and share in this marvelous opportunity.   

    

Joy,

     Perhaps the greatest strength of the Reformed Tradition of the Christian faith is the declaration that we are not done listening; listening to God and listening for God through one another. All our speech, all our notions of theological orientation and political initiative must continually submit to humility and civility. Speech must be steadied with equal measure of listening.

     This is not to deny passion in our convictions. The North American church would be the stronger if more of its members were to experience their convictions a little more deeply and share them more expressively. Yet, we must maintain some uncertainty about our sense of what is right. More, we would experience greater delight in the church if more maintained greater uncertainty about their righteousness. What must happen increasingly is the spiritual discipline of pointing beyond ourselves to God. We all would benefit from the sinners prayer in the Gospels. “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

     Correctly heard, scriptures teaches that the line that separates good and evil, right from wrong, runs right through the middle of every person. We are all culpable for the brokenness in our communities. For that, we all need a God-sized savior to match the enormity of the present need. Fortunately, the Gospels declare that that is precisely what has been given to us in Jesus.

Joy,

                                   Darrell L. Guder, Princeton Theological Seminary

     In the time I have been your pastor, many of you have noticed that I speak of “the missional church.” I am grateful to those who have honestly asked, “What does that mean?” You are an intelligent congregation with an eye to what God is up to in the community. More, you are eager to join in God’s work. For that I am grateful.

     So here is a basic definition of “missional church.” A missional church is a church that acknowledges that God is already at work in the community and seeks to join God in that work. This isn’t a nuanced change from our old way of thinking about missions. The difference is significant. The first big difference is that the old way of thinking saw “mission” as one tiny part of what the church does. Missional Churchsays that everything the church does is about participating in the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Second, the old understanding was that “mission” is something we do “for” God. Missional Church says that “mission” is something we “join with God” in doing. The Missional Church Movement is a return to a sound biblical understanding of being church.

     Rob Weingartner, Director of the Outreach Foundation of the Presbyterian Church USA, provides additional insight of what it would look like to return to a biblical model of being church:

*   We used to describe mission as a program of the church; now we’re discovering that mission is the purpose of the church.

*  We used to talk about the church’s mission; now we seek to discern how God is at work in the world and participate in God’s mission.

*  We used to plan and program to get the world into the church; now we’re working on getting the church into the world

*  We used to argue about whether mission was primarily about evangelism or justice; now we know that saving souls and compassionate action and advocacy are essential dimensions of the one gospel of Jesus Christ.

*  We used to believe that the mission field was “over there” somewhere; now we know that the mission field is everywhere, including right here!

*  We used to think that only those called to special service in far off places were missionaries; now we know that in our baptisms every believer is commissioned into a missionary society.

*  We used to focus primarily on what we had to give and do in mission; now we understand that as we serve our lives are being transformed, there are things we must receive and learn.

*  Mission used to be from the West to the rest; today it is from everywhere to everyone.

     Weingartner further points out that being missional is not about church activities. It is about the church’s identity. God did not create mission in order to give the church something to do; rather, the Father who sent His Son out of love for the world and poured out the Spirit upon the disciples calls the church together and sends it into the world to bless the peoples of the earth in Jesus’ Name. Weingartner concludes with a question for local congregations: “Are you thinking in old, outmoded ways about the church and mission? Maybe the time has come for a new beginning!

Joy,