What We Are Doing Isn’t Working!

I reject pragmatism! I do not want to make decisions (especially decisions about church, ministry, and missions) based exclusively on “what works”. Yes, I admit that sometimes doing what God wants does not yield immediate results. I also admit that doing what God wants may not yield results at all. Church history reminds us that the church throughout history has lived through peaks and valleys. Someone has to live during the “valley years.” Some days I wonder what it would be like to live one’s entire life in the valley–a time characterized by spiritual disinterest, spiritual inactivity, spiritual rejection. That could be the case in our U.S. society and culture today. That is one reason I relish my involvement in mission work which takes me to places in the world where people are hungering and thirsting for spiritual nourishment, for life that feel like life, and something greater and more lasting than this world can offer.

Despite my rejection of pure pragmatism, I feel compelled to note when something isn’t working. Especially if it seems many or most of those involved think it is working!

Sunday morning church attendance is dropping across the nation. Overall, we are not growing; we are shrinking. The rural churches across our nation are generally smaller than they were just a few years ago. It is easy to ignore the bleak reality. It is easy to perceive a glimmer of hope because of congregational transfers, but the reality is that we are not winning our little corner of the world for Jesus. We are not providing a viable voice in our community. We are barely heard. We preach to ourselves. We rejoice when most of our members happen to be in town on a particular weekend. We consider it success when our assemblies are swelled by members from other churches of Christ. It is easy to ignore the fact that much of our “success” in local congregations comes by transfers from “feeder churches” as people move to larger population centers. The feeder churches are about the dry up and blow away–and what will happen next is obvious unless something changes.

The logical question in light of this grim analysis is this: What has gone wrong? Wasn’t there a time when we were among the fastest growing religious groups in the U.S.? (Perhaps so, although some of the statistical methods which led to that conclusion have been questioned more recently.) Let me suggest some of what has gone wrong. I am not writing solely of my local situation, but of the church in general in the U.S. I am generalizing (dangerous). I recognize that there are some genuine bright spots. Nonetheless, we have to ask the hard questions about who we are and what we are doing.

The church has a SELF problem. The church is selfish. We have become fat and lazy. We have fed ourselves and not others. We have spent our resources on ourselves. We have learned to limit “church” to a few (4 or less) hours per week. The church is narcissistic (self-centered). Our message is us. Most places, church is too much about church. We too easily ignore the needs around us…feeding the needy, taking the gospel around the world through missions, reaching lost people next door. Our actions say that we are pretty sure that the church exists primarily for its members.

The church has a SPIRITUAL problem. The church is not spiritually sharp. In many places, the church is in a spiritual malaise, some churches are spiritually dead. We are not “into” spirituality. We live our spiritual lives by physical values. Our lack of spiritual focus is reflected iln our conversations, our priorities, our schedules, our absences, and our attitudes.

The church has a SACRIFICE problem. The church is not into sacrifice, and church without sacrifice is church where the message of cross has been twisted to communicate benefit without responsibility. The typical church is not producing disciples of Christ because it is generally Christless.

The church has a SAFE problem. The church has become safe, comfortable, and predictable. No apple cart upsets here, KISMIF to the extreme (keep it safe, make it fun), my favorite songs (and only songs I know, please), no hard questions, no comfort zone exits. I want it to feel normal and traditional, just like I like it (whether it encourages and helps the non-Christians or not). The typical church doesn’t take any chances or put itself into situations where we would have to grow and depend upon God and each other. By our actions and inactions, we miscommunicate the nature of the Christian faith to our children and our kids drop out in droves.

The church has a STUFF problem. The church is too often a place of materialism, lack of imagination and conformity. Spiritual death is certain; mental death is not far behind. One doesn’t have to look hard to see it: personal materialism and church choices based on external concerns; consumers who come to events to receive rather than to give and church choices based on who offers the most goods and services. The typical church encourages consumerism–making church choices (choose us!), hopping from church to church (try us out!), looking for the best deal (why we’re better!). If the children’s program, youth program, any program, preaching, worship, leadership, membership, or carpeting is imperfect, go to the next church. One seldom hears folks wondering about where they can be used best or where God most needs them.

Next: what is the solution?

Missional Evangelism

Contemporary surveys suggest that between two-thirds and three-fourths of those we encounter daily are essentially unchurched, connected only casually or nominally with a church or faith community. This does not mean that they are not spiritual, or even religious, but only that they are not practicing that faith in the context of a Christian religious group. One must distinguish between
the strength of a connection to a church, and the strength of an accepted belief system. I have met people who did not attend church at all or were only minimally connected to a faith community who would argue vehemently for a certain doctrinal position which had been part of their upbringing or the faith system of their parents or family.

Given the current cultural situation, the way in which we approach evangelism must shift, away from attempts to bring people to Jesus based on purely mental factors, toward bringing people into the Christian community holistically—taking into account the teaching of Scripture, relationships, and practical lifestyle issues. This is doubly important, given our society’s post-modern relativism that fails to identify objective truth as either possible or relevant. As a result, the way in which we are going to touch others with the gospel is changed.

Without ceasing to recognize the importance of the word of God as our guide, both in Bible classes and preaching, we must seek to understand where and why the gospel is relevant in lives of our friends and neighbors, given the nature of the world in which we live. We must redouble our efforts to touch people outside normal “religious” contexts. We must seek and establish social relationships and friendship bridges which can serve as conduits for gospel conversations (initially, not studies, but conversations).

This new reality calls the church to rethink its life—what we do in worship, in our classes (so those classes are accepting of visitors and capable of assimilating ‘outsiders’), in our fellowship, through small groups, specialty classes, “come and see” events, and a host of other things that the church might do in its effort to be the genuine church and to reach out to a lost world.

May God help us as we do this kind of “missional” thinking!

[See more on this at Christian Groups and Evangelism.]

A New Reformation: Where are we going?

Throughout the history of the Christian church, Christianity has been constantly shaped and reshaped with various groups and sub-groups. Fairly early in Christian history, Catholicism divided into eastern and western groups—Orthodox and Roman (Eastern and Western). In the Reformation, (Roman) Catholicism was opposed by Christian reformers. The nationalism of the European Reformation was one motivation for the search for religious freedom which led pilgrims and others to the shores of North America.

That we may be on the cusp of yet another restructuring of basic Christian groupings is clearly possible, but the exact nature of the alliances and which groups will recognize which other groups is not yet clear. What is clear is that the previous ways of thinking about Christianity and Christian groups appears to be going away. The well-defined doctrinal distinctions which provided identity and distinctiveness are giving way to new commitments based on practices and methods.

In the middle of the last century, a tract popular among churches of Christ summarized the religious options as Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and “us”. While that paradigm was, at the time, an interesting approach that caught the attention of many and uniquely positioned us outside the typical religious understandings (now hardly more than an intriguing part of history), the division is hardly valid today as we have seen the multiplication (or explosion) of Christian groups that are neither Protestant, Catholic, nor Jew. The paradigm is much less helpful in defining or distinguishing Christian groups at the beginning of the 21st century.

Today, one might mention at least the following groups within Christianity: denominationalists, Pentecostals, Restorationists, community churches, independent faith communities, and sects and cults. Based on method, one might mention the house church movement (include or add SIMPLE churches, cell churches, etc.) which develops groups that accept or recognize one another based on methodology. The same thing could be observed, but to a lesser extent, in the church planting movement (CPM) and Emergent church movement.

[More on this topic tomorrow. Also see my article: Christian Groups and Evangelism.]

Act 21

Here we are in Act 21 (the twenty-first century).

The drama continues to unfold.  The good guys are fighting the bad guys.  Sometimes you can’t tell who is on which side (no black hats and white hats).  We are not the audience–we are on stage.  It is a crazy drama like none you have ever seen.  There are backstage prompters to give you the right lines and actions; there are also backstage prompters who are trying to get you do the wrong thing or say the wrong line.

When this act is over and the curtain falls (or when you exit the stage prematurely and permanently), only one question will matter.  Which side were you on?  Some players on the stage try to avoid being on any side.  They want to say their lines and go through the actions without engaging the fact that this drama is about an ongoing battle.  They think that avoiding taking sides will somehow get them through their “role” without harm.  Of course, that is one of the great deceptions of this drama:  some of the actors on stage don’t know what is going on and what to do.

Do something today (and tomorrow, and every day) to show which side you’re on (and to remind yourself as well).  In the first little place I preached in Arkansas, Brother McCullough came to church every time the doors were open.  He sat down at the front and adjusted his hearing aid all the way through the Bible classes and worship.  The hearing aid often squealed shrill-ly.   One time, someone asked him if he heard much of what was going on.  He admitted it was difficult.  The questioner continued, “Then why do you come so faithfully.”  His response:  “I want to make sure people know which side I’m on!”

Losing Our Voice

Especially for a preacher, losing one’s voice is not a pleasant prospect nor a pleasant experience. In over 40 years of preaching, I have never completely lost my voice so that I could not talk/preach at all. I have, however, experienced voice problems. When I was ministering with the church in Plymouth, Michigan, we had a JOY bus program that included running the buses three times each week. I was a co-captain and helped with the singing (shouting). I taught an adult Bible class on Sunday morning and preached twice on Sunday. Each Sunday, I used my voice at very high volume for 4 hours, and in “projection mode” for another three hours (more or less). My vocal cords rebelled, and the doctor said I couldn’t speak for 7 hours each Sunday without damaging my voice.
Over the years, I have had various respiratory or throat problems that temporarily limited my voice to a lower volume than normal, but I have never missed preaching because I lost my voice. I do know that voice problems cause one to talk funny. People would say, “It sounds like it hurts”, but I would assure them that it didn’t hurt–it just sounded like it did. Or a little child might say, “You talk funny.”
Right! There is normal, and there is funny. This blog is not about what happens when we have problems with our physical vocal cords. This article is about what happens when we lose our “spiritual voice.”

Jan and I were in a foreign country. We found a church that had a familiar name–and it was advertising an English service. We thought we would be “at home”. The service seemed pretty normal until the “sermon” began. The “preacher” basically just read an article he had found on the web. I guess he liked it. Frankly, it “talked funny.” Most careful Bible students would not agree with the article.

These two things got me to thinking. Here are my observations.
First, four negatives.
When we imitate others and do not develop our own faith, we talk “funny”.
When we fail to tell our story and forget how to talk, we talk “funny”.
When we become professional and not personal, we talk “funny”.
When we talk at the intellectual level and not at the heart level, we talk “funny”.
Then one positive.
When we study God’s word afresh, we talk “funny”.

What would you add to my list?

Discharge all of the duties of your ministry

A simple instruction, often overlooked, hidden in a larger context–Paul’s instructions to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:5). In one sense, a frightening challenge. How can a minister get everything done? There are not enough hours in a day. There are always more contacts to follow up on, more prospects to cultivate, more Bible studies to set up and teach, more books to read, more and better preparations to be done for classes and sermons. Across 40+ years of ministry, my experience is that sixty or seventy hours a week does not completely clear the “to do” list many weeks.

Perhaps a corrective is Paul’s instructions to Timothy two chapters earlier (2 Timothy 2:15). Give diligence, do your best. I must be diligent and do my best. My diligence and commitment in ministry becomes the model and standard for the Christians among whom I minister. They will not do more than I do. They will not be more serious about the Lord than I am.

In applying the text reflected in the title, ministers must ask themselves two questions: What are my duties? How am I doing on “all of the duties of my ministry”? The text suggests that every duty must be considered—one cannot pick and choose the ministry activities that are most enjoyable. Paul writes, “…all the duties….”

A minister who discharges all of the duties of his ministry can expect God to bless that ministry. I mention three items I found essential, capable of making a difference, in ministry. These are three items that many ministers put in last place, but I believe they belong in first place when we are diligent and doing our best. (The list is not intended to be inclusive, and does include items that are a part of the spiritual life of every Christian, such as prayer and devotional time.)
An evangelistic minister is the difference between a declining or level congregation and a growing congregation. Studies show that teaching evangelistic Bible studies and winning a half a dozen new Christians each year (outside the families of the church) would bring most churches into a growth pattern. Such evangelistic Bible studies, coupled with normal family growth and those who move in to a community will stabilize and grow the local church. The minister is the first line of evangelism. If the minister is not evangelistic, the church will seldom be evangelistic. Many people are willing to study, but they must be asked.
A minister who visits will see the church grow. It is true that many people do not want the first contact to be from the minister, but it is also true that people expect a contact with the minister. People want to meet the minister. They want to know what the church “feels like.” They decide to try out the church, not on the basis of their friend contact, but on the basis of their minister contact. The minister must be willing to visit contacts. Possible sources of contacts are found in benevolence work, visitors to the building, funerals and funeral meals, special activities, and activities outside the normal assembly times.
A minister who is in the word will reap the benefits of personal study and growth. For many of the early years of my ministry, I read the New Testament through every month. My early ministry occurred before the days of Internet and multiplied numbers of published sermons to be “borrowed” or adapted. There is no substitute for learning the word of God. Formal training is good, but it is the foundation, not the final fruit. Time spent in university training or Bible institute training is valuable, but insufficient. The minister must commit to continual intellectual and spiritual growth.

When Paul writes, “all the duties of your ministry,” he suggests that we cannot leave any off. A great temptation in ministry is to become distracted and substitute good things for the essential and best things. Ministers must learn how to choose the best (Phil. 1:11). Discharge all the duties of your ministry.

It’s Sunday Again: How was evangelism a part of my week?

I am firmly committed to planning my activities. I maintain extensive “to do” lists and have a pretty good idea about what each week will hold. I also find it helpful to look backward and to review what actually occurred. I am especially interested in thinking about evangelism opportunities and how the message is advanced both locally and through mission efforts around the world.
A week ago, Jan and I were at the Tulsa Workshop. We made several good contacts, especially related to evangelism projects and missions efforts. Sunday was fairly normal, and Monday was devoted to preparing and mailing mission reports, and to working on missions preparations. Tuesday was mission-oriented with a trip to Dallas to work through details of a Baxter committee meeting. Wednesday gave some unique outreach opportunities through contacts with those who were present at the funeral of Charlie Stites. Impressions were made, conversations initiated, God gives the increase. Thursday and Friday were devoted to mission preparations as I prepare to spend most of April in Chile, but Friday afternoon gave the opportunity to visit with an elder from another congregation about the challenges facing the church. Saturday’s Ladies’ Day provided more outreach opportunities, both in sharing parts of the day with some who are seeking faith, and in encouraging others regarding mission activities.
I am praying about the opportunities and seeds planted. I trust you are also planting seeds and praying about opportunities. Without planting and watering, God cannot give the increase!

Daily Bible Reading: Begin Now!

On Sunday evening, the lesson reminded us of the need to be continually in the word of God. It is never too late to begin. Habits develop only after we begin to act systematically.
Perhaps you will find the Daily Devotionals posted on my website helpful. Tomorrow we begin the Gospel of John. So far in 2012, we have worked our way through Matthew, the Corinthian correspondence and James. It would not take long to read those texts along with the Daily Devotionals. You could also work through those texts as “make up” work, or you could begin the daily Bible reading habit now and finish up the New Testament a year from now.

Check out the Daily Devotionals Index to understand the schedule: 5 days each week times 52 weeks to read the 260 chapters in the New Testament. Each devotional attempts to catch the “flavor” of the “chapter of the day” and to reflect upon its importance, context, and lessons. A briefer textual reading is included in the devotional along with a daily prayer.

May God bless you in your efforts to be in the Word!

Leadership is Ultimately about Legacy

Leadership is usually associated with the present; but leadership is often most visible in the future, after the fact. Leadership is seen in the legacy one leaves. Am I a leader? Am I a good leader? Am I an excellent leader?
Leadership creates a legacy that inspires others onward. Who am I leading? Who will be influenced by my legacy? Is it not those who will dream bigger, seek more knowledge, desire to do more, and ultimately become more than they would have been without my influence?
Leadership is not to be measured by how many one leads, although that is the way the world tends to think. The world thinks that best leaders are those who influence the most people in the here and now. There is another viewpoint. The best leaders in history may have influenced only a few, but the legacy those leaders left has been passed down from generation to generation so that their influence continues and broadens.
Leadership is ultimately a matter of legacy. Let us so live and lead as to leave a legacy!

Balanced Christianity

A MinEmergent devotional I received recently contained a quote from Philip Gulley’s book, If the Church Were Christian. I have inserted an editing suggestion in brackets. Consider whether your Christian life is balanced between believing and action, remembering that James 2 says they go hand in hand, and that neither is sufficient without the other.

“This is the great irony of Christ’s Church–a significant number of its members care more about believing certain things about Jesus, than following his an example of love and service. If the church were Christian, mirroring the compassion of Jesus would be more important than [equally important as–by] echoing the orthodoxy that has built up around him.”