“Re-investment”

Over the last few weeks since Jan and I announced our “retirement” from local ministry, I have told several people that our focus is not on “retiring” but on “reinvesting.” We are “re-focusing.” Both we and the local church are preparing to go through a ministry transition. Ministry transitions in local churches are often handled poorly with a negative impact on the church, at least in the short-term. Over the last several months, we have put plans in place to manage this transition proactively so that a smooth, seamless transition can occur and the work of the church will not “miss a beat.”

Jan and I are looking forward to the challenges and freshness of a ministry that extends beyond the local congregation to multiplied congregations and locations across the nation and around the world. Rather than retiring, we are planning to expand our ministry. We already have a fairly full schedule for the remainder of 2010 and are scheduling 2011 activities.

The question we most often hear is, “Why?” Why does a person make this kind of change? When we were young, we set out to change the world, confident that such was within our grasp. We were going to make a difference in a grand way. We set about the ordinary tasks of life (and ministry) with energy and enthusiasm, seizing opportunities, seeking God’s will. Looking back over 40+ years of ministry, we believe God blessed our efforts and that what we did was significant to God. But as we became older, we also saw that we would not be able to accomplish all that we had hoped, so we have to focus on the things that we believe really have the possibility of making a difference in the long-term. We dream of doing only the work we love, of doing the work for which God has uniquely equipped us as he has opened multiplied doors through our lives, and of doing those things that really matter.

For us, encouraging and supporting mission work in receptive areas of the world is one such activity. Baxter Institute and training those who will take the message to others who will also share the message is a “difference making” work. Helping local churches with special series focused on evangelism, missions, leadership, and other church dynamics makes it possible for local churches to take giant strides forward. We look forward to using our lives and our energy thoughtfully. We also look forward to the increased flexibility in our lives along with the independence to go where we are needed when we are needed. God still opens doors, and we will be in position to walk through them unhesitatingly.

Senior Christians: A Ministry “Blind Spot”

I have been writing about Baby Boomers for over 20 years. My wife and I are Baby Boomers. My master’s thesis focused on the importance of Baby Boomers in the work of the church. In the late 1980s, Baby Boomers were on the cusp of assuming primary leadership roles in the church. Today we are on the verge of a wave of retirement, with the first Baby Boomers already drawing Social Security. Nonetheless, we are still in position to have a positive impact on the future of the church–perhaps even more in retirement (what many Baby Boomers prefer to call “reinvestment”) than during our family-rearing and working years.

The oldest generations in the church have typically been underserved. Only in recent years have we seen an increased interest in ministry to seniors. Other religious groups have been far ahead of us in the churches of Christ in this regard. Our Baptist neighbors have seen this need for at least 40 years. We are trying to catch up. We are writing books, studying gerontology, thinking about keeping seniors active and involved in the church. This generally includes ministry with those who are 55 or older. One of the “experts” in this area lives near us. Our brother in Christ, Dr. James Knapp of Southeastern Oklahoma State University has studied and written about the aging membership of the churches of Christ. We are “graying”. He says that in a typical congregation 20-40% of the members are in that age range. Dr. Knapp has examined the statistics for 754 congregations and found the average percentage of seniors to be 23% of the local members. The percentages of older members are generally higher in rural areas and lower in urban areas. The highest percentage he has found was a church of 100 that had 90% seniors and only 10% 54 and younger. For many years this age group has been underserved. Churches hire youth ministers that in many churches serve no more than 5-10% of the church, and a major age group that is 30-40% of the church and a significant contributor to the work of the church is ignored. I am not suggesting an “either-or” option but a “both-and”. Even in churches with limited resources, the church cannot afford to ignore the need for ministry focused on the seniors in the church.

What will we do in ministry with those who are 55 and older? The local church where I serve has a 55+ group. Most of them are signficantly older than that. The Baby Boomers represent another generation coming on who are today’s real 55+ers. We must give better attention and care to our “seniors.” In today’s world, ministry is not “to” seniors, it is “with” seniors.

Don Vinzant, minister at the Edmond church, told me yesterday that seniors fall into three groups: no gos, slow gos, and go gos. The church cannot afford to ignore this group that is at least one-fourth to one-third of its membership. In many congregations, this is the group that gives most of the contribution.

We must consider afresh the kind of honor, respect and service opportunities that our senior Christians deserve. We want to include and involve all of the members of God’s family–from our infants, children and youth to our seniors. Vinzant describes these as those “who have passed through many winters and still want to help in God’s work of reconciliation.” Indeed! My wife and I are “reinvesting” this year, not because we plan to quit, but because we want to do more than ever before, and freeing ourselves from the requirements of daily work routines will allow us the freedom and flexibility to do that. This story is not unique to us–it is the story of 1000s of Christians who will reinvest their lives in things they find meaningful, worthwhile and rewarding. The church will miss a great opportunity if it does not find ways to help these find service and ministry in those things that advance God’s kingdom.

Evangelism: by God’s Power

We have made evangelism hard, not natural. Sharing good news should be one of the easiest, most natural things in the world. We have made it artificial and difficult. We have developed programs that seek “converts” and have depended more on human wisdom and power than on God’s wisdom and power. While we accept Bible passages that speak of God’s power (his Word, grace, the gospel, preaching), we have failed to see God’s power in the obvious places.

Today’s sermon illustrates the power of God in unlikely and unseen places: the power of the ordinary, the power of relationships, the power of encouragement, the power of caring, the power of a vision, the power of asking, and the power of our words. In these dynamics of our life, the power of the gospel is available to us. God sends us forth according to his plan and purpose in the ordinary days of our lives, through the relationships and people in our lives, with opportunities to encourage and care, with boldness to ask.

Perhaps we are less than effective because we “do” rather than “ask”. Jesus promised, “Ask and ye shall receive.” If evangelism is by God’s power, it should be a constant subject of our prayers!

It’s Sunday Again: God’s Plan will Work!

God’s plan is that the world might be saved by the gospel (1 Cor. 15:2).  That summary statement includes many aspects of God’s work in our world and our acceptance and involvement according to God’s purpose.  Based on our current approach to church, I fear that the modern church has by and large lost confidence in God’s plan.  We are trying to attract people with everything but the gospel. We think people will come because the activities are fun (and free) and the “product” is right. We entice people with meals, refreshments, enjoyable activities…the list seems almost endless. We are enticing people with everything but the gospel. The average church member seldom thinks of the attractiveness of the gospel when visiting with friends or neighbors. Do you doubt it? When was the last time you offered someone a gospel survey or Bible study? My observation is that we offer prayer, benevolent or financial help, and secular activities. We are training our children to grow up and leave the church when they find out that the church will not do for them as young adults what it did for them when they were part of the youth group. We are teaching self-serving Christianity. We are setting ourselves up in competition with the groups around us. We are trying to “catch” and keep people, including our own youth, with all kinds of activities and lures.  We must learn again the lesson:  what you convert them with is what you will keep them with!

I believe much of the success we are experiencing in Honduras is because we are bringing people to Christ with the good news of the gospel. We offer Bible study, knowing God, connection with God. That is why Dixiana, a young 16-year-old girl, is helping in a campaign two years after I baptized her. That is why the churches are growing. To the extent that we encourage those young Christians to adopt the U.S. standards of how the church building looks and what the church can do for me, we will find that people will be attracted for the wrong reasons.

In the U.S., we have started down a difficult path which we are finding hard to sustain. The average church cannot hire ministers focused on demographic groups–children’s minister, youth minister, singles minister, young adult minister, seniors minister–in addition to the task-oriented ministry needs–pulpit minister, outreach minister, involvement minister, education minister, administrative minister.

The gospel is attractive. We must get back to understanding, living, and communicating the essence of the gospel. God has a plan for this world. The gospel meets basic human needs. You and I can so live our lives that we “adorn” the gospel (1 Tim. 2:10). The church is declaration of God’s plan and purpose and wisdom (Eph. 3:10-11). The plan of God may seem folly and foolishness to some–Paul shows us that such was also the case in the first century (1 Cor. 1:18).

The power of God is in the word of God. God has a plan that involves Christ (as the means for the salvation of the world), the church (as the message of God’s love and wisdom), and Christians (as the ministers of reconcilation). By taking the gospel where we go in the world, Christians are involved in making more disciples, marking those disciples according to the teaching of God, and maturing those disciples to make more disciples.

God has no other plan.

It’s Sunday Again: Focusing on Missions

I am away from my normal pulpit duties this morning–instead I am teaching and preaching at the Northwest church in Oklahoma City for their Missions Emphasis series.

In the Spanish class, my theme will be “The Call of God.” God calls us to share his message (Jer. 20:7-9) even when we would rather not. When we answer God’s call, we find that it is a call that consumes us, continually challenges us, convicts us, and centers our lives.

In the English assembly, I will affirm that “The Church is the Hope of the World.” This is an unbelievable statement. We must acknowledge the church in God’s plan. We must live up to the gospel. We must accept responsibility. We must see our world–and communicate hope where this is little or no hope.

It’s Sunday Again: Giving That Which Costs Me Nothing

Bonus Sunday was postponed from last week.  I will preach once more on the subject of giving–three consecutive Sundays. I wish we had a better word. Stewardship doesn’t help. Some speak of the contribution or the offering. Others speak of the tithe. It ultimately boils down to giving. The Bible uses the verb give (obviously in many contexts other than the Sunday collection) more than five times as often as the verb love. The Christian life is ultimately self-giving and other-serving.

In 2 Samuel 24, David wishes to make a sacrifice to God. He refuses to offer to God that which costs him nothing. An important standard of giving is sacrifice. What do we give up in order to give? What sacrifice do we make? Too often, the answer is “little or none”. We spend more going out to eat on Sunday than we gave to the Lord. Sacrificial giving begins with sacrificial living. We do not need much of what we think we need. We live in the lap of luxury. We are extravagant livers but not extravagant givers.

The text suggests the following principles: keep your heart tender, admit your situation (including your sins), listen to God, be concerned about others, begin now.

It’s Sunday Again: What Happens When I Give?

Understanding why people give is not always easy. Millions of dollars have been donated to help relieve the hurt and suffering in Haiti. Compassion sometimes motivates giving–especially if the victims seem powerless and could not have averted the problems. Compassion doesn’t always work as a motivator if there is a perception that the receiver could have done something to avoid the problem.

Paul included a lengthy section in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 chapters, 2 Corinthians 8-9) to encourage them to participate in the collection for the needy in Jerusalem. He motivates by reminding them about what the Macedonians had already promised to do. He challenges them to remember Christ’s example of giving. He sets forth principles of the harvest (for example, reaping is proportional to sowing). He reminds them that God loves “hilarious” givers.

The climax of the section stretches our understandings of generosity. Paul mentions at least five things that happen when I give.
1. Thanksgiving. Obviously others will or should be thankful. But thanksgiving also comes into my life when I give. The ability to meet needs results in thanksgiving. Are you thankful that you can give?
2. Giving improves my worship. Being able to supply what others need strengthens my relationship with and imitation of God. Giving indicates my gratitude, respect, and attitude toward God. My giving also helps others see and worship God.
3. Giving increases prayer. We cannot give generously and fail to pray about those people or causes we sacrificially support. Do you give enough to pray about what you give to?
4. Giving gives our confession integrity. Too often Christians say one thing and do another. Giving proves us. Others see our integrity.
5. Giving increases love. Hearts are connected by affection. We love because God loves us, and the surpassing grace of God flows through us to provide grace to others. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

Giving makes us like God. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

It’s Sunday Again: Developing Grace

We praise grace but are sometimes less than gracious. We are grateful that God is gracious, but miss the opportunity to become like him by developing grace in our own lives. Peter urges us to grow in grace. Paul writes to the Corinthians urging them to develop “this grace also”. Paul’s subject is clearly a contribution being collected to relieve the needs of others.

One concordance I use has 16 columns listing the biblical occurrences of “give”–only five columns listing the biblical occurrences of “love”. Give is used at least three times as much as love. Why have we not defined Christianity by how we give? Does the answer have anything to do with our materialistic culture? Perhaps we have failed to develop in the grace of giving because we have missed the point that it is ultimately about God. Giving is a “God action.” Nothing we can do makes us any more like God than generous sharing.

Further, generosity improves mental health. Human beings apparently have an appetite for giving, and satisfying the “giving appetite” makes us happy. Giving is an evidence of the receipt of God’s grace. Healthy Christians go through life asking, “Where can I give myself to God and to others?”

My text for today’s sermon is 2 Corinthians 8-9. Consider ten foundational truths about generosity.

#1 (8:2) Generosity is not a function of outward circumstances or of wealth, it is possible even in poverty.
#2 (8:3) Generosity is not a function of one’s ability to give.
#3 (8:4; 9:1) Generosity is a ministry to others.
#4 (8:5) Generosity is easier when one first gives self.
#5 (8:6) Generosity is a grace, an act of kindness.
#6 (8:8) Generosity reveals our genuine love.
#7 (8:9) Generosity makes us like Christ.
#8 (8:12) Generosity of spirit is what makes our gift acceptable.
#9 (8:13) Generosity does not require that we give to the point of our suffering, our God has enough for all.
#10 (9:5) Generosity blesses others.

It’s Sunday Again: Sabbathing

[Readers who check in regularly at this blog have noted that I have taken a break from regularly blogging during the first half of January.  I plan to resume more regular blogging and postings in the next week.]

Today will be more restful to me than most Sundays–thus the title of this posting. A guest teacher and speaker this morning will free me from my normal teaching and preaching routines, and Jan and I will be able to sit together and worship together for most of the assembly. I seldom use my Sunday morning blog to write about the Sunday evening sermon, but today’s schedule gives me that opportunity.

How do you think? Asked another way: What is the key signature of your faith? Is yours an indigenous, personalized thinking that issues forth into real living for Jesus? Faith suggests thinking about God and about self. Ultimately faith finds us thinking about the cross, and about the Christ, as the single event in history that integrates history and integrates our lives. Jurgen Moltmann said it aptly, “Theologia crucis is not a single chapter in theology, but is the key-signature for all Christian theology (thinking).”

Let me explain a little about the metaphor of musical key signatures.

  • I was/am a clarinetist–B flat clarinet. Instruments have different key signatures.
  • Music is written in different key signatures. In the band, symphony or orchestrra, one must make sure all of the instruments are in tune.
  • The music is written so that all the instruments, with different key signatures, are playing in the same key.
  • I can play the music of the B-flat baritone saxophone with my B-flat clarinet and it will be in tune with the rest of the group.
  • I cannot play the music of my sister’s C-flute with my B-flat clarinet and it sound right with the rest of the musical group.
  • If someone plays a musical piece solo in another key, it will still be the same song, but it will not be quite right.
  • To the untrained ear, when someone is playing solo in the wrong key, the difference will probably not be noticed. It sounds about the same.I am challenging us to an investigation of the key signature in which we are singing the song of our life. What key are you living in? Are you in the major key of C–Christ, for cross, for church, for community, for commitment, for Christ-likeness, for Christianity.
    Equally important is the question, “Where do you get your key signature?” What philosophers, value system, goals, Bible verses….Christian living suggests that we are using the same key signature that Christ used–we are his disciples, followers, imitators. We have the same values and goals. We think the same way; thus we act the same way. If we read Scripture through the eyes of culture, we may miss the real point. How do you think?

    • It’s Sunday Again: Church without Covenant?

    Our culture is filled with churches that are trying to be or do the work of God apart from “covenant relationship” with God.  As an increasing number of persons in our national culture seek the relationship of marriage without commitment or covenant, a similar situation has developed in many churches.

     What does it mean to be a covenant person?  Is it what you believe?  Is it your doctrinal statement? Are we covenant people because of the way we worship?

     How does one come to be a covenant person?  By accepting a system of teaching?  By accepting or accomplishing a prescribed activity checklist?

     How can one tell who is a covenant person?  At its heart, this is the question of church.  What is the church?  What is the result of covenant relationship with God? 

    It is not sinlessness; it is not perfection.  It is not adherence to doctrine or an order of worship.  It is the restoration of image.  It is the mind of Christ within us.  It shows up as we focus on others more than self, it shows us as we focus on people more than tasks, it shows up in leadership that develops and leads a cause or movement rather than an organization. 

    The DNA of a covenant person (disciple, follower of Jesus) is seen in response to the question, Do you love God?  Do you love your neighbor?  If we are restored to God-image, might it show up in our commitment to bless others more than in a commitment to evangelize others?  Is the goal a version of salvation that makes folks like us, or is the goal restoration of covenant relationship with God?

    The latter has tremendous power to really change (transform!) lives!