Who is Served and Who Serves in the Church?

To put this in business terms, the church has both internal and external customers. (Customers are people the church needs to serve.). The external customers are the people who are not actively involved in the church. They include (1) so-called “fringe people”, former members, relatives of members and friends of members who attend from time to time and would call on church in a time of personal crisis; (2) seekers, people in the community who are actively searching for something the church can provide, ie. the message of forgiveness and new life, or a caring fellowship of believers; and (3) folks who have no current interest in the church and do not yet know that the message of the church is for them.

The church’s internal customers are its members. They need the resources and training to be able to deepen their personal relationships with Jesus and to determine and execute the ministry God has for them to do. All members of the church should be active growing Christians who minister to the church and community in some way. It is important for the church to provide the members with opportunities to develop deep, rich relationships with each other.

The internal customers of the church are also the workers. Their work is voluntary. The problem that many church members have is that they act like the church exists to please them. Though the church, unlike businesses, is financed not by external customers, but by the generous contributions of its own workers, the purpose is to make new disciples. If the church is to accomplish its purpose, it must be focused on bringing more and more people to know Jesus, and serve all its customers—those who are members, workers, and givers, and those who are fringe, inactive, and not yet interested. If the mission of the church is carried out, external customers become internal customers, and become part of the workforce and income base of the church. Actually, this is a way of saying the church seeks to make more and more people part of the family, so they can share in the work and support it with love and fellowship. As they grow and become grounded in the Lord and the church they should take on more responsibility for the mission of reaching others.

All this is to say that church planning must take into account both the needs of the members (internal customers) and the needs of the community (external customers). Sometimes, this is problematic for churches. If all the church is concerned about is its current membership, it easily becomes a little island of Christianity in the sea of the world. However, Christ commanded the church to reach out to those who don’t know Him. So, it must stay relevant to the predominant culture without watering down the message Christ gave it to proclaim. The task is not only to celebrate the fact that her members are going to heaven because of what Jesus did for them on the cross, but also to take as many other people with them as they can. The church has to work hard to show the world that what it proclaims is important, life changing, and a better way for those in the world. The architecture, the maintenance of the building, the style of worship, especially the music and the sermons must be attractive to non-members. The church must be ever mindful that the impression it makes on people may well be the only impression those people have of Christ.

Why are Churches Dying?

Perhaps the scariest word in the English language is change. It plunges us from the security of the customary into the unknown. It threatens to take us to strange places and surround us with the unfamiliar. Change causes fear and contention in the church. People count on their church being something they can rely on, something that remains stalwart in the midst of all the craziness of a swiftly moving life and a constantly changing culture. As the old saying goes, “The only one who likes change in the church is the wet baby in the nursery.” Yet, it is in this culture and at this time that the church needs to make necessary changes in order to build God’s Kingdom by reaching this generation. Young ministers and young members are calling for different ministries, different priorities, different buildings and different organizational structures.

The need for change comes from more than the restlessness of a new generation.Churches are dying. In too many cases, church members will hang on to the familiar and watch their church die rather than make, or even allow, the changes that are necessary for it to bring new people to Christ. The church must always stay in tune with the times. After all, our God himself is eternally contemporary. In Exodus chapter 3 He told Moses that his name is “Yahweh” which means “I am.” Not “I was,” not “I will be,” but “I am.” God was then, and always has been, in the present tense. We do not serve Him by trying to preserve the past. The great saints and their accomplishments should be celebrated, but it is not our task to duplicate their work; instead, we must build on it. The methods we use to extend their work may be very different from theirs, but our goal is the same— to make Christ known.

This resistance to change has become so great that many young pastors are choosing to go through the hardships of planting a new church. Church planting is a brave and honorable calling. New churches are desperately needed, but some young pastors feel forced into church planting by the circumstances in the established churches. They find that the difficulties of starting from nothing are preferable, when compared with the fight they face trying to turn around a plateaued or declining church. Consequently, the large investments of emotion, spiritual and physical energy, and money that past generations gave are being lost as those churches die and close.

I completely understand the position of these young pastors. If they start a church they only have to fight one enemy: Satan. If they take a set-in-its-ways older church, they will have to fight not only Satan, but also the church people that are supposed to be fighting Satan alongside the pastor. Many of the best are saying “No thanks” to that proposition, and God seems to agree with them. Unless churches that are declining or stuck on a plateau in regard to attendance make major changes, hundreds, if not thousands, of them will close in the next two decades. Small tweaks to program, style and structure will not bring about lasting improvement. Declining and plateaued churches need to repent of their complacency and selfishness. Then, they need to ask the Holy Spirit for a new burden for souls and a new vision that will enable them to bring this generation to Christ.

Here's the Hope

What is it that motivates people? Perhaps the simplest answer to that question is: felt need. When people know that they really need something, they do everything they can to get it. When I am hungry, I eat. When I’m thirsty, I get a drink. When I am tired, I sleep. A good salesman creates a need for his product so that somebody will feel the need for it enough to pay money to acquire it. Yes, felt needs motivate.

But that is only part of the answer. Many people in areas of Africa and Asia are hungry, but famine has made it impossible for them to answer that felt need. Rather than motivate, their need disheartens and depresses them. To be motivated, people need to see a possibility for them to answer that need. Hope is the necessary ingredient. That is why people, like our ancestors, left lives they knew and came to America. They felt some need: hunger, religious freedom, equality, etc.) and found that in America there was the hope of having that need met.

What is it that motivates people to start coming to church? More to the point, what motivates people to choose to follow Christ? Is it the need for forgiveness, fellowship, a more orderly life, or help with problems? Probably it’s those things and more. Then, why don’t more guilt-ridden, lonely, disorderly, confused people find their way to church? Listen to the conversations of people who don’t know Christ. You will hear many hints that they are weighed down by enormous needs that aren’t being met. The sad fact is that, while there are churches on every other corner, most people don’t see them as places where their needs can be met. Often the church, which is supposed to be in the business of sharing the good news of Jesus’ love, hope and forgiveness is the last place men and women look for help when their hearts cry out.

Folks don’t look to the church for the help they need because we (church people) are not good at communicating the fact that Jesus is the answer to their, hurt, guilt, or life out of control. People don’t see the loving Christ when they see the church. Instead, they tend to see us as people who live by an uptight set of rules, and have a negative outlook on people, fun and life on earth. They know more about what church people are against than about the love we have found and which we are commanded to share. We need to communicate that there is hope in Christ for everyone by the way we live, and by what we say. They need to learn what we have learned: no one has to be in need all the time. The church is the place for hurting people to meet God and His people, and to find answers to life’s deepest needs. There are disheartened, despondent people all around us who have needs they can’t find any way to fill. We need to hold up Christ as the answer. We, who are hope-finders, need to become hope-givers. When they begin to understand that the church is made up of needy people who have discovered that God takes care of our deepest needs, hope may well be born in them. Then they will be motivated to join us in following Jesus.

Mike: Seeing What God Sees

Mike: Seeing What God Sees

Eight o’clock on Wednesday night and it was over. It never really started. Youth Bible study at my house, and only one boy came, Mike. He was a good kid, but I couldn’t help being disappointed. At other churches I had started Bible studies, and within a few weeks, I had a houseful of high schoolers who were really interested in what the Bible had to say to them. This church was different. Have a party; they would show up. Go on a trip; they were there. But I could not get this bunch interested in the Bible. I had tried everything that had worked before, everything I read about, even a few things that I didn’t really know how to do. Most of them were church kids, but they would not make commitments to Christ. Several of them were in trouble pretty often. As I look back on it, they were probably acting out their rebellion against their parents. One boy was the leader, if I could have reached him, the rest would have followed. He knew he was the leader and he wasn’t about to follow me. The other youth groups I led before were easy, but this one was difficult. I should have realized it from the beginning. I was the third youth pastor to serve that church in that year, and I came in July. I guess I was over-confident. Youth ministry had always been so easy before, that I am afraid I thought it was because of me. That night, I was disabused of that notion.

So I tried to pour myself into that one boy. Many Wednesdays it was only Mike and I. He was very bright and eager to learn. I encouraged him to go to a Christian liberal arts college. By the time he graduated he had been accepted there, and had received some pretty substantial scholarships. He even intimated that he thought the Lord might be calling him to the ministry. Though I had never reached the numbers I had hoped at that church, this one boy would make up for it. Late that summer, Mike’s plans changed. Instead of going to the Christian college, he chose a state school that was known as a major party school, in a town that didn’t have a church related to ours. You can’t imagine my disappointment. I left that church a few months later. During the next few years I heard from, and about, Mike from time to time. It was encouraging to hear that he had become involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.

Mike graduated with a degree in computer science at the time when personal computers were beginning to come on the scene. His future was bright and I was happy for him, I wondered how he would use his degree. Soon after graduation, I got a very newsy letter from him. Not only did he tell me he was getting married, (and ask me to officiate), he also told me of his plan to take his bride to Turkey ostensibly to work in computers, but actually, to be an underground missionary. You could have knocked me over with a feather. What a courageous couple! They spent 20 years in Turkey. From time-to-time I he sent me newsletters. Among other things, Mike had a role in producing a modern Turkish translation of the New Testament. I am proud to call him a friend.

From the perspective of today, I can see that the time I spent with Mike was worth more than I could have ever known. I wish I had any idea what God was up to. I probably could have taught Mike more, or been more enthusiastic about our times together. I guess the moral of the story is to always do everything you can, especially when working youth or children. You don’t really know who you are dealing with. When he was in high school, I saw Mike as a smart kid who played soccer. I didn’t see the underground missionary. Who is your in class, group, or your family? What will God make of them? Do your level best to prepare them for whatever it is.

Getting There

Last month, I drove cross country from Atlanta, Georgia to Walla Walla, Washington to serve the Blue Mountain Community Church as interim pastor. It was quite a trip! I started out at my son’s home and drove home to Kokomo with my wife, Tina. After packing for my four month stint here, I kissed my wife good-bye (She’ll join me soon, and I can hardly wait.) and headed west. I drove through many kinds of terrain: from the jungle-like heat and humidity that is August in the East; to the vast grassy plains of Kansas; through the magnificent Rockies and across the desolate high plains coming finally to the fertile valleys of Oregon and Washington. My little four-cylinder Ford Escape climbed up and sped down speed grades. I went through tunnels, over wide rivers and across dry creeks. My strategy was to keep going and going, everywhere the road led, because I was following a good map. Every kind of terrain had a beauty of its own, and each offered its own difficulty, but I was sure, if I stayed on that route, it would lead me to my destination.

The roads of our lives pass through all kinds of terrain: from the tangled jungles of problems, to plains of routine; from mountains of difficulty, to desolate places of spiritual dryness. Sometimes the rough parts of the road are so hard we just want to quit, because we feel we just can’t go on. The good news is that God’s road takes us home. If we are following His road map, the Bible, we are guaranteed that, and He always delivers on that guarantee. Sometimes the road requires us to persevere and endure, but we will make it, if we don’t give up. The difficult parts of any trip are often the most memorable. Whatever the terrain of your life’s road is right now, take courage. If you’re following God’s road, you are going the right way. Trust Him and never stop until he leads you home.

Why Don’t Churches Grow?

A lot of churches don’t grow and haven’t grown in a long time. The people scratch their heads and can’t figure out what is wrong. They love their church and don’t understand why others don’t. They see people come and go, but the attendance just seems to go down. The painful truth is that many of our churches are about a dozen funerals from ceasing to be. Why is it that many churches don’t grow? Of course there are many reasons, but I think the major one is that the world doesn’t see Christ in the church. Jesus’ love and the hope he gives are attractive, but too often non-Christians don’t see Him in our churches. Why is that? How are we covering Him up?

First, of all the world doesn’t know what the church is up to. We have not made clear that we are here to share the wondrous love of Jesus we have found and enjoy. Since they don’t feel the love they come up with all kinds of erroneous motives for the church.
Second, the world doesn’t think the message of the church is relevant. Generally that is at least partly because it we have not made the message clear. So they think, “Whatever they are doing has nothing to do with me.”
Third, we come across to the world as an ingrown culture. To them, we have our own jargon, we exist in our own little world. They think they wouldn’t be welcome, even if they were interested
Fourth, too often we are seen by the world as a people who argue over the strangest things: doctrines they don’t understand; the type of music that is sung in the church; the length of hair, and skirts; and whether or not to wear ties in worship.
Fifth, they see us as people to whom tradition is more important than sharing our message in a relevant way. Tradition can help hold people together, but many times we let our traditions get in the way.

What can be done? How does a church overcome these perceptions? To get past these things the people in the church first have to want to. We must decide whether it is more important to do things the way we like them, or to reassess the things we do and aim our efforts at doing what Jesus told us to do, make disciples, and make the changes necessary to reveal our wonderful Savior to a new generation.

It may sound brutal but it is true is that many of us are flat-out selfish when it comes to our church. We would rather watch our neighbor go to hell than have to change things in their church. Can anyone tell me, what Jesus is going to say about this?

Why is Church Membership Important?

This seems like a strange thing for a Church of God (Anderson, IN) pastor to write about. After all, we like to say, rather proudly, that we don't have formal church membership. Meaning we don't hand out membership cards at our churches. We like to tell people that the only way they can join is to become a follower of Jesus. While I agree with all that, I think it is important to realize that, with or without a certificate, it means something to be part of a church. There are certain things that persons should be able to expect from their church home. By the same token, there are things that church should be able to expect of its people.

But, before I get to that, let me assert that it is God's intention for we Christians to walk together as we walk with the Lord. Jesus brought His followers together and gave them the assignment to be witnesses of His life, death, and resurrection to the rest of the world. It is apparent from scripture that He always intended for His followers to work together; to be a Family; a People; a Nation. I defy you to find any "lone wolf" Christians in the New Testament. As unhandy, messy, and even heartbreaking as it can be at times, we are to do the Christian life together so we can fulfill the mission Jesus gave us.

So what should church members expect from their church? I can think of four major, reasonable expectations:
1. To encounter God through vibrant times of worship, dynamic interaction with God's Word, and loving relationships with the people of the church.
2. To be cared and prayed for, by trustworthy people with whom they share their lives, and who, along with a pastoral staff, encourage them through all the seasons of life.
3. To have opportunities to find their special gifts from God, and use them in helping the church fulfill its mission.
4. To enjoy being part of the great things God is doing both in, and through the church.

On the other hand the church should expect these things from its people:
1. To be fully committed to following Jesus Christ by seeking to grow in him, and serve his purposes.
2. To be regular in attendance, and financial support of the ministry of the church. As Jesus put it, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
3. To follow the leadership of the pastor, and pray God's guidance, and blessing upon him/her.
4. To participate in a small group or class to grow in knowledge of Christ, and share His love.
5. To volunteer time, and use spiritual gifts to advance the mission of the church.

Church members, brothers and sisters in Christ, need to be able to count on each other for mutual support. The Lord should find us faithful to Him, and His work. Finally, the lost and dying world, whether or not it is aware of it, needs each of us to do our part to share the saving love of Christ with it.