Stopping Time

As we turn the calendar page to a new year, some of us think we would like to stop time. Perhaps, if 2010 was a great year for you, it would be great if 2011 was just the same. For the rest of us, the possibility that 2011 will be different, and maybe even an improvement, makes us anxious for it to begin. I think there are times when everyone would like for time to stop. Each of us have years, months, weeks, day, even moments, that are so sweet we want them to go on forever. Like when she said, “I do”, or you hit the game-winning home run.

I can think of times like that for me: college days when there was so much to learn and more pretty girls than there were Saturday nights; when my wife and I set out on the great adventure of life with nothing but dreams; those wonderful summers I got to teach my son to love baseball and to play it with all his heart; the day the new church building opened, signifying not only the culmination of many dreams and lots of work, but also the potential for many, many lives to be changed. I could go on, but that would be fun only for me.

The fact of the matter is that time doesn’t stop. No matter how much we wish it would. Sweet, inspiring, important times can never be caught and held on to. We get to keep the memories, but time moves on. It is easy to forget that as it moves, it can bring more amazing moments which we would miss if time was held back.

As I get older, I find the temptation is greater to try to hold back time. (I prefer listening to the classic hits radio stations, and I sometimes find myself watching old TV shows and movies on Hulu.com.) But as great as the old times seem, they are passed, and it is dangerous to let them get in the way of new and wonderful things God wants to do in and through me. He isn’t done with the world, or with me, or with the part I am to play in it. So, I will do my best to approach 2011 with great anticipation, high expectation, and courage. That is the choice I have made. Not always easy. If I choose to live as if time were stopped, I am taking the reins of my life out of God’s hands. That is something I never want to do.

That brings me to a most troubling observation. I am seeing many evangelical churches doing their best to stop time. They have determined that there was a golden age for their congregation and they want to stay there, or go back to it. This is disturbing because the world that Jesus assigned us to reach is moving headlong into the future. Surveys of young people (Unchurched by Kinnamen and Lyons ) are finding the church to be irrelevant to their lives and to their futures. They see the church as something for old people. I think this is largely due to the fact that churches do their best to stop time.

I have seen this happen over the years of my ministry. At first, I didn’t understand what was happening. I thought the church was trying to guard the purity of Christianity. As I became older, and, I hope, wiser, I began to realize that what was being guarded was most often tradition, and/or the good old days, at the expense of doing the mission of the church.

I knew one church that had an open road to become a very influential beacon of God’s love and hope in the community, but it decided that it was big enough at about 120 attenders. They chose to spend their money to pay off their rather small mortgage rather than invest in timely opportunities for the future. As a consequence, 28 years later, the church sits in its paid-off building with a congregation of 25, looks back to the days when the sanctuary was full and wonders what happened.

Another church was considered a very large church in the 1960s when a great man was the pastor. He retired and moved on, but the church wouldn’t move on and tried to preserve the 60s. The 120 people that meet there now are taught about the greatness of the old days.

A friend of mine who oversees about 150 churches in a state ministry told me that most of the churches in his adjudicatory are all ready for next year, if next year happens to be 1955. How sad. How heartbreaking it must be for the God who is always contemporary, whose name is “I am.”

Many congregations in His beloved church have chosen to fall behind. Perhaps those churches would feel more comfortable worshiping a God named, “I was.” I could go on, but it would only serve to bring depression. The point I want to make is that the future is open. Wonderful times are ahead, if we are alert, if we are willing, if we are living in time as it comes. This is true for individuals, and it is true for congregations.

Join me in 2011. May it be a year so great we wish it would last forever!

At Just the Right Time...

When the right time came, God sent his Son.
Galatians 4:4a (Living Bible)
Jesus came at the right time, God’s time, for the Jewish people. For centuries they had been told by prophets to watch for the special one, the Savior/Messiah from God. Each day they prayed for him to come, and some of them tried to get themselves and the Jewish nation ready for him. The Pharisees thought that if they obeyed the law of the Old Testament thoroughly enough God would send the Messiah. The time Jesus was born was a time of great expectation. Because the Jews had languished for centuries under the control of the Persians, the Greeks, and then the Romans, their desperation grew; every year they were even more sure the time was right. The stage was set in the Jewish community for the entrance of God’s Son. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus also came at the right time, God’s time, for all the rest of mankind. The Jews tended to think the Messiah would be theirs exclusively, but the Old Testament taught that he would also be a light to all the world. This was never easy for Jews to understand, not even for Jesus’ first disciples. They realized that Jesus came for the whole world only after the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, the time of Jesus’ birth has long been recognized as a pivotal time in world history. Some of the historians and observers of the day spoke of a general feeling of expectation in the entire Roman world. The Bible even gives evidence of this. The wise men were not Jews, but they must have been looking for something great to happen as they studied the stars and discovered the star that led them to Bethlehem. The Roman world was looking for something to believe in. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus came at the right time, God’s time for me. I was only twelve years old when God, using two friends just a couple of years older than me, brought Jesus into my life. Of course I knew about him before that, but that’s when he came to live in my heart. It was just the right time for me. I was trying to figure out who I was and what my life would be like. My future could have gone a lot of ways and many of them not very good. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Jesus is still coming at the right time, God’s time, for people today. There are people around us who God has been preparing for the coming of His Son to their lives. Look around. A lot of people have been shaken lately by the economy and the terror situation. The divorce rate indicates to me that a lot of people are starved for love. People are lonely, and just plain scared of dying. God wants to use us to reach them the same way he used my two friends to reach me. Even though we are by no means perfect, God wants to use us. We are his hands and feet. We are what people see of his heart. He has chosen us to be the way he loves the world. At a literally crucial (the root of “crucial” is cross) time for them as at the crossroads of their lives, they can choose a life with meaning or a meaningless existence. They can choose life or death.

This is the right time for us to share what we know about Jesus. This is a time when people are finding that other things they have trusted in are not trustworthy. Many people feel that their world has been turned upside down. This is a time when they need God’s Son to be born in their hearts. At just the right time, God sent His Son.

Growing Up or Getting Old

Christ-followers are to spend their lives growing up to be like Jesus. Check out Ephesians 4:11-13, if you don’t think so. We are to become mature. For me, that means I need to grow into my gray hair. What does it mean to become mature? How can I tell if I am getting there? First, let’s tackle that by looking at what maturity isn’t.

Maturity Is Not:
 Age – adding years makes you old, not mature
 Appearance – as lovely as gray hair is, it does not mean that you are mature
 Achievement – neither making money, nor being famous make you mature. Watch any program on the E television network, and find out.
 Academics – maturity does not come automatically with diplomas and degrees

Maturity is determined by attitude and approach to life. Maturity has to do with how you are when other people aren’t paying attention, in the moments when, and in the places where, no one else sees. What others think of you is recognition. What God and you think of you is your character.
So how can I tell if I am growing into my gray hair? How do I measure my maturity? Our measuring stick is the Word of God, and the book of James gives us five ways to measure maturity.

Five Measures of Maturity (from the Book of James)
I. A mature person is positive under pressure
"Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4
How do you handle problems? Do you persevere through them and learn from them?

II. A mature person is sensitive to others.
"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, `Love your neighbor as yourself' you are doing right." James 2:8
Mature people are empathetic, they help those in need, and they are not snobs (see James 2:1-6).

III. A mature person has mastered his mouth.
"We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James 3:2
The self-control that indicates maturity begins with tongue control (See James 3-11). Mature people praise and encourage others. They use their speech to build up, not tear down.

IV. A mature person is a peacemaker, not a troublemaker.
“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?” James 4:11-12

Truly mature people refrain from gossip and judging. They know how destructive such talk can be and they refrain from it.

V. A mature person is patient and prayerful.
"Be patient then, brothers, until the Lord's coming ... As you know, we consider blessed those who persevere." James 5:7, 11

Patience is a mark of maturity and is learned only by waiting. (Annoying, but true.) A mature Christian has learned that waiting is often part of the answer to his prayer.

So how are you doing with these marks of maturity? Are you maturing or just getting old? Are you ripening or rotting on the vine? It’s up to you, because you get to choose your attitude. Make the choice to grow up and become more and more like our big brother, Jesus.

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.