Hope For the Church (Part 1) The Price the Pastor Must Pay

The truth is a lot of local churches in North America have a very uncertain future. The state leader of the church group with which I am associated estimates that as many as 90% of our churches are plateaued or declining. He is afraid that many of them are in grave danger. Some of them can’t see it; others see it, but think that somehow it will just get better. These congregations just keep doing things they always have and wish for better days to return, instead they of facing their problems and taking steps to overcome them. It is tempting to give up hope on such local churches.

I think there is a lot of hope for the church, but some things have to change for that hope to be more than a wish. Some prices have to be paid by both the pastor and the congregation. These are emotional as well as financial prices. Churches need to check their priorities and make sure that they are God’s priorities for His church. Even though it’s hard, there has to be a willingness to adopt new methods to deliver the old Gospel. The church needs an agile organization that can adapt to opportunities. Finally, congregations must get an idea of how they are perceived by the community they wish to win for Christ.

I’m going to deal with hope for the church in my next several blog postings. Since he should be the key leader to get the congregation off a plateau or turn it around from a decline, I want to start with the pastor.

The Price the Pastor Must Pay if there is Hope for the Church:

Many years ago C. Peter Wagner said that the first thing a church needs if it wants to grow is a pastor who wants the church to grow and is willing to pay the price. That’s still true. Pastor, do you want your church to grow? Now, don’t answer too fast. Growing churches are a lot of work! New people can bring messy lives into the fellowship. Change is a challenge for long-time members. You may have to learn some things and stretch yourself to lead a growing church. Here is a short, non-exhaustive list of the prices a pastor has to pay to lead the church he serves off a plateau or to recover from decline:

1. The pastor must completely and continually yield himself to being the pastor God wants him to be. Being God’s kind of pastor must be what your heart is set on, and what your life and ministry are built around. Only two things can come before your commitment to God’s vision for the church: your personal relationship with God and your relationship with your family.
2. The pastor must train himself. Even if you have an advanced seminary degree, you may not know what you need to know to lead a church in this crucial time. Fortunately, we live in a day when books, on-line courses, seminars, and other training opportunities abound. Maybe what you need is to get someone who has led a turnaround church to coach you through the process.
3. Get God’s vision for the church you are serving. It’s not as hard as it may sound. You know the outcome he wants: make disciples. To get His vision for your situation, you simply ask him, “Given my gifts and talents and the talents and gifts of our people, how can our church make disciples of people in this community? Who should we try to reach first? What can we do to deliver the Gospel to them in a way that is relevant to their lives and that they will accept?
4. Work hard. You know what I mean. A rut can be comfortable because you don’t have to dig. If you’re leading a turnaround, you will be building some new roads. It takes work!
5. Lead the congregation. Don’t be satisfied with maintaining status quo. Lead the church to fulfill the Great Commission in your local community with your ideas and your teaching. God called you there to be the leader. This may be news to some of the people in your church, so be prepared to deal with opposition. Remember you are doing God’s assignment, not your own.
6. Stay there long enough to see the vision fulfilled. If you start making progress, other congregations will hear of it and want you to be their pastor. Make sure you have completed God’s assignment at the church you’re now serving before you entertain a move.

The Business of the Church

Several years ago, when I was working on a management degree, an instructor asked our class “What business are you in?” At first I thought that his question didn’t really apply to me, because I was a pastor. I took these management courses to help me lead the church better, but I wasn’t really in business. But the teacher continued by saying, “By business I mean this: at the core, in simplest terms, what is your business all about? Why are your doors open? Why have you hung out a sign?” Then he went around the room asking each person. What in the world was I going to say? Most of the others were in the automobile business, so they were answering things like, making cars, providing safe transportation, or making cars more efficient, or more fun, something like that. I didn’t really listen very well because I was trying to figure out what I could say when he finally got to me. Finally it came to me, one important word—relationships. The business of the church is relationships. Jesus was asked a similar question once. When someone asked which of God’s commandments is the greatest, he was actually asking Jesus what all his teaching was really about. Remember what Jesus answered? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Therefore, what we Christ’s followers are to be about is spreading love by building relationships. In the church we endeavor to:

1. Bring people to a relationship with the Lord through faith in His Son in which they find love, forgiveness, and new life.
2. Bring people into a fellowship relationship with God’s family, the Church.

It is not enough to think of the church as a place where we simply sing songs of praise, preach and teach. What we are to be doing is encouraging full-fledged relationships between people and God and between God’s people. We can’t be just a sign post that tells about God or even a lighthouse that warns of danger. We must be a loving family: a family that loves the Father; loves our brothers and sisters; and constantly encourages more brothers and sisters to join us.

So church, how’s business these days?

Called to a Higher Standard

Last week our country breathed a sigh of relief when our Navy SEALS found and killed the terrorist, Usama Bin Laden. People all over the Western world took to the streets to celebrate the death of the wicked man. There is no question that he was a bad guy and it is good thing for our way of life that he is no longer on the scene. I’m glad he is no longer a threat. I wish the problem of Usama could have been solved another way. No, I wasn’t rooting for him to be arrested. I wish he had had a change of heart. I wish he would have sought the forgiveness of Jesus and repented of his very wicked ways. I know this sounds pretty pie-in-the-sky, but Jesus came to make pie-in-the-sky possible. After all, my sins have been forgiven, and I repented of my sins. Granted, the sins of the 12 year-old I was when I repented were rather paltry compared to the barbarity of Usama. However, my sins were worthy of the same penalty as his: “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23. So he could have been forgiven by God. I wonder if he could have been forgiven by the rest of us. This is where the rubber meets the road in Christianity. Jesus made Himself very clear in regard to this. In His great Sermon on the Mount he asserted:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)

Since Jesus lived among us and as one of us, He knew this would be difficult for you and me. Rejoicing at the death of an enemy and the desire for revenge are natural instincts for human beings. However, Jesus calls His followers to live at a level above animal instinct and human society. He calls us to be like Him and to go “the second mile” in regard to forgiveness in our relationships. Jesus knew that the alternative to forgiveness would accomplish nothing good. Actually the standard set in the New Testament for Christ followers is very demanding.

“Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. ‘I'll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I'll take care of it.’ Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.” Romans 12:17-21 (MsgB)

It seems so illogical to us until we see it from Jesus’ perspective. He knows that continuing to hate your enemy succeeds only in multiplying hateful people. Here’s how: if you are offended or hurt by someone and you choose to retaliate, the act of retaliation can transform you and fill you with hate. Further, retaliation can often cause a group of friends to choose up sides for a fight. If you are a parent full of hate, you can saddle your children with your hatred. We see that carried to the extreme in the ethnic hatred of certain parts of the globe. It is being bred now in the Middle East toward us, and I fear among us toward them.

Jesus knew loving your enemies would be difficult. and that it would make you different. Jesus’ way takes courage and more. It takes self-control, forbearance (making the choice not to retaliate even when it is justified), forgiveness, and God’s kind of love. This is what it is to be truly holy, to be a citizen of His Kingdom, and a mature child of God.

I salute the SEALS that courageously did what had to be done to put Mr. Bin Laden out of the terror business. They did a tough job that was necessary. I just wish that somehow it would not have been necessary. Bin Laden chose to pull the tiger’s tail and he found the tiger had teeth. We can only speculate what other consequences he is now discovering.

As Christ-followers we need to remember what Jesus meant when he said:

"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. In a word, what I'm saying is, grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Matthew 5:43-48 (MsgB)

Is Jesus Angry at Your Church?

Is Jesus Angry at your church?

What makes Jesus angry? Who ticked him off?

Now if you are saying at this point that Jesus was perfect so he never got angry, I will say to you that you have not read the Gospels very carefully. Jesus was like his Father, both can get mad. (The Old Testament would call it wrathful. My Sunday school teachers called it righteous indignation.)

The people who set Jesus off were not the usual suspects, thieves, prostitutes, corrupt officials, or even Roman oppressors. Surely, he didn’t care for their actions, but he was very slow to condemn them because he didn’t think of them as “the damned.” He looked at them as people who needed to find forgiveness, hope, and the love of God. The people who set him off, he called “vipers” (Matthew 12:34 & 23:33) and “whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27). They were those who called themselves religious, and made it difficult for others to come into relationship with God.

So what would make him cross if he walked into your community and your church today? I think he would be heartbroken at the sin he saw, just as he was in the 1st century. He would walk around and observe our world and see how far it falls short of God’s plan. Jesus would be moved by the heartache people cause each other and themselves by their own actions and attitudes. Then he would visit the churches. At some he would be encouraged to see people sharing His love with others. He would be excited to see people finding hope and salvation and becoming disciples. But I’m afraid that would happen in only a very few churches.

I am afraid that what he would see in most churches might make him blow his cork. Suppose he saw some of these things that occur in most of our churches:
 Church people who put there own comforts and preferences (type of building, style of music, mode of dress, etc.), ahead of fulfilling his commission to make disciples.
 Church people who think it is their job to “control the pastor.”
 Church people who refuse to make friends with people who don’t know Christ and even avoid meaningful relationships with them.
 Church people who don’t participate in welcoming newcomers to the church.
 Church people who exclude new people from the true fellowship of the church.
 Church people who seem to think they have the gift of criticism.
 Pastors who are lazy and refuse to lead their congregations.
 Pastors who don’t set the example of developing relationships with non-Christians.
 Pastors who keep themselves and their people so busy on “church stuff” that they have no time left for meeting friends who don’t know Christ and developing friendships that might lead to making new disciples.
 Pastors and churches that are unprepared for the unchurched to show up.
 Church people and pastors who plan to “do evangelism” when they get time, or money, or around to it, instead of recognizing that bringing people to Christ is the whole reason the church exists, and that it needs to be done now and always.

These guesses come from what I read of Jesus in the New Testament. I wonder what Jesus would say and do if he had the attention of churches today. I do know this, many churches have died and many more are dying. Could this be because they are not what Jesus has in mind? What would he say and do to your church? By the way, how is it doing? Growing? Plateauing? Declining? More than that, how are you doing? How many people have you brought to the Lord? With how many potential Christians do you have a relationship? Are you doing the task he gave us to do?

How the Bible Changes You

Why is the Bible the most important book in the story of western civilization? Answers might include: it was the first book ever printed and the all-time best seller; it is the source for the morals and the laws of nations; it tells the story of God’s relationship with people who believe in Him from the beginning of the world; and believers in Jesus say it projects that relationship through the end of the world. But there is a deeper answer to why the Bible is so important: the message of the Bible changes lives. Individuals have been and are transformed by what it says. Millions testify to that fact. Then, how does it do it? How does it work? How can this old book change you? The Bible itself gives us four clues to how it changes lives:
Clue 1. The Bible is like a lamp.

“I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:104-105 (NIV)

Like a light in darkness it points out danger. The Bible shows the consequences of sin and mistakes, and warns you when you’re getting off course. Careful study of the Word of God will show you if you are drifting into sin and sound loud alarms that you can choose to heed and thereby avoid many sorrows and difficulties. In addition, the light that the Word gives provides security like a lighthouse or a street light. It testifies that God is nearby and ready to guide you, help you and keep you safe.

Clue 2. The teachings of the Bible work like seeds sown in a field. Jesus told a great story, usually called “The Parable of the Sower” (Mark 4:1-20). In it He likens the Word of God to seed a farmer sows in his field. It is all good seed that falls onto a variety of soil conditions. Some lives are like a hard-packed path through the middle of a farmer’s field. They need to be broken before the seed can take root. The hard events that come in life can break a person’s spirit and ruin him/her or difficult times can be used to break a life like a plow breaks ground for planting. A young friend of mine took a break from college to participate in a year-long inner-city mission program. One day in the third week of the program he got mugged running an errand to a convenience store. He had signed on to learn to help people by living and working among them; assault was not part of the program. It would have been easy for him to call it quits and go home to his safe little home town. Instead, he dove into his Bible study and he let the injury, the fear, the anger serve to bring brokenness to his life that enabled God’s Word to grow him in ways he had not anticipated. Other people are like rocky ground in that their knowledge and their commitments are shallow. They have never let the Word take root and grow down deep. Still others say they want to be close to God, but they are distracted by the things of the world like money and material things. They are like ground that needs weeding. The Bible will do that by helping him/her to learn right priorities. However, most folks are good ground and the Word takes root and grows. They learn God’s plan and spend their lives following it. Which soil are you?

Clue 3. The Bible works like a sword.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes about the armor of faith that the Holy Spirit provides for Christ-follower (Eph. 6:13-17). He concludes his description with these words, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” He calls the Word of God a sword in the Christ-follower’s hand. Using the metaphor of a sword demonstrates that the Word not only defends you from Satan’s attacks, but also enables you to take the battle to Satan. The author of Hebrews also likens Scripture to a sword:

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

Only the Great Physician can perform surgery with a sword, but that is exactly what the Scripture itself says happens. God uses the Bible to cut away the things that are harmful and don’t belong in your life.

Clue 4.The Bible can help us the way a mirror does.
James gives us one more clue as to how the Bible can change you when you apply what it says.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25 (NIV)

Before I leave the house I always check myself in the mirror and many times I have to wash my face, change my shirt, or comb my hair. What I saw in the mirror saved me from embarrassment. The Word prevents embarrassment because, as you study it, you get a clearer picture of who you are and what your behavior looks like to the Lord. Checking yourselves out with the Bible lets you not only see yourselves as you are, but also to see what you can become when you remain close to the Lord. Knowing the Word of God is imperative for every Christ-follower. As James says, it is not enough just to hear it, but it must be allowed to do its work in your life. I am sorry to say that I have known many people who have attended church for many years, who know very little of what the Bible says. They have heard of the Bible and they have had interpretations spoon-fed to them, but they have never allowed it to change them. They stay on baby food. This causes problems for them because they are missing out on many things God wants to share with them. It often causes problems for churches if they become influential in a congregation. They are called on to make decisions and get behind efforts that they don’t understand, because they don’t know the Word. So the Bible can change you whether you are a new believer or you came to faith a long time ago. It works to shape you into the person God created you to be.

God Calls You to be Fruitful

What is your life producing? I am particularly asking Christians. What is the result of your relationship with Christ? You are going to heaven, and that is an incredible, underserved, unearned blessing because of His love for you. But is your relationship with Him producing anything for those around you? They are our concern. Jesus himself made them our concern. He made it clear that we are not only rescued from hell for our own good, but also for the good of others. On the night when He was crucified He took time to tell His disciples this:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:1-8 (NIV)

Get it? Jesus is the vine. God is the gardener. Christ followers are the branches, and it is God’s intention for us to be fruitful. The symbol Jesus chose for this metaphor is the grapevine. I think that is significant because grapevines are not grown for ornamentation. Well, perhaps someone might put a small grape arbor in his yard for show, but in the time and place Jesus was speaking, growing grapes was not for fun, but for profit. The whole idea was that the vine would bear fruit. It was not planted for Tarzan to swing from, but for him to get grapes from. The fruit on a grapevine does not just fall into the gardener’s (God’s) lap; neither does it grow on the vine itself (Jesus). Branches (Christ followers) are the means the grapevine uses to produce fruit. Bearing fruit is expected of branches (Christ followers).

To enable the branches to produce more and better grapes the gardener prunes, or cuts back the branches. The pruning of grapes is radical. A freshly pruned grapevine looks quite bare. The non-producing branches are lopped off and burned as trash. Sounds pretty harsh, but it’s Jesus’ metaphor, not mine. The branches that are left are the ones that produce, are close to the vine and resemble the vine. The only way to produce fruit is for the branch to remain in the vine and the only way for you and I to produce fruit is for us to remain in Jesus. Our major concern should be to stay close to Jesus and become more and more like Him.

The Holy Spirit aids us in this. He keeps us close, and enables us to produce fruit for the Gardner. If we remain in Him we will obey Him and grow fruit. What does this fruit look like? The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:22 that remaining in the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So this fruit affects our inner lives and how we treat others. But there is more to the fruit that Jesus expects us to produce.

New followers are the ripe fruit. We are to help people become disciples. Too often Christians have stopped short. They want to do good and be good, but they seem to forget why. Doing good and being good are like buds on the vine. The fruit comes from the bud, but the mature fruit is people believing in Christ and choosing to follow Him because of your words and deeds. It seems to me that way too many of us have settled for producing buds. Buds are not fruit, they are promises. Our Gardener expects fruit. Producing fruit—helping people find Jesus—is not optional. If you expect God to recognize you as a disciple, produce fruit. “… by their fruit you will recognize them” Matthew 7:20 (NIV). It is not as hard as we often make it out to be. Let people know you and see Jesus in you. Instead of pushing sinners away, learn to love them as Jesus did. There are no excuses good enough. The world is headed to hell. More specifically, the guy you work next to, the woman across the street, the guy that checks you out at the grocery store are headed for hell. They need God’s love, hope and salvation, whether or not they know that is their need. They need you to show them the way. God has given you the assignment: bear fruit.

How is the harvest? Who has found new life in Christ because of you? Who is closer to Christ because of you? Has your life influenced people toward Christ? Does your life attract people to the Lord? Is the Gardner picking a big bunch of grapes from your branch?

Is Your Church Like a Toys R Us or the Post Office?

Before Christmas my wife and I made the trip that every grandparent of year-old twins must make. We went to Toys R Us to look for some fun presents. I hadn’t been in a toy store since our son, the twin’s father, was the toy receiver in our family. When we entered the store, someone asked us if we needed help, which was to be expected. Soon another employee offered to help us. I began to think we must have looked lost, which we were, but we declined the help. Not two minutes later someone else asked us if there was something she could show us. A minute or two later another employee, I think it was the manager, asked if they could help us find something in particular. This happened about 10 times in the 40 minutes or so we were in the store. Frankly, I was impressed. The store was not jammed, but it was busy. (There were about 10 shopping days until Christmas.) They clearly wanted our business.

A few weeks after Christmas, I went to a post office in a neighboring town to mail a few packages. I send packages often, so I had everything needed and ready and I thought I would be in and out of there pretty fast. But I had never been to this particular post office. I stood in line (I have never been a patient line stander) while the two clerks moved at what seemed to me to be a glacial pace. There were only four people ahead of me, and their transactions didn’t seem complicated. The clerks simply moved slowly and made a lot of small talk. At one point a man who looked like a supervisor came out to the counter area, and I thought he was going to step up to one of the unused workstations and help serve the line of people, which had by now reached out of the door. Instead, he just stood there. He didn’t say anything to the clerks, he didn’t help them, and he didn’t help us. Then another man came out and stood next to him, joining him in looking at the line of impatient customers. None of the post office employees seemed to care that their customers were dissatisfied.

What is the difference? I think it is primarily this: the people at Toys R Us were very aware that they were not the only place that this grandpa could buy gifts for his grandkids. On the other hand, the post office personnel were just as aware that they were pretty much the only place in that town where I could send my packages. Toys R Us wanted their customers to be happy and satisfied. The post office (at least that particular post office) didn’t care if the customers were happy or satisfied.

Some churches act like the post office. They act like they are the only place people can go to worship, and don’t seem to care if new people come. Their concern for visitors and prospective members is very low. They have their church and their salvation. “Let the others find their own,” is the attitude they project. People can’t find a place to park? Who cares? The toilets are dirty, ugly, out of style, and /or hard to find? Let them use the bathroom at home. The nursery is inadequately staffed? Who cares? I took care of my own kids. I didn’t need a nursery?

Other churches are like Toys R Us. If people come anywhere near their church they do anything they can to make them feel welcome and do whatever they can to serve them. Visitor parking is near the door and clearly marked. The bathrooms are clean and easy to find. The nursery is beautifully decorated and staffed by competent, smiling people. They have people who actually talk to newcomers and are interested in seeing newcomers become members. The whole church makes it easy for a new person to decide to make that church their home.

Take a look at your church this Sunday. Remember this, the things that bug people at a place like the post office, like lack of attention and apathetic service, also bother people who are looking for a church. Watch what happens at your church. If you are the pastor, get somebody to be your spy. Try to get the feel for what it would be like to come to your church for the first time. Take note of how welcome you would feel if you were the newcomer. Then, declare yourself a committee of one to do what you can to make people feel welcome at your church. Asking to help me was not the primary job of everyone at Toy-R-Us, but they certainly knew it was important, and all of them did what they could to make sure I had a good experience. What are you doing to make sure your church visitors have a good experience when they visit your church?