An interview with VT QB Logan Thomas

Sep 30, 2011

Networking and humility

Yesterday, I had the joy of being a part of a meeting with pastors from around the region who are interested in planting new churches. It’s hard to quash enthusiasm when the compelling vision is sharing the soul-quenching news of forgiveness with those who do not relish a relationship with God through Christ.

Also yesterday, I had the great pleasure of connecting with two pastors in Radford, VA and one in Christiansburg. Of the Radford pastors, Bret Johnson leads a newish church – Valley Bible Church, and Chris McCrary’s *brand new* church officially launches this Sunday – Love Church. I connected with Chris at Starbucks before meeting with with the Southern Baptist regional pastors. (Chris would want me to clarify that he’s not a part of the SBC.) I met Bret that evening after he shared about “The Church” at Virginia Tech’s Cru worship gathering.Â Tim Hight is the pastor at GraceLife Baptist Church in Christiansburg. Our daughters are the same age and have played Upward Basketball together.

Although neither Bret nor Chris are part of my church’s tribe of Southern Baptists, that’s pretty irrelevant to me when I encounter men who are joyfully and genuinely serving and introducing others to Jesus. One of the hopes that our church has is to network with other churches with similar ministry DNA and who clearly see benefits behind cooperative effort.

One significant requirement for leaders who wish to see a movement of God in their geographic area is one of the hardest to attain. It’s humility. Any attempt to “own” or force a work of God ultimately falls short. We’re not in charge.

Scott McKnight says:

Humility, I am suggesting, is a comprehension of who we are before God and before self and before others and before the world. When we know who we are before God, self, others, and the world, we are humble â€” and part of that comprehension is our cracked-ness. But, focusing on our cracks does not inevitably produce humility. Humility is a positive; sinfulness is a negative. We need to move beyond the negative to the positive if we are to have humility.

Humility is noted by joy, and graciousness, and love, and honor and the like.

It’s discomforting to me to constantly discover within undercurrents of self-satisfaction. They are dangerous to the soul that should be rooted in Christ. These undertows are more powerful than we realize, because in a moment, we can be sucked out to the sea of self-consummation.

That’s why networking and genuine friendships in ministry are essential. I truly believe it’s urgently important for pastors to cultivate open, honest relationships with leaders outside their church. We need one another. As we share, celebrate and whine together with other leaders, we are reminded that the Church is His and not ours.

What is possible when the people of God humble themselves and seek His face is beyond estimation.

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Sep 19, 2011

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Will the missional church fail?

Mike Breen, one of the leaders of 3DM, has a compelling article titled Why the Missional Movement Will Fail. In it, Breen explains that the reason is that emphasizes doing over being, mission over discipleship.

I don’t know if it’s a fair evaluation. To level the charge that churches with the label of missional do not embrace discipleship is arbitrary. I know of traditional, contemporary, liturgical, emergent and more churches that do not prize the making of disciples. And of course, there are churches in all those categories that do.

However, I totally agree with Breen’s ultimate assessment that a church that misses the mark on making disciples can’t claim to be on mission with Jesus.

The missional movement will fail because, by-and-large, we are having a discussion about mission devoid of discipleship. Unless we start having more discussion about discipleship and how we make missionaries out of disciples, this movement will stall and fade. Any discussion about mission must begin with discipleship.

What are your thoughts?

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Sep 15, 2011

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Wrong worship

Jeremy Hart called my attention to this video. It’s a humorous look at self-centered worship – at least at first. By the end of the video, I was grimacing, because I fear that too often my own worship is remarkably similar. Thoughts?

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Jul 27, 2011

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You’re too young

Our church here in Blacksburg, Virginia has seen growth in the last two years. It’s exciting, humbling and at times discouraging.

How can great growth be discouraging, you may ask? Well, when the faucet is turned on all the way, and the water is flowing, you sometimes don’t notice that there are small leaks. We’ve had that in our church amid the growth. Though many are being poured in, and the enthusiasm of new faces, transformation and joy captures our attention, we are also aware of a slow trickle of folks exiting our church.

I had a conversation with someone recently who is leaving our church, and he was gracious and kind enough to visit with me and affirmed our leadership and our church. He and his family are long-time members of our church (about 5-6 years in an eight year-old church). They joined our church from another church in the area a few years after it started. The growth of the last two years has caused some concern for him.

Since I’ve been pastor, we’ve heard different reasons for people who have chosen to exit our church for others:

The sermons are too long.
The music is too loud.
It doesn’t seem like the kind of church you can raise your family in.
Not enough children’s ministry.
You’re not organized enough.

Those are most of the reasons we’ve heard.

One of the most baffling, however, is one that we hear a lot: You’re becoming a “college church.”

You see, we’ve been seeing exponential growth among our college student and graduate student population. I would think that’s to be expected in a town where Virginia Tech dominates the landscape and local politics. It’s a campus of almost 30,000, and I would hope that a church in its shadow is reaching its staff and students. While our growth has been steady in many demographics (we’re not successfully reaching new people who are 60+), the college and graduate student population of our church has grown at a faster rate than others.

So our church is growing “younger,” percentage-wise.

This was the underlying reason for the man I visited with, though he also said that his family wanted something more “traditional” and more “stable.” Both are fair desires.

In our community, there is lots of transition. It does get exhausting, and at times, disheartening to pour yourself into someone’s life only to have that person or family move in 2-3 years. Then you start over and do it again. And again. I can understand the desire for a more consistent and stable church experience.

On the other hand, I personally have also been around churches that only grow as a result of a fight at another church. They aren’t reaching the younger generations. They aren’t developing new leaders. They are essentially shuffling sheep and satisfied with status quo. You won’t find yourself on a leadership board or committee there unless you’ve been there for years.

I know of churches that are dying for young people. Literally. Their congregation is graying, and as much as they want young adults, they’re not prepared to make the adjustments and sacrifices that a vibrant ministry to and with people in their 20s and 30s requires.

It’s a strange, surreal situation that we’re in. People are leaving us because we’re too young.

I wish we had more older adults with the vision of teaching the younger adults what it looks like to walk in humble, obedient joy with Jesus. I think it’s a beautiful gift that one generation can give to another. I also think it’s biblical and intentional.

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done. (Psalm 78.4)

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come. (Psalm 71-17-18)

I think the point is that wisdom generally comes with age and is meant to be passed on. Wherever there’s young people, there is immense opportunity to leave a legacy of faith, obedience and righteousness. You may have to sacrifice stability and comfort in order to invest in young people.

On the other hand, we have consistent leadership discussions in our church about how to encourage and minister to older adults as well. We ask how a church that is reaching young adults can also appeal and reach out to the older adults in its community. We have no concrete answers at present, but we are praying consistently that God would bring older adults with a vision of discipling others – both old and young – into our fellowship.

What are your thoughts?

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Jun 30, 2011

Churchplanting123.com

For those of you unaware, I’ve started a new website in cooperation with the venerable Darrell Cook. It’s called churchplanting123.com, and it’s already had 5-6 hits! We’re sure that it will bog down the internet as it goes viral.

CP123 will be a collection of extremely helpful (tongue-in-cheek) videos designed to encourage church planters and leaders. It’s an irreverend and irreverent look at the world of modern church planting and religion. We’ve shot two episodes on our Spain trip so far. Stop by the site and let us know what you think… Or not.

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Jun 5, 2011

Read the book, people.

The March/April issue of Outreach Magazine listed six insights from interviews with Christians in America during 2010 (conducted by the Barna Group):

The Christian church is becoming less theologically literate.
Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian church.
The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

I’d hardly describe these as earth-shattering insights. Some of them I would downright contest. I think Bradley Wright (see review here) has done an excellent job at exposing shoddy research practices and misinterpretation of statistics and surveys. The Barna Group was one of those he singled out in his book.

However, #1 above is a definite issue that I’ve had repeated personal experience with. And because Christians are theologically illiterate, we see things like this taking place.

Read the book, people.

Which of the above list ring true to you, and which would you disagree with?

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May 20, 2011

Don’t get hell wrong

Francis Chan released a video today that powerfully promotes a book he’s currently working on about hell. It is obviously a response to Rob Bell’s controversial book about hell called Love Wins. I can’t help but think of the words of Ecclesiastes 12.11-12:

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

However, Chan’s video is a powerful one. I’d encouraged you to watch it. He shares Isaiah 55.8-9 in the video:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

He urges us to quit thinking we think like God thinks. Every time we say, “But God wouldn’t…” or “I can’t believe in a God who would…” we demonstrate our proclivity to aspire to godhood. We essentially set our own logic above the Creator’s, and we attempt to make Him subject to natural and physical “laws” which exist only because He instituted them. Our pride refuses to bow to His preeminence.

This issue of hell, Chan soberly reminds us, is not something we – or those who don’t yet know Christ as Savior and Lord – can afford to get wrong. He urges us to pray for him as he is writing, studying and searching the scriptures for this book project. I will be. His book Crazy Love remains on my short list of impacting books of the past 10 years and has been a great encouragement. Let’s pray that this next work will be a significant contribution and may be used by the Lord as a scripturally-centered “last word” for this generation on the issue.

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Apr 23, 2011

Invite someone to your church for Easter

We’re so excited about the opportunity and joy of proclaiming Christ’s resurrection tomorrow! Are you?!

Did you know that studies have shown that almost 80% of people would come to church if they received a personal invitation?

However, according to this article last year, less than 1/3 of Christians are regularly inviting people.

Consider this statement from an article titled:

Invite a Friend to Church for Easter â€“ ProbablyÂ Not

Itâ€™s not that we donâ€™t want unchurched people to come to church. We do. If asked, most of us will say we are for it. But, we donâ€™t want to be the ones to do it. We donâ€™t actually want to ask someone to come to church with us. Weâ€™re afraid to invite someone to church. Which likely means weâ€™re also afraid to share our faith and tell them about Jesus.

Thatâ€™s problematic considering that surveys regularly report that somewhere between 80% and 90% of all new Christians first came to church because they were personally invited by a friend or relative.
To put that in perspective, advertising such as direct mail regularly accounts for less than 2% of all new people. A pastorâ€™s invitation is around 6%. Evangelism programs like the Alpha Project weigh in at about 6% as well.

All of which means that the personal invitation of a friend or family member is the single most effective way of getting someone to come to church, let alone introducing them to the Christian faith.

Sadly, only a third of all Christians feel up to doing that. The rest seem willing to leave it to the pastor or a direct mail advertising blitz. (Source)

It’s not too late. Pick up the phone. Go across the street. Send a personal email. At the very least, post something on Facebook.

He is Risen! Your friends and our world wait to see credible, joyful evidence in our lives!

I know many of you will be traveling, and it will be hard to invite a friend to church when you will not be present. But that simply means…Â there’s another Sunday coming! Invite them to Jesus. Invite them into His presence with others. That’s church.

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Feb 18, 2011

Building vs. Planting, Part 7 or Killing turfism by loving the lawn

Church planting may actually be one of the primary tools that we can use to kill the sinful selfish desire for achievement, recognition, or status.

The quote above was how I ended the last entry in this series of whether to expand and continue to build existing churches or to plant new ones. We need both. However, the series has been intended to help encourage established churches and ministries to think broader than their own locales and “town takeovers for the Gospel.” It’s not wrong to grow and continually expand, but I’ve hoped to create and contribute to the responsibility we have to plant churches and new works with the same intentionality that we give to growing existing ministries.

With that said, so many are now on board with planting new churches – here and overseas – that at times we must resemble a pinball machine that has multiple metal balls in play at the same time. We’re bouncing into one another, with no predetermined strategy of communication or cooperation.

The consistent message of the past 15 years has been heard. Churches and ministries – and even disconnected individuals – are planting churches. The message has created momentum. But I fear that our momentum is often misguided and may actually in many cases become an errant missile – a WMD – that could harm unity and harmony in the overall body of Christ.

Within the past year, just in our vicinity, we’ve had multiple well-publicized new ministries come to the area. Some have been church plants; one is a missions ministry. I welcome all. I’m grateful to be a co-laborer for the Gospel of Christ with each.

As a pastor in the area, I’m constantly praying and preaching against our tendency as churches to be zealous and jealous for only our locales or individual ministries. It’s easy to preach and difficult to internalize. Established churches, as I’ve mentioned in other articles in this series, tend to resist “new kids on the block” for fear of them stealing sheep or detracting from their own growth. This is turfism at its finest.

I believe one of the issues that creates a turf-minded mentality in existing ministries is the often accurate perception of new ministries and churches of their lack of love for the lawn. Paul in 1 Corinthians describes the church universal as the “body of Christ.” We all have a part to play. Jesus in his last recorded prayer before the cross in John 17 prayed for his followers to be unified. Yet we seem intent to stake out small areas of the larger lawn and only fertilize and work them. The result is a brown and green patchwork quilt of kingdom influence.

It’s odd then, when a new church or ministry comes to an area without a word of extended hand of fellowship with existing ministries. The resulting impression is that they don’t care that there are other Christ-exalting, Gospel-saturated works in the area they’re moving to. In larger cities, many churches and organizations seem almost to do a paratrooper church plant as if they’re dropping in behind enemy lines in the dead of night. At times, existing ministries are treated as treasonous rather than allies.

On the flip side, existing ministry and church leaders don’t reach out to new leaders and fellowships very well either. They are skeptical, uncertain and honestly, busy. We don’t do networking or cooperation very well. That problem is compounded when the new works move in without a word of fellowship (or warning). Walls are built; doubts go deep; the lawn begins to have isolated green spots of growth with obvious brown separations between.

Considering that our church has a goal of planting new churches, we’ve watched and have taken to heart how we feel when new ministries come to town as we prepare for the future. Here are a few short thoughts if you are a new ministry, in a new area:

Before arriving, communicate well ahead of time. Send emails or letters to churches and ministries in the area describing your vision, your testimony, background and calling for the new area. It’s important for context.
During your first month in the area, as tempting as it may be to focus only on “the task at hand,” put yourself out there. Drop by existing churches and ministries. Arrange coffee connections. In traditional churches, we call it the “right hand of Christian fellowship.” But perhaps the biblical precedent is to “greet one another with a holy kiss.”
Don’t allow your frenetic focus to detract from wider fellowship. You’ll be intensely busy surviving and working hard in the first several months. Remember, God has given you the wider body for encouragement, renewal, accountability and resources.
You may be surprised to discover that existing churches/ministries will actually help you if you build a relationship with their leaders. Don’t be afraid to ask for insight, wisdom, perspective and even resources. You’re new, after all. Pick the brains of pastors and leaders for context in your new community.
Keep reaching out. You may feel rebuffed at first by some or many. As a newish pastor in a new area myself (a year and a half), I too have felt the frustration of a lack of fellowship among other churches. (I was in my previous area for 14 years.) Don’t let that discourage you. Be an example of someone thirsty for unity, fellowship and cooperation. Your desire will eventually be rewarded by some rich friendships and opportunities for fellowship with others. But don’t fool yourself; some churches don’t cooperate with anyone.
Don’t grow your own by putting others down. I wrote a few weeks ago about the danger of insulting the bride of Christ. It’s hard to build up when you’re busy tearing down. It’s tempting to try to distinguish your new work or ministry through comparison or generalizations, but be sensitive. Statements like, “The vast majority of the American church are not true Christians,” is bound to be received poorly by that American church on the next block, especially if they’re laboring, praying and interceding for the glory of God in their midst and for the world.
Humility, humility, humility. There are other laborers. There are other churches. Yours is not and will not be the best expression of the New Testament church since the first century. Their churches weren’t perfect either.
Love the larger lawn. We serve the Master Gardener. He has commissioned us all in different ways. As the apostle Paul (a church planter) stated so eloquently:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are Godâ€™s fellow workers; you are Godâ€™s field, Godâ€™s building.” (1 Corinthians 3.6-9)

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Jan 26, 2011

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Leaving your church: Don’t insult a man’s wife

Don’t Insult a Man’s Wife

As you consider not going to “church,” you must force yourself to consider the spiritual realities of your disassociation with the body of believers that the New Testament calls the “bride” of Christ. (Revelation 21.2, 9; 22.17). Jesus refers to Himself as the bridegroom throughout the gospels in parables, but there’s a powerful testimony of John the Baptist in John 3.28-30 where Jesus is clearly called the bridegroom.

“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ[a] but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

Last year, in a span of a week, I performed two weddings. In each, it was remarkable the joy and respect that was given to both the groom and bride. All attention was focused on the happy couples. It is always more meaningful when the two are each deeply committed to Christ. In those cases, it’s not just a ceremony but a celebration.

But consider the worst case scenario in such a moment. At the height of the service, just before the couple is introduced to the guests as “Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So,” someone jumps out of their seat and screams, “But she’s soooo ugly! And she can be so mean! And she has hurt my feelings on a number of occasion!” they splutter and rage.

Imagine the shock and dismay that immediately would descend on the gathering. So many others there do not think what you think. You’re entitled to your opinion, but by being so critical and vocal, of the bride, you have unwittingly invited the scorn of the groom.

In fact, here comes the groom. To knock you out of the room.

In the New Testament, the church is repeatedly symbolized as the bride of Christ (Matthew 25.1, Mark 2.19, John 3.29, Revelation 19.7, 21.2, 9), and in Revelation 22.9, an angel provides the sublime introduction to the apostle John:

Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

As we’ve covered before in this article series on Leaving Your Church, there are good and bad reasons for leaving your church. The intent of this entry is to urge you to watch your mouth as you’re leaving. While it’s good to communicate clearly that you are leaving, it’s wrong to tear down the church as you leave.

You may think it’s your mission to spread light on all the wrongs of the church you’re leaving, but take into consideration that it’s more than just a collection of people. The church you are leaving is also the bride of Christ. Just as will be the church you’ll wind up at. (assuming both preach the gospel and truth of Jesus Christ).

You may have genuine disagreements with procedures, personalities or future purposes of the church you’re leaving. However, there are probably a lot of earnest believers who have chosen to remain at the church because they either don’t see what you see, or they sincerely but lovingly disagree with your conclusions.

At our church, we consistently inform new members that we don’t tolerate negative or critical talk about other churches or ministries in our region. It’s wrong to build up your own church by tearing another down. You may think you’re justified in your judgement of the bride. The groom may object to your observations.

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Sep 3, 2010

Loving stops leaving

Don’t Go to Church;Â Be the Church.

Our church has embraced this slogan with a whole heart in the past year. We were grateful for the graphics at theÂ Faith in Action website and adapted them for our use this past year. But it’s more than a slogan for us; it’s a mission.

The church – your church – was never meant to be aÂ place. Your church is a people – andÂ they includeÂ you. The church as described in the New Testament is a gathering of people who are growing in their love for God daily and who surrender their lives, vocations and goals to the will of God and His mission.

More importantly, discovering love in God cannot be self-contained and should not be marketed. It should be shared. The easiest way to share truth that requires life adjustment is through loving service.

That’s why we urge one another to be the church. Loving involvement with others provokes spiritual sensitivity. Love is amazing. It destroys barriers and uproots objections. Love in the face of a world that offers cheap substitutes transforms.

I have no statistics to throw out, but I’m convinced that people will rarely leave a loving church. If they do, there are much deeper issues at stake in them than in the church.

So, loving stops leaving… most of the time.

In short, we cannot love God and not love people. Loving people means getting involved, serving, helping, and yes, teaching them in the way that Jesus did.

Let’s recklessly love our neighbors AND our enemies and watch how God uses the power of His love through us to weaken resistance to Him and call folks to Himself.

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Jul 30, 2010

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How to leave your church

I hope I’ve made a case for asking significant questions and considering eternal issues as you consider “leaving your church.” If you are just stopping in, scroll down to the bottom and read the first entries in this series so you’ll be in the thought-flow for this entry.

Simply put, there are times that you may need to leave you church. However, in our remote control culture where we change channels on a whim and we have our food made-to-order, we must refuse to allow our consumerism to influence our commitment to Christ.

I provide the following thoughts about leaving your church as a template for prayerful consideration over time, not as a checklist for “how to.” In addition, these thoughts should be applied to most churches. This is not a place for the isolated instances of abusive churches, horrible situations, or moral failings in leadership (though they do exist!). It’s meant to address the typical instance of a growing sense of unease or discontent in your heart as a regular, faithful member of a church. It does not apply to the once-a-monthers, infrequent attenders or the uninvolved church consumer/pew sitter.

Do not allow your emotions to direct your decision to leave your church.
Do not allow your personal preferences to outweigh biblical guidance in leaving your church.
Make sure you’ve had at least one honest, unemotional meeting with the pastor before you leave.
Your goal is to leave in love, not in frustration, anger or disenchantment.
Review your commitment to be obedient to Christ and to protect the unity of His body and the beauty of His bride.
Resolve to not tear down, stir up, or bring people with you as you leave.
Deal with authority issues in your heart. Are you willing to submit your life to leaders and follow their authority? If not at this church, then what church?
Seek counsel from godly friends or family outside your church.
Commit to pray diligently for God’s blessing and favor upon your church and its leaders for 60 days before leaving or stepping out of an active role. You may discover a unique refreshing of your heart as you begin to pray.
Be as tough on yourself as you are on your evaluation of your church.

This is not an exhaustive list, obviously, and I’d love to hear from other leaders what you might add or substract from these. As a pastor, I know there’s a back door to our church and that people can silently slip out of it – sometimes unnoticed. If there’s a steady stream, there’s a problem. However, a trickle is normal and necessary for many reasons. We’ll cover those in anther entry.

To be continued…

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Jun 28, 2010

A Strategic Look at the Faith of France’s Youth

This is the third part in a continuing series on the Youth of Western Europe, with a focus on France. See below for links to the first two parts of this series.

The political animosity of France seems not only to be directed at the U.S., but also at the Christianity it sees portrayed by the U.S. This unfortunate association, combined with historical milieu of the country, as well as its confusing religious history â€“ where Christianity fought itself more than it ministered to its people â€“ have led to the alarming state of lostness among French youth. They must be reached with the Gospel in this generation! To have such a highly technological and ostensibly educated societyâ€™s youth reject Christ would erode the â€œprogressâ€ of the last centuries. If the church cannot keep its children and address this situation in every country, it cannot claim to have reached a people.

According to the 24-7prayer.com website,

â€œ80% of the youth population of France have never even seen or held a Bible!â€

Couple that with Franceâ€™s long history of persecuting religious minorities, and one can see how any authentic, Bible-believing fellowship that emerges could easily receive the moniker of â€œcult.â€ Although the evangelical community in France is greater than 500,000, most of those are over the age of 40. In fact, it is reported that there are more full-time occultic practitioners in France than there are Christian workers (24/7prayer.com reports 50,000 occultic practitioners)!

â€œOf France’s 60 million inhabitants, about 40 million consider themselves Catholic, but only about 5 million attend church each month. Up to 5 million are Muslim and 650,000 are Jewish. One million are Protestants; about 650,000 of them belong to the often austere and liturgical Reformed and Lutheran churches, but only a small proportion attend church regularly,â€ reported a February 2005 Christianity Today article.

The article claims that there are the 350,000 evangelical churchgoers in France, but most French are deists, agnostics, and atheists ripe for a renewed effort of the church.

Scripture exhorts the church to preach the Gospel to all nations, but it is not a one-time event. Our Lord obviously meant to â€œkeep preachingâ€ the Gospel â€“ not to drop a Bible bomb on a culture and then move on, thinking the task was done. Historically the church has done a better job of exposing people to the Gospel than it has curing them of paganism. All these factors lead to the need to re-examine our â€œunreached peoplesâ€ classification and press forward in the understanding that we must make disciples and not reap decisions from the nations. The youth of France are in desperate need of the transforming power of the Gospel and to be reached with its life-giving truth.

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Jun 23, 2010

What’s at stake

In this continuing series, we’ve been looking at the issue of leaving your church. With the advent of the popular, mall-like “megachurch” of the 1980s, the American culture has seen the continuing growth and rise of large, trendy churches seeking after relevance across the country. It’s now somewhat hip to be a church planter, and new congregations “launch” after mass mailouts and focus groups, often with several hundred (at times over 1000) strangers showing up for a first service. All this takes place in the overall context of Christianity in the States declining.

Studies tell us that “The proportion of the [American] population that can be classified as Christian has declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001.”1 In 2008, the number dropped to 76%.

Here are some other disturbing observations:

Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend churchâ€”half of what the pollsters report.
American church attendance is steadily declining.
Only one state is outpacing its population growth.Â Hawaii, where 13.8% of the state’s population (1.3 million) regularly attends church, was the only state where church attendance grew faster than its population growth from 2000 to 2004. (However, church attendance in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennesseeâ€”all of which have higher percentages of church attendees than Hawaiiâ€”was close to keeping up with population growth in the respective states.)
Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.
Established churchesâ€”40 to 190 years oldâ€”are, on average, declining.
The increase in churches is only 1/4 of what’s needed to keep up with population growth.
In 2050 (if trends continue), the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.2

What’s my morbid point? Simply put, there are better things to be doing than looking for a better church for you. It is not a time to be shopping for a church that appeals to you or the needs of your family. It is a time to gently and graciously help those who have not confessed Christ as Lord to surrender their lives in wholehearted obedience to Him.

It is an act of allegiance and submission when you give your heart and life to Jesus Christ as Lord. Your confession of sins and glad reception of salvation from God through Christ’s death and resurrection is not for the ultimate goal of comfort in religious gathering. The ultimate goal of our salvation, in fact, is not about us.

Rather, our salvation brings honor and glory to the Father for His indescribable mercy. Our lives are meant to exalt Him, and our salvation and eternal life in Him are reflective of His love and kindness.

We should be seeking to lead others to Him, not consumed with whether our churches meet our needs for activities, programs and social life. Before you think I advocate an evangelically busy church, I will expound more on the importance of us being the church in later posts. For now, however, I simply say that we must be extremely careful to not make “church” about us.

Amid concerns of a church lacking certain programs for your family, styles of music or of the teaching not being “meaty” enough, please realize that there’s more at stake than the whether there’s steak.

To be continued…

Notes

1.Â Religious identification in the U.S.:Â How American adults view themselves, ReligiousTolerance.org

2.Â The American Church in Crisis byÂ Rebecca Barnes and Lindy Lowry, a special report of the North American Mission Board (5/1/2006)

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May 17, 2010

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Leaving your church

Three years ago, I wrote a short entry called When it’s time to leave your church. I’ve been amazed at the amount of traffic that entry continues to receive. Invariably I notice that people find it after searching the web with “how to know when to leave my church” or “how to leave your church.” Church hopping is passÃ©. In the 21st century, folks don’t seem to be looking for another church. Many are ready to give up on church completely.

If this is you, or if you’re in the former group of struggling to stay in your church, I hope you’ll leave feedback that will be constructive and helpful for others on their journey. I intend this entry to be the first in a follow-up series to the original entry.

Since there are a more reasons why people consider not going to their churchÂ any longer than there are fire ant mounds in south Arkansas, we’ll be taking this slowly. Examining your reasons for not going are more important than stopping going.

They can be as simple as…

I’m tired of the routine, the same-old, same-old.
It’s boring.
I don’t get anything out of the ________ (sermons, programs, ministries).
Someone else always beats me to the best dessert at potlucks.
I just don’t feel connected there.

To as complex and meaningful as…

I’m concerned about the biblical teaching there (or lack thereof).
The leadership of the church is becoming ____________ (cultish, autocratic, unhealthy, insert your adjective).
The church is consumed with themselves.
My family has not been ministered to there.

In future entries, we will be exploring these and other reasons for leaving your church. As a pastor of a church, my goals are:

To evaluate your relationship with Christ and help you embrace the Church as His bride and chosen method of world redemption. This willÂ help you view “church” in a biblical and reverent manner.
To get you to consider your own heart and its blamelessness. This willÂ ensure that you are willing to forgive if necessary.
To evaluate if you are a victim of consumerism, materialism or false worldviews in your own assessment of your church or your approach to it. The lens that we view life through may cloud our vision and understanding of reality.
To help you leave well (if possible and if leaving is actually what you need to do).
To provide you with a framework for the next church that you will serve Christ through.

Obviously, I’m biased toward the church. We will examine this mystery together as sincere sleuths, seeking to arrive at proper deductions. But make no mistake, there are enough twists and turns in our relationship with the people of God to provide fodder for the best thriller for eternity:

“This is a profound mysteryâ€”but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5.32

I hope you’ll tag along for this journey. Stay tuned….

Next in series

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Apr 26, 2010

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Baptism & Celebration

Last week was astonishingly full. It culminated in a Baptism and Celebration Service on the football field behind Blacksburg Middle School. It also included a trip to Orlando with some of our church staff and volunteers for the Exponential Conference. Throw in a massive laughfest called our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Saturday night at NLCF‘s facility for good measure. As I hit the sack last night, I was moved by gratitude, joy and relief.

I wanted to point you to some pictures that might help you appreciate the joys of the past weekend and week, as well let you see a video that Dave Farris shot from his iPhone. I hope you’ll thank the Lord with me for a week of fullness and grace.

Pictures:

Dave’s Video:

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Apr 20, 2010

Exponential, Round 2

Members of our staff and leadership team arrived in Orlando late on Monday night after a day of planes and automobiles. It’s been two years since my first Exponential Conference experience, and already, the difference is significant.

At my first experience, I was by myself, and I’d come off a particularly trying year as a pastor and church planter in Arkansas. This year, I’m with new leaders at a new church, and we’re here after a particularly blessed several months of God’s gracious favor in the life of our church and families.

It’s much better to learn in community, and I’m grateful for Cody, Dave, and Jim being here with me. It’s going to be fun to unpack what we’ve learned each evening and on the way home.

I’ll try to post daily about some reflections from the conference, as I did back in 2008, but I assure you that I’ll be kinder to Ed Stetzer. I’ll never forget the call I got from Carolyn after my first conference entry back then. I had attended the first plenary session that day, and Ed was the keynote speaker. I was there as a wounded church planter that had financed his trip on fumes. I just needed a life preserver.

Ed instead threw stats. They were great ones, and they were convicting to us all about the state of the church and our need to adopt a missional strategy and lifestyle, but his talk just left me discouraged. Actually, it was a great talk, but in my frame of mind, it just didn’t connect.

Carolyn called and said, “One of your ‘friends’ is messing with you. They left a comment on your entry claiming to be Ed Stetzer.” I laughed and went to my blog to check the commenter’s email. It was Ed’s.

Bummer. In my blunt hurtness, I had unintentionally wounded someone else. Or so I thought.Â In the comment exchange (and later email) that followed, I realized it would take much more than that to hurt Ed’s feelings, thank goodness.

Strange thing, Ed and I wound up going to Poland together later that year as part of a church planters’ discovery trip with the IMB. You can see those entries here.

One important lesson I learned out of that experience? Never blog when you’re frustrated.

If you’re at Exponential this year, I’d love to hear from you!

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Mar 30, 2010

You’re invited!

We’d love to have you be a part of our worship service at Northstar Church this Sunday if you’re in the area. Here’s a Google map to the Blacksburg Middle School. We have services at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.

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Jan 31, 2010