Religious Games

I came across these verses the other day and they hit me like a punch to the gut, paraphrased in The Message;

Isaiah 1:13 13-17"Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I'll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you've been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don't have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless. 

Amos 5:21-24"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want.

Through this modern translation of the Old testament passage, Isaiah's message could easily have been to the church today. When we take a look at where the church in general is today, many would agree that there is one issue that has thrown most of the church off track and Isaiah and Amos both proclaim it; that is a move away from an external focus to an inward focus.  

You can look back on the development of the church In North America the last century and understand how the church drifted away from an outward missions focus to more of a self serving model. Of every dollar given to a U.S. Protestant church, the average amount going to overseas missions is 2 cents.  In 1920 the church gave 10% of the total offering to missions, compared to only 2% today. 

With the settling of new territories and development of cities and new frontiers in the US, the church in 1920's was in an outreach mode. Ralph Winters used the term sodality, the evangelistic arm of the church, going outside of the church to make new converts. The inreach arm of the church he termed "modality".  Modality is like the lake with streams and tributaries running into it, sodality is the river streaming away from the lake. Early in the deveopment of our country the church was focused on sodality, evangelism, missions and reaching the lost.

But after WW II, the US had adopted a Christian culture and a good percentage of the population considered themselves Christians. The clergy was most concerned with attracting believers to attend their church.  So churches started in growth areas and marketed themselves to this hugh mass of potential members. As the church began to take on more and more of the characteristics of the culture, it became more and more competitive and turned more and more inward.  To attract the potential members, churches needed to "do church" better than their competitor down the street. This meant having dynamic preachers, a good music program with a big choir and solid soloists, lots of programs, safe and exciting children and youth ministries and of course comfortable and nice facilities. One had to keep up with the church around the corner.  Schools and seminaries focused on producing the type of pastors and ministry leaders that would produce "successful, growing" churches. Conferences on church growth and church excellence sprang up all over.

In the rush to attract 'believers', the church lost it's mission, "to go and make disciples".  They certainly wanted to disciple believers, but reaching the lost, bringing them to Christ and then discipling these new believers was not the main focus.  As a matter of fact, to do that took so much time and effort that it was not 'profitable' for the church to spend its time on the lost.  Time was better spent on reaching believers who already possessed a church background who would understand tithing and be plugged into the ministry of operating any one of the many programs that were designed to minister to believers and their families. 

There were some who realized the need to reach out, to send missionaries who became frustrated with the church's reluctance.  These men and women of the faith started para-church ministries and mission organizations to fill in the gap. Even these are frowned upon by many pastors as taking away resources from churches.  The question is, are we guilty of playing "religious games"?  If you could give a grade to the churches today on how well they made new disciples, what would it be?

The good news is that as the "Christian culture" in the U. S. shrinks along with the number of people who claim to be Christians, there is a greater realization from clergy and church leaders of the need to focus on reaching the non-believers.  It's still a battle to convince pastors to change.  But thankfully there is a movement back to the Sodality mode for churches led by Verge, Catalyst, Exponential and educational forums like Perspectives.  After all isn't that God's mandate to us, "to go and make disciples"?

Dread or Excitement? What do your church newcomers feel?

Not being on a church staff anymore, I now have opportunity to visit other churches and I enjoy checking out our church plants from time to time.  But it also brings back memories of a time when visiting churches was a very unpleasant experience.  

My family moved from Texas to California when I was in middle school and for two years we visited a new church almost every week.  My parents just could not find a church in Califorinia that they liked.  So each Sunday we'd walk into a new setting and either attend the worship service or sometimes both Sunday School and worship.  As a teenager, I had to "visit" the youth Sunday School class.  I was always the outsider in the class and I never remember a time feeling welcomed.  During this time of searching for a church, I don't remember any teenager asking me to sit with them in church, so I'd end up with my parents in the worship service wishing I was part of the youth group sitting together on the other side of the church.

Those experiences gave me a great appreciation and empathy for those who are new to the church. Having been on church staff for 30 years, its easy to forget how stressful it can be to walk into a new place for the first time. Experiencing the stress of visiting a church for the first time has reminded me of the importance that first impressions can have on whether an individual or family decides to make a church their home.  I've experienced everything from a church who spotlights the visitors by making them standup and introduce themselves to churches that never even acknowledge that you were there.   

My best experience of being welcomed into a new place was the time I visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory in Vermont on a vacation a few years ago.  I recall not being that excited about taking a tour of an ice creme factory but by the time we parked I was pumped up with anticipation.  Ben and Jerry's changed my attitude.  The minute we drove onto the parking lot, the folks at Ben and Jerry's created a sense of excitement and anticipation that something good was awaiting us, laughing, joking and directing our way. I remember thinking at the time, how great it would be if churches could create the same atmosphere. 

Most churches that handle newcomers well have a "guest services" team whose job it is to make sure the newcomer feels welcome and has an opportunity to become connected to the church.  I would call this ministry team "Guest Connections" and it would be one of the most important ministry teams in the church.  For more about making guests feel welcome and connected read this great article on Guest services http://www.worshipfacilities.com/go.php/editorial/17366

It's important for pastors and leaders of the church to get away occasionally and visit other churches to put themselves in that position of being a newcomer in a church.  It is also wise to have independent "auditors" to visit your church and give some feedback as to how well your church handles newcomers.  Evaluate how you handle newcomers, accept constructive criticism and be willing to make the necessary changes. Here are some questions to ask:

Does the atmosphere at your church create a sense of dread or excitement for visitors?

Do you have a team of trained volunteers that specialize in handling newcomers?

Do guests feel welcome and valued?

Is there a follow up procedure?

Does each guest walk away with a general knowledge of the church's vision, purpose and values?

Is there a pathway for a new person to connect to the church?

Why miracles on the mission field and not at home?

I've had the privilege of leading hundreds of ordinary people on short term mission trips and I've had the opportunity to experience God in incredible ways and see Him work through these common folk to do extra-ordinary things, most of which I would consider miracles of God.  Some people would dismiss them as coincidences but as you read these stories you'll see some amazing experiences and phenomenon that are hard to explain by calling them coincidences.  They are all unique, as God moves in many different and sometimes supernatural ways using common people to accomplish uncommon results.

As I chronicle these miracles of God which I have witnessed on the mission field, I wonder why these have all occurred while on mission and not at home.  Read about the miracles at http://missionfieldmiracles.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, I've not experienced the same miraculous moments here in the every day life even though I spend a majority of my time in ministry.  Why is that?  Am I not obedient, not following God as close while at home?  Is it about location?  Is God not as involved in our every day life here as He is overseas?  Why do I experience Him in such incredible ways and with so much power on the mission field?

There maybe various reasons but I've come to the conclusion that the main reason is, it takes a total dependence upon God to really experience His power.  Here at home in my daily routine, I am going about MY business, taking care of MY needs and responsibilities.  There is not a lot of dependence upon God because I have spent years building a foundation of security and safety so that I control the circumstances of life as much as possible.  Therefore, there is little need to rely upon God until I lose a semblance of control because of health or circumstances.  

On the mission field we are more likely to have that dependence because we have left our secure life behind and stepped into an unknown world and different culture.  And when we arrive, our purpose is Gospel centered, pretty much 24/7.  There is fear, uncertainty, insecurity and a real sense of a lack of control of the life around you. Therefore, when God intervenes and works through you to accomplish His purposes, whether miraculous or not, there is a very profound experience of the power of God and intimacy with Christ.  

Well, why don't we experience this while doing ministry at home?  A fellow pastor gave a me  simple answer, "because we don't operate in freedom".  He explained to me that so much of our ministry here at home is self-centered, operated out of our flesh instead of from a pure motive, that we can't experience Christ in it.  The barrier is that I am motivated to accomplish my goals through ministry to satisfy my needs for security, accomplishment, or validation.

  

Jesus said it simply, "whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow me.  Only when I have a sincere dependence upon him do I experience the wonders of God.  Miracles can happen when we get out of our self supporting, routine and rely totally upon God.  I admire so much those serving full time on the mission field and the everyday experience of depending solely on God.  I realize that just being in a foreign place does not equal dependance upon God.  But it's my experience that there is a greater opportunity for a dependence upon God when out of your comfort zone, serving Him whether here or overseas.    

I also realize that the miracles of God that we often take for granted are the lives that are radically changed by God's grace.  We often get to see first hand, lives being changed before our very eyes and yet many times we don't get to see the fruit of our work.  Some of these stories reflect those personal changes but there are so many more that are untold, stories that are still being written in the lives of those we have encountered.

I also want to say that short term missions is the most powerful and quickest way to bring about spiritual growth in Christians.  You can accomplish in a week or two what may take years to learn from a Bible study.  So, not only have I seen life change from those we minister to, I've also seen incredible life change and spiritual growth from those who have gone on these mission trips, growth that leads to full-time missionaries and ministers. So many Christians miss out on the opportunity to impact others and be impacted by God, because many churches do not place a high value on actually sending their members.  They may give to missions but fail to actually send.  If you want to light a fire under your members for Christ, send them on a short term mission trip.  Perhaps, after you have read the experiences, you too will want to go, serve, and share.  http://missionfieldmiracles.blogspot.com/

Return on Investment

I recently purchased a new squeegee at the dollar store to replace one I had used in my shower for several years.  This new one had a sleek design, much wider, covering more territory each swipe and it was only one dollar!  So I exchanged it in the shower and threw my old one away.  But the next morning after my shower when I used the new squeegee on the glass, it did an absolutely pathetic job of removing the water. The thing was not sturdy enough to effectively squeegee anything and left streaks of water on both sides.  I threw it away and had to dig my old squeegee out of the trash.  

Yeah, you're right, I should have known that you get what you pay for.  What I don't understand is why someone would produce something that doesn't work.  I guess the bottom line is profit not function and amazingly in our world today, those two don't always go hand in hand.  

It got me to thinking, (which is dangerous) about our churches today and how many are like this squeegee.  They look good and attract people and yet they do not do what they were designed to do.  The consequences of this are considerably more than losing a small amount of change.  

So, what is the true measure of success in a church?  Is it the number of people you have in worship on Sunday?  Dallas Willard says that instead of counting Christians, we need to weigh them.  Neil Cole states that true success is not the seating capacity of the church but the sending capacity.  What is the goal, what does success look like in the church?  Here are  some universal marks of success that all churches should attempt to reach.  Let's look at three broad areas:  input, output, and impact.  

INPUT

Input results are what most churches have focused on over the ages, the "ABC's" (attendance, buildings and cash) of success.  If you are my age you'll probably remember the wooden display on the wall next to the pulpit with the attendance and tithe numbers for the previous week.  These are the easiest to measure and are how most churches gauge their success.  

OUPUT

Output results are the actual transformation or life-changes of those who are involved in the church.  A church's ability to evangelize and disciple those who come should be of critical importance and a measure of true success.  Is there a way to help your members share their faith?  If a family attends your church for an average of five years, where would you want that family to be spiritually when they leave your church?  Do you have a process for taking a new believer from the infant stage to maturity?  How do you measure output, discipleship beyond the number of baptisms?  

IMPACT

Impact results are perhaps the hardest to measure of all.  Impact results are the effect the church and the members have on their neighborhood, their city, and the world.  A church might ask what would be the result in the surrounding neighborhood or community if their church closed their doors and ceased to exist.  Would their neighbors even know the difference except for the lack of traffic on Sunday?  

All three are important. However, pastors, elders, deacons and church members often determine the success or failure of the church on the input results alone.  A pastor's worth is so often tied to the ABC's that the church will concentrate all their efforts on these and sacrifice everything else in order to get more people and more money.  It's the easiest to measure and will undoubtedly draw the most attention but these numbers don't give you the real picture of success.  

The real measure of success should be whether a church is making disciples, transforming lives and making an impact in the world.   The problem is that not only are the output and impact results difficult to measure, they require more work, planning, volunteers, and pastoral leadership to accomplish.  There is not a large percentage of pastors and ministry leaders willing to push to the next level.  And there is often a perception that spending money and resources on the output and impact results somehow jeopardizes input results.  I believe it is possible to be successful in all three.  They can and often do go hand in hand.

I know from experience the difficulty of trying to put in place new ideas and discipleship models when the leadership's perception was that this would somehow jeopardize the Sunday School numbers.  Or times when missions was pushed aside because of a lack of funds or a fear that money would be directed away from the budget.  

How effective do you think our churches are today?  Are they doing what they are designed to do? Is it possible to be successful in all three?  How do we change the culture of church today to understand the true purpose and success of church?

True Fruit

Fruit is always about reproduction.  The true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but more apple trees.  Within the fruit is found the seed of the next generation.  

I recently reread this statement from Neil Cole's book, Church 3.0.  I had bookmarked it the first time I read it but I don't think it really struck the cord like it did on the second reading.  I began to consider the statement in the context of Jesus' teaching concerning fruit in John 15, "this is my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit".  

I had always considered the fruit of an individual being living a Christian life and doing good deeds, impacting the world for Christ.  But if reproduction is more than producing fruit, if the goal is reproducing trees that bear fruit, then that would certainly mean much more than just doing good deeds.  Bearing fruit in that context would seem to indicate that I need to reproduce disciples who reproduce other disciples.  The measure of bringing glory to God is the men and women that have I influenced to reproduce other disciples.  

And if this is true for individuals, what does it mean for churches?  Is it enough for churches to be a great gathering place where we meet to hear the word and be encouraged by the pastor?  Shouldn't it be a place where individuals are discipled to make other disciples and to go and start other churches?  Should the measure of a successful church be how many members they have in attendance?  Or should it be how many churches they have reproduced?  The measure of a church is not its seating capacity but its sending capacity.  If so, how many pastors place much priority in sending out their members as opposed to keeping them in their church?   How many pastors actually have a strategy to plant churches?  How many have a plan to encourage, develop and empower young men and women into the ministry and missions?

I met recently with a missions representative from a local church who had been considering putting a team together from their church to go on a global mission trip.  She said however that the pastor had decided to put the trip off a year or so because they were in a building campaign.  He didn't want to hurt the fundraising for the building knowing that the members would have to pay a lot for the mission trip.  Contrast that thinking to that of my church which built two buildings while sending more than 200 people a year on global mission trips and helping start 50 churches.  Getting people involved in missions outside of the church actually helps fuel the desire to grow the local church!   

Another church I know, had a building campaign and actually included a missions aspect into the campaign so that 10% of the money raised would go to help start a church in another country.  They exceeded their goal and did both!  It shouldn't be an either-or proposition.  We should grow the local church and we should also reproduce other churches.  It's about growing vertically and horizontally, reproducing fruit that contains the seeds that reproduce trees.  

What is your church's sending capacity?  What is the biggest obstacle that keeps your church from having a multiplying strategy?

Are you a fixed or growth mindset person?

Is it possible for Tim Tebow or Tony Romo to become elite hall of fame quarterbacks? What you believe about these quarterbacks may determine how successful you are in your career. 

If you have the mindset that neither of these will ever become the quality qb that can lead their team to a Super bowl like Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers, that they don’t have the ability to improve much beyond where they are now, you are probably a “fixed mindset” person.  If you think, yes they have a good chance of being great, you are probably more of a "growth mindset".

Chip Heath explains in the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, that people are generally “fixed mindset” or “growth mindset” and this can make a difference in how you approach success.  He provides this simple test to see which mindset you are.

Read the following four sentences and write down whether you agree or disagree with each of them 

1. You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that. 
2. No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
3. You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed
4. You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.  

If you agreed with items 1 and 3 you’re someone with a ”fixed mindset.”  And if you agreed with items 2 and 4 you tend to have a “growth mindset.”

People who have a "fixed mindset" would more likely believe that their abilities are basically static. If you are dumb, you'll always be dumb.  You may get a little bit smarter or better but your ability to be a good speaker, football player or musician is determined by your giftedness or wiring.  Fixed mindset people believe Romo and Tebo will never be much better than they are now.  

However, those with the “growth mindset” believe that abilities are like muscles - they can be built up with practice. Their mindset is that they are not restricted by their genes.  Failure is only a means to being better.  An athlete should improve every year he or she plays until age begins to diminish their athletic ability.  Good players can become great players.  Romo and Tebo will become better players with more experience and hard work.

Carol Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford University in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, establishes the case that a growth mindset will make you more successful at almost anything because those who stretch themselves, take risks, accept feedback, and take the long term view can’t help but progress in their lives and careers.  Dweck, through controlled studies proved that the growth mindset can be taught and that it can change lives.Change is possible!  But as Christians, we already knew this.  Our faith is based on our ability to change, to become new through Jesus Christ.  Philippians 4:13, All things are possible through Christ.   Even for Romo and especially for Tebow!

The question is which mindset are you?  And, if you are a “fixed mindset” person; are you willing to be retrained to become growth minded?  Your success may depend on it.  

Is tradition a stumbling block to growth?

It is always interesting to see what the crazy new style of uniform the Oregon Ducks football team comes out with. The helmets they wore at the Rose Bowl were wild, very futuristic.  The Ducks have worn 12 different uniform combinations in 12 games and 7 different helmet styles.  I guess they took the "uniform" out of their uniforms. And it is catching on with other teams. I hadn't given much thought of it being anything more than a Nike commercial for their gear. I'm more of a traditionalist because I'm not crazy about them. I didn’t like it when my alma mater, Baylor, started wearing different uniforms other than their traditional green and gold.

However, I’m told that this is more than about innovative uniforms; it represents a movement in college football to forsake tradition in the name of winning. The theory is that teams focusing a lot on tradition and keeping the status quo like Penn State and Texas A&M actually are at a disadvantage. The logic is that tradition focuses on the status quo, not changing, and to get better we must change. Progress demands change, which tradition disdains. The Ducks and other teams that follow suit are forgoing tradition to focus more on whatever it takes to become a better team. The new uniforms appeal to the 17 and 18 year old athletes and actually become a recruiting tool to help them be better.

I'm not sure how much validity there is to all of this in college football. It has helped raise the Oregon program to a high level.  But it got me thinking about tradition and the church and whether or not tradition can hinder us as individuals and churches to be what God wants us to be and do.

There certainly has been a great tension in the church throughout the ages between tradition and progress. The Catholic Church has gone so far as to elevate tradition equal to scripture in forming doctrine. While the protestant denominations don’t take it to that extent, most all embrace tradition and have a difficult time with any sort of change.
Could this focus on tradition actually hurt believers and keep us from being all God wants us to be and do? Is tradition a stumbling block? Hebrews 12:1

My thoughts:
1) Tradition helps us remember what is important and plays a key role in instilling in us our faith and values. It is what unites the Jews and helps them remember what God has done for them. The Lord's Supper is one of our traditions that help us "remember" what Jesus has done for us.

2) Tradition can hinder our growth when we place an inordinate amount of time on it. God's work in our lives includes justification (past), sanctification (present) and glorification (present and future). I believe the church has been set back because of an obsession more with the past than the present and yes, individuals have suffered much because of it. Even today Christians have a tendency to want to study more than apply the word. We can easily get caught up with the past and even the future while neglecting the present.

3) If we use tradition to help educate, instill, and celebrate our purpose and our values and give the right amount of time and emphasis to it, this will free us up to be flexible when it comes to determining the path to accomplishing our purpose. Our methods can and need to be dynamic in this ever-changing world in order to best make disciples. The church has lost ground in its purpose of making disciples and in order to be the influence it should be in this world, there needs to be a reemphasis and refocus on how best to accomplish that purpose.  As Hebrews 12 states, our focus should be on Jesus.  My thought is not the Jesus on the cross, but the Jesus who is alive in us, working to make us like him.

Your thoughts?