Vision Notes

Last month many in the congregation viewed a video message in worship by Bill Hybels, Holy Discontent.  The question raised by Hybels was, "What is your Holy Discontent?  What is that one thing that you can't stand anymore and desperately want to do something about?" Usually, a Holy Discontent is something so great that it cannot be accomplished by one's own strength.  It will require prayer and reliance upon the Holy Spirit. But if pursued vigorously, mixed with a healthy dose of prayer and trust in God, one's Holy Discontent can result in activity that significantly advances God's Kingdom.

Dallas Willard, a leading thinker and author in discipleship, persuasively argues that what characterizes most local congregations, whether big or little in size, is simple distraction.  They have simply allowed other matters to trump or distract the church from its central mission; the spiritual formation in Christlikeness of its members.  The consequence has been devastating - stagnant or declining congregations.  What is urgently needed is for local congregations to identify clearly for its members opportunities for personal growth in discipleship.  As the local church grows its current members in authentic discipleship it will realize growth in worship attendance, growth in membership, more members involved in ministry (volunteerism) and stronger financial giving.  This is God's strategy for the church and articulated clearly in Matthew 28 and Ephesians 4.

The leaders of your church recognize that we are in a new season of ministry together - one that is less focused inward and more focused outward. This fresh view of ministry is most commonly called The Missional Church Movement. Yet, before any particular congregation can fully embrace this new direction for ministry the individual members must be provided with the Vision, have the Intention and the Means for personal spiritual transformation. Simply, there isn't the possibility for corporate change unless there is individual transformation into Christlikeness. The general pattern for such individual transformation is described by Dallas Willard as the little acronym "VIM," as in the phrase "vim and vigor."

A journey of faith begins like any other journey - determining first where you are at the present moment. Internet tools such as MapQuest only function by identifying first from where you will begin your journey. My Garmin, a Global Positioning System I use in my car for directions, usually begins by asking me to "drive to highlighted route." Simply, it is asking me to position my car at a fixed beginning point before providing directions for my trip. Any trip, any journey, begins from a fixed point. Without clarity of where you are it's difficult to plan a journey to another place.

"He became convinced that what was missing was a simple process that moved people toward spiritual maturity." Thom S. Rainer

Process is different from strategy. Many churches have a strategy for ministry. Few have identified a process for moving people toward spiritual maturity. Confused?

I hope so - and I hope you will stay with me for a few moments. My hope is to eliminate confusion, or at least significantly reduce it for you. Because I have become convinced, as many church leaders have, that a primary cause for ineffective churches is simple confusion; confusion about the purposes of the church and the "process" for realizing that purpose.

Though I have great admiration for David H. C. Read, I would have reversed his comment above.  I believe what is more poignant is:  "Whenever church members begin to look only to the past, theirs is a congregation that has become static."  The Bible celebrates a mobile God who continually calls His people to be on the move.  An eye cast backward instead of forward is the clearest signal that vitality for imaginative ministry has waned and nostalgia has overtaken a church.

Anticipating the renovation of our church facilities, your leaders, the session, asked what would it look like to look forward; to renovate the ministry of the church along with the facilities.  The urgency of the question arose when it was honestly acknowledged that our own ministry was static.  Membership and worship attendance has remained relatively constant the past nine years.  Participation of church members in small groups and ministry remains modest.  There is little to indicate that we are accomplishing our central purpose - to make followers of Jesus Christ, multiply authentic discipleship and transforming lives.

Craig Barnes is a Presbyterian pastor in Pittsburgh and someone whom I admire a great deal. His congregation is also in the midst of renovation and expansion. Recently he wrote a letter to his congregation. I share a portion of it here with you.

“When someone enters your home, they learn a lot about you. The way you decorate and furnish the rooms, the art and photographs that hang on your walls, and even the way you maintain the house tells people who you are and what you value. The same thing is true about our church home. A church is certainly more than a building. It’s the people, centered in Jesus Christ, who make up the church. But every church expresses its personality and values by how they organize and maintain their building.

I have just spent the past several hours with a dear friend and colleague in ministry, James Hodsden.  He is the new Head of Staff for the Ardmore Presbyterian Church and any time spent with him challenges my own thinking about ministry and offers-up fresh insights.  He has the capacity to ignite fresh imagination for the practice of ministry when my own senses have grown dull.

Perhaps you noticed that the Dallas Cowboys have parted ways with T.O. Asked why Terrell Owens was cut from the team, Jerry Jones responded: "In the aftermath of the season, we talked about change.  Some of what is changing involves the process and some of it involves people.  This is a decision that was made based upon consideration for an entire team."  Bottom line - Dallas never won a playoff game in Terrell Owens' three seasons with them.  I doubt anyone would say it was entirely the fault of T.O. Nor would I say that.  What I do want to say is that Dallas didn't get where they wanted and Jerry Jones felt change was necessary.

Kaiser continues in his book, Winning On Purpose, that the reason - the primary reason - that many churches are in trouble today is that they have forgotten the object of the game.  The object of the game is to make disciples.  When that object, or purpose, is forgotten, church members become lost in much activity, much of it good activity.  But it is not the object of the game. Jesus states that the object of the game is to make disciples.

Another way of looking at it, asserts Kaiser, is that the object is all about the inflow of people beginning their relationship with Christ.  That is measured by the number of professions of faith that results in baptism or persons making a reaffirmation of faith, meaning that they are starting again.  Transfer of Church Letter as a means of receiving new members isn't bad.  More disciples to advance the mission of the local church are never bad. It's just that transfers can't legitimately be counted as additional disciples for the kingdom.  They have simply transferred from there to here.

Jim Collins states that enduring organizations have two dominant characteristics that are complementary opposites.   The first is a strong conviction about core ideals that never change; these are purpose and values. The second is a clear understanding that everything else must change in order to preserve the core.  Collins says it takes clarity and discipline to understand which things in the organization belong to which category.

People who populate our churches often demonstrate little clarity about the difference. Take Sunday school as an example.  Few know that the origin of Sunday school dates back to 1780. Four purposes or needs were identified in the community and Sunday school was an experiment as a means of addressing those needs.   As the idea of Sunday school spread and the culture changed the four original needs became reduced to only two:  building relationships and nurturing discipleship.  These two remain as the core purposes of Sunday school.

January Message Series - "WHY?"

Four messages that explore the age-old question of why a loving God allows suffering in a world He has redeemed in Jesus Christ. Suffering, evil, and pain challenge the church’s witness of a compassionate God. These messages will draw us deeper into the Bible that we may listen for what God’s Word has to say on this difficult issue. 

 “When the Spirit breaks in, old ways of thinking and living are left behind and new ways of thinking and living begin to take over. Old boring, oppressive, and dead social structures and institutions are transformed into exciting new, liberating ones. It may not happen all at once, but when the Holy Spirit comes there is the dawn of a new day, hope for a new and different future, and courage and strength to move toward it.”

- Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine

These words are from an old seminary textbook I had during my seminary days more than twenty years ago. Yet, they still speak with freshness to the church today. I was reminded of them by our Youth Director, Bill Kerber who will be studying this book with me beginning in January.

"The problem is that our present evangelical ‘Come to us' paradigm of the church
has not been an appropriate missiological response to the paradigms that exist in our world."

Both quotes from,
The Tangible Community: Creating Incarnational Community

I agree that that second quote is fairly jargon laden.  But the insight is an important one.  The problem with the way many congregations do church is that they attempt to "institutionalize" the way church was once done, and the way we like it, and expect people to come and share our preference.  Examples abound.  We want worship that only uses music that suits our taste, Sunday school that uses traditional curriculum and programs offerings "like we remember it used to be done."  Rather than asking the important question, "How might we connect more people to Jesus Christ?" we become guardians of "old" church.