What is Success?
As pastors and church leaders, we hear about “successful ministries”. How do we define what is successful? In the corporate world, there are the number of products manufactured or shipped and of course the net and gross profit can be easily measured to see if a company is successful or not. In the church world, looking at a bank account is no sign of success. If we look at the vast sums of cash that Jesus had in order to quantify the success of His ministry, we would say that He wasn’t even a real pastor. He filled the pulpit occasionally at the local church/synagogue, and He had a ragtag bunch of men that followed him around. He never built a building or presided over a board meeting. We would be ludicrous to say that His ministry was unsuccessful though. HE changed the whole world! HE established a way for us to have communion with God! HE gave us forgiveness of sins! …so where does that leave us?
Traditionally, pastors and church leaders have looked at two numbers to establish if a church is successful. The first is: How many members/attenders/Sunday worshipers do you have in “your” church? The second is: How much did you take up in the offering? I would like to propose a new way to define success! Are you making a difference in someone’s life in regards to their coming to Jesus or growing in their relationship with Christ? Yes/No? If the answer is “No” then it doesn’t matter how many butts are planted in a pew on Sunday or how many millions are in the building fund, then that entity isn’t really a church at all and would be unsuccessful using this new definition. If the answer is “Yes” then it doesn’t matter if your ministry is to only that one person, if that is what God has called you to do, then you are successfully carrying out that ministry! Great work! I applaud you! If you can say “Yes, I/we are leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ and we are helping them grow in that relationship AND we have lots of people attending AND there are big offerings being used to help more people come to know Christ, then fret not, you are still successful if that is the ministry God has given you. I don’t want anyone mistaking my words to say that big churches aren’t successful ministries. They may or may not be…just like small churches and medium size churches. Have an awesome day! I wish you great success in the ministry God has given you!
A different approach to the Church.
Filed under: Body of Christ, Book Review, Random Thoughts, community, leadership
I am currently reading a book that to be honest is a little out of my “normal” reading genre. The Church Emerging from Vatican II: A popular approach to contemporary Catholicism by Dennis M. Doyle I have learned many things through this book about the Roman Catholic church of course, but more interestingly and not as expected, I have learned much about the non-Roman church. For example: Martin Luther, the great reformer, wrote the first Catechism! He did so so that the common man would have knowledge of his faith. Even though ultimately he was excommunicated from the church, it seems he has had a great influence on both the Roman Catholic and the Protestant church. I have learned why the Baltimore Catechism seems to be so isolationist. It was written in a time when the Roman Catholic church was defining itself more by how not to be Protestant than by how to be Roman Catholic. I am not done with the book yet, so I am sure I will have more posts influenced by it. I do recommend it, both to the Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Holiness, Assemblies of God, and other Protestant/Evangelical/Pentecostal denominationally affiliated people who read this blog. I also recommend it to my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ who may not know some of the history behind Vatican II and how it is affecting the church. You also might learn some interesting things about your Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ as you read it. …Right now, I am really wishing I could have a sit down with Pope Benedict XVI(RC), Dr. George Wood(AG), Dr. Johnny M. Hunt(SBC), Bishop Wolfgang Huber(Luth-Germany), and Bishop Ieronymous of Thebes(Greek Orth.) to see if there is some way to find common ground in Christianity. My issue isn’t really with the fact that there are thousands of denominations. It is with the isolationist mentality of many of the denominations. Each group seems to feel that they have the most perfect or the perfect doctrine and everyone else is an infidel, or at very least seriously mistaken. I can imagine Jesus, sitting in Heaven shaking His head while saying to Gabriel, “Did I really go down there, suffer and die an excruciating death for this?” The spotless bride of Christ seems to still be working out some issues in her life. Fortunately, we are covered by the blood of Jesus and appear spotless.
PS. If any of you are friends with the above mentioned denominational leaders, I really would love to meet them. I don’t really think that a Spanish Teacher/blogger has the clout to get those men into a room together…but then again, who would have thought that a baby born to a virgin in a manger would be able to change the world?
Isaiah in Awe of God!
Isaiah 40:12 says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?”
As I read this verse, it reminded me of Francis Chan’s video about being in awe of God from his book Crazy Love. By blog today is short…watch the video after reading this verse. Think about how all the universe is measured by the breadth (width) of God’s hand. One hand width is the entire known and unknown span of the galaxies! Then sit back and be in awe of our Awesome God!
Goals…God’s or Ours?
I wrote about Ehud the Left Handed Dude and how I was speaking to myself as much as to you as the reader of this blog. So I wanted to share the issue with you that I feel God leading me to do. Have no fear, I am not planning to assassinate any world leaders or even abortion doctors. I am stepping out to put together a pastor’s conference called “In Search of The Great Pastor”. I first blogged about this idea back in June of 2009! (Here) Now, I have begun taking steps to make it happen. I will announce registration first right here on my blog and the cap will be 20 participants. At the moment, you are getting the first heads up to be looking out for the announcement. I have had pastors who tell me it won’t work, those who say it is a great idea, and one so far who has said, “Call me when you have a date set. I want to be the first to sign up!”…so there are 19 spots left. The location has little to no cell phone reception and no televisions in the rooms. It will be a great opportunity for pastors to connect with other senior pastors of various denominational backgrounds and share their triumphs and struggles in a confidential environment. I hope to have a solid date in enough time to give you one year notice for your calendar. Have an awesome day!
Ehud the Left Handed Dude!
(Title rhyme courtesy of Perry Noble, senior pastor of NewSpring Church.)
In Judges chapter 3, we read about Ehud, who was left handed…God used him to kill Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man. As a junior higher, I loved that story! Especially the part about the sword going in all the way past the hilt and the handle getting covered with fat. Yesterday, our pastor preached a sermon on Ehud and how God used his being left handed in order to free the Israelites from the rule of the Moabites. God can use things in our own lives that may not seem like a positive to bring glory to HIM!
As I mulled over the sermon, there were things in my own life that I find I would like to do, yet to be honest, I have been chicken to try to step out and do. Ehud was led by God to assassinate a king who was the ruler of all the local area. I am sure that he didn’t take a poll first to see if the people were behind him. He didn’t have any assurance that his plan would even work…after all Eglon was a huge guy! What if the sword didn’t hit him right and he yelled bringing in the guards? I am sure there were many “what ifs”. Are we ready to step out in faith and face some of our fears and “what ifs” to do what we feel God calling us to do? As I write this, I am challenging myself as much as anyone else. Ehud the Left Handed Dude is an example that may of us probably wish wasn’t in the Bible…but he is.
The catholic Church.
Warning —today’s post may read a little more like a cross between a pipe dream and a history lesson.
In the Apostle’s Creed, the words- I believe in “the holy catholic Church”, are key to a discussion I am in the midst of with a Roman Catholic friend. It has gotten me to thinking about the “catholic” church. I must first define “catholic” with a lower case “c” as if I don’t it could cause confusion for many readers of this blog. If I am refering to the Roman rite or the Roman Catholic church, I will say Roman or Roman Catholic. If I simply write “catholic”, I am referring to the universal church who is the bride of Christ. Some may disagree with my usage, but I am being clear in how I am using the word so that there is no confusion.
As I have been thinking over the earlier mentioned discussion, I have been also thinking about the protestant reformation. It interests me that though it happened much later, most of the issues that the reformers took up with the Roman Catholic church, were later found to indeed be heretical beliefs by the Roman church itself. The two major issues were the selling of indulgences and simony (the practice of selling off priestly positions, especially bishops positions). Now that these issues have been solved, why have we as the church not come back together? While I don’t believe that the Roman Catholic church is perfect, neither do I believe that any other branch of the catholic church has it all figured out with a 100% perfect theology. (In case you are wondering, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and yes even us Baptists are included in that grouping I am referring to as “the catholic church”…we don’t have a perfect church either.) The main question I am raising is this, “Is there a way to bring the church back together on this side of eternity?”
Before we all start pointing fingers at Martin Luther and his friends, the protestant reformation of the 16th century wasn’t the first schism in the church. The founders of the early church had issues that we see in the New Testament. Jumping ahead a few years, the Council of Ephesus caused a split that separated the Assyrian church from the rest of the early church, and that was in 431 AD. The great schism of the 11th century brought about the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox church. (This is a point my RC friends will disagree with as they hold the succession of papal authority directly descends from Saint Peter as the first Pope to each succeeding Pope.) As we know, there have been many other schisms in the church since 431. My question is the same, is there a way to bring the catholic church back together as one body, the bride of Christ? I welcome comments and suggestions from you who believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, no matter what denominational name is stamped over the church you attend. Feel free to think outside the box. Suggestions that everyone should just convert to your denomination are not helpful.
Day of Prayer
I want to mention a new young leader that I have gotten to know over the last few years. His name is Will Broadus and he is a college student at North Greenville University. He just let me know that he is organizing the Day of Prayer on February 25th at NGU and that from 8:00-10:00 at the Hayes Ministry Center there will be a time of prayer. Anyone is invited to come! Corporate prayer is an often overlooked area in the church. Hope to see you there!
In each generation, there are young men and women who God raises up to be leaders of revival and renewal among HIS people. These people inspire us all. As one who teaches college for a living, I get to see the best and brightest come through my classroom each semester. Once every few years, there is one who stands out from the rest. If you read this, and you are already an established leader in the Christian community, keep an eye on Will. He just might be a guy you want to recruit and mentor. He didn’t ask me to write this, in fact, unless he reads my blog, he won’t know I did. Will, if you are reading this, keep up the great work! You are inspiring to many in our own walk with Jesus Christ!
What to do when people don’t get it!
Filed under: Direction, Random Thoughts, leadership, ministry, missions
This week, I gave exams in four of my Spanish classes. It becomes quickly obvious that some of the students “get it”, while others aren’t there yet. What do we do in the church when people don’t “get it”? Can we give exams to find out if they “get it” or not? For those that don’t, how do we help them accomplish the goal? In the Spanish education world, I have things at my fingertips like sending them to a tutor or to the language immersion lab to get help. In the church world, we also have things at our disposal to help people “get it”. One idea I am proposing today is that the senior leadership of a church coordinate with the various ministries of the church to advance the common mission or goal of the church body. For example, if the core mission statement of the church is that they “are going to reach out to their community with the love of Jesus Christ and teach people to love like Jesus.” Then each ministry of the church should be echoing this idea. The teaching ministry – Sunday school/Small groups…whatever you call it, will be advancing this idea through the things that it does. Maybe they are volunteering at a local boys home to make it a better place and showing the boys and employees the love of Jesus through their actions. Doing a fund raiser to buy shoes for kids in the local school district and then taking the shoes to the kids could be a mission for the Men’s Ministries. These are just two examples. The key here isn’t exactly what is being done, but that whatever is being done is advancing the mission that God has given the local church body. If the men’s ministry is just meeting to share stories and eat donuts, it is time to re-vamp the ministry or get rid of it…unless gossiping and getting fat is the mission that God has given your church…but that is a thought for another day’s blog. Today, just having a common goal throughout the various church ministries will help people “get it”.
Church Board?
Filed under: Random Thoughts, accountability, leadership, structure
The church board can be a scary thing, both for those involved and for the pastor of the church. Every non-profit in the United States has to have a board of some kind. They are a good idea in a church. Otherwise, what happens if the pastor does something horrible? I have an idea to present that might seem to fly in the face of the traditional church board idea…but here it is. How about if 1/2 or most of the board are not people who are members of the church? Before you label me crazy, I am not talking about just picking guys off the street. What if the “church board” were made up of pastors of like minded churches in the area or even from around the country. This way, if there is a real problem, there is definite accountability for the pastor, but there will never be a lynch mob mentality that can occur if the pastor steps on the toes of a prominent member of the church in one of his sermons. Each of these pastor board members would go preach in each others churches from time to time so that the church membership would know who they are and also give them time to feel out the church and see where needs are. It seems to me that decisions could be made more objectively by people who are seeking God’s will for the church as a whole as well as the local body. This would prevent the situation of powerbrokering going on inside the church. Also, if the pastor should get into trouble, there is already a group of leaders there to help him get counseling and recovery. If you know of a church or your own church already uses a system like this, I welcome your feedback and comments!
McDonalds or Burger King – Making a Decision
We make decisions every day. Toilet roll over or under? Paint the room white or blue? Where to eat lunch? Be nice or mean? Making the decision to follow Jesus Christ is something that we see people do every week in church. They raise their hand or walk down an isle or in some way announce to the world and to God that they are sinners and are accepting Jesus’ offer of exchanging HIS righteousness for their sin. Many of us seem to have forgotten that in the midst of the get out of hell free card moment, we also are promising to FOLLOW JESUS wherever HE guides us. Jonah made a decision to run from God, he ended up spending some time in the belly of a fish for that decision. The disciples followed Jesus Christ, and most of them ended up dying painful deaths for their decision. This blog is not going to say that if you trully follow Jesus, then everything will be great and if you don’t then life will suck. I will say that IF you make a decision to follow Jesus, then there is no 1/2 way following HIM. I will also say that there is no better place in the world than right behind our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He guides us through even the most difficult circumstances. Just that fact that we aren’t alone, but are there WITH the Lord makes even the worst moments bearable. I have found joy in the midst of sorrow and can also say unfortunately that I have felt very alone in the middle of what seemed to the world like those moments when I had it all..but wasn’t walking with the Lord. We live in a culture that wants to avoid pain at all costs, God didn’t promise us that we would be free of pain. He just said, “Follow ME.”
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