The Disciple Makers Blog

Multiplication Ministries | Church Dynamics International

Month: April, 2010

The Decline of the Western Church and the Call to Renew Your Church’s Ecclesiology

This article by Drew Goodmanson is one of those that you may need to read twice.  He uses some terms that may be new to some of us and his content causes you to think outside the box.  Most likely the reason the Western Church is in decline is because we don’t think outside the box enough.  I’m anxious to see what you think of this post.

Andy

The Western Church is in decline. Part of the challenge is the church is stuck in old models of ecclesiology based on Constantinian views of church.  The church is seen as a power structure seeking to ‘attract’ people from the outside to join.  This model is set to fail to change our culture, as author Alan Hirsch puts it:

A combination of recent research in Australia indicates that about 10-15 percent of that population is attracted to what we call the contemporary church growth model. In other words, this model has significant “market appeal” to about 12 percent of our population. The more successful forms of this model tend to be large, highly professionalized, and overwhelmingly middle class, and express themselves culturally using contemporary, “seeker friendly” language and middle-of-the-road music forms. (source: The Forgotten Ways)

In America, we may have a couple decades before we reach the 10-15 percent. Yet churches continue to try to one-up each other to create better programs, funnier messages, more creative marketing to capture people from this pool of seekers.  For example, Outreach magazine’s June 2007 issue reported a seemingly encouraging statistic: 97% of Protestant churches reported doing something evangelistic within the year. (Source: Ellison Research’s “Facts and Trends“)  It was only when you dig deeper, the stat loses some punch:

  • 70% did a Vacation Bible School
  • 59% passed out literature such as tracts or magazines
  • 56% held large events such as block parties and fall festivals

These are good things to do, but all of these are attractional-based evangelism that will reach people who share a similar worldview to Christians.  Meaning, when people hold a similar morality, view of absolutes and typically conservative background these events are effective.  For most others, they are ineffective.

In response to this, here are a few items I am thinking through:

1. Corporate Gatherings are important to reflect the exaltation of Christ, just as mission moves us into a more incarnational mode.  We need multiple forms of gatherings to reflect the fullness of the church. I say this in contrast to some in the emerging movement who prefer to abolish larger corporate gatherings.  Yet, in stark contrast to most Evangelical churches the corporate gathering is not the center of the church universe.   Goheen writes: “There is a need to continue to struggle with communal patterns of ecclesial life that will enable the church corporately to be a preview of the kingdom. However, this should not be done at the expense of the mission of God’s people in their various and scattered callings. This continues to be the primary point of missionary engagement in Western culture.”   (HT: Brad Brisco) For a visual on this, view the Triperspectival Ecclesiology diagram.

Triperspectival note: As Corporate gathering & Classes occur there is a greater emphasis on Normative (red circle).  Missional Communities and Home Groups have an emphasis on Existential (blue circle) while Tribal encounters (going with others to where non-believers live/meet) and being a missionary to people is more Situational (green circle).

2. You need to rethink the success of your church.  Too many pastors find their identity in the number of people that attend on Sundays.  Your church can have a great number of people attend on Sunday’s but if this is where their connection to being the church ends, you may only be feeding the idols of consumerism.  Churches should spend much more emphasis on creating disciples to embody the gospel in daily life. Goheen quotes Newbigin as he writes: “I do not believe that the role of the Church in a secular society is primarily exercised in the corporate action of the churches as organized bodies in the political or cultural fields . . . On the contrary, I believe that it is [exercised] through the action of Christian lay people playing their roles as citizens, workers, managers, legislators.” (HT: Brad Brisco)

3. Bible Studies are great, but to reach people churches need to form missional communities. Small gatherings of people who are a committed to a neighborhood.  It is these people who pray for the area, are deeply committed to the needs and express this in acts of love and mercy.  These people need to be an active hermeneutic of the gospel on display for unbelievers to see.  This paradigm will require active engagement in a neighborhood to build trust and reach those who are open or spiritually curious.

4. Churches that aren’t actively embodying the gospel to tribes of people will only reach seekers.  Hirsch calls mission going out and incarnation as going deep.  We need to develop a culture in our church of mission and pastors, elders and deacons need to model how to be incarnational to reach people groups who do not respond to attractional ministries.  We need to create a new missionary mindset in our people.  It will be these individuals living out the gospel who embed in tribes of people who will be able to reach those who doubt, hold to alternative faiths or even stand in opposition to the Christian message.  The more extreme the resistance, the more relational mission becomes and often is only able to be bridged by specific people who either come from a similar background or somehow develop a connection based on other extenuating factors.

For most traditional or evangelical churches moving from a Sunday event with some mid-week Bible Studies to a church who takes mission seriously will be difficult.  It will take people completely out of their comfort zone and require both great patience and love as Christians move into active relationships with non-believers.  This is difficult being many mature Christians have completely isolated themselves from the unbelieving world.  For many Christians there will need to be a complete shift in ideology and a conversion to mission in order for this to occur.  Sadly, churches who go through this process will end up losing people unwilling to follow their leaders as they follow Christ.  But ultimately this transition is critical for the Western Church to once again move to the margins of society where we began and were able to completely change the Roman world through decentralized missional living.

Drew Goodmanson serves as CEO of Monk Development and is co-founder/pastor at Kaleo Church. Monk is an Internet strategy and development company. Monk created Ekklesia 360 which is used by thousands of churches and ministries. Drew often speaks at conferences and has written for several national publications about how churches/ministries can use the Internet. Goodmanson.com is recognized as one of the Top Church Blogs. Kaleo Church is a missional community, multi-site church planting movement in San Diego, CA. More about Drew Goodmanson.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, what do you think?  Is the American church in decline?  If so, why?  What can be done about it?  I’m really anxious to see your thoughts on this one.

Andy

6 Comments by Pastor Andy on April 28, 2010
filed in Church Growth and Health, Discipleship
tagged

Seven Characteristics of Highly Evangelistic Christians

Tom Rainer once again hits another one out of the park in this article from Church Central.com.  His insight on evangelism and church health comes out time and time again in his many books and articles.  He is truly a blessing to the church at large.  Toms helps us to see that in each church there is at least one or two persons that have a heart and zeal for seeing people come to Christ.  When leaders of the church recognize them and nurture and encourage them they heart spread throughout the fellowship and the church truly becomes and evangelistic church.

For over 20 years I have been researching and studying churches, primarily those in North America. I had the joy of serving as senior pastor in four churches where God blessed with evangelistic growth. I have written over twenty books about the church in America.

I am not giving you my credentials to impress you, but simply to share that my life’s passion has been leading and learning about evangelistic churches. At this point in my life and ministry, however, I realize that I have not given sufficient attention to one of the primary characteristics of evangelistic churches.

The great omission

It is so obvious. Indeed it is so clear that I am surprised at my neglect of this factor. Stated simply, the evangelistic churches that I have researched for the past twenty years have one or more highly evangelistic Christians.

I know. The previous statement is no great revelation. It is almost stating the obvious. But, if it is reality, why are we not hearing more about these Christians who seem to have a passion for evangelism? Why are we not doing a better job of telling their stories?

In this short article I hope to address this great omission.

Seven characteristics

It is inevitable that, when we do research on evangelistic churches, we learn about one or more members in the church who, to use the book title by Charles H. Spurgeon, embody the traits of The Soul Winner.　Often times one of those members is the pastor. But we have also seen many laypersons who are themselves soul winners.

In our interviews with these people, or with those who tell us about the soul winners, we began to discern some clear patterns. We called those patterns “the seven characteristics of highly evangelistic Christians.”

1. They are people of prayer. They realize that only God can convict and convert, and they are totally dependent upon Him in prayer. Most of the highly evangelistic Christians spend at least an hour in prayer each day.

2. They have a theology that compels them to evangelize. They believe in the urgency of the gospel message. They believe that Christ is the only way of salvation. They believe that anyone without Christ is doomed for a literal hell.

3. They are people who spend time in the Word. The more time they spend in the Bible, the more likely they are to see the lostness of humanity and the love of God in Christ to save those who are lost.

4. They are compassionate people. Their heart breaks for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have learned to love the world by becoming more like Christ who has the greatest love for the world.

5. They love the communities where God has placed them. They are immersed in the culture because they desire for the light of Christ to shine through them in their communities.

6. They are intentional about evangelism. They pray for opportunities to share the gospel. They look for those opportunities. And they see many so-called casual encounters as appointments set by God.

7. They are accountable to someone for their evangelistic activities. They know that many good activities can replace Great Commission activities if they are not careful. Good can replace the best. So they make certain that someone holds them accountable each week either formally or informally for their evangelistic efforts.

The “secret” of evangelistic churches

The secret is really no secret at all. Ultimately evangelistic churches see more persons become Christians through the passionate efforts of highly evangelistic Christians. More than any programs. More than any church events. More than anything else, we are the instruments God has chosen to use.

Sometimes we ask the question: What is my church doing to become more evangelistic? But the better question is: What am I doing to become more evangelistic?

Charles H. Spurgeon was right. We need more soul winners.

We need more highly evangelistic Christians.

Thom Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, and for 15 years prior to that led a church and denominational consulting firm. He is the author of 21 books. His latest, Transformational Church, will release June 1.

__________________________________________________________________________________

As a consultant to church in America I personally have found Tom’s books vital reading to keep up on focus and insight into the needs and trends of churches today. His books “Simple Church” and “Essential Church” have helped me in pointing pastors and church leaders in the right direction to meet the challenges facing the 21st Century Church.

I find that too many churches make efforts to “program” evangelism rather then nurture evangelistic people that mentor others the “catch the fire” for souls.   Someone once said, “If we were to spend 10 seconds in hell we would be burdened for those headed there”.

Questions:  Is your church evangelistic and how?  Do you know someone with a heart for evangelism?  What are they like?  Why do you think most Christians do not have an evangelistic heart?

I’d love to hear your comments.

Andy

4 Comments by Pastor Andy on April 25, 2010
filed in Church Growth and Health, Evangelism
tagged ,

Can the Church Be Both Biblical AND Relevant?

The Debate Continues

Alan Chandler of Church Doctor Ministries deals with the debate that seems to rage in churches across American today.  Can the church be both biblical AND relevant?  Do we have to sacrifice one for the other?  Is changing to be more relevant to the communities our churches are located in compromising biblical principles?  Alan handles this timely subject perfectly.  If church leaders grab the contents of this post it can change their church, their communities and even the world.  Tell me what you think?

Andy

Let’s open a can of worms.

Recently I was asked by a church member, “Shouldn’t we focus our time being more Biblical and less relevant?”  I’m smart enough to know he didn’t care about being Biblical, or relevant.  His “question” was an attempt to publicly discredit some of my recommendations.  Nonetheless, he represents a growing number of influential church leaders who use the term “Biblical” as a defense mechanism against becoming missional and relevant.

Many congregations are growing increasingly polarized over the topic of relevance.  Most people opposed to the idea of relevance are actually opposed to change, and their weapon of choice to defeat relevance is to claim it is not Biblical.  This could not be further from the truth!

The historical challenge facing the church since its birth has been to bring the timeless principles of God to the unique context of the culture in which the church finds itself. In other words, it’s to deliver Biblical truth in relevant ways.

The challenge facing today’s church is we have inherited a system which has neglected the historical challenge for several generations. The result: intentionally delivering timeless Biblical truth in relevant ways is a foreign concept to many.  It’s also why about 80% of churches are currently in a state of plateau or decline.  More importantly it’s why about 90% of churches haven’t recorded any conversions over the past 12 months.

Think this through: zero Kingdom growth is the result of churches efforts to “be more Biblical.”  Some examples:

  • Christians have been charged with going to the people with the Gospel of Christ, yet most churches focus their efforts on getting the people to come to them.
  • Scripture calls Christians to be a people characterized by faith-filled radical self-sacrifice, yet most church members adamantly argue to preserve what makes them comfortable.
  • God’s plan for Christian leadership is that they prayerfully discern His will for their church.  Yet, most church leaders will pray the Lord’s Prayer in church, not my will but Thy will be done; then they will go into a meeting and argue for two hours over what THEY want.

So, can a church be both Biblical and Relevant?  Better Question: Can a church be Biblical without being relevant?  I don’t believe it can.  Yet, for many, the term relevant seems to be a stumbling block.

Solution: replace the term relevant with the term missional.  After all, delivering timeless Biblical truth in relevant ways is what missional is all about.  When Christians begin to see themselves as missionaries, then the church battles between Biblical and relevant will fade into history.

Better still: when more Christians see themselves as missionaries, the third largest mission field on the planet, the Untied States, is in for a revival of epic proportions!

Alan Chandler is a Consultant Partner with Church Doctor Ministries, a full-service church consultation ministry dedicated to helping Christians and churches become more effective for the Great Commission, to make disciples of all people.

__________________________________________________________________________________

As I work with churches I find that besides the lack of discipleship and evangelism, that the lack of relevance is the biggest killer of churches that are dying a slow but sure death.  What do you think?

Andy

4 Comments by Pastor Andy on April 21, 2010
filed in Church Growth and Health, Discipleship

No Disciples, No Mission

Alan Hirsh shares that there are much greater, perhaps even global, consequences at stake in our becoming more like Jesus.

Having been believers and ministers for over 25 years now has given Debs and I an appreciation for just how hard it is to be an authentic follower of our Lord and Savior. To be an authentically radical disciple requires a relentless evaluation of life’s priorities and concerns—together with an ongoing, rigorous, critique of our culture—to ensure we are not adopting values that subvert the very life and message we are called to live out. For true followers of Jesus, discipleship is not simply the first step toward a promising career of being a Christian, rather it is itself the fulfillment of our destiny. So, Debs and I have decided to write a book on what we call “missional discipleship.” Appropriately called Untamed, it is meant to be a penetrating look into the things that keep us from becoming all we were made to be and has many practical suggestions about how to become wild followers of Jesus again.

The truth is that discipleship, at least the way the Bible understands it, cannot be limited to a personal exercise in personal spirituality. There are much greater, perhaps even global, consequences at stake in our becoming more like Jesus. So much so that we have actually come to believe that discipleship is a frontier issue for the people of God at this time in history. Why? Because most commentators would now agree that the Western Church, because of its deep embedding into the prevailing consumerist culture, has all but lost the art of discipleship. Reggie McNeal has concluded that “church culture in North America is now a vestige of the original [Christian] movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs.”

If this is indeed the case, we should be clear that this is not what the church is called to be, and is, in fact, directly caused by a failure in discipleship and disciple-making. And it will have to be addressed if we are to give faithful witness to our century. Therefore, rediscovering what it means to radically follow Jesus is now an area of strategic—and definitely missional—concern. To recover mission we are going to have to take discipleship seriously again, but the reverse is also true; to rediscover discipleship we are also going to have to take mission seriously. We cannot be true disciples without also being missionaries (sent ones) to our worlds.

The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of the world (Rom. 1:16), and God wants to redeem the broken and lost world around us and through us. Our lives, individual and corporate, play a vital role in the unfolding of the grand purposes of God. The gospel cannot be limited to being about my personal healing and wholeness, but rather extends in and through my salvation to the salvation of the world. To fail in discipleship and disciple-making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or “sentness”) of the church. And it does not take a genius to realize that we have all but lost the art of disciple-making in the contemporary Western church. No wonder Dallas Willard calls the systematic non-discipleship of the Western Church “the great omission” in his book by that name.

There is much talk about missional church in our time—and we completely agree. The church must become missional or fade into increasing irrelevance in the 21st Century. But we simply cannot get there from here without factoring discipleship into the equation. We can’t have one without the other: if there be no mission there can be no discipleship, and if there is no discipleship there will be no mission. And there can be no missional church if there is no disciple-making church—it’s as simple as that. If ever there was a time to recover the true meaning of the Great Commission to make disciples of the nations it is now. The future health and viability of Western Christianity is at stake. We must not waste time.

5 Comments by Pastor Andy on April 17, 2010
filed in Discipleship

More Time with Fewer People

“Mentor Like Jesus”

Regi Cambell says, “I love mentoring.”

Next to my family, nothing else I’ve done has given me  more satisfaction or fulfillment. Nothing. Not making money. Not getting awards. Not traveling. Nothing.

I can’t really explain how I discovered it. There I was, teaching a singles Sunday school class at a large Baptist church outside Atlanta, Georgia. Although I had been a confessing Christian since childhood, I had been a genuine Christ follower for only a few years. But I was serious about making disciples, and I put a lot into this class, trying to inspire these young people to move God from a category to an intimate personal relationship. The class was growing, and I could see people get it . . . surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ and growing in their relationship with Him.

Each week it seemed one of the single guys would come up at the end of class or call me on Monday. “Hey, Regi, can we get together this week? I want to talk to you about my job” or “my girlfriend” or “my dad.” I didn’t think much of it. I was older than they were, fairly successful, and somewhat wise about the world.

A few days later we’d meet early in the morning at some breakfast place and dive into the issue the young man was facing. I would ask a lot of questions, leading him to think things through, and usually bringing him face-to-face with the wisdom of what God has to say in Scripture. Coffee finished, advice dispensed, and I was off to the office and to my paying job.

Several hundred times this scenario was repeated over the course of thirteen years—until I heard a speaker say something that rocked my mentoring world. He said:

More time spent with fewer people equals greater kingdom impact.

It suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t making the best use of my time; that I could make a greater impact for God by being more focused. Maybe I should pick a few of these bright young men and make a more serious commitment of time and energy to them. Instead of being issue-driven and reactive, I could be principle-driven and proactive, working into their lives the truth that God has shown me through my experience (i.e., mistakes) and what I’ve learned about life by applying His Word.

So I looked around my life – work world, church world, neighborhood and friends world – and picked out every young, married, high-potential guy that I knew. I targeted thirty-somethings because that was my age when I most needed a mentor but didn’t have one. I sent these young men an e-mail and offered to spend a year (three hours a month) with them; with the intention of teaching them what I’ve learned about God, marriage, business, fatherhood, and relationships. Twelve of the twenty-seven guys that I e-mailed replied and said they’d be interested, and I picked the eight that I thought I could help the most.

I called it “radical mentoring” because it seemed radical at the time. I now call it “next-generation mentoring,” because it’s really not radical; it’s not even new. But more on that in a minute.

I believe this mentoring has had a significant impact. Lives have been changed, marriages have been saved, children have been dealt with in a more loving way, and my life has been incredibly blessed in the process. But there’s another major turn in the story of how this book came to be.

Not too long ago I awoke in the middle of the night with this thought: This is what Jesus did! It came to me that next-generation mentoring is a model that Jesus invented two thousand years ago. Unknowingly, I had stumbled onto a set of practices that should be obvious to all of us but until now haven’t been.

We have visualized Jesus as CEO, Jesus as an environmentalist, and even thought about what Jesus’ politics might have been. But in reality, in history, regardless of your religious beliefs, Jesus was a mentor. Those he mentored became totally committed to his mission, worked together as an effective team, and through their efforts, arguably one-third of the world’s population believes in what they taught. From eleven people to two billion people, Jesus was a pretty good mentor.

Now I see that what I was doing wasn’t really so radical after all. I was simply doing what Jesus did . . . investing in the next generation.

No wonder these mentoring groups have born such fruit. No wonder they’ve been so fulfilling for me. No wonder the guys who’ve gone through the mentoring year with me have seen their lives changed forever. And no wonder mentoring has become such a fulfilling and gratifying endeavor for me personally. I’m just following in the footsteps of the world’s greatest mentor. I’m just doing what Jesus did with His disciples.

Wow.

Intentionally mentoring younger people in a group setting has been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done. And those people whom I have inspired to follow this model and do the same thing have shared the same excitement. “I’ll do this for the rest of my life,” is a quote I hear.

I hope I’ll inspire you to become a next-generation mentor. There’s no age limit and no price for admission; just a willingness to share. You’ll find the best friends you’ve ever had, feel the most useful and fulfilled, and be blessed in ways that only the Father can bless you.

Regi Campbell is the author of Mentor Like Jesus, from which this article is an excerpt.

Copied from the Catalyst website (www.catalystspace.com).

_____________________________________________________________________

In this excellent article by Regi Cambell he hits on what Christian leaders all too often learn late in their ministries.  The best way to build followers of Jesus who’s lives are transformed and stay steady when storms hit their lives, are those that were developed in “small groups” and “one-to-one.”  When asked, most successful church leaders today will admit that their lives and decisions to serve Jesus Christ came because of a “mentoring” (discipleship) relationship.  I know that was my case.  How about you?  What influenced you the most in your spiritual journey and growth?

Pastor Andy

No Comments by Pastor Andy on April 17, 2010
filed in Discipleship

What Would Happen if the Church’s Focus was to Make Disciples?

Rob Ross contemplates on this question:  What would happen if the Church’s singular focus was to make disciples? His answer:  We would see a movement of God like we have not seen in generations.

Throughout the New Testament Jesus used questions to teach. Questions helped His disciples discover truth for themselves. Questions help each of us go through a process of self discovery. This post is the result of asking a question that was asked of me.

What would happen if the Church’s singular focus was to make disciples?

My response was very direct at the time. I stated that I believe we would see a movement of God like we have not seen in generations. So, another question was asked. What is keeping us from seeing a movement of God happening?

I reflected on an answer for quite some time. I thought about the stories I have read of how God is moving in other parts of the world. I thought about how I have not seen this happening here in North America. So, I asked myself a question. What makes North America different from other parts of the world?

I pondered this question while watching a few of our family’s favourite television shows. We often enjoy watching the Home Improvement Channel. Through the years I have been able to glean a number of good ideas from watching Disaster Do-It-Yourself or Holmes on Homes. One basic principle that has been restated many times in these shows is the need to know the difference between a load bearing wall and non-load bearing wall. The load bearing walls are the ones that keep the house from falling down. The non-load bearing walls are dividers that keep us from seeing what is on the other side.

I believe North America is different from other parts of the world because we like our space. In order to have this space we put up a whole lot of walls. However, for those of us who want to see and be involved in what God is doing some of these walls need to come down.

A number of the walls that I believe need to be come down first include:

The Wall of Comfort

I would define comfort as a state of being in which we feel secure. It is a feeling that everything is okay at least where I live. If we become too comfortable we no longer sense the urgency. In scripture Jesus warned his disciples that the time was near. He took down their wall of comfort so they could see what was coming and helped them prepare. What questions should we be asking Jesus? How do we move outside our comfort zone? Matthew 24:32-35

The Wall of Distractions

North American society provides an abundance of distractions. Add to our busy lives the need to adapt to a rapidly changing world and we see our attention becoming extremely divided. We are inundated with many forms of entertainment. We have numerous opportunities to listen to the radio, watch television or surf the Internet. Technology continues to take ever larger amounts of our time. Beyond this we still need to earn a living, pay our bills, raise our families and keep our relationships healthy. In order to sort out all these distractions it becomes imperative to ask some more questions. What are my priorities? How do I redeem my time? Ephesians 5:15-17

The Wall of Individualism

When I refer to individualism I mean the pursuit of individual rather than common or collective interests. This seems to be a common theme in Western society. It appears we are losing sight of what it means to be community. Our focus is diverted by the idea of personal success rather than corporate well being. The wall of individualism blinds us from the needs of all God’s people and from fully accomplishing God’s purpose. I continually ask myself, “What was Jesus’ original purpose for His people?”  How do we live as Jesus intended? Acts 2:42-47

The Wall of Disobedience

Disobedience is any choice that is contrary to what God has instructed. It is saying no to God. This is not as obvious as it might seem. I often find believers questioning the relevance of scripture for today’s world. There is a sense that it was meant for those who lived two thousand years ago but it isn’t relevant today. It seems they want to make God’s word fit into their lifestyle. They do not see this as disobedience. What does it take to obey God? Titus 3: 1-9

So, what next?

Like any home improvement project it takes time, effort, tools, resources and a team of committed workers. In order for disciples to start taking down some of these walls more questions need to be asked.

—————————————————————————————————–

So what do you think?  What would happen if the church really did make disciple making the focus of the church and why do you think it doesn’t?  How is your church doing on making disciples.  In fact…just how does your church make disciples?  As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments.

Andy


2 Comments by Pastor Andy on April 3, 2010
filed in Discipleship
tagged ,
The Disciple Makers Blog