TILL HE COMES Blog

Daniel over at Messy Pastor tagged me to reveal seven things about myself that not many people know. That’s a creative idea, so here we go:

1. I am a cat lover, and can’t stand dogs unless they act like cats (small, sit on your lap, don’t bark…). Sadly, I don’t have a cat right now…had to leave him in Montana when we moved to Texas three years ago.

2. I am addicted to books. Not reading them…just buying them. I love to read too, but I buy three times as many books as I read. It’s out of control.

3. I play Guildwars. It’s an MMORPG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) with no subscription fee: Perfect for the poor seminarian who needs to “shut off” from time to time. If you play, my IGN is “Mahal El” which means “To the Praise of God” in Hebrew.

4. I am a lifelong Oakland Raiders fan, but don’t admit it much recently.

5. I have watched “The Matrix” about 60 times since it came out. I could write a book about “The Gospel in the Matrix.” One day I probably will lead lead a “movie Bible study” and begin with “The Matrix.”

6. I’m going to ditto Daniel on #6: I can’t stand self-righteous or legalistic Christians.

7. I grew up in a family of ten kids. Yep. I am second oldest. You can see how crazy my family is over at tenarrows.blogspot.com.

Now I’m gonna Tag:

Andrew at http://evangelical.wordpress.com/ 
Amanda at http://withinthediscord.blogspot.com 
Jim at http://freegracegospel.wordpress.com/

“Tag” you’re it!

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Every man must brag about his wife from time to time. My wife, Wendy, does not know I am doing this, so keep it “hush-hush.”

All Christians from time to time struggle with how to know God more intimately. There is a wide segment of Christianity which says that if you really want to know God and experience Him, you need to speak in tongues, dream dreams, and have visions. The chills and the thrills prove that God is really caring about you.

My wife has some friends who have been telling her this very thing. They are some of the most Godly women we have ever known, and I do not doubt their sincerity, or their genuine love for God and desire to be used by Him. But Wendy had started to get confused because some of them were implying that Wendy was missing out on all that God had for her, and that if she really wanted to experience God and have the close, intimate relationship with God that they did, she would have to pray for God to give to her all that He had for her (i.e., tongues). She and I talked and talked about this. 

Finally, I told her to keep praying and seeking God’s face in Scripture, and see what He reveals. A few days later, she called me at work. She was so excited. She realized that knowing Christ intimately is not found only in “knowing Scripture” but in going along with Christ in what He is doing in your day. As you read the Gospels, the disciples just followed Him around, listening to His teaching, observing what He was doing, and then helping out where they could. So Wendy set out to do the same thing.

Three days later, (the day before Thanksgiving) she was in our local Tom Thumb Supermarket (the Southern Safeway). As she pushed her cart around, she noticed a little girl asking an older man, probably her grandfather, for a stuffed bear. The grandfather responded a little gruffly, “I told you no! No put it back.” The little girl obeyed and little reluctantly, and as they walked away, kept glancing back over her shoulder at the bear.

Wendy thought, “I wonder if I should buy that bear for that girl.” She walked over to the bear and looked at the price. It was only $4.99. But she thought, “She probably has many toys at home, and all little girls like stuffed animals. What does she need one more for?” So Wendy walked away.

But she couldn’t shake the idea, and just as she was about to check out, she saw the grandfather and little girl headed toward the check out line as well. So Wendy grabbed the bear, and bought it with her other groceries. Then she went over to the grandfather and introduced herself and explained that she had saw the girl ask for the bear, and had overheard him tell her no. “God has been so generous with us, and I really felt God wanted me to buy this bear for her. I hope that is okay.”

Wendy said that the man’s face, which seemed to be somewhat angry and worried, melted into joy and disbelief. He said, “This is my granddaughter. She wanted the bear for her mother, my daughter, who is in the hospital. When we got here, I told her she could either buy flowers or a stuffed animal for her mother. She chose flowers first, but then wanted the bear as well, so that her mother would have a friend on Thanksgiving day tomorrow after the surgery. You have made her very happy. Thank you.” Indeed, the little girl was beaming and hugging the bear.

This is my wife…the close friend of Jesus.

Tonight she is taking a Pumpkin Pie over to our neighbors. We have been trying to develop a relationship with them, which has been difficult since they don’t speak very good English and we don’t speak Spanish. Wendy had been giving free English tutoring to their girls on Thursday nights. Anyway, they have never had a pumpkin pie before, so she made one for them. We hope to invite them to church soon. Please keep them in prayer!

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Church planting is the way to go today. Here is an article about modern church planting from The Leadership Network.

Average number of baptisms or conversions in a church plant is 10 the first year, 11 the second year, 13 the third year and 14 the fourth year.

Church planting in the United States appears to be undergoing an extreme makeover.

According to the findings of a new research study, interest in church planting is on the rise, some of America’s best and brightest ministry leaders choose planting as their career path and church planting efforts are much more successful and promising than anticipated.

Read the rest here.

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We saw yesterday that we cannot go to church. Others in the world have come to understand this as well, and have started telling Christians to “Stop going to church…instead be the church.” Though shocking to some, it is right on target for how we need to be thinking. We cannot “get credit” for church by showing up in some building for an hour on Sunday morning, singing a few songs, smiling a few smiles, and listening to a sermon. That’s not “church.”

If, as we suggested yesterday, church is something you are, then it is something that you are part of all the time. Just as you are part of the human race everywhere you go, so also, you are part of the church everywhere you go.

So the question isn’t “where do you attend church” or “what do you do in your church service” but instead, “As a part of the church, what can you be doing to strengthen it?” or “What does church look like?”

The Biblical answer to this is real simple. As the church, our task is to make disciples.

And there are few “church guidelines” on how to do this. We have several examples of what various believers did in the first century do make disciples. They met together, prayed, ate meals, learned the teaching of the apostles, and served one another. Also, it seems that a big part of their disciple-making process was telling others about Jesus.

In history, we have many more examples of what other believers did to make disciples. Some of them worked for a time, but then became alarmingly ineffective. our modern day “church service” is a great example of this. At one point in history, it was a great way to reach the community for Jesus and teach and train these new believers about Jesus. It was where people came to serve and be served, hence the name “church service.” But this method doesn’t seem to work any more for most people. So why hang on to it?

In our day, we need to reexamine the ways we try to make disciples and if they are not working, ask ourselves, “What will work? How can we best make disciples? Are meetings necessary? If so, when/where should we meet, and what should we do when we meet? How can we get believers to know what God wants them to know and do what God wants them to do so we can be the church in our community? How can we best tell people about Jesus?”

The answers to these questions will be different for different groups of believers living in different cities. But they are questions that every group of believers must ask if they are going to effectively make disciples.

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Most of the problems regarding how to “do church” and what goes on “in church” could nearly be solved by simply answering the question “What is church?”

It seems that most of us believe that church is something we do on Sunday morning. It is where we meet God, and therefore, we have to dress up to “go to church,” and act a different way “at church.” Though there are new types of buildings that hold “churches” they are typically built with red bricks, stained glass, and a white steeple. It is “at church” that we sing songs about God, read the Bible, and listen to a pastor teach. Church is where we get spiritual instruction. Church is where we go when we need a spiritual “pick-me-up.” Church is an American tradition.

But is that what “church” is? No. Absolutely not!

Biblically, the church is made up of all who have believed in Jesus for eternal life worldwide and througout time. That is the church. Therefore, church is not something you can attend. It is not a place you can go. ”Church” just is, and you are either a part of the church or you are not.

When this truth is grasped, it revolutionizes the way we go about being the church. We realize that since we can’t go to church, what is this “thing” we are doing on Sunday morning? If that’s not church, what is? If we can’t “go to church,” what are we supposed to do about church? How are we supposed to “do church”?

Weigh in below and join us tomorrow as we begin to look for some answers.

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Yesterday we looked at the two most common formats for church services. Some focus on teaching and training Christians, while others focus on reaching out to unbelieving seekers. Both have weaknesses.

Teaching churches focus on training Christians, but do a relatively poor job of reaching the lost. They will often say that outreach and evangelism is the job of the individual Christian, and you will hear them say things like “Healthy sheep naturally reproduce.” But little evangelism actually takes place. And, as it turns out, though many of the believers in these churches know their Bibles well, few of them actually live out what they know in their day-to-day lives, nor are they reaching out with the gospel, which challenges the idea that these sorts of churches are actually doing a good job making disciples. So such churches fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

Seeker sensitive churches try to fix this by making their church programs and services more welcoming to unbelievers. They seem to do a great job at this. They will often offer Saturday or weeknight services for the Christians to help them mature, or will encourage believers to get involved in home groups for discipleship. But in reality, few disciples are brought to maturity. Furthermore, it has become increasintly evident that although these churches do grow numerically, most of their growth is transfer growth from other churches, rather than actual evangelism growth. So unbelievers are really not being reached. Such churches fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disiciples.

The problem with both models is the same: the church cannot focus primarily on training believers or primarily on reaching unbelievers. Both are needed. But even churches that try to do both are generally quite weak in one or the other. So who is the church service for - believers or unbelievers? The answer is: “Wrong question.”

The correct questions are “What is the church?” and “What is the church service?” We will begin looking at those questions in the days ahead.

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One question I have been mulling over recently is “Who is the church service for - believers or unbelievers?” Those who answer “believers” will often have church services that cater to the needs and desires of Christians. There will be an emphasis on programs and teaching that meet the needs of Christians. The sermons will often center on teaching Christians what they need to know to be better Christians. The songs will often use terms and ideas that Christians are familiar with. The programming will center around issues that Christians are dealing with. In the churches I have pastored, this is the approach I used. But we always did a poor job of reaching unbelievers, as do most churches who follow this model.

Unbelievers who visit a church that is focused on “making disciples of Christians” will often be confused and weirded out by what goes on: “What’s with all the teaching from Romans? What does ‘justification’ mean? You say Jesus is coming back? That sounds a bit like the legends that say King Arthur is returning. Why do I want to learn ‘Christian business principles’? I don’t really want to be ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ or be the ‘bride of Jesus.’ ”

Some churches have understood that much of what the church does and says is a little strange to unbelievers, so they try to look at things from the perspective of an unbeliever, and make the church more “seeker sensitive.” They gear the church service not toward the Christian, but toward the non-Christian who knows next to nothing about the Bible or church traditions. This tends to attract lots of crowds, and even generates lots of new believers, which is great, but ends up allowing most of these new believers to remain in relative immaturity. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have recently announced this fact for their own church. The “seeker sensitive” model, while it attracts large crowds, does a poor job of bringing those crowds to spiritual maturity.

Is there a balance or middle ground between the two? I think there is, which we will begin looking at tomorrow. We will see that the solution to the problem begins by reassessing who the church service is for.

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The previous post talked about how there are lots of church planting networks, but many of them are opposed to Free Grace Theology. Some have e-mailed in asking why we even need to plant churches. (By the way, if you have something to say/ask, go ahead and use the comment box rather than e-mail me.) Basicically, people think that there are already too many churches and it is better to revitalize and support existing churches rather than plant new ones.

So many things can be said about this, and I will try to post some responses in the following few posts. Here is the first thing ( I pulled this from ThinkChristian.net):

1. There are 195 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the top four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.
2. In spite of the rise of mega-churches, no county in America has a greater church population than it did ten years ago.
3. During the last ten years, combined communicant membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.5 percent (4,498,242), while the national population increased by 11.4 percent (24,153,000).
4. Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started.
5. There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920.

• In 1920 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
• In 1950 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
• In 1996 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

6. “Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.”
7. American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.
8. Hence the claim of many leaders: “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches” (Peter Wagner).

He also lists some poverty statistics taken from Wikipedia, which everybody should be familiar with by now. Find them here.

Just for fun, I found a quick map that gives a generalized picture of religious adherents in the US from 2000: Religious Adherents. The map is from a page on Valparaiso University’s web site called American Ethnic Geography.

There may be lots of churches today, but there are LOTS more people, and the number of churches per person is decreasing. Some might argue that this is because small churches are closing and the people are going to mega-churches, which is true. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that many mega-churches are not doing a better job than smaller churches of making disciples of the people who attend.

Most importantly, is that new church plants tend to be much more effective and efficient at reaching out to unbelievers. For this reason alone, we need to get involved in and excited about church planting.

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I have a heart that beats for church planting…I’m just not sure I’m cut out to be a church planter! I mentioned it before, but I have become increasingly convinced that if Free Grace theology is going to move forward, we have to involved in church planting. There are numerous organizations and networks which are planting hundreds of churches worldwide, and most of them are strongly Lordship/Calvinistic. We need one for Free Grace Theology! It’s not enough to just write and speak and debate. We need to get out there and share the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches.

Below are 15 of the top church planting organizations. Though for many of them I could not find a doctrinal statement, the ones that did have doctrinal statements leaned toward Calvinistic/Lordship theology.

1. Acts 29 - Calvinstic
2. New Thing Network - Lordship
3. Global Church Advancement - I’m Unsure
4. Leadership Network - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
5. Orchard Group - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
6. Passion 4 Planting - Lordship
7. Stadia: New Church Strategies - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
8. Grace Church Planting Ministries - Lordship
9. house2house - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
10. Kairos - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
11. Emerging Church Network - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
12. 153 House Churches Network - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
13. multiplyingchurches.org - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
14. Church Planting Movement - I can’t find a doctrinal statement
15. Association of Related Churches - I can’t find a doctrinal statement

By the way, if you are interested in church planting, or just doing things better at your church to reach out more effectively, many of these sites have excellent free tools and ideas. Make use of them.

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I always wanted to be an inventor. I even have a notebook at home full of “Million Dollar Ideas” (Which probably means that they would cost a million dollars to invent, and not make any money!). When I graduated from high school, my plan was to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and then invent stuff. This plan got derailed when a good friend of mine died in a hiking accident, and I went off to Bible college instead to train for the pastorate.

However, my love for innovation never left me. I am always looking for new ways of doing old things. For this reason, my favorite issue of TIME magazine is always the “Best Inventions of 200?” issue that comes out this time of year. The 2007 edition has me dreaming on every page, and wouldn’t you know it, one of the “best of” inventions utilizes an idea I had about 20 years go. Oh well… I’m glad someone else saw it and is putting it to good use. (In case you’re curious, it is the invention that puts a little wind generator on the top of a car to create electricity off the forward motion of the car to reduce the amount of energy the car uses. This idea could be used on any sort of vehicle as long as the generator produces more electricity than it uses due to  wind resistance.) 

The “Best Invention” of 2007 went to the iPhone, which I am not sure it deserves, but maybe that is because I don’t own a cell phone, much less an iPhone (or even an iPod). The invention I thought was the coolest is the car that runs on nothing but air, and the only emission is cooler air! WOW.  Read more about it at www.theaircar.com. There’s still the question about how it powers the compressor…but still, this is cool.

There were others that got me drooling as well. Since I want to write books, I drooled some over the Print on Demand technology which allows any author to print his/her book for only $3! Amazing.

You can read more about these and other inventions at the TIME Magazine website.

As I read about these inventions, I often wonder if I “missed my calling” and I should have stuck with Mechanical Engineering. But it hit me earlier this week that I am an inventor, though I prefer to think of myself an an innovator. I have several notebooks full of ideas on things churches could be doing to share Jesus more effectively with the world, to do a better job in making disicples, to help children grow up and “stick” with Christianity, to make the services more meaningful, to help people connect with God, to develop real and genuine friendships within the church, and on and on.

Some of these ideas I see being implemented in churches across the country. And as it turns out, most of these churches are new church plants. It seems that the innovators, the visionaries, the “inventors” in Christianity are most often church planters. Generally, established churches are quick to shoot down new ideas with many reasons why something cannot or should not be done. Church planters, however, go out and do them.

Once I graduate from seminary next spring, I am not sure where God will lead me. Maybe I will stay here at GES. Maybe I will take an established church here in the States, or around the world. Maybe I will go into church planting. Maybe I will do some crazy combination of all three! But whatever I end up doing, I hope and pray that God allows me to innovate. It is who He made me to be. It is who I am. Innovation for the Kingdom of God is what excites me.

In the comments section below, I want to start a “Best Innovations of 2007″ list. Tell me what churches are doing to creatively and effectively make disciples and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a few which I will start with. 

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