Disaster, Opportunity, or Both?
There is no denying the devastation in Southwestern New York as three counties have been declared disaster areas by the state due to flooding. Two people lost their lives in Gowanda. Many homes have been destroyed, leaving residents homeless.
One single Mother is seen walking through chest high water holding her baby in a carrier over her head with her toddler on her shoulders. Her mobile home was a total loss. But she was praising God that she and her babies got out alive.
It has been said that crises do not build character, but they do reveal it. Many people in Southwestern New York are revealing themselves to have courage and stamina beyond description.
We know that people are more open to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in times of crisis and transition. I am so proud of our Disaster Relief teams from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc. with whom I was able to visit on Sunday evening. They are there to share the love of Christ with hurting people and, by the way, to mud out their homes along the way.
There is still much to be done. If you would like to get involved to give a cup of cold water in the Name of Jesus, please contact Mike Flannery at fba2000@verizon.net or 716-432-5333.
Disaster? Yes. Opportunity? Yes.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Never Stop Gathering
Never Stop Gathering!
Several years ago, I heard Jim Slack, Global Researcher, International Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, make the case that newer churches grow faster and reach more people for Christ.
He quoted a statistic that during the first year a new church plant will baptize approximately eleven people for each one hundred members. He explained that the older the church the smaller number of baptisms per one hundred members. SBC churches were baptizing approximately 2.3 persons per one hundred per year at that time.
Obviously, we have a number of older and more established churches in our denomination. The question that has haunted me since hearing this presentation is, “Why?”
Have these churches reached all the unreached people within their target group?
Is the need to reach out lessened as the church survives the birthing process and moves from plant to established church?
None of these reasons hold up in light of my own observation. However, I do think that I have an idea why this is true.
When a new church is birthed the need for sowing the gospel and gathering a congregation is evident. As the church reaches a critical mass (whatever number of people that is perceived to be), the pastor/church planter and the church begins to shift their focus from outward (toward the unreached/far from God) to the inward (care and shepherding of their flock). Somehow this shift affects the stoppage of the “gathering”.
One of my colleagues recently described this phenomenon as the “institutionalizing of the church”. Many planters are looking, even longing for the day when they can stop doing the grunt work of gathering and settle into a more traditional chaplaincy role as pastor.
Many decisions in life need to be made before we get into the heat of the battle.
Church planters need to learn before they begin the process of planting that gathering is never done! I do not wish to belittle the role of shepherding or pastoring the flock. However, I do wish to make the strong case that churches should never stop gathering! It is clearly a “both and” rather than an “either or” decision.
One case study in continuous gathering that I’ve had the privilege of observing in recent years is The Journey Church in New York City. There are a number of things that I admire about the way The Journey (under the leadership of Nelson Searcy) has set about to push back the darkness of lostness in that city.
Perhaps the most obvious and substantial observation is that they have never stopped gathering. They recently celebrated a beach baptism which put them over 700 baptisms in the past seven years (the church launched in 2002)! They are currently involved in making one million servant evangelism touches in NYC.
The reason they are experiencing a great harvest is because they are constantly sowing the gospel through gathering events and practices. May their zeal for gathering never wane!
And my message to you pastor/church planter: Never Stop Gathering!
Several years ago, I heard Jim Slack, Global Researcher, International Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, make the case that newer churches grow faster and reach more people for Christ.
He quoted a statistic that during the first year a new church plant will baptize approximately eleven people for each one hundred members. He explained that the older the church the smaller number of baptisms per one hundred members. SBC churches were baptizing approximately 2.3 persons per one hundred per year at that time.
Obviously, we have a number of older and more established churches in our denomination. The question that has haunted me since hearing this presentation is, “Why?”
Have these churches reached all the unreached people within their target group?
Is the need to reach out lessened as the church survives the birthing process and moves from plant to established church?
None of these reasons hold up in light of my own observation. However, I do think that I have an idea why this is true.
When a new church is birthed the need for sowing the gospel and gathering a congregation is evident. As the church reaches a critical mass (whatever number of people that is perceived to be), the pastor/church planter and the church begins to shift their focus from outward (toward the unreached/far from God) to the inward (care and shepherding of their flock). Somehow this shift affects the stoppage of the “gathering”.
One of my colleagues recently described this phenomenon as the “institutionalizing of the church”. Many planters are looking, even longing for the day when they can stop doing the grunt work of gathering and settle into a more traditional chaplaincy role as pastor.
Many decisions in life need to be made before we get into the heat of the battle.
Church planters need to learn before they begin the process of planting that gathering is never done! I do not wish to belittle the role of shepherding or pastoring the flock. However, I do wish to make the strong case that churches should never stop gathering! It is clearly a “both and” rather than an “either or” decision.
One case study in continuous gathering that I’ve had the privilege of observing in recent years is The Journey Church in New York City. There are a number of things that I admire about the way The Journey (under the leadership of Nelson Searcy) has set about to push back the darkness of lostness in that city.
Perhaps the most obvious and substantial observation is that they have never stopped gathering. They recently celebrated a beach baptism which put them over 700 baptisms in the past seven years (the church launched in 2002)! They are currently involved in making one million servant evangelism touches in NYC.
The reason they are experiencing a great harvest is because they are constantly sowing the gospel through gathering events and practices. May their zeal for gathering never wane!
And my message to you pastor/church planter: Never Stop Gathering!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Structure and Values
Structure and Values
Pastors are almost always keenly aware of their responsibility to be agents of change for the church they are leading.
It may be changing the music style to become more welcoming to the focus group they are attempting to reach, adding a screen for projected words for music, adding stage lighting to make the worship experience more qualitative, moving the offering to the end of the worship service in order to make it a part of the decision time, or any number of similar changes.
These changes need to be made very carefully and deliberately. These changes are structural. We often think that if we change a structure, we have changed the church. In reality, changing a structure may very well just be window dressing. Structures are peripheral to the values held by the church.
Never change a structure without first changing the value that underlies that structure.
Values are those principles of operation that drive the church or the person. Be careful at this point as many times the stated value is not the actual value. Our values are not necessarily what we think they are (or what’s written on the office wall and the website) as much as what we regularly do.
What we do is what we value, no matter what we say we value.
Many pastors (including this one) have gotten to the point in pre-marital counseling where he asks the awkward question regarding whether the couple has been living together before being married, only to hear the couple explain that they really do not believe in living together before marriage, but they have been doing so for two years.
The stated value is often not the actual value. What we do is what we value, no matter what we say we value.
Back to our examples above: Don’t make changes to accommodate or to become more welcoming to non-members, people who are far from God, etc., until the church buys into the value of reaching out to these people. No amount of structural change will effectively overcome the same old values under which the church may have always operated.
The church does not exist for the members who are now present, but to reach those who are not yet followers of Christ.
If the value, unstated, of course, is that the church exists to meet the needs of its members, then you are headed for a collision course. No amount of window dressing, structural changes, can substitute for the changing of the values that drive the structure.
You can talk people into doing things out of alignment with their actual values for a while, two to three weeks, maybe a bit longer depending on the situation. However, they’ll soon revert right back to the way things were done before, unless there is a value change that demands the permanence of the change.
Lasting changes are driven by value changes that lead to structural changes. Too often pastors & church planters change the structure without doing the hard work of changing the value first.
Deal with the underlying values first, so you can make changes that last.
Pastors are almost always keenly aware of their responsibility to be agents of change for the church they are leading.
It may be changing the music style to become more welcoming to the focus group they are attempting to reach, adding a screen for projected words for music, adding stage lighting to make the worship experience more qualitative, moving the offering to the end of the worship service in order to make it a part of the decision time, or any number of similar changes.
These changes need to be made very carefully and deliberately. These changes are structural. We often think that if we change a structure, we have changed the church. In reality, changing a structure may very well just be window dressing. Structures are peripheral to the values held by the church.
Never change a structure without first changing the value that underlies that structure.
Values are those principles of operation that drive the church or the person. Be careful at this point as many times the stated value is not the actual value. Our values are not necessarily what we think they are (or what’s written on the office wall and the website) as much as what we regularly do.
What we do is what we value, no matter what we say we value.
Many pastors (including this one) have gotten to the point in pre-marital counseling where he asks the awkward question regarding whether the couple has been living together before being married, only to hear the couple explain that they really do not believe in living together before marriage, but they have been doing so for two years.
The stated value is often not the actual value. What we do is what we value, no matter what we say we value.
Back to our examples above: Don’t make changes to accommodate or to become more welcoming to non-members, people who are far from God, etc., until the church buys into the value of reaching out to these people. No amount of structural change will effectively overcome the same old values under which the church may have always operated.
The church does not exist for the members who are now present, but to reach those who are not yet followers of Christ.
If the value, unstated, of course, is that the church exists to meet the needs of its members, then you are headed for a collision course. No amount of window dressing, structural changes, can substitute for the changing of the values that drive the structure.
You can talk people into doing things out of alignment with their actual values for a while, two to three weeks, maybe a bit longer depending on the situation. However, they’ll soon revert right back to the way things were done before, unless there is a value change that demands the permanence of the change.
Lasting changes are driven by value changes that lead to structural changes. Too often pastors & church planters change the structure without doing the hard work of changing the value first.
Deal with the underlying values first, so you can make changes that last.
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