THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...:      DID Paul really write/say that he wishes they would emasculate themselves? The Message translation writes, " Why don't these a...

Church Growth: IS MORALE A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?

Church Growth: IS MORALE A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?: I was reading recently about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off one of their worse seasons ever. What struck me most about the article i...

IS "MORALE" A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?

I was reading recently about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off one of their worse seasons ever. What struck me most about the article is one of the players describing the morale in the locker room. He said it was unbearable.  It was one thing to lose, but to have to deal with the atmosphere in that locker room was worse.  It made me think, here is a locker room full of qualified, super athletes, they have excelled past the best in high school, excelled past the best in College, now they are in the Professional Football League, the best of the best, but yet, they can do nothing right.  A room full of high caliber men, reduced to nothing, but losing; and not for lack of talent or ability but due mainly, to low morale.  It made me think of why some Churches struggle and seem to have a very hard time putting together a game winning plan, the reason, low morale. You can have the best athletes on your team, but if the morale is low, you will have a loser team. You can have a church full of talented and gifted men/women, but if the morale is low, they will be unproductive and will hardly have the heart to get involved and engage their talents and abilities. I was always taught in business, always bring out the negative and finish with the positive.   Never correct without also telling someone what they are doing right. If all people’s efforts ever brings them is correction, condescension and criticism, people will give up and stop trying. I don’t care if you’re 5 years old or 50 years old, this principle applies. Many Pastor’s, Leaders & Laymen are destroying the very work they want to build, by this action. Proverbs speak about the foolish woman, who tears down her house instead of building it. Well, the Church is the Pastor’s House (so to speak), the Pastor’s Baby, he is travailing to give birth to that Church and nurture that congregation and it can very well be, that he is tearing down the very thing he’s trying to build up, unknowingly, ( I hope) by creating an atmosphere of very low morale.  If you find yourself in an atmosphere where nobody wants to rise up, get involved and venture out to do something, then you have to sit back and ask yourself, why? It is either you have landed yourself a congregation full of misfits, rebels and sloths or more realistically, you have a church where morale is low and then you have to ask yourself, “why is the morale so low?” The answer to many Pastors, according to statistics, is take the next flight out, to another Church, ascribe to the fallacy that the grass is greener on the other side, rather than stick it through and task yourself to bring morale back to that congregation. Most Pastors, who leave one Church to go to another, will find themselves dealing with the same issues they left in their previous congregation, only to find, they uprooted their families and lives, in search of a greener, easier pasture, and did not find it. Perhaps, we get a quick surge of adrenaline and testosterone surge when we “go off” and “let them have it!”,  “I’ll show them who’s in charge” but often times, the only person leaving that meeting feeling good is the one that “vented all his anger, disappointment and frustration”. One thing, Pastor’s, Leaders & Laymen must never forget;  The Church of Christ exists solely on a “volunteer army”.  It is not a corporation where you are paying a high profile executive with expectations of high profit and output from that individual, otherwise he’s out and on with the next. The Church of Jesus Christ functions by the free will offering of the Saints, their time, energy, talents and money.  And although, most Pastors understand their members aren’t going anywhere because the members are too intertwined in the congregation, by extended family, children & friends, a Pastor should never take that for granted and exploit that.  And if it is exploited or manipulated enough, the unthinkable can happen. The Church that grows is a Church that has high morale in the locker room (so to speak).  It is a Church where you are not afraid to try, not afraid to fail, not afraid to mess up or do something wrong. It is a Church where efforts are encouraged, people are uplifted and edified when they come to Church, not put down and condemned.  What atmosphere is in your Church? What atmosphere, Pastor, Leader, Laymen are you creating in your Church, ministry or Youth Group?  Is there no desire for anyone to rise up, take risks, get involved? Then perhaps you ought to take a thermostat out and take a reading to see what level the morale is at, in your Church, Ministry or Youth Group.    

THE ONE YEAR CLUB: NOVEMBER 30 "IS ALL REVELATION FOR SHARING?"

THE ONE YEAR CLUB: NOVEMBER 30 "IS ALL REVELATION FOR SHARING?":        28 “This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to...

A CHURCH THAT GROWS IS A CHURCH THAT CARES

AND LAST IN THIS SERIES IS THE OBVIOUSLY STATED…A church that grows would be a church that cares.

Asking a Christian if they care is as insulting as asking a Catholic if they believe in the Virgin Mary.

Asking a Christian if they would like to be “fruitful Christian” is as silly as asking a Biker if he thinks he should ride a Harley Davidson.

The average church in America runs 90 to 110 people and never really grows outside of that box.  Survey most  churches you know and you will find there has been no significant growth in 10 + years.  Sure there has been movement, lots may come in, but then people leave and there’s allot of shuffling around of people and numbers, but at the end of the day, the average numbers do not significantly change.

And to make matters worse, this is after event after event, revival after revival, and outreach after outreach. This is not a church sitting on its behind doing nothing by any means.  Not all stagnant churches are doing nothing, some are very busy, but with no lasting fruit.

If God has ordained that we “go out and bear much fruit and have fruit that would remain”  if “ the harvest is ripe and plentiful”, then why are most churches not growing?  Why after 10 – 20 years are churches stagnant in their growth, these are deep, probing questions we don’t dare to ask, lest we are struck with reality, as we face the answers.

Who is “the good Samaritan”?  Well, he’s the one that cares…and he is rare.

The Priest and the Rabbi, “men of the cloth” that you would expect to help, avoid getting involved. These are men that are involved, supposedly in the work of God; but yet, do not care for this poor man in his time of need. How can that be?

“This is a parable”, you can say.  Yes it is, but do you think Jesus just pulled random, abstract thoughts out of his head when it came to parables or was their reason to them.  Were his parables based on what he had seen and perceived in his Spirit?

Does Jesus (The Word of God) not prophecy through Ezekiel about Shepherds who don’t care for their flock?  Was this also a parable…I think not!

I know, we are now in the 21^st Century  and that self absorbed spirit does not exist in God’s people anymore.  Never would there be a Christian that would be self-absorbed today.

The problem is not that God does not bring people in to the church, it is that we don’t keep those that He brings in.

Who will have the new convert over for dinner?  Who will adopt this new person in to their family?  Who will allow this shady character in to their lives, around their children and at their dinner table?

Recently we had an event that drew quit a few visitors through with many giving their life to Jesus for the first time.  An announcement was made as to who was interested in following up on these precious souls and nobody volunteered, not one person.

This is an epidemic in the church today all across America. We are so self absorbed in our own lives and problems we don’t care to get involved in the messy and time consuming work of follow up.

Most churches have reduced their follow up to obtaining an address and simply putting the visitor or new convert on a mailing list.

The danger is that this is so subtle.  If we were to look in the mirror in the morning and see someone that looked something like a werewolf we might ask ourselves, “What has become of me?”  However, this is not the case, we still are nice, loving Christians, it’s just that it centers around our circle of friends and family and does not often, extend much further than that.

We love to socialize and enjoy each other’s company, but when it is mentioned that the new, rough around the edges, convert be invited, we get frowns or maybe “next time, it just wouldn’t go well this time with this crowd.”

The basic issue is that we don’t want our fun, light hearted, social event to turn in to something where we are now having to answer a bunch of bothersome questions and having to minister to some new Christian’s problems all night. “I want to have fun, I want to enjoy myself tonight, let’s invite him/her another time”.  However, that “other time” never comes and eventually they leave the church.

There are allot of issue in life we might say we care about, but to what degree?  I care about abortion, but if someone asked me if I wanted to picket an abortion clinic and pass out flyers for a week or even a day, I might politely decline and so would you.  It’s not that you don’t care that babies are being aborted, it’s just that…..that …..

If we could say a simple prayer and have abortion abolished we would, if we could say a simple prayer and the destitute, homeless drug addicts delivered and helped, we would, but if asked to give up Monday Night Football to go minister to a bunch of  homeless people at the Mission, we might politely decline, “I would , but I have plans already”.

The dilemma of the Church is we have become self absorbed. We are enjoying all the benefits of Christianity without embracing the costs or the “self denial” part.

We watched a young Marine visitor come out to our church 3 times in a row and I watched him leave alone each time with no invitations for lunch or anything.  I told my wife he probably would never come back, but if he did, by some miracle, we were gonna have him over for lunch.

We were so busy and we were so broke, we just were hoping somebody else would reach out to him, but nobody would.  We didn’t have the time or money to add somebody else in to our lives, but don’t’ you know,  he showed up next Sunday.

I went up to him, introduced myself and invited him over for lunch; he quickly and excitedly accepted.

Long story short, he became part of our family and locked in to the church.

The fact is, most don’t care, everyone is too busy, everyone has an excuse, but at the end of it all, God sorts through all the excuses and he sees and knows, “we simply don’t care”.

In proverbs God says, “do not say we did not know…..He knows our motives, He knows we do know”

How many of us today would cry out to God, “Give me souls or I die”.

Somewhere along the way we must realize we’re doing it for Jesus.  Jesus said to Peter, “do you love me?”  Then feed and care for my sheep.

Notice he didn’t ask Peter if he loved them (the sheep, ie: the bothersome people)  Jesus asked do you love me? Then I am asking you for this favor, would you do it for me?  Please, for me, care for them, feed them.

A church that is growing truly has to be a church that cares.

The million dollar question to ask then, is “how do you get a congregation to care?”

People say that if you have a Pastor that cares, it will trickle on downward, but yet I have seen churches with Pastors with a great burden for people, but yet a congregation that is self absorbed, spiritually apathetic and lethargic to the needs of the lost and new Christians.

This is a complex issue for one I don’t claim to have the answer too; if I did I would be famous by now, for sure.

This chapter is not to expound on how to get a church that cares to care, but rather to point out that a key element to a growing church is that it has to be a caring church.

Many Churches are trying to build from the outside in, not realizing, that for all their intensive labor, they don’t have the Spiritual Infrastructure to support what they are trying to build or bring in.  For all their hard work and efforts they will always see that there is no lasting fruit, it all just evaporates every time.

What needs to be done is that the church needs to be built from the inside out.  As people begin to care, they begin to reach out and draw people to themselves, people that they will care for and have reached out to themselves.

In the current order, big events are scheduled, in spite of the people, a bunch of convert cards are collected and then we find there is no one that cares to follow up on these people, a quick shout out for volunteers often gets you a ZERO, NADA response and the fruit falls to the waste side.

A Church has to be grown from within.  First the people have to care, the people have to get the vision, the people have to have that love for Christ that compels them to reach out; that revelation that they are reaching out for Christ.

Programs, events, evangelism, nothing will substitute this one essential characteristic that is fundamental and that is

A GROWING CHURCH IS A CHURCH THAT CARES, TRULY….CARES!

No Vision No Growth - Where's Jiffy Pop Popcorn?

Jiffy Pop "Popcorn" had a monopoly on the market. This was ingenius, this was ingenuity at it's best. Prior to Jiffy's ingenuity, we would find a pot, pour some oil in it, drop some popcorn kernals into the pot, turn up the heat and wait (don't forget the cover!).  Now with Jiffy Pop Popcorn, no pot, no oil, no mess, no having to find some popcorn kernals, no having to wash pots, no over pouring oil or not putting enough popcorn, you just put Jiffy Popcorn on the oven and "Presto" you had easy popcorn in a matter of minutes.
     The problem with Jiffy is they lost their vision. Perhaps they became content with their success and saw no reason to keep striving for something better.  I am 43 years old and one company that has impressed me since I was a kid, is McDonalds. This is a company I have watched over the years "re-invent" itself, over and over again. In 2004 there was an American documentary that came out called "SuperSize Me".  It targeted fast food retaurants and made McDonalds it's primary target. I was living in Canada at the time and Canadians were scandalized by this documentary. People were afraid to eat at McDonalds, I couldn't get nobody to go with me.  This documentary would have been a death blow to most companies. Most companies would have declared at their next board meeting, "the times, they are a changing, we enjoyed a great ride while it lasted, we all got rich, but this is a new generation that we cannot appeal too" (sound like some churches you know?).  However, instead of doing that, McDonald's re-invented themselves. They began serving salads and also allowing you to substitute your french fries (don't know why you would do that) for a salad, at no extra cost.  They began posting calories for any meal you would order.  They have come up with wraps and healthy eating all the while staying true to who they are! What many churches don't realize is that you can "re-invent" yourself while still staying true to your core values.  "Re-inventing" yourself doesn't mean throwing away your core values. Some churches to even speak of "change" is almost to speak blasphemy.  The burden is all on God. It doesn't matter if we are still singing from hymm books and using the 18th Century Organ for our song service, it's God that's going to build his church.  We know, certainly, "God will build His Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it", but that does not excuse a church with no vision.  Even the apostles were quick to innovate with the times and switched the day of worship from the last day of the week to the 1st day of the week. To some, even to this day, that was sacreligious and 'til this day, still refuse to worship on Sundays. 
     The Church is moving on and those that will not adapt and get a vision, will be left behind and become a thing of the past,  just like Jiffy Popcorn.  Where is the Salvation Army today?  Where is the YMCA today?  They are passing thoughts, when we think of Salvation Army today, we think "used clothing" and when we think of YMCA we think "Gym, place to work out". 
     In the 1970's there was a movement that swept through the country that was called "The Jesus People Movement", hippies were being saved by the droves, however, most churches did not know what to do with them or how to reach them? One man, Wayman Mitchell, who was part of the Four Square Assemply caught a vision. He began to set up "Music Scenes," or "Coffee Houses" and use Rock & Roll, to reach these hippies, even though he himself couldn't stand Rock & Roll. While other Church's were protesting that "Rock & Roll" was of the Devil, he was seeing hippies being reached  and watching his church grow from 35 people, in to the hundreds. That is why I say, "No Vision No Growth".  Many of the other churches that were around at that same time, closed for lack of growth or could you say, lack of Vision, lack of willingness to adapt to the times.
     1970 was a long time ago, Rock & Roll is a by gone era (I hate to tell some of you that) and RAP, HIP HOP is in and here to stay! Hymnals are out and song services with modern, cotemporary songs, guitars and drums, is in.  We are now in a generation that is saturated in technology and media, what are you trying to do to adapt so you can reach this generation?  Nothing!  Well than that's why the church down the street is growing and you are shrinking.  I know the excuse is, "oh that's just a worldly church, we have values and standards here!".  Again, "re-inventing ourselves does not mean throwing away our core values.  How has McDonald's stayed relevant in each generation, by continously re-inventing itself and at the same time staying true to it's core values. I was at a McDonald's recently, it was a Hip McDonald's for sure, even had the Cafe McDonalds where you could get a Capucinno and a slice of Cheesecake, I was amazed to see the Restaurant packed with Teenagers, enjoying the free internet, little game kiosks and enjoying McNuggets, Big Macs and their classic fries....ughhh, I mean salad.  McDonald's has re-invented itself and is now earning more money today than ever before, in the midst of a slanderous documentary and a very health conscious society, it is thriving; and this is all for money, the mighty dollar, how much more so, should we, The Church, the Earth's last great hope, not be concerned about becoming insignificant. 
     Is your church insignificant"  If your church was to close it's doors for good, would the community you are in even notice you were gone?  Have you lost your significance, is it just the same group every Sunday, waiting for the Rapture? Surely God has more for you and The Church of Jesus Christ, than just a "fading glory" in these last days, but the question is, will you catch a vision for the future, will you adapt to the times, will you CHANGE!!!   Where is Jiffy PopCorn today? Why didn't they see what was coming, why didn't they embrace new technology, ie: The Microwave?  Why, because they were content with their success.
     I was golfing with a man a few weeks ago and he said something that has stuck with me since. We were talking about the recession and jobs that have gone extinct and new ones that have started and the different carreer paths we have had to adjust to and he said, "Richard, I've had to re-invent myself so many times in the past few years, I have lost count".  I would say he has and he has survived, he is successfull, in the midst of a recession. And the church must do so too, otherwise I really do fear, as it has already begun, that the church becomes completely irrelevant to this generation that we are living in. We must have a Vision, we must re-invent ourselves; otherwise we and our little church will become completely irrelevant in a time that it is more important than ever, that we be RELEVANT!

Is Stability a Virtue of Growth?

     WE know that stability in the home is a key factor in raising healthy children, ie: healthy mentally & emotionally.  Nobody would ever be quoted as saying "divorce is healthy for the family".  I would say that even Liberals and Conservatives can agree on this one point, "stay together at all costs for the sake of the children".  Why do some churches grow and others do not? Are you ready.....nothing fancy here, some churches grow and others do not, because they have "stability".  How can we excuse instability? How can we excuse church splits and numerous Pastoral changes and expect a church to thrive and grow? How do children react to divorce? How do families fair where there has been a divorce, how do children react to the "step dad" coming in to the home and being told that this is going to be their new "father"?  These dynamics do not play out well in the nuclear family and neither do these dynamics play out in the House of God.  You will find that the churches that are growing, the churches that are thriving are the churches that have not split and the churches that have had the same Pastor for 25 + years.
     A church should not fall under condemnation that has been through a church split or Pastoral change(s) or both.  It should rather pat itself on the back that it has even survived.  Stability is what a church needs. Just like a child needs to know that Dad isn't gonig anywhere, then children can thrive. The moment children begin to hear murmuring, fighting and rumors that dad might leave, problems begin to erupt at home and at school. It will not be long before the shool is calling home and reporting that little Johnnie is acting up at school lately.
     Pastors are human and they like everyone else can fall in to the temptation, that "the grass is greener on the other side".  They become frustrated and disallusioned with their congregations and begin to look for the first opportunity to run, rather than stay and work things through. Churches are left behind as Pastors chase "greener pastures" only to find out that the grass is not greener on the other side and sometimes it is worse and they wish they had stayed, stuck it through and practiced what they had preached to their congregations.  Thomas Reiner in his book "Breakout Churches" studied this thoughroughly and concluded that churches that experienced "breakout growth" were not the churches who brought in a charismatic replacement Pastor but churches where the Pastor made a decision to stay, contend and press through the dry season, contend for the latter rain and in most situations where churches were stagnant in growth, but the Pastor stayed, prayed and forged through, those churches experienced,...eventually, breakout growth.
     Churches need stability, stability = health and health equals GROWTH.  A healthy church is a growing church, growth is simply a by-product of health.  An unstable church becomes unhealthy and it doesn't matter what kind of programs you try to inject into it, it will not grow, it will implode unless something changes.  Pastors cannot simply call every opportunity that comes their way as "an open door from God".  Not every door that opens is of God and Pastor's just like regular Christians will be tempted and tested and must pass those tests.  No doubt God does called seasoned Pastors in to the Mission Fields, but this is not the reason for the instability in churches across America, it is more the sad state of affairs of Pastors commiting adultery, Pastor's abadoning their churches for a better , self serving opportunity, it is Pastors quiting on their churches, it is Pastor's trying to climb up the Corporoate Ladder (so to speak). 
     Is stability a virtue of growth?  OF COURSE IT IS!  And this virtue, cannot be looked over as insignificant, not for a moment, when we truly want to ponder, why do some churhes grow and others don't. This is one of the great VIRTUES of the family and church dynamic, there is no substitute for stability when it comes to the family, whether that be at home or at church, there is no substitute!