Thanksgiving Day

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My favorite holiday of the year … Thanksgiving Day.

I love it for its Christian meaning, as the thankful life is the Spirit-filled life (Ephesians 5:18-20).

I love it for its social benefit, as it’s a great time to reconnect with family, and reach out to others.

I love it for the food, fun, and football. The Lord truly gives us all things richly to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17b).

And I love it for its historical depth. It depicts so well the Christian roots of our nation … the influences that helped shape our nation and its unique freedoms, blessings, and privileges.

One of my habits each Thanksgiving Day is to read the Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. In so many ways, it’s a remarkable declaration; it was made during the height of the Civil War, was boldly and unapologetically Biblical, and supremely Presidential.

I am including it here for your reflection, and if you feel so directed, for you to read on Thanksgiving Day before family and friends.

May God bless you, richly.

President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world.

May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

(signed)

A. Lincoln

October 3, 1863

(Lincoln’s papers, Library of America, 2:520-521)

Three Essential Relationships

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I wrote this blog for Crossroads Community Church, where I will be serving come January. I thought it would be appropriate here.

At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus spoke what has come to be known as the Great Commission. Jesus began by telling his disciples that all authority was his (Matthew 28:18). He concluded by assuring them that he would be with them always (Matthew 28:20). Sandwiched between these two awesome realities lies the Great Commission. Jesus said this: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all things that I commanded you.” There’s quite a bit packed into Jesus’ statement, so let’s break it down into bite-sized pieces. There are four main verbs in this commission. Go, make disciples, baptizing and teaching. In the original Greek, one of these verbs is an imperative, meaning it’s essential, you must do it. The other three are subordinate clauses to that imperative. Can you guess which the imperative is? I’m sure you guessed correctly. The imperative is to make disciples. We make disciples by going, whether across the sea or across the street, and by baptizing and teaching. Jesus is telling us that his church is meant to be first and foremost a disciple-making body. A disciple is a learner. We are called to be disciples of Jesus and our relationships within the body of Christ should be geared so that all of us learn more and more about and from Jesus. It is with this truth in mind that we created the Paul, Barnabas and Timothy model of mentoring. Let me explain it to you.

Each of these well-known New Testament figures represents a type of a relationship that is essential in the discipleship process. And much like the Five Hour Foundation, discipleship is foundational to our growth in faith. Each of these three characters is important to nurture and mature us as followers of Jesus. That’s why you will continue to hear us encourage you to cultivate, as foundational for your life and for the Crossroads community, these types of relationships.

What do these three relationships look like?

Paul was, of course, the great apostle to the Gentiles. A former persecutor of the church, Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the Damascus Road and changed his life forever. Paul’s missionary journeys are detailed in the Book of Acts. And Paul’s letters to the churches he founded, as well to his ministry companions, take up nearly one-third of our New Testaments. Paul is a classic mentor. He poured his life into people. Paul was a spiritual father to many believers, and he once called Timothy a ‘son in the faith.’ Each one of us needs a spiritual mentor in our life, like Timothy had in Paul. We all need someone who is older, wiser, more experienced and deeper in the things of Christ. We all need to be poured into by another brother or sister. Their influence can range from scriptural studies and encouragements, to working through hard times in our marriage or with our kids. In many ways, this is what Pastor Bill’s nxtSTP ministry is about. God’s vision for that ministry is to engage the Boomers and beyond to invest in the future. That is also why your pastoral staff and leaders are here. We all need to be poured into like the apostle Paul did. So ask yourself, “Do I have a Paul in my life?”

Barnabas was a companion of Paul on his first missionary journey after Pentecost. Paul and Barnabas were peers, and sent out from the same church ministry in Acts 13. They walked through life and served God together. They were friends and without a doubt, they were mutually edified by each other. When Jesus sent out his disciples in the Gospels, he sent them out two by two. It is commonly explained that Jesus knew they needed fellowship and protection. He wanted his disciples to have fellowship because he knew that they were created for relationships. In the same way, we need to be able to share our lives with others in friendship. Jesus also wanted to his disciples to be protected, because life could be treacherous. It’s the same for us. When we are alone, we are more vulnerable in so many ways, but when we are in relationship, someone has our back. We can count on them. So Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, and this is exactly what we mean by the Barnabas model of mentoring. Not only do we need a Paul, someone who will pour into us, but we also need a Barnabas, with whom we will walk through this life of faith. A Barnabas is our spiritual peer, a friend in the faith, someone we co-labor with and someone who will be a source of fellowship and protection. They will encourage us in the faith, and we will do the same for them. We all need someone who knows us with more regularity and depth then our Paul. So ask yourself, “Do I have a Barnabas in my life?”

Timothy was, as I already explained, Paul’s son in the faith. Timothy was considerably younger than Paul. Yet Paul made a substantial investment in Timothy. Although young, God was using Timothy mightily in the pastoral ministry. Timothy was the recipient of mentoring at the hands of Paul and it paid eternal dividends. So not only do we need a Paul in our lives to pour into us, not only do we need a Barnabas to walk alongside us, we all need a Timothy as well. We all need to be pouring into someone for their benefit and growth. Take a minute and think back on the individuals that we have discipled. Whether we have been a Christian for thirty years or for thirty minutes, there is always someone who will be blessed by our spiritual investment in their lives. And not only will they be blessed, but everyone who they reach out to will also be! In the more modern vernacular, this is our spiritual ‘paying it forward.’ As we have been blessed by our “Paul’ and encouraged by our “Barnabas,” we then seek out someone we can bless as we have been blessed, our own personal Timothy’s that we can pour into as a Paul. So ask yourself, “Do I have a Timothy in my life?”

So there you have it! Now you understand our Paul, Barnabas and Timothy model of mentoring and discipling. Brothers and sisters, can you imagine if every person in our entire family of faith endeavored to have, as a starting point, these three relationships? Can you imagine how much growth would take place? Jesus wants his church to be a disciple-making body, so I encourage you to pray about your Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy relationships today. God will surely meet you as you pray about this concept, step out in faith, and seek these people out. And the impact will be amazing!

CONTEXTUALIZATION

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“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”[1] – John the Baptizer speaking of Jesus

 

“Ritualism is nothing more than a rut, and the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and depth.”[2] – Chuck Smith

 

 

Something that has always existed in the Calvary Chapel Movement is the practice of what is known as contextualization.  The basic idea behind contextualization is allowing people and churches to express devotion to the core non-negotiable elements of Christianity in ways that are natural to their cultural background.

 

Contextualization and Calvary Chapel

Calvary Chapel did this during the Jesus Movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s.  At a time when most people wore suits to church and sang only hymns in their services, Calvary Chapel allowed the thousands of hippie kids who were coming to Christ to come to Jesus and the church just as they were.  Pastor Chuck wouldn’t allow the kids to feel as if they had to take a shower, put on a suit, and start learning hymns if they wanted to follow Jesus.  Instead, he allowed them to come into Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in their bare-feet, dirty clothes, and eclectic styles.  They let the kids express their love for Jesus in new songs they were writing in different musical styles than the old hymns that churched people were used to singing.

 

Whether people were calling what Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel were doing “contextualization” or not, that is exactly what it was.  The hippies came from a different culture, and as they came to Jesus they weren’t forced to adopt the culture of established Christianity in its forms and traditions.  They were allowed to let their new love for Jesus and commitment to Him be expressed in forms and styles appropriate to their own culture, and this openness provided many more open doors for sharing the gospel with the hippies.

 

The Biblical Example

Many people don’t realize that Jesus Christ contextualized His ministry.  Jesus was a cross-cultural missionary.  He came from the kingdom and culture of heaven to a specific kingdom and culture on earth.  Jesus came to a specific place, at a specific time in history.  He ate the food of the culture He was in.  He attended the festivals and observed the customs of the culture in which He lived.  He spoke the language of the people of the day.  As He taught the truth of God He used illustrations and parables with which the people He was ministering to could relate and understand.[3]

 

Paul would carry on the great missionary example set by Jesus as he practiced contextualization as well.  When he knew he was going to be traveling through and preaching the gospel in an area where many Jews lived he actually went so far as to have his pastoral assistant Timothy circumcised, even though the poor dude was nearly thirty years old at the time![4]  Why? We know from books like Galatians that it had nothing to do with Paul believing circumcision had anything to do with one’s salvation.  Paul was contextualizing.  This was the level of Paul and Timothy’s missional commitment.  They were removing an amoral barrier to communication that would exist between them and their Jewish audience so that the people would give an ear to the gospel they preached.  He and Timothy were willing to lay down their rights in amoral areas to win a listening ear with lost people and we should be willing to do the same.

 

Personal Story

When I was pastoring a church in Idaho a group of us used to go to the local nursing home and do ministry once a month.  We would usually sing some hymns and then give a simple gospel message.  I remember on one occasion as I began to open in prayer a Mormon woman in her seventies yelled out, “Hey! You better fold your arms!”  What was the problem?  In LDS culture it is a sign of reverence to fold your arms and bow your head when you pray.  She didn’t want me praying irreverently in her presence and so she wasn’t going to let me go on with the meeting until I folded my arms.

 

So what did I do? I folded my arms!  I didn’t do it because I had to, but because I wanted to.  I know Jesus didn’t care whether or not I folded my arms, lifted my hands, or laid on the ground when I pray to Him.  So it didn’t bother me one bit to fold my arms.  But it would have bothered this woman greatly if I didn’t, and she wouldn’t have tuned her ear to one word I had to say from that moment on.  So, the meeting when on, I preached the gospel, and about a month later through a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit that same woman got saved!  Sensitivity and flexibility to cultural issues matters greatly at times.

 

No Compromise

Inevitably when the subject of contextualization comes up people pull the compromise card.  They say you want to water down the gospel and the teaching of the Word with all this contextualization business.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Expressing his commitment to contextualization Paul said,

 

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.  Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”[5]

 

Now, notice that Paul didn’t merely say he didn’t do certain cultural things to win a listening ear with lost people.  He said he became certain things to win a listening ear with lost people.  He temporarily adopted cultural and even religious practices that were amoral for the purpose of removing barriers to people hearing him out in regard to the gospel.  Paul’s flexibility in this enabled lost people to hear the Word preached and become saved through faith in Jesus.  But it started with Paul contextualizing so as to win an ear with the lost.

 

So what does this have to do with compromise? The same man who wrote this in his passion for contextualization also wrote, “even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”[6]  Was Paul into contextualization? Yes.  Was he into compromise? NO!  Contextualization is about having flexibility in forms and methods, not the message of the Bible.  As church planters we need to work to practice contextualization in our methods and yet remain unyielding in our no-compromise commitment to preaching the unadulterated truth of the gospel specifically, and the rest of the Bible generally.

 

What a Culture is Vs. What it is Becoming

Sometimes the best way to contextualize is to become the opposite of what a culture has historically been.  This is something I’ve learned while doing ministry in Idaho and Utah.  Utah is a predominantly Mormon state.  That being the case, most people think going to church includes wearing collard white shirts, dresses, singing songs that are at least sixty years old, sitting through a boring two or three hour weekend service, drinking water for communion, and trying not to fall asleep as you struggle through the predictable monotony every week.

 

Some might be tempted to think that contextualizing to reach people in Utah must mean designing your church services to be like what I’ve described above so that Mormon people will feel comfortable in your service, and therefore be able to hear the gospel.  To be sure, this might be a good thing to consider in some cases.  But I have found the opposite to be the case at Refuge Church.  What we have discovered as we’ve done church in a more casual and free way is that it is a breath of fresh air to people who have grown up in a very formal church environment.  People love that church is just about normal people who don’t have it all together getting together informally to worship a Savior who truly does have it all together.

 

So the point is this: Practicing good contextualization doesn’t always mean exactly conforming to the predominant norms in a culture.  Sometimes people who have grown up under one style of church or in one kind of spiritual environment are actually longing for something different than what they’ve known.  So again, it all comes back to being flexible with forms and uncompromising with content.  All you can do is pray, know your culture, and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He will never steer you wrong in how to reach the people in your context.

 

The Dependable Path of Authenticity

The last thing I want to mention on the issue of contextualization is the issue of authenticity.  Frankly, sometimes in an effort to contextualize guys end up changing so much about themselves and their church that they really just come off as being fake.  I know a pastor who was a successful business man before entering the ministry.  Due to his background he was a wealthy guy, so he tended to dress really nice and keep a clean-cut appearance.  As a pastor he started out dressing and behaving in the same way he did while working as a business man for almost twenty years. But one day he began to change.  In an effort to be relevant he grew a goatee, started wearing baggy clothes, and got a new hair-style.  The result was that the young people he was hoping to reach with the gospel through his extreme makeover became his biggest critics.  They thought he was inauthentic and felt like he was trying to sell them something rather than be real about what he truly believed.

 

Personal Story

Authenticity is always the strongest course of action.  Again, I learned this pastoring in the small rural town of Salmon, Idaho.  As a city kid who grew up playing in punk rock and metal bands and living a vegan straightedge lifestyle, a rural Idaho rancher town like Salmon is the last place I would’ve ever thought God could use me to reach people.

 

My wife and I moved to Salmon in 2006 and were immediately beat down with culture shock.  I’ll never forget going to Cowboy Church the first week we lived in Salmon.  It was definitely a church service like I had never experienced before!  The congregation sat in stands used in the horse and mule auction, the band played on the back of a flatbed trailer leading the people in Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb, while cowboys road real horses into the arena waving the American and “Christian” flags.  The preacher yelled a lot and looked like he’d just come from a ride on a bull at a rodeo.  All me and my could do was sit back in awe, and wonder what minister of Satan had deceived us into moving to such a place that was so incredibly different from us culturally.

 

As I struggled a bit with how God could use me to reach a place that was so different than anything I had come from or appreciated culturally, the Lord told me just to be myself and teach His Word.  That’s what I did.  And you know what, over time those cowboys, hunters, farmers, ranchers, loggers, and tough down-home people we served in that community welcomed us with open arms.  It didn’t matter that they fished on icy rivers and killed bears and all I wanted to do was listen to metal, watch movies, and read books.  The people saw belief and passion in the message that was preached.  They heard the teaching of God’s Word instead of motivational speeches and pithy comments from the pulpit.  They respected authenticity and the uncompromising teaching of the truth.  Sure, we did some things to accommodate the culture.  But more than anything it was authenticity that went a long way in reaching a culture different than my own.

 

Exhortation

Consider your context.  What are some cultural things you may need to adapt or challenge to get an ear with lost people in your context who need to hear the uncompromised gospel?  Prayerfully let the Holy Spirit guide you as you answer that question.  And as He does, be you, be authentic, and by all means preach the Bible!  Preach the everlasting gospel!

 

[1] John 1:14a & 1:18 NKJV

[2] Smith, Chuck. Calvary Chapel Distinctives. Page 101.

[3] Matthew 13:13

[4] Acts 16:1-5

[5] 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 NKJV

[6] Galatians 1:8 NKJV

Senior Boomers, Meet the Millennials

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For many years I’ve been a student of culture. I blame Jeff Jackson. As a 15 year-old I found myself a pupil in a missions class he taught for Calvary Escondido; I’d like to think I’ve never been the same since. Full disclosure (or confession), I remember very little from the class (extend some grace, it’s been 16 years). But one thing I’ve never lost, remains as profound to me now as it did then; “You don’t recognize your own culture until it’s been stepped on by another culture.” Many times in the years that have followed I have found myself consciously aware of my cultural toes being stepped on and have become far more cognizant of the culture in which I live.

There has been quite a bit written recently about the cultural shift taking place in our nation as Baby Boomers head into retirement (or so they thought) and their Millennial children step into adulthood. I, as an interested observer of culture, am fascinated by this shift and am very much intrigued its implications for our nation, and especially the church.

I was born November 28, 1979, at the very beginning of this “Millennial” generation. Nearly 4 years ago, the church I grew up in experienced a leadership transition from a Boomer, Pat kenney, to a Millennial… me. Such transitions (not only within churches) are going to become commonplace over the next several years. Officially 2011 is the first year the “silver tsunami” has come ashore, as boomers are now reaching the magic retirement age of 65. But the economic downturn has brought a major wrinkle.

In June of this year National Journal published an article by Ron Brownstein entitled “Upside Down: Why millennials can’t start their careers and baby boomers can’t end theirs.” Brownstein highlighted this new strain within our society…

It’s hard to say this spring whether it’s more difficult for the class of 2011 to enter the labor force or for the class of 1967 to leave it.

Students now finishing their schooling—the class of 2011—are confronting a youth unemployment rate above 17 percent. The problem is compounding itself as those collecting high school or college degrees jostle for jobs with recent graduates still lacking steady work. “The biggest problem they face is, they are still competing with the class of 2010, 2009, and 2008,” says Matthew Segal, cofounder of Our Time, an advocacy group for young people.

At the other end, millions of graying baby boomers—the class of 1967—are working longer than they intended because the financial meltdown vaporized the value of their homes and 401(k) plans. For every member of the millennial generation frustrated that she can’t start a career, there may be a baby boomer frustrated that he can’t end one.

This cultural tremor is interesting. The governments of the world are doing everything within their power to jumpstart economies, tackle unemployment and reinvigorate industry. The markets yo-yo through peaks and valleys that make even the most ardent adrenaline junkies beg for a reprieve. All these things were bouncing around in my head a couple of months ago as my wife and I took a short vacation in Santa Barbara.

While wandering around State St. one evening we stepped into a touristy T-shirt shop. The shopkeeper’s radio was tuned to some AM talk show, on which a caller was recounting her story. Her family was struggling to make ends meet; work had slowed for her husband, which caused her to consider going back to work. Her Boomer parents were experiencing similar difficulties as they had lost their home and much of their savings. The answer was clear, “Mom and dad will move in with us, help take care of our kids, I’ll go back to work and we’ll pool our resources to take care of one another.” The talk-show host chimed in, “You know, that’s really what America was like 60-80 years ago.”

When you consider the history of man it’s very easy to see that man is oriented toward community; God created us that way. But for a number of years our modern American culture has opted for a rogue individualism. As a result we are constantly trying to “create a sense of community” because there is a recognition that something has been missing. I believe that we have been experiencing an abnormality, and thankfully mutated anomalies don’t survive. All of a sudden we are being forced to live in community. Although this feels uncomfortable (as abnormal has become normal), it’s a good thing.

As we move forward I think it is important that those who have influence (i.e. pastors) need to help people see that this new reality is a good thing. We need to encourage people to live in community this way. At the moment it is counterculture. We’ve been bred to see such community as an anti-American socialism or a failure of our success, but our culture has lied to us.

For the last month and a half I’ve been teaching through the book of Jeremiah at a local bible college. As Judah faced the Babylonian captivity the prophet Jeremiah called to the people to submit to the Babylonian rule. If Judah would surrender, they’d survive. If they would resist, they’d die. Essentially, whoever would lose his life would save it, and he that would seek to save his life would lose it. We’re living under a similar situation. Business as usual is untenable. It’s time for a change… and yes, we can. 😉

Lessons from Pastoring Two Churches

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As many of you may already know, I have recently begun transitioning myself out of the two churches that I pastor. God has called us to take a step of faith and head up to Southern Washington for our next assignment. But I wanted to take some time and reflect on my experience of pastoring two churches. Experience is an awesome teacher.

To set the stage, (Calvary North Bay was planted in 2007 with one other family. CNB resides in Mill Valley, California which is one of the least churched (statistically) and most affluent communities in one of the most least churched and affluent counties in the country (Marin County). Marin County rests between San Francisco and the Napa Valley. Very quickly after we started the fellowship, we had people coming to the church from San Francisco. It was a short drive over the bridge to Mill Valley. They would often bring their friends for a visit. It was an almost universal, “We love this church. Too bad it isn’t in the city.” That began our process that culminated with the launching of Calvary San Francisco in July of 2010. We did a 9 am service in Mill Valley and then an 11:15 am service in the Marina district of San Francisco. Each church was it’s own corporation, with its own staff, resources and accounting. We did this primarily because we knew that, at some point, each church would need its own pastor.

So let’s get to the lessons. But before I do, I should say up front that in hindsight, the hand of God was all over this. I do not have a single regret about it. The Lord’s plan was to put new churches in both Mill Valley and San Francisco. I rejoice in that. But I learned a lot on the way.

1. Pastoring two churches is ecclesiastical polygamy

Very quickly into my time pastoring the two churches did I realize that it was like being married to two wives. Polygamy has a certain impact on a husband. It has other impact on the wives. For the husband, his attention and affection is divided. It is hard to try and navigate the needs of two different congregations. But for the wives it is the reality that you never have your husband for your own. There is always a ‘sharing’ involved. For the church in Mill Valley, they had been used to having me all to themselves so splitting me was a change for them. For the church in the city, they were never used to me alone, only to having me shared. They were used to the divided attention. From both angles, it was not something that was healthy long term.

2. Pastoring two churches should be seen as a sprint portion of a marathon of ministry

The apostle Paul spoke often of our Christian lives as a race. We need to run that race to win the prize. In that way, we are all marathon runners for the glory of God. In stepping out to plant the church in San Francisco, I realized very quickly that I was entering a ‘sprint’ portion of my race. Sprints are necessary parts of running any race. But in reality, you can only sprint for so long. If you watch short term sprint racers, you see that they are going very fast and at the end of the race, they are winded. You can sprint for a short time only. Too many ministers (including me) fail to realize that ministry is a marathon. There will be seasons of sprinting. But it can only be a season.

3. Multi-siting is more strategic than pastoring two distinct churches

I know that there is a lot of hub-bub about multi-siting churches, with both strong advocates and detractors. Rather than weigh in on that fracas, I did learn that it is way more strategic to multi-site than to pastor two churches. If you multi-site, there is one cohesive vision, staff, direction and congregation (although meeting in multiple places). The pastor can do one midweek service rather than two. The pastor has only one set of volunteers and staff to pour into. You can do more things together. Plus there is one church identity with a multi-site church as opposed to two identities. When we did things together as churches, there was always a negotiation of where to hold something. So, in my mind, the unity of one church in multiple locations (an oxymoron, I know) is more strategic then two churches in two locations.

4. We need to continue to raise up pastors and leaders

Finally, I had a strong reinforcement of the need to continue to raise up pastors, leaders and church planters. There are such needs for rigorously biblical, Spirit filled, saint loving pastors all over the world. We have always said that we would love to see ten new churches in Marin and thirty new churches in San Francisco. That’s forty pastors needed (and just in about a 20 mile radius)! We need to continue to pour into the next generation and sent these folks out into God’s harvest field. The field is ripe for harvest and still the laborers are few!

How to Wake the Dead

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“…You shall be Witnesses to Me…”[1] – Jesus  


“If you are a Calvary Chapel pastor or in teaching leadership, chances are you are concerned about the death of biblical truth in our culture and within our churches…As a pastor or teacher, you have the privilege of expositing and expounding God’s truth to your community.”[2] – Chuck Smith

Speaking of the biblical gospel in a letter written to a group of believers living in Rome during the first century, the Apostle Paul said it is, “The power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”[3]  That is a brilliant statement of truth!  The word gospel literally means good news.  The message of the biblical gospel is that even though human beings are spiritual criminals who are evil from the core of their being, God still loves them.  It tells us that though all humans have broken God’s law and heart at the level of behavior, desire, and imagination, God has chosen to freely provide a way for us to be totally forgiven for our crimes.  He has made a way for us to know and enjoy Him forever in personal relationship.  We have a way to be viewed by God as perfect and righteous even though we know deep down we could never be those things practically speaking, from the inside out.

 

The Rescue Mission of Rescue Missions

How in the world could these things be possible?  Only through the life, death, and resurrection Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf some 2,000 years ago.  The core of the good news of the gospel is that the infinite, totally adequate, self-sufficient, self-existent Holy God of the universe came to earth to reach out to humanity when we had no way of reaching up to Him in an effective way.  This was the greatest rescue mission the world has ever seen, or will ever see. He came and was born to a young virgin girl named Mary becoming not only God, but also 100% human.  He proceeded to live a life of perfect obedience to the law of God in behavior, desire, and imagination on behalf of every sinful human being.  He died the death that every person who has ever lived deserves to die on a roman cross as a substitute for all people.  There He took the full force of the wrath of God that we deserve to experience as spiritual criminals.  He rose from the dead conquering the power of Satan, sin, demons, and death on behalf of all.  He now offers us forgiveness for our sins and restoration to relationship with Him if we will simply believe in this great message of His love.  This God, who came from heaven to earth to do for us all that we could never do for ourselves, is the God-man, Jesus Christ!  This is His gospel.

The Fundamental Goal of Church Planting

The basic tenets of that message inherently carry the power of God to bring the person who accepts them from spiritual death to an experience of spiritual life if they are embraced with the heart.  It is that message that Jesus has commanded His people to proclaim boldly and without shame or fear in all the earth.  The fundamental goal of planting local churches is to establish strategic centers for the preaching, spreading, and advancement of the gospel in the world for the glory of the gracious Christ.  A church should not be planted but with the goal of functioning as an effective tool for spreading the message of Jesus in the world.  If a gathering, organization, or any so-called Christian entity exists without the express purpose of spreading the powerful gospel, it is not a church.  It is not representative of the church.

 

We need churches like the first century church in Thessalonica.  Paul commended that local church as being a community of believers who were on fire for spreading the gospel they had received.

“And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.  For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place.  Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.  For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”[4]

 

The community of believers at Thessalonica didn’t simply receive the gospel, get saved, and sit around playing church and enjoying their relationship with Jesus as they watched the rest of the world go to hell.  On the contrary, they became a center for missional gospel proclamation.  The gospel was sounding forth from the mouths of people who had their hearts changed by it’s power.  The joy over their salvation implanted into their hearts by the Holy Spirit who now indwelled them caused an overflow of gospel preaching and gospel living that brought many more people into the kingdom.

 

Every church planter’s goal should be that God would establish a church through him that is like the church in Thessalonica.  Their dream should be that of a group of people being saved by Jesus through gospel preaching who become so passionate about the gospel of the God who saved them that they spread it everywhere they can.  This is the New Testament picture of a mature and gospel-planted church.  This is the kind of church I pray for, and work toward by God’s grace.

 

The Command

Planting churches through gospel preaching is not merely one permissible option for church planting strategies among many.   It is church planting as God has commanded it to be done.

 

I know by experience that there is intense pressure from within and from without for church planters to get clever with their preaching.  You see some guys who have flashy churches, major resources, tons of money, and yet the weakest sermons in regard to biblical content.  After a while you might start to wonder if just teaching the Bible simply isn’t enough.  So you start softening a truth here, glossing over a doctrine there, and all in the name of reaching people.

 

Over against this kind of thinking is the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the Bible:

“And I, brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For U determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”[5]

 

Now when it comes to preaching there are generally two extremes that should be avoided at all costs.  Some think that using technology, media, props, and even illustrations to effectively communicate the gospel is carnal and unfaithful.  These people confuse flexibility in methods with compromising the integrity of the message.  Jesus Himself was a master illustrator who used the familiar pictures and experiences in the environment and technology around Him to communicate God’s timeless truths in timely ways to His hearers.

 

Still others are so focused on methods and strategic communication that they sometimes fail to actually present the simple content of the gospel faithfully.  The pure message of the Bible gets twisted or lost in all the wrappings.  These people seem to forget that while good missionaries are culturally sensitive and utilize practical tools and technology to communicate the gospel, the methods and techniques are not what God has promised to bless with His power.  The simple gospel message is what God blesses with the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit to bring people from spiritual death to life.  I once heard Francis Chan ask a group of Bible teachers, “Do you want to be a good communicator, or a powerful communicator?”  We would do well to ask ourselves that question.

 

The Choice is Ours

So, every church planter has to decide where he will fit.  Will you focus on methods to the exclusion of the message like many seeker sensitive and liberal churches do today?  Will you be a fundamentalist and preach the Bible but ignore the cultural communication stumbling blocks that get in the way of the people who hear you receiving the gospel?  Or will you be in the missional middle and preach the simple gospel faithfully while being sensitive to the cultural hang-ups of the ears who hear you?

If you are all method in your ministry I would challenge you to get back to the real source of power which is the simple gospel.  You can have nothing but the power of the Holy Spirit and the pure message of the gospel in your heart, and you will have all you need to plant a church.  That is all that the first church planters had and they did well to say the least.  I would encourage you to read Acts two and pray over the topics we’ve covered so far in this post right now asking God to show you if and where your heart is out of step with His on the gospel.

 

How to Reach Young People

Something that always concerns church planters is how they are going to reach young people for Jesus.  Many leaders are convinced that kids need to be entertained and have all sorts of extra wrappings encapsulating the gospel and the teaching of the Word for them to plug into churches.  I believe this is a lie from hell intended to get Bible teachers side-tracked.

 

I was as liberal and post-modern as they come when it came to my view of truth before Jesus saved me.  I can vividly remember personally saying many of the things that pastors often quote in their sermons as depicting the epitome of the post-modern mindset.  I would give people the, “what’s true for you is true for you, and what’s true for me is true for me,” line all the time.  And I believed that with all my heart.

 

But one life-changing day the Holy Spirit shot the truth of God into my mind like a bullet.  I couldn’t defend myself against it.  I couldn’t force it out.  He convicted me of my sin and drew me to seek God.  I found myself reading the Bible at home strangely desiring to figure out it’s teachings, something I had never desired to do before.  I remember that as I read I realized that what this book said was true of my heart was undeniable based on my human experience.  I knew it was right when it told me I couldn’t help wanting and doing things that I knew deep down were things I shouldn’t do or want to do.  I knew it was right when it told me I couldn’t make myself do or want to do things that I knew deep down I should want to do and practice.  I knew my heart was captive with the chains of sin it described.  This was my journey to becoming born again through reading the written Word.

 

After I got saved I developed an appetite for the Word like newborn babies desire milk.  I could understand the Bible where I hadn’t been able to before, and I wanted to learn God’s Word.  I found a Bible teaching church and began to soak up what I was hearing.  And the funny thing looking back is that the church I attended was about the least cool place I’d ever been from my previous cultural perspective.  The “new music” we sang were worship choruses from the 1970’s, the décor of the church looked like it was supplied by my grandmother, the pastor preached in a full suit, and the only visual images in the service were these poorly done and horridly distracting landscape scenes that would appear at random behind the lyrics on the projection screen.  You know what kept an artsy former metal and punk rock musician/social activist coming to such a lame place?  I knew I was getting stronger in the spirit through the unadulterated preaching of God’s Word!

 

Many of my friends have been saved from similar backgrounds to mine and have the same kind of stories to tell.  And as I meet lots of young people who come to the church I pastor and hear them talk about why they are with us, it isn’t the cool lighting, awesome band, or the fact that I listen to the music they do that keeps them coming; it’s the often blunt, sometimes offensive, always present preaching of gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God!

 

If you’re an older church planter or pastor trying to reach a younger generation, my encouragement to you would be to stick with the thing that God has chosen to bless with His power, and preach the gospel!  Teach the Bible!  Sure, you can draw a crowd with all sorts of things.  But the only thing that will change people, the only thing that will grip them at the core of their very being, is God’s Word.

 

Conclusion

The preaching of the gospel is what Jesus has chosen to build His church.  Preaching the simple gospel isn’t merely an optional way to do the work of church planting, but the only way.  Utilizing different methods to communicate the gospel is fine and can even be good missionary strategy, but methods must never get in the way of communicating the simple gospel message in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we want to wake the dead gospel proclamation is a non-negotiable.

 

Note- The above is an excerpt taken from “The Spirit-led Mission” by Kellen Criswell

[1] Acts 1:8b NKJV

[2] Smith, Chuck. Line Upon Line. Page 12.

[3] Romans 1:16 NKJV

[4] 1 Thessalonians 1:10 NKJV

[5] 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NKJV

“Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?”

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“…as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.”
Matthew 9:10
A couple weeks ago I had wanted to sit down and just read through the Gospel according to Matthew in one or two sittings…fat chance. I am in chapter 9 this morning. But there is a reason why.
I have always seen the practical aspects of the life and teaching of Christ in the Gospels, but not like I am seeing it now. I have been literally overwhelmed at the profound practical application of the teachings and examples of Jesus in his instruction to His disciples, in word and in deed.
Matthew’s account of Jesus calling him to follow Him has been standing out to me the last couple of days. Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him, and where does Jesus go? To Matthew’s house. And what does Jesus do? He eats dinner there with all of His disciples and with Matthew. And what is the result of Jesus and His disciples having dinner with Matthew in his home? A bunch of other tax collectors and “sinners” end up coming over to hang out with Matthew…but this wasn’t new…it was Jesus and the disciples of Jesus that they wanted to see. This was new.
And it bothered the religious establishment. The question came, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
One of the thoughts I have been having is, “Do I do this?” or am I just inviting those to my house who can repay me by doing the same?
“When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:12-14
Jesus then tells the parable about the Great Supper. The religious make excuses as to why they cannot attend and the result is that they are left outside. Another thing we see is that there is plenty of room at the King’s Table. “Do I believe this?” Is my life showing that I know there to be more than enough room for others to find their seat at the Master’s table? “Am I doing this?” if I believe it, my actions (my life) prove it. Not my sermons or my expositions or philosophies or my ideologies or my vision or my exhortations…but my very actions will show if I know His word to be true.
And following Jesus to “sup” with “sinners” will lead to an opportunity to be real, approachable, available and then afford us a believable and tangible platform to share the truth that God desires to fellowship with them and also the open invitation to find the seat that has been prepared for them at the King’s table.
“But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

A different APPROACH for recruiting children’s ministry leaders.

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I have the need to be brief.  It’s been a crazy week with some refugee high school boys having serious conflict with a Hispanic gang at two of the public high schools here in Phoenix.  I’ve been interacting with the Phoenix Police, an apartment manager, some leaders from a Burmese Karen Christian church and others.  The police are convinced a major retaliation will take place against one or more of the Burmese kids.  AND, I have to fly out tomorrow morning to California for the birth of my grand daughter, the third child of my oldest daughter and our 5th grand child.  Please keep the gang situation in prayer.  It’s a bit dicey from a number of angles.

A conversation with a young pastor the other day made me realize that my solution for recruiting children’s ministry teachers/leaders is much more unorthodox than I realize.  Here’s my personal history and why I APPROACH this subject so differently:

1.  When I went on staff as the assistant pastor of my church in late 1985, I stepped into the responsibility of managing the children’s ministry.  This meant that I had the job of setting up the schedule, selecting the curriculum, recruiting the teachers/leaders, evaluating those that volunteered, and then training them for service with the children.

2.  Having been raised Catholic, the whole idea of a separate ministry for children during the church service was completely foreign to me until I attended a “born-again” church the first time.  From that first service I attended until the day I became responsible for the children’s ministry of my church four and a half years later, there was one blurb that took up space in every bulletin every Sunday morning that whole time.  It was the blurb that communicated the great need….no, the great OPPORTUNITY that existed in the children’s ministry for servants!  Based on that week-in, week-out, year-in, year-out, perpetual blurb, it was obviously an aspect of the local church that not many people were actually interested in helping with.  It was obvious to me in the various churches that I attended that there were way more than enough people sitting in the services to cover the amount of children that needed to be taught.

3.  When Jesus grabbed my life, I surrendered to Him and joyfully sought to serve Him in any capacity He’d have for me and I was willing to meet whatever need He brought into my path.  The more I understood His Word, looked at the examples of the lives of the people recorded in His Word, and heard other believers talk in awe about some great Christian from history, the common thread was their willingness to serve and the fact that they actually did serve.

4.  Because of these things, I never understood why every church could never seem to find enough people to serve children.  Even with the obvious need laid out so clearly each week, I found it strange that there was a constant famine of teachers/leaders in the area of children’s ministry.  What really bugged me was the fact that I knew most of the people attending those services and if you asked any of them, they would all describe themselves as “servants” of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So apparently, the Lord Jesus Christ didn’t really care about ministry to children or else He surely would order His servants to serve there and they would joyfully do so. Especially they all proclaimed themselves His servants, right?

5.  Now that I was face to face with needing to find servants of Jesus that actually were willing to serve Jesus in a ministry that was was obviously close to His heart, I knew I had an uphill battle.  How do you get people that claim to be servants of Jesus to actually serve Him by serving children?  Obviously, sharing the need and waiting for them to respond–to volunteer, wasn’t working.  In fact, my first few weeks in that role, I had a couple of people volunteer that it was obvious really weren’t cut out for children’s ministry for one reason or another.  And I had to tell them that.  And one of them asked me why we were always asking for volunteers and then when somebody does volunteer, they get rejected.

I knew something was radically wrong with this picture, and from a number of different angles.

6.  After talking with 5 or 6 children’s ministry directors from other churches during my first few weeks in my new role, my thinking was provoked by one of the people I talked to.  As I thought and prayed about this ongoing, apparently insatiable need, the Lord led me to view things from a different perspective and thus to make a change in how we were doing things in this area.

7.  So, I changed my children’s ministry teacher/leader recruitment APPROACH.  I figured since all of these people claimed to be servants of Jesus, I would observe which ones came early to the service and then stood around talking after the service.  I especially zeroed in on those who had their own kids, but I also began observing those who would be talking and when other people’s kids came near by, began interacting with them and so forth….and did so joyfully.

8.  Then I stopped putting a blurb in the bulletin, and started APPROACHING those that I’d been observing.  I would tell them that I’ve seen their faithfulness in attending the church, their willingness to be early and not just head for the parking lot when the service was over.  I told them that I’ve seen them interact with their own kids or other people’s kids, and that I thought they might have a gift with children that God could use.  I told them of the needs in our children’s ministry and since they were obviously a servant of the Lord Jesus, that I would appreciate it if they would begin praying about serving Jesus by serving in the children’s ministry of our church–which always has a great need.  I gave them a brief overview of it would require of them to take this step and then I told them I’d get back with them in two weeks to see what God had shown them.

9.  The response to this APPROACH was amazing.  Literally 80 percent of those I APPROACHED responded positively and went through the process necessary to become a part of the children’s ministy, (application, interview, training, etc.)  I asked them for a 6 month commitment and told them we would see how they felt about things at the end of that time.  I also changed the schedule so that it was a 3 weeks on and one week off, or a one week on and 3 weeks off commitment for a 6 month period.  Many of them chose to start by being the once a month person, but quite a few chose the 3 weeks on commitment.

10.  In the churches I’ve senior pastored since then, our bulletin has been children’s ministry blurb-less.

So, my APPROACH to finding children’s ministry teachers/leaders is to basically APPROACH self-proclaimed servants of Jesus personally and see if they actually mean what they say.

Christians and Combat

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***Written a few days after the killing of Bin Laden***

Ten years ago today I was an active duty Navy SEAL deployed to the Middle East, today I am the Senior Pastor of Valley Baptist Church contemplating the death of Osama Bin Laden. Every now and again I have these moments where my two worlds sort of collide. Today is one of them. The Internet is a furry with news, Facebook status updates, and blogs all reporting on this historical event. The chatter has inspired me to blog on a topic that is near and dear to my heart–The Christian and Combat.

First, let me begin by stating that I am writing this on my own behalf. My views are my own and do not necessarily reflect any group that I represent. These are my thoughts in progress and I do not claim to be an expert…although, I probably could. 🙂

Second, I have had many discussions with Christian pacifists over the years. I love the majority of them dearly. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ and we just don’t agree on this one issue. Some have accused me of not being able to see the Scriptures clearly because my background distorts my ability to listen to the Bible’s teaching. I admit that this really bothers me. They are simply wrong and assume my inclination is to hold a “pro war/violence position” because of my military background. In all honesty, the opposite is true. I have had to draw my gun on people (although I have never actually had to kill someone) and I have lost a number of very close friends in battle and have seen the after affects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to take a pacifist position on this subject, but the Scriptures will not allow me to do that (in my humble opinion). Violence of any sort is horrible and I long for the day when God scraps this world and starts a new, but for now I am here living in a sinful fallen world faced with horrible things where there is no simple answer.

“The Christian and Combat” was the title of my Master of Divinity thesis. As a former Navy SEAL who is now a pastor and law enforcement chaplain, I feel I need to get to work and convert it into a user friendly format for publication as I am often asked for my thoughts on this subject. One of these days, one of these days…

My first combat mission was on September 9, 1999–my 25th birthday. At this point in my life, I had spent the last seven years preparing for this moment and had been a Christian for about 3 years. It was dark, pitch black dark, in the Northern Arabian Gulf off the coast of Iraq, my adrenaline was flowing, and I distinctly remember thinking, “Gunnar, how did you get yourself into this one?” I know the feeling that many soldiers and cops experience…my prayer is that I can help those who protect us answer these deep theological questions prior to finding themselves in combat.

There is no way for me to blog about this in its entirety–I need to write that book. But I will attempt to answer a couple of questions: 1) the need for warriors, 2) the authority of the warrior, and 3) the Christians response to violence.

The need for warriors. There is a story in the Old Testament that inspired the writing of my thesis and it is found in 1 Samuel 23:1-5. David and his mighty men are on the run from Saul when David gets word that the Philistines are plundering the people of Keilah. My first point against the pacifist argument is evil is happening all around us. You can be a totally passive person (which I feel like I am) and find yourself witnessing one person or group that is violently attacking another. I love what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says about this reality, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” David and his men were exposed to an evil situation, their initial reaction was not to respond because they weren’t in the best position to help. David asked God a second time if this is what he was to do. God’s desire was for David to proceed onward using violence to stop this evil that was already in progress. Today is no different. Evil is everywhere. Men and women everywhere are doing evil to all sorts of people. Are Christians simply not to intervene? I don’t think so.

The authority of the warrior–military, cop, or individual. The clearest teaching anywhere in the Bible on this subject is found in Romans 12:9-13:4. This passage is pretty intriguing to me this week as it is very similar the Sermon on the Mount which I am preaching on through the month of May. Romans 12:9-17 has all of the verses that pacifists love to quote like: “Bless those who persecute you”, “Never pay back evil for evil”, etc, etc. Yes, I believe this all applies to the Christian and I take these verses literally, but a literal interpretation forces one to look at the whole context–one cannot study Scripture in isolation of the whole.

Romans 12:18-19 begins to shed some light on how we as Christians are able to do this. First, the Bible says we are to be at peace with other people if it is possible and as much as it depends on our own actions. Then it says, “leave room for the wrath of God.” Okay so this is very interesting. We are not to take our own vengeance because God’s wrath is more effective than our own wrath (okay, the text doesn’t say why, that is my opinion). In my Bible I have drawn from “wrath of God” in Romans 12:19 down to Romans 13:4 where the thought carries through. Here the Bible essentially says that “it” (i.e. the authorities or government) “does not bear the sword for nothing” and that it is a “minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

I have met a number of pacifists that I respect. Concerning these verses in Romans 13 they would agree that the government is responsible to bear the sword, but would say based on Romans 12 that there is no place for the follower of Christ to function in this capacity of authority as the one bearing the sword. Biblically speaking, the wrath of the government is the wrath of God (for the record, I am not defending all government actions, time does not allow me to unpack this, but I do think God judges nations Isaiah 34-35 this will be in the book). So to say that the Christian cannot function in this capacity is in essence to say that they Christian is holier than God and this responsibility should be left the the unregenerate.

Every soldier and cop must understand the concept of being under authority. There was one such soldier who encountered Jesus in Capernaum who understood this concept and expressed it to Jesus (Luke 7:1-10). Jesus’ response to this man was, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” This is a pretty incredible statement if you stop and consider it for a moment. The point is that when life is taken it must be under the proper authority of God and the government and right circumstances–whether you are a soldier, cop, or individual defending yourself or others.

The Christian’s response to violence. Yesterday I started preaching through Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:20-49). One verse stuck out to me (v.21), “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” Am I happy that Osama Bin Laden is dead? Yes and no. Yes because a man who promotes evil and destruction to many people is gone. “Relief” is probably a better word than “happy.” Many of us in the West are not fully aware of the evil this man inflicted in the world. He killed many innocent people brutally. I am sad for what he represented because another will arise in due time…there are many already doing evil to the innocent even as you read this. He is dead, but many died along the way. One peer of mine calculated that some 62 SEALs have died fighting the war against terrorism. I know a few widows and children who are left behind…Osama Bin Laden’s death doesn’t undo this or the attacks that have been committed during his lifetime. But there is pleasure in knowing that the government is following through with God’s command to bring “wrath on the one who practices evil” (Rom. 13:4).

There is so much more I could write on regarding this subject, but I am running out of steam and I would like to post this tonight. Regardless of your theological bent regarding pacifism, I think we all agree on Paul’s instructions to Timothy, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

We should be on our knees this day praying as Paul tells us to above. I am thankful for the sacrifice of soldiers, cops, and good Samaritans who put their lives at risk in the calling of restraining evil.

Switching Fish Bowls

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For all but one year of my ministry life I’ve served in an area [North San Diego County, CA] that is blessed with an abundance of solid, biblically sound, evangelical churches. Southern California truly is a “Christian Disneyland.” At present the website for our ‘denomination’ lists 329 affiliate churches in California. Our administrative pastor at CCEsco has often joked, “You can’t swing a dead cat in San Diego without hitting a Calvary.”

All kidding aside, I think it is a good thing we have so many [good] churches in this area. Would to God that we had twice as many (or more) bible believing/teaching churches in California, and an exponential increase nationwide. In Escondido there are three Calvary’s (one of them Spanish speaking), which have a combined weekly adult attendance of about 1,000, in a city of 140,000+. There is certainly no lack of opportunity and no room for territorialism. The push for church planting and church revitalization is [to me] greatly encouraging. But I’m bothered by an observation I’m sure many pastors could identify with.

Week after week we have new faces in our fellowship. Rarely does a service go by where no one raises their hand to identify there self as a guest, or does not drop a visitor card in our offering or agape box for more information about the fellowship. The irritation comes when you interact with the newcomer and find that they’re attending your church, having left another solidly biblical church to do so. So, church growth does not always mean CHURCH growth, especially when Barna has, in recent years shown a > 90% increase of unchurched adults in America (approaching 100 million in 2007). (1) (2)

The landscape is filled with a multiplicity of varying sized fishbowls, in which the Christian [fish] swim. They were once caught in the sea of humanity by fishers of men, but now much of the [apparent] growth comes through fishbowl switching and not drawing in the net. Furthermore, much of church growth initiatives I see come across my desk are aimed at casting the net in other fishbowls. When a mailer goes out from a church with words like “rapture,” “sanctification,” or an advertisement for Phil Wickham leading worship, it’s not exactly aimed at non-believers. The fact is, spiritual inbreeding is twisted.

“Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church” said Outreach Magazine in 2006. There’s an awfully big sea of people out there needing to be caught. Jesus’ word’s to (the fisherman who never caught a fish apart from Jesus’ help) Peter, are appropriate…

“Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”

Luke 5:4

The simplicity of Jesus’ command is striking; it surely went against everything that Peter’s expertise as a fishermen would have said. With all the writing out there on church growth, we sure seem to have a lot of expertise in our day too. Perhaps it’s time to seek the Lord for direction from the shore as to where to go for fish. His ways always seem to yield a draught.