21 Questions I’ve Been Asking (Myself) Lately
Several of you will find these questions familiar, but their familiarity does not minimize the piercing factor for this pastor. I wanted to put them out there in case others might find them helpful.
1. If our church would cease to exist in our city, would it be noticed and missed?
2. If all the pastors were tragically killed in a car accident, would the church’s ministry cease or fall apart?
3. If the only possible means of connecting with unbelievers were through the missionary living of our church members, how much would we grow? (I ask this because the early church did not have signs, websites, ads, marketing, etc.)
4. What are the subcultures within the church? Do they attract or detract from the centrality of the gospel and mission of the church?
5. Is our church known more for what we are not/against than what we are/for?
6. What are we allowing to be our measuring stick of church health? (attendance vs. discipleship; seating capacity vs. sending capacity; gospel growth, training on mission, etc.)
7. Are the priorities of our church in line with the priorities of Christ’s kingdom?
8. If our members had 60 seconds to explain to an unbeliever what our church is like, what would you want them to say? How many do you think are saying that?
9. If the invisible kingdom of God became visible in our city, what would that look like?
10. In what ways have we acted or planned in unbelief instead of faith?
11. As a pastor, is my time spent more in fixing people’s problems or helping people progress in faith through training/equipping them for ministry?
12. Are the people we are reaching more religious or pagan?
13. What can we learn about our evangelism practices by the kind of people are being reached with the gospel?
14. What will it take to reach those in our city who are far from God and have no access to the gospel?
15. What percentage of our growth is conversion growth (vs. transfer growth)?
16. How many people know and are discharging their spiritual gifts in active service and building up of the body of Christ?
17. How many people do I know (and more importantly know me) on a first name basis in my community and city who do not attend our church?
18. Am I using people to get ministry done, or am I using ministry to get people “done”?
19. Is the vision we are casting forth honoring both God’s heart for the lost (builder) and God’s passion for a pure church (perfecter)?
20. If money and space were not an issue, what is one thing we ought to dream for God to do in our midst where it is impossible for anyone to get the credit except for the omnipotent hand of God?
21. If being a church planting church is comprised of disciple-making disciples, then how are we doing?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Summit Church on Small Groups
This year we have collectively taken up two prayers as small group leaders for each of our small groups here at the Summit in 2010. They are:
1.Every group would witness at least one person come to know Christ in 2010.
2.Every group would plant a new small group by the end of the year.
These are not ministry “goals,” these are our expressions of God’s mandate to the church: make disciples.
I imagine this not being received all that well, but the scriptures are clear. Jesus looked at his disciples after he conquered death and commissioned them to one thing: make disciples. So this is what we will aim for in 2010, making disciples.
If we are honest and really pray these prayers, some of us and some in our groups are going to start getting uncomfortable as God begins to put non-christians increasingly in our path that we can tell them the great news of the gospel. But when the group actually walks alongside someone who comes from death to life, I promise the joy of sharing Christ will become infectious in that group. I believe a big reason our people don’t share Christ is because they don’t actually believe God will bring salvation to those they know. We are fickle in our humanity in that way. But when we see God go to work on an atheist and turn him into a worshipper of Jesus, our own faith is bolstered and we share with renewed boldness.
On the other prayer, we don’t just want to make converts, but make disciples. And disciples are ones who make other disciples. That means the community of the local church, when healthy, is ever growing. So if we want people in our small groups to become “disciples” and not get stuck at “convert” we want to empower them to make disciples. That means encouraging their own evangelism and opening our church community to those people. Again this will be uncomfortable to some who’ve become more inward focused than they realize. But once the leader guides the group over that awkward hurdle, a fresh flame of disciple making will have room to grow into a white hot disciple making movement in our church!
1.Every group would witness at least one person come to know Christ in 2010.
2.Every group would plant a new small group by the end of the year.
These are not ministry “goals,” these are our expressions of God’s mandate to the church: make disciples.
I imagine this not being received all that well, but the scriptures are clear. Jesus looked at his disciples after he conquered death and commissioned them to one thing: make disciples. So this is what we will aim for in 2010, making disciples.
If we are honest and really pray these prayers, some of us and some in our groups are going to start getting uncomfortable as God begins to put non-christians increasingly in our path that we can tell them the great news of the gospel. But when the group actually walks alongside someone who comes from death to life, I promise the joy of sharing Christ will become infectious in that group. I believe a big reason our people don’t share Christ is because they don’t actually believe God will bring salvation to those they know. We are fickle in our humanity in that way. But when we see God go to work on an atheist and turn him into a worshipper of Jesus, our own faith is bolstered and we share with renewed boldness.
On the other prayer, we don’t just want to make converts, but make disciples. And disciples are ones who make other disciples. That means the community of the local church, when healthy, is ever growing. So if we want people in our small groups to become “disciples” and not get stuck at “convert” we want to empower them to make disciples. That means encouraging their own evangelism and opening our church community to those people. Again this will be uncomfortable to some who’ve become more inward focused than they realize. But once the leader guides the group over that awkward hurdle, a fresh flame of disciple making will have room to grow into a white hot disciple making movement in our church!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Bob Kaufman on Worship
One of the drums I will never tire of beating is this: All biblical worship is rooted in and made possible by the cross of Christ. Most churches could stand to be much clearer and more consistent when it comes to highlighting the gospel in song. I said it this way in my book, Worship Matters:
The gospel is not merely one of many possible themes we can touch on as we come to worship God. It is the central and foundational theme. All our worship originates and is brought into focus at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Glorying in Jesus Christ means glorying in his cross. That doesn?t mean looking at some icon or two pieces of wood nailed together. Nor does it imply that every song we sing has the word cross in it. It has little to do with church gatherings that are more like a funeral than a celebration.
The cross stands for all that was accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. It focuses on his substitutionary death at Calvary but includes everything that gave meaning to that act. His preexistent state in glory. His incarnation. His life of perfect obedience. His suffering. His resurrection. His ascension. His present intercession and reign in glory. His triumphant return.
I will always plead that worship pastors lead gospel-centered worship that is characterized by:
? an awareness that the cross/gospel should be referenced somewhere in the time of singing.
? viewing the gospel as our primary motivation for praising God.
? helping people understand that only Jesus enables us to approach God - not music, musicians, worship leaders, or particular worship songs.
? encouraging congregations to be most enthusiastic about the theme the Bible is the most enthusiastic about - the Lamb of God who was slain.
When the Gospel Loses Its Power
But I?ve learned that we can practice gospel-centered corporate worship in a way that is more obligatory than faith-filled. What once magnified the glory of Christ becomes lifeless repetition. My friend, Jon Payne, shared some thoughts with me on this topic that I found helpful. He pointed out that a formulaic approach to gospel-centered worship can lead to some of the following problems:
? thinking every song should be exclusively about justification, boldness before the throne, or our sins being completely forgiven.
? thinking every song list should climax with a ?gospel? song.
? an inability to reference or articulate uniquely other aspects of the gospel - adoption, reconciliation, union with Christ, etc.
? a scarcity of other themes in our songs such as the wisdom of God, the eternity of God, the power of God, the incarnation, the kingship of Christ, heaven.
? worshiping a doctrine rather than allowing that doctrine to lead us to a living Savior. We are not ?crowning the gospel with many crowns.?
Leading gospel-centered worship in a faithless way can lead to some bad fruit:
? the gospel and the Savior lose glory in the eyes of bored worshipers.
? People develop a limited view of God and his attributes.
? People don?t learn how to apply the gospel to other areas of life/Biblical themes.
? The gospel becomes a crude, repetitive tool of truth rather than a lens for all of life.
? People think an explicit reference to the gospel reference makes their worship acceptable, rather than trust in a crucified and living Savior.
? Rather than expecting to encounter God because of the gospel people come expecting to repeat faithless facts.
The gospel of our Savior must never cease to be amazing in people?s eyes. It?s our responsibility as leaders to make sure, as the Puritans said, that we always ?labor to be affected by the cross.? That?s the best way of insuring that the gospel will never lose its power in our songs, or more importantly, in our lives.
May our understanding, practice, and leadership always cause people to have a greater love for the Savior who died to redeem them and reconcile them to God.
The gospel is not merely one of many possible themes we can touch on as we come to worship God. It is the central and foundational theme. All our worship originates and is brought into focus at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Glorying in Jesus Christ means glorying in his cross. That doesn?t mean looking at some icon or two pieces of wood nailed together. Nor does it imply that every song we sing has the word cross in it. It has little to do with church gatherings that are more like a funeral than a celebration.
The cross stands for all that was accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. It focuses on his substitutionary death at Calvary but includes everything that gave meaning to that act. His preexistent state in glory. His incarnation. His life of perfect obedience. His suffering. His resurrection. His ascension. His present intercession and reign in glory. His triumphant return.
I will always plead that worship pastors lead gospel-centered worship that is characterized by:
? an awareness that the cross/gospel should be referenced somewhere in the time of singing.
? viewing the gospel as our primary motivation for praising God.
? helping people understand that only Jesus enables us to approach God - not music, musicians, worship leaders, or particular worship songs.
? encouraging congregations to be most enthusiastic about the theme the Bible is the most enthusiastic about - the Lamb of God who was slain.
When the Gospel Loses Its Power
But I?ve learned that we can practice gospel-centered corporate worship in a way that is more obligatory than faith-filled. What once magnified the glory of Christ becomes lifeless repetition. My friend, Jon Payne, shared some thoughts with me on this topic that I found helpful. He pointed out that a formulaic approach to gospel-centered worship can lead to some of the following problems:
? thinking every song should be exclusively about justification, boldness before the throne, or our sins being completely forgiven.
? thinking every song list should climax with a ?gospel? song.
? an inability to reference or articulate uniquely other aspects of the gospel - adoption, reconciliation, union with Christ, etc.
? a scarcity of other themes in our songs such as the wisdom of God, the eternity of God, the power of God, the incarnation, the kingship of Christ, heaven.
? worshiping a doctrine rather than allowing that doctrine to lead us to a living Savior. We are not ?crowning the gospel with many crowns.?
Leading gospel-centered worship in a faithless way can lead to some bad fruit:
? the gospel and the Savior lose glory in the eyes of bored worshipers.
? People develop a limited view of God and his attributes.
? People don?t learn how to apply the gospel to other areas of life/Biblical themes.
? The gospel becomes a crude, repetitive tool of truth rather than a lens for all of life.
? People think an explicit reference to the gospel reference makes their worship acceptable, rather than trust in a crucified and living Savior.
? Rather than expecting to encounter God because of the gospel people come expecting to repeat faithless facts.
The gospel of our Savior must never cease to be amazing in people?s eyes. It?s our responsibility as leaders to make sure, as the Puritans said, that we always ?labor to be affected by the cross.? That?s the best way of insuring that the gospel will never lose its power in our songs, or more importantly, in our lives.
May our understanding, practice, and leadership always cause people to have a greater love for the Savior who died to redeem them and reconcile them to God.
Marcus Honeysett on Church
Here are some highlights to whet your appetite ?
1. The church forgets who we are and what we are for ? When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God?s greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.
2. The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When questions like ?What is God doing with you at the moment?? cease to be common currency, it is a sure sign of creeping spiritual mediocrity.
3. ? In my view, the single biggest cause of stalled churches in the UK is the belief that material comfort can be normative for Christians. It is the opposite of radical commitment to Christ.
4. When [Christians] see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God?s great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.
5. ? Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.
6. ? When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong.
7. A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions ? The danger is that people start to equate serving the church with living out the gospel. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.
8. Confusing Christian activities with discipleship ?
9. Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church ? There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says ?we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met?, the other ?we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ?. The first type is a stalled church.
10. ? No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventures in faith and daring risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity ? The mantra of the maintenance mindset is ?if it ain?t broke don?t fix it?. But just like buying shoes for growing children, if structures don?t take account of future growth then fellowships end up stunted and deformed.
1. The church forgets who we are and what we are for ? When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God?s greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.
2. The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When questions like ?What is God doing with you at the moment?? cease to be common currency, it is a sure sign of creeping spiritual mediocrity.
3. ? In my view, the single biggest cause of stalled churches in the UK is the belief that material comfort can be normative for Christians. It is the opposite of radical commitment to Christ.
4. When [Christians] see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God?s great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.
5. ? Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.
6. ? When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong.
7. A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions ? The danger is that people start to equate serving the church with living out the gospel. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.
8. Confusing Christian activities with discipleship ?
9. Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church ? There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says ?we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met?, the other ?we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ?. The first type is a stalled church.
10. ? No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventures in faith and daring risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity ? The mantra of the maintenance mindset is ?if it ain?t broke don?t fix it?. But just like buying shoes for growing children, if structures don?t take account of future growth then fellowships end up stunted and deformed.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tim Keller on Idols
We never imagine that getting our heart?s deepest desires might be the worst thing that can ever happen to us.
we know a good thing has become a counterfeit god when its demands on you exceed proper boundaries.
The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.
The secret to change is to identify and dismantle the counterfeit gods of your heart.
Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol.
we know a good thing has become a counterfeit god when its demands on you exceed proper boundaries.
The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.
The secret to change is to identify and dismantle the counterfeit gods of your heart.
Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol.
Todd Wilken on Gospel Preaching
A sermon that mentions Jesus but still has you driving the verbs is still about you, not Jesus. The Gospel is all about what Jesus does for you. A sermon about what you do for Jesus isn?t the Gospel. For the Gospel to be preached, Jesus must be driving the verbs.? (Ask) ?Who is driving the verbs?? Is Jesus active or passive? Is Jesus doing the action or is He being acted upon? There is a difference between a sermon that says ?I love Jesus,? and a sermon that says ?Jesus love me.? One is talking about you, the other is talking about Jesus. There is a difference between, ?Give your life to Jesus,? and ?Jesus gave His life for you.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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